EX-OFFICER ADMITS GUILT IN DRUG CASE

Pizarro Among Three Arrested

His days as a Boston police officer ended last summer, when he was
arrested for helping two fellow officers protect drug shipments,
instead of the public.

But yesterday, after a year behind bars while awaiting trial in a
case that has rocked the police department, Carlos A. Pizarro broke
ranks with his former colleagues, who maintain their innocence, and
pleaded guilty to federal cocaine charges.

Dressed in an orange prison suit, his ankles shackled, Pizarro nodded
solemnly when US District Judge William G. Young asked if Pizarro had
knowingly guarded a shipment of cocaine last year for undercover FBI
agents posing as drug dealers.

"It is true," said Pizarro, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with his
former partners in the motorcycle unit, Roberto "Kiko" Pulido and
Nelson Carrasquillo, to possession of 100 kilograms of cocaine with
intent to distribute and to a second count of possession of cocaine
with intent to distribute. The government dropped its allegation that
Pizarro was also involved in heroin trafficking.

"Why are you pleading guilty?" Young asked, after advising Pizarro
that he could face up to 24 years in prison if convicted in a trial,
but that the government would recommend no more than 14 years under a
plea agreement.

"Looking at the alternative, what we agreed upon sounds better,"
mumbled Pizarro, whose 38th birthday is today. He sat emotionlessly
in the witness box next to the judge during most of the hourlong hearing.

The agreement does not require Pizarro to cooperate or testify
against Pulido and Carrasquillo, who are slated to go to trial Nov.
5. However, it does require him to provide the government with a
detailed account of his own involvement in any crimes. As part of the
deal, he also must forfeit the $17,000 he was paid to protect the
drugs. The judge set sentencing for Dec. 12.

"Obviously this is somebody who is telling the court he's ready to be
held accountable for his conduct," said Pizarro's lawyer, R. Bradford
Bailey. "Hopefully he'll be able to get on with his life down the
line."

The three officers were arrested in Miami in July 2006, when they
showed up for a celebratory meeting with undercover FBI agents, who
paid them the final $36,000 of $51,000 in payments for guarding 100
kilograms of cocaine a month earlier, while it was being trucked
from Western Massachusetts to Jamaica Plain. The FBI recorded that
meeting and several others.

Pulido, the alleged ringleader of the group, is also accused of an
elaborate series of crimes that include stealing the identities of
unsuspecting motorists, smuggling illegal immigrants, insurance
fraud, selling steroids, and guarding after-hours parties where
uniformed officers mingled with drug dealers and prostitutes.

Pulido allegedly boasted that after he was paid $600 for each of the
illegal parties, held monthly for five years at a Hyde Park
warehouse, he turned over some of the money to one or more of his
superior officers.

To date, no superior officers have been charged in the ongoing
investigation.

In court yesterday, Assistant US Attorney John T. McNeil said the FBI
and the Boston police anticorruption unit began targeting Pulido in
the fall of 2003 after an informant warned them that he was involved
in a wide range of criminal activity, including identity theft.

The undercover agents asked Pulido to protect drug shipments, which
would require him to recruit accomplices, "in order to explore the
depths of Pulido's criminal conduct" and ferret out other possibly
corrupt police officers, McNeil told the court.

In April 2006, Pulido and Carrasquillo were paid $20,000 to protect
40 kilograms of cocaine for the undercover agents, according to the
indictment.

When the agents asked Pulido for help protecting a bigger shipment,
he recruited Pizarro, with whom he had graduated from the Boston
Police Academy in 1997. Pulido told Pizarro the drug dealers were his
cousins, according to McNeil.

Pizarro, a nine-year veteran of the Police Department who was on
leave for an injury at the time of his arrest, was initially
suspended without pay, then fired in May when he violated department
rules by refusing to supply a hair sample for his annual drug test,
according to Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Department.

Pulido, who has been ordered jailed until the federal case is
resolved, and Carrasquillo, who is free on bail, both remain
suspended without pay.

Pizarro, a father of two, was born in Puerto Rico and raised in
Boston by an older sister after his mother died when he was 7,
according to court documents.

When the three officers were arrested last year, the courtroom was
packed with friends and family who supported them.

But yesterday, only Pizarro's wife, Michele, who declined to talk to
reporters, and two friends were there for him.

While urging a judge to release Pizarro on bail last year, his
lawyers argued that he had a distinguished career as a police
officer, including two commendations for arresting fleeing suspects,
and was viewed as a hero in the community because he and his wife
operate a shelter in South Boston for recovering alcoholics.