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Thread: 4 convicted in NY cop Eddie Byrne's 1988 death denied parole

  1. #1
    Moderator MRBAM's Avatar
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    4 convicted in NY cop Eddie Byrne's 1988 death denied parole

    NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie cop Eddie Byrne was alone in a squad car on a cold February night in 1988, protecting the home of a witness in a drug case who had been threatened by dealers. It was about 3 a.m. when the gun flashed — five bullets were pumped into his head.

    Byrne wasn’t caught in the crossfire of a shootout and he wasn’t being robbed — he was killed because he was a cop. Days earlier, a powerful drug dealer had ordered a hit from jail on any cop as payback for his arrest and offered $8,000 as a reward.

    ‘‘It was an all-out assassination,’’ said retired officer Tony Keller, one of the first to the scene that night. ‘‘This just stunned us all. If they could kill a cop like that, no one was safe.’’

    The brazen killing shocked a city mired in an epidemic of drugs and violence and became a flashpoint that helped usher in an era of change nationwide. Next month, the four men convicted will be up for parole, a longshot, but Byrne’s family, police and politicians want to make sure they stay behind bars.

    U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg all sent letters on behalf of the family. Last month, the police department’s largest union added to its website a form letter that can be sent to the parole board urging that convicted cop killers remain in jail. More than 250,000 letters have been sent. Hundreds went to the Byrne killers.
    ‘‘We won’t let people forget about the sacrifices of those officers,’’ said Patrick Lynch, head of the union.

    In the late 1980s, Queens was the ground zero of the crack epidemic in New York, and two drug dealers reigned, Lorenzo ‘‘Fat Cat’’ Nichols and his associate Howard ‘‘Pappy’’ Mason. Their army of thugs kept addicts in cheap crack and terrorized residents. Crime was rampant; in 1990, the number of murders hit an all-time high of 2,245.

    ‘‘The drug traffickers’ games were very vicious, and they were pretty blatant. You could go onto any street corner and see a deal,’’ Keller said. ‘‘It was a tough job for a cop then.’’
    Byrne was new to the precinct and to the department. He was still living at home and going to college at night, just like his father, a retired police lieutenant, did. His three brothers are also in law enforcement.

    ‘‘He had barely started life,’’ said his older brother Larry Byrne. ‘‘He had just graduated from high school. He wasn’t married. He wanted to have a family and he never got to experience life.’’

    Mason directed the hit through his associate Philip Copeland. He and three others, Todd Scott, David McClary and Scott Cobb, planned it. Finding a cop wasn’t a problem — most people in the neighborhood knew there was a squad car with one officer parked outside the witness’ home 24 hours a day.

    ‘‘It was a tough night tour’’ said Keller, who was on the job more than 30 years. ‘‘You’re alone, you’re easily distracted, you’re hungry, you’re sleepy. It was dangerous. Sure enough, look at what happened.’’

    On Feb. 26, Scott distracted Byrne while McClary shot him. Cobb was the wheelman. Copeland was to provide the alibi.

    When police arrived, the car was still running. Glass was shattered, and Byrne was slumped over.

    ‘‘He died alone sitting there, that’s what’s so sad. It bothers me still,’’ Keller said.

    The four men, all in their 20s, were arrested about a week later, tried, convicted and sentenced to the maximum available at the time, 25 years to life. (State law was changed in 1995 and now convicted cop killers face life without parole.)

    Mason was given a life sentence on separate drug charges in federal court. But Byrne’s killers will be eligible for parole every two years from now on. Their hearings are scheduled for the week of Nov. 11, and the week of Nov. 26 for Cobb. Larry Byrne said he’s more worried about them being paroled decades from now, when the case isn’t remembered as well.

    ‘‘A future parole board might not appreciate the full gravity and seriousness of this terrible crime,’’ he said.

    About 10,000 uniformed police officers from around the country attended Byrne’s funeral. The story was on the cover of Time Magazine. President Reagan called the family at home and offered condolences, and Byrne’s father presented then-GOP presidential nominee George H.W. Bush with his son’s police shield. Bush showed the shield at campaign rallies around the country when he spoke about the need to crack down on illegal drugs.

    ‘‘Every day, my parents would open a paper and see a photo of my brother Eddie,’’ said Larry Byrne, a lawyer who for years was a federal prosecutor on drug cases. ‘‘It wasn’t anything the press did wrong, but it made healing for them very hard with it.’’

