Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. - Albert Einstein

Where Everybody Knows You’re Framed

by West Virginia Rebel

Harrassment? What harrassment?

A Queens bar owner claims the NYPD is trying to run him out of business because he helped prove his patrons were framed in a fake drug-dealing sting.

Eduardo Espinoza, 36, of Elmhurst, was hit with more than a dozen violations from the 110th Precinct - including two for failing to have liquid soap and paper towels in his bar bathroom - after handing over a videotape suggesting undercover officers made up a buy-and-bust deal in his club in January.

“I been harassed so much, I’m selling my business,” said Espinoza, owner of Delicias de Mi Tierra on 91st Place in Elmhurst.

“Every two to three weeks, there’s cops in here, searching the bar. If there’s no violation, they’ll make it up. I lost all my clients - everybody’s scared to come in my place right now.”

Espinoza was working in his bar about 1:40 a.m. on Jan. 5 when undercover officers busted brothers Jose and Maximo Colon and friends Raul Duchimasa and Luis Rodriguez for allegedly peddling $100 worth of cocaine.

Queens prosecutors dropped those charges last week because of Espinoza’s security video showing that the undercover officers had no contact with them in the bar, Colon’s lawyer said.

Prosecutors and the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau are investigating whether to bring charges against the officers. Investigators are also poring over the officers’ prior cases for signs of misconduct, sources said.

An NYPD spokesman said the department would look into the matter. But sources blamed the frequent police visits on community complaints.

Ah, “Community complaints.” Usually meaning either one disgruntled neighbor or an “Informant.” But this is the city that had Rudy Giuliani’s good buddy Bernie Kerik as its police chief, so maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised.

Comments

Posted by Lee on 07/03/08 at 11:17 PM from

I gotta admit I LOL’d at the title to this post.

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