DEALER IN THE GUARD TOWER

Officer Arrested, But Some Implicated In Deal Remain On The Job

Joseph Lattanzio worked for 20 years as a New York State corrections
officer, but his part-time job helped pay the bills.

He was a drug dealer.

He sometimes made drug deals on his cell phone, perched in a guard
tower in Wende Correctional Facility in Alden.

And his long customer list included at least nine other corrections
officers, from Attica to Wyoming to Gowanda to Wende, according to
court papers and federal officials.

Speaking from a halfway house where he finished his prison term,
Lattanzio denied selling drugs to inmates but confirmed using drugs
himself and supplying cocaine to other prison officers.

"It got out of control," Lattanzio said. "I was living a criminal lifestyle."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Bruce prosecuted Lattanzio, along with
Lattanzio's brother - also a corrections officer - as well as a third
prison officer.

"It was the height of brazenness," Bruce said of Lattanzio.

Lattanzio lost his prison job, as did the two officers prosecuted
along with him.

But seven other officers identified in an FBI wiretap as suspected
customers of the South Buffalo drug dealer were not arrested. Nor were
they confronted by the state Department of Correctional Services.

One officer, with a history of drunken driving, was eventually fired
in 2005 following an unrelated arrest. The six others continue
guarding inmates in a prison system where drug activity flourishes.

"It's a matter of serious concern if corrections officers are
themselves known to be buying drugs from other corrections officers,"
said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association
of New York, a New York City-based prisoner advocacy
organization.

"Steps must be taken to sanction [the corrections officers.] One
concern authorities should have is if [the corrections officers] are
bringing drugs in to prison," he said. "Another concern would be, if
they are cavalier about the use of drugs and are using and selling
themselves, maybe they are looking the other way when drugs are used
in prison, or if others are engaged in drug trade in prisons."

Lattanzio denied that was happening, but nonetheless said he is
mystified that some of his customers still work as corrections officers.

"I think the state somehow put a stop on it," Lattanzio said of an
investigation into the other corrections officers. "I don't think they
wanted any more bad publicity than what they got from me, but if you
are wrong, you are wrong."

Federal officials said they arrested the three men who could be
charged under federal statutes, then turned over evidence against the
others to the state Department of Correctional Services.

"We always hope the administrative agency will pursue every remedy
possible to rid the system of corrupt corrections officers," U.S.
Attorney Terrance P. Flynn said.

The case was reviewed, but there wasn't enough evidence to warrant
criminal or administrative charges against the seven, Department of
Correctional Services officials said.

"Based on the evidence collected, several employees were convicted and
fired for their off-duty misconduct," department spokeswoman Linda M.
Foglia said. "For others, DOCS reached the exact determination as the
U.S. Attorney and the Erie County District Attorney - there was
insufficient evidence to take action."

"Simply being mentioned in court papers is not enough to warrant
disciplinary action," department officials added.

Prison secrecy

A Buffalo News investigation found New York has a bigger drug problem
in its prisons than surrounding states, yet New York is more secretive
about employees involved in drug use, making it difficult to assess
how aggressively the state pursues corrupt corrections officers and
other employees.

The New York State Department of Correctional Services initially
refused to release any information on employees involved in drug
incidents. But in response to several Freedom of Information requests
from The Buffalo News, department officials eventually disclosed that
20 employees a year, on average, are disciplined or resign - a total
of 130 from 2000 to mid-July 2006 - because of alleged drug activity
in and out of prison. The state prison system employs about 32,000
people.

The state would not release details of the cases and said it doesn't
have numbers available on how many employees were arrested, or how
many brought drugs into prison. But Foglia said most arrests involve
activities occurring outside the prisons.

"They are in the community. That is where the drugs are. That is where
they are doing it," she said.

In comparison, surrounding states contacted by The News immediately
released data on employees accused of bringing drugs into prison.

Pennsylvania investigated 12 corrections officers and fired three from
2001 to 2004. Michigan fired five employees from 2003 to 2006. Ohio in
recent years saw one officer arrested each year, officials said.

In New York, Foglia said, the department doesn't believe it has a
significant problem with employees using drugs, or bringing drugs into
prisons.

"One (officer involved with drugs) is too many. It is troubling. But
when you look at these numbers, we have 32,000 employees, and nine had
a problem (so far) this year with drugs. . .

