Former Chief of Suffolk County Police Department James Burke gained national press attention in December 2015 when he was arrested following an FBI investigation into his 2012 assault and misconduct against Christopher Loeb, whom he had detained for attempting to steal a duffel bag from his car. Witnesses recalled Burke restraining Mr. Loeb with chains and repeatedly striking him in the face, while threatening to forcibly inject him with an overdose of heroin. New allegations have emerged since his conviction in November 2016 regarding his supposed involvement in a prostitution ring. The recent claims come from a woman who alleges she has had several encounters with Burke while working as an escort and pursuing a criminal justice degree, though another presumed witness by the name of Guy Malone has made similar claims on podcasts prior to her public statements. Additionally, an anonymous man under the alias of "Jay" took to Eric Koppelmann's WLINY podcast to recount his tale of discovering his ex-wife having an affair with Burke, and then later finding himself a victim of retaliation from SCPD as a result. While these accounts are all seemingly credible and interesting in their own respect, there is another story that has been ignored (if not censored) and may be the key to deciphering a web of corruption and cover-ups that entangles Long Island communities.
Peter Fiorillo, a retired NYPD officer of 28 years and active Websleuther, has been fervently investigating the corruption since his former son-in-law, Raymond Montefusco, was accused of plotting and participating in a series of burglaries. Montefusco was initially suspected of participating in the armed robbery of Strathmore Bagels on the 25th of July, 2000, though the case was later dropped. Montefusco was later convicted of additional charges in late 2004, which Pete asserts were all fabricated cases used in part of a conspiracy of [ex-] Chief Burke's. The alleged conspiracy centers around a Joseph A. Careccia, one of the witnesses who testified against Montefusco during the trial. Careccia has since changed his last name to "Colombo" and relocated to the Phoenix area, where he operated his own auto dealership until being exposed for scamming non-English-speaking customers. His wife, Gina, managed to retain her employment at the IRS despite these revelations from a local news agency, gracing the public with an opportunity to make a few one-liners out of the ordeal. But perhaps Careccia's more distant past should face greater scrutiny.
Suspect-turned-informant Peter Ghattas began cooperating with SCPD detectives in mid-August '03 regarding a burglary. Ghattas admitted to participating in the crime alongside Joe Careccia and Eddie Wright. The information was reiterated to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office on September 3rd, 2003 -- the point at which Ghattas agreed to testify under oath. Just weeks later, on the 24th, the witness was found dead in his SUV parked at Rob's Pro Towing in Ronkonkoma. Noteworthy is the fact that the property owner, Robert Spatafora, is currently serving a prison sentence for threatening a female witness of the Ghattas case and boasting of his supposed ties to the Mafia. A material witness order was filed against Careccia on October 23rd, and he was transported by Suffolk County DA detectives from his residence in Boca Raton, Florida back to Long Island for questioning.
On November 13th, Careccia told the detectives that he, Jake Feinberg, Tom Numan, and Ray Montefusco committed an armed robbery of Strathmore Bagels. He stated that the attempt was botched, so the group retreated to his garage with a mere $30.00. Feinberg was arrested by SCPD months later, in May '04, for a DWI and possession of ketamine while on probation for separate drug charge. Careccia repeated his supposed account to Suffolk Judge Hudson on July 2nd. It was in that sealed courtroom that Careccia admitted to commiting 38 crimes, which include arson, burglaries, armed robberies, and an instance where he and an accomplice had invaded the home of a local restaurant owner and tortured him to extract information regarding the whereabouts of his cash revenue, which totalled out to around $45,000. The Strathmore case was shot down when the DA's office recovered Raymond's credit card transaction records, which proved he was vacationing in Spain on the day the Strathmore robbery supposedly took place.