    The case became a turning point in the war on drugs. The NYPD established teams of undercover officers to sweep dealers off the streets in drug-plagued neighborhoods. Officers went out in pairs instead of alone. A federal police funding program was named in Byrne’s memory.

    Drug dealers were put behind bars, and the city slowly became safer. Now, New York is on track to have the lowest murder rate since record-keeping began.

    ‘‘The department has changed dramatically since then, but something like that could still happen,’’ said Kelly, the police commissioner. ‘‘It’s important to remember this is a risky job. Officers are risking their lives to do it.’’

    http://www.boston.com/news/nation/20...WtN/story.html

  2. #2
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    February 28, 2013

    NYPD marks 25th anniversary of Police Officer Edward Byrne’s murder

    Family, NYPD mourn slain rookie cop on 25th anniversary of his death

    By Michael Gannon
    The Queens Chronicle

    Twenty-five years ago, a stunned city awoke to the news that rookie NYPD patrolman Edward Byrne had been savagely murdered in the early morning by paid killers as he guarded the home of a witness in a drug case.

    On Tuesday, hundreds gathered at the corner of Inwood Street and 107th Avenue in South Jamaica to remember the 22-year-old officer, and to recall a city forever changed by his death.

    “Eddie loved football, hunting and fishing,” his eldest brother Larry said. “He was into [the band] Journey and some hard rock music. And he had always wanted to be a cop like our father.

    “When he graduated from the academy, he bought himself a Dodge Ram pickup truck. He drove it to work that night ...”

    Byrne’s parents, Matt and Ann, and two of his brothers were saluted by more than 100 police officers, including many from the 103rd Precinct, as they were escorted to their seats for the ceremony on 107th Avenue.

    Byrne’s family — both from Long Island, where he grew up and from the NYPD and 103rd Precinct — have come back to the intersection every year, usually at night, and sometimes in torrential rain or snow.

    “Twenty-five years ago, we made a promise,” Inspector Charles McEvoy, current commander of the 103rd, said. “We promised that we would never forget Edward Byrne.”

    The house on the southeast corner that Byrne had been watching has long since been torn down and replaced with modern homes.

    Floral wreaths, one done as a replica of Byrne’s badge with the number 14072, were displayed with two framed portraits of Byrne on the southwest corner of the intersection, less than 10 feet from the spot where his patrol car sat that morning.

    Assistant Chief James Secreto, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Queens South, said 25 years has done little to heal the pain and the shock.

    “It was one of those things where you always remember where you were when you heard it,” he said.

    New York City in 1988 was in the midst of drug wars in many sections, and Byrne was assigned to the 103rd Precinct which covers Jamaica, Hollis and Lakewood.

    Residents in the house had been helping police and prosecutors in their effort to tackle the drug problem in the neighborhood, and police protection followed after the family had been threatened and their house firebombed.

    The killers approached Byrne’s patrol car and shot him five times. He was pronounced dead at Mary Immaculate Hospital, five days after his 22nd birthday.

    He would be the first of seven New York City police officers to die in the line of duty in 1988.

    Drug kingpin Howard “Pappy” Mason was in prison when he ordered a hit on a police officer, any police officer, intending to intimidate anyone else thinking of cooperating, and to send a message to the police.

    He could not have miscalculated more completely.

    The city rose up. Police throughout the borough began an all-out war on the drug trade, including the formation of a new Tactical Narcotics Task Force, also known as TNT.

    President Ronald Reagan personally telephoned Byrne’s parents. President George H.W. Bush would display badge 14072, a gift from Matt Byrne, in the White House.

    “People said ‘Enough is enough,’” Pat Lynch, president of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said on Tuesday. “The world has changed since Eddie Byrne was killed in the line of duty ... and every child who has been born here since then is safer because of him.”

    The gunmen and lookouts were arrested within a week. All four were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, and all have been denied parole in the last three months.

    Mason in 1989 was convicted on an array of federal charges, including Byrne’s murder. He is serving life without parole in a federal “supermax” prison in Florence, Colo.

    Byrne’s framed portrait is displayed prominently near the main desk in the 103rd Precinct. McEvoy and Lynch said he serves as an inspiration to all officers who pin their badges on each day in service of the city, the youngest of whom were not yet born when his life was cut short.

    “Eddie Byrne is watching over them as their guardian angel,” Lynch said to the Byrne family.

    “Your loss, the pain you go through every day, pushes us onward,” he said. “He gives us the inspiration every day to do what we do.”

    http://www.qchron.com/editions/easte...53d38d6f6.html

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