"The majority of staff comes to work and do a damn good job, every
single day," Foglia said.

There are two known recent cases of employees charged with smuggling
drugs into prison; a Green Haven cook who provided inmates with
marijuana and an off-duty Bedford Hills corrections officer who
smuggled drugs to her boyfriend, an inmate in another state prison in
Franklin County.

There are other instances, corrections officials said, when cases
could not be proven, so the department pressured the employee to
resign even though no criminal charges were filed.

"When they (Department of Correctional Services) find out an employee
or volunteer is bringing drugs in, they quietly get rid of them," said
State Sen. Dale Volker, R-Depew. "But if they can prove it, they
charge them."

If prison employees are convicted of felonies, the department, under
the terms of its employee contracts, can fire the workers. Misdemeanor
cases must be reviewed on a case by case basis, although the
department typically moves for dismissal, Foglia said.

The Green Haven cook and the Bedford Hills officer both lost their
jobs, as did several officers arrested in recent years by Buffalo area
law enforcement for drug activities occurring outside of prison.

These local officers included a corrections officer caught at Buffalo
Niagara International Airport trying to take a flight to Florida with
cocaine in his shoe, as well as a corrections officer arrested by the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and accused of being part of a
Lockport cocaine and methamphetamine ring.

The three officers arrested in the Lattanzio case also either resigned
or were dismissed.

Department of Correctional Services officials declined to discuss
details of their own investigation into the other officers implicated
in the Lattanzio case. But, based on interviews with several of the
men and their attorneys, it appears none was approached by the department.

FBI agents tipped off

FBI agents in 2000 were tipped off to Lattanzio's drug dealing. They
set up surveillance and wiretaps, which uncovered a drug network
Lattanzio ran from his South Buffalo home, as well as his guard tower
in Wende Correctional Facility.

Words such as cocaine, powder or drugs never came up in the taped
phone conversations, but there were discussions with fellow
corrections officers and others making arrangements to stop by
Lattanzio's house to make pickups. There were also cryptic references
to numbers, such as one or two - meaning, agents said, the number of
packets of cocaine.

There was no evidence of Lattanzio or any other corrections officers
giving or selling drugs to inmates.

Lattanzio was convicted of drug dealing and spent two years in federal
prison, then went to a halfway house before being released on parole
in April. He resigned from his corrections officer job in October 2003.

His brother John, a corrections officer in Wende, was also arrested,
charged with conspiring with Joseph Lattanzio to buy, sell and
distribute cocaine. He was sentenced to probation and fined $200. He
resigned in December 2003.

Also arrested was Mark Cater, another Wende corrections officer, who
got one year of probation and was required to enter drug treatment.
Cater was accused of possessing, with intent to distribute, cocaine
and marijuana. He was dismissed from the department in 2001 and is now
in Kansas.

Cater expressed remorse about his drug involvement and declined to
comment further.

One of the seven other corrections officers caught on federal wiretaps
allegedly discussing the purchase of drugs from Lattanzio is Charles
Bagley, a corrections officer at state prison in Wyoming County.
Bagley was not charged. But the court papers stated he made
arrangements to go to Lattanzio's house for a drug purchase.

"In the call, Lattanzio told Bagley he would be home in about 10
minutes. The two agreed Bagley would "swing by' Lattanzio's residence
to obtain cocaine from Lattanzio," court records state.

Shortly after this call, an FBI agent went to Lattanzio's house and
spotted Bagley's pickup parked there.

Bagley told The News he was familiar with the Lattanzio case and said
there was no evidence proving he purchased cocaine.

"It's in the past, seven or eight years ago, and I don't have any
comment," Bagley said.

Another officer picked up on the surveillance, James Gruber, was
arrested twice for drunken driving before the FBI probe. In 2004, he
was arrested on petty larceny and drug charges, and was fired in
January 2005, authorities said.

"That was a long time ago," Gruber said when asked about the Lattanzio
case and his job as a corrections officer. "It's in my past. I have no
comment."

Two other corrections officers identified as suspected drug buyers
could not be reached for comment while three others - one from
Gowanda, one from Wende and one from Attica - denied ever buying
cocaine from Lattanzio, and declined further comment.

"Those are accusations," the Wende officer said. "I am still
employed."