According to a 2007 report published by the Department of Justice, between 94% and 98% of all burglar alarm activations are falsely triggered -- and [unsurprisingly] all of them are logged in local police databases. Three were pinned on Montefusco after the Strathmore failure: King Kullen on November 8, 1999; Parsnip's Bar & Grill on July 10, 2000; and Jiffy Lube on July 30, 2000. Determining a motive behind a frame-job of Montefusco may be a matter of searching through publicly accessible property records. Records show that Careccia lived in a home four doors down from Burke from 1998 through 2002, and later moved within blocks of Thomas Spota's condo in Palm Beach County, Florida. Careccia testified at the Montefusco trial that he relocated to his Florida home after he became the target of a drive-by shooting over a year before the Ghattas murder, on April 28, 2002. He stated that a neighbor approached him immediately after the shooting, but he claimed to not remember the neighbor's identity. One can't help but wonder if Careccia had done certain things with his neighbors which they didn't want to be revealed. He had already admitted to committing 38 serious offenses to detectives during the Ghattas investigation. He had, no doubt, been expecting a lengthy prison sentence. Perhaps he had been expecting to receive a much lighter punishment if he ratted out his "friends in high places". Perhaps Burke and Spota forsaw Careccia's plans and approached him with an alternative "Get Out of Jail Free Card". Perhaps Burke and Spota conspired with him to fabricate a case so that a judge and jury would let him walk free for "cooperating" as a "witness".
KING KULLEN
Joseph Careccia testified that Raymond Montefusco, John Bruno, and Tom Newman solicited him for help stealing a stockpile of cash from a safe in a King Kullen gorcery store after hours of operation. Raymond conspired to ensure he would be on-duty on the night they would burglarize the store and would take the dispatch call regarding the security alarm triggering to then report back to SCPD that it was a false alarm. The King Kullen store was within feet of his sector, and he used a Nextel Point-to-Point to orchestrate the hit and watch for other officers or potential witnesses while the accomplices broke in. Careccia told Montefusco that he would refuse to enter the store unless he saw his patrol car in the front parking lot. King Kullen alarms are triggered at 1:03:29 a.m. when Door #602 is opened, according to the retailer's own records. Mr. Fiorillo points out that none of the several other alarms in the store were ever triggered by that point. Pete suggests that this indicates the perps (who he believes are still unidentified and have no affiliation with Careccia) deliberately created a false alarm and fleed to test the response of local law enforcement. If this is indeed what happened, then it seems to be in conflict with Careccia's testimony. Why would the burglars evade the premises without entering the store if they were working under the guidance of two cops who assured them they would take the call?
As per Careccia's testimony, at 1:11 a.m. Montefusco received a call from dispatch about an audible alarm sounding off at King Kullen. Pete rebutes such a claim by insisting that the store's management staff had requested their security alarm company switch to silent alarms prior to the date of the intrusion. Careccia went on to testify that Montefusco reported back to the station at 1:13 a.m., agreeing to investigate the alarm; and reported "premises appear to be secure" at 1:16 a.m. He stated that he and Eddie Wright entered the building, Wright tore the alarm box off the wall. The act of destroying the alarm would be rather unnecessary, given Careccia's sworn statements that there were two police officers covering for him and Wright at the time. Further doubt is cast by the fact that Eddie Wright was incarcerated in a Virginia jail for attempted manslaughter at the time these events supposedly unfolded. When asked to confirm that Wright participated in the burglary, Careccia testified that his assertion was correct. Suspiciously, Careccia changed his mind after the following recess and stated that it was a David Cipkin, instead. Cipkin denied participating in the burglary, despite admitting to multiple other felonies.
1:33:02 a.m. marks the first conclusive sign of entry with the tampering of King Kullen's safe and ATM. Nearby patrol officers are advised that the alarms are again ringing at 1:44:29 a.m. Motion alarms 602 and 603 are activated ten seconds later. Careccia testified that Montefusco told dispatch to tell nearby officers not to respond at 1:53:28 a.m. Fiorillo points out that this call was allegedly made just a second short of nine minutes after nearby officers were notified of the breach -- undoubtedly a long time to needlessly wait before calling off the heat.
Perhaps the most damning argument against Careccia's testimony is the fact that Montefusco appears to have been in the process of issuing a ticket at the time he allegedly entered the King Kullen. A data check call was made by Montefusco at 12:52 a.m. after he had stopped a driver at a Taco Bell over a broken headlight. Montefusco spotted Sector Car 308 at 12:56 a.m. and requested that he switch his CB over to the Countywide Band. 308 complied and questioned Montefusco's whereabouts. Montefusco then confirmed his location and requested backup, with 308 ultimately accepting the request. Montefusco made another call to dispatch at 1:00 a.m., asking for a warrant and stolen car check. That call was made less than four minutes before the first King Kullen alarm of the night was triggered. The driver was tracked down and questioned by Fiorillo via phone before Montefusco's trial, revealing two interesting recollections: the traffic stop had lasted approximately 20 minutes and there were two officers present throughout the whole ordeal. The first statement is significant because he was undeniably pulled over by Montefusco just after 12:50 a.m., and Montefusco was alleged to have broken into King Kullen roughly thirteen -- not twenty -- minutes later. The second statement is significant because the other officer who was present at the traffic stop was never interviewed by DA's office. It's understandable that one might question whether the driver simply overestimated the traffic stop by a few minutes. Less understandable is the DA's hesitance to comply with the Defense's requests to provide the Countywide recordings of the night. The tapes were eventually given, though all names had been redacted.
PARSNIP'S BAR & GRILL
Joe Careccia testified at Montefusco's trial that himself, David Cipkin, Eddie Wright, and Jake Feinberg burglarized Parsnip's Bar & Grill (now "Parsnip's Pub") on the early morning of July 10th, 2000 after hearing rumors of $25,000 worth of cash being stowed away in a safe located on the premises. He claimed they were unable to find the fabled safe, so they resorted to stealing about fifty bottles of alcohol. Feinberg's testimony differed from the other witnesses in that he stated he saw a dark green Exterra cruising around the block before breaking and entering the bar. According to Feinberg, Careccia reassured him by telling him the driver was an acquaintance in uniform. The group returned to Careccia's garage with an estimated 200 bottles of alcohol after completing the burglary. Montefusco waited until Wright and Cipkin left before hanging out for approximately 45 minutes, all-the-while conversing and unloading cases of alcohol from Montefusco's Exterra. Careccia, on the other hand, never mentioned Montefusco being at his house on that morning. David Cipkin was placed at Careccia's garage during that timeframe by both Careccia and Feinberg. Cipkin, when asked about his suspected involvement in a burglary of Parsnip's, responded with, "I wasn't there. I didn't do that one."
JIFFY LUBE
Joseph Careccia testified that, on late July 30th, 2000, he and David Cipkin burglarized a local Jiffy Lube with guns in hand while then-Officer Raymond Montefusco and Tom Newman acted as lookouts. Newman allegedly staked out one end of the block while Montefusco monitored the other. Montefusco's role was to inform Newman via CB radio if fellow officers were to approach the scene, and Newman would then alert Caerccia and Cipkin. Careccia testified that Cipkin climbed a tree in the parking lot to cut wires which led to the building. Cipkin was questioned regarding said wires later in the trial, to which he replied, "What wires? I don't know what you're talking about". The wires were, in fact, cut when the manager and police arrived that night.
Careccia continued his testimony by stating that himself and Cipkin entered through the bay doors in the rear of the building. Allegedly, they were only inside for roughly thirty seconds before they spotted headlights from a car that pulled into the parking lot. The driver and passenger of that car -- both females -- took the stand as witnesses in the trial. They testified that they had made a wrong turn onto the road which runs alongside Jiffy Lube's property, and that they pulled into the parking lot to re-route. They stated that they saw two men dressed in black clothing run toward an exterior door as they were turning around. When prompted, they claimed that they didn't hear alarms ringing until their front tires hit the road on their exit. Careccia testified that he and his accomplices never reached the safe that they had initially intended to loot, despite the fact that it was within a few feet of the door they allegedly exited through. Adding further suspicion, Careccia later testified that he and Cipkin fleed the building because they receieved a radio call from Newman warning them to vacate the premises -- not because they saw headlights. Careccia later admitted that they might have been inside the building for longer than thirty seconds, back-stepping (pun intended) from his previous assertion that he was only inside for a maximum of thirty seconds.
Fiorillo states that the Jiffy Lube safe was located under a counter at the time of the burglary, contrary to SCPD's description of a wall safe in the official police report. The investigation was serious enough to warrant aerial photographs being taken of the property, yet no photos were ever taken of the safe. Fiorillo has uncovered another fact that was never mentioned at his former son-in-law's trial: a truck had been stolen from a business next-door and recovered by police shortly after, around midnight. The driver told the questioning officers he was "borrowing" it from his boss and that he was simply joy-riding. The driver was never interrogated beyond the initial stop, despite being a likely suspect in the Jiffy Lube incident.