Accused Cop Denies Role In Rip-Offs
|
Miami Herald, The (FL) Joan Fleischman, Herald Staff Writer Officer Armando "Scarface" Garcia took the witness stand Friday in the Miami River Cops corruption trial and testified that he did not steal a multimillion-dollar boatload of cocaine, he did not steal drugs from a couple during a traffic stop, and he was not involved in a rip-off on the river in which three smugglers drowned. Garcia, 24, one of seven patrolman accused of a multitide of crimes ranging from drug trafficking to murder conspiracy, is the only officer so far to testify in his own defense. After a 30-minute whispered conference among the eight defense lawyers, three prosecutors, the judge, and Garcia, attorney Sam Rabin called his mustachioed, muscular client to the witness stand. The jurors watched intently. Garcia's mother, father, sister and fiancee sat stiffly. All eyes in the courtroom were glued on Garcia. Garcia at first answered routine questions from his lawyer. He said he came to this country from Cuba, lived in Chicago, and moved to Miami in 1973 at age 11. He attended Miami Jackson and Miami senior high schools, has 21 credits toward a college degree and worked for the Miami Police Department as a public service aide, handling car accidents and writing parking tickets, before becoming a full-fledged patrolman in 1982. His father is a $14-an-hour union carpenter, his mother worked in a perfume factory, and his sister is a student. He said he lived at home and did not own a house or car before his December 1985 arrest. Garcia also explained his nickname, Scarface: At age 2, he suffered burns on the left side of his face when his mother set an iron on the floor and a fire broke out. Then came the key questions.. Did Garcia steal nine ounces of cocaine from Jorge and Maria Tarrazo, a couple he had pulled over for a traffic violation in June 1985? "I never saw any cocaine in that vehicle," Garcia said. He said he didn't ticket the driver, Jorge Tarrazo, for making an illegal turn because the infraction wasn't serious. "I gave him a break," Garcia said. Garcia also denied taking a boat ride along the Miami River to hunt for the Mary C, a cocaine-laden freighter that prosecutors say was raided July 28, 1985 by Garcia, three fellow defendants and up to 10 other men, some dressed in police uniforms. Three smugglers jumped overboard and drowned. "I've never been on a boat ride up or down the Miami River," Garcia said. Garcia insisted he was not seated in a Cadillac outside a shopping mall when a plot to kill drug dealer Luis Rodriguez was allegedly discussed by some of the officers. Rodriguez was later shot to death. And Garcia explained away a conversation with Armando Un Roque, a drug dealer-turned-informant who secretly tape-recorded him. In that conversation, Garcia told Un that "nobody has said a f-----g thing" to Garcia, who described Un as a "street person," said he used profanity to show Un "that I was not a soft person." Then came the tough part: cross-examination. Prosecutor Trudy Novicki asked hard-hitting questions. Garcia held up, answering politely and addressing her as "Miss Novicki." She asked Garcia why he never documented his dealings with Un, and if he ever asked prosecution witless Pedro Ramos how to get money out of the country. "I do not have any money," Garcia said. Novicki then asked about a trip that he and two other officers took to the Dominican Republic, the Caribbean nation where Ramos happens to own a home. "I went to see my cousin," Garcia said. Novicki asked his name. "He's sitting right there in court," Garcia answered. What's his name, Novicki wanted to know. Garcia drew a blank. "I'm nervous," he said, then remembered the name. Novicki asked Garcia about a safe deposit box that he rented in May 1985 and visited in June and July. Garcia said he leased the box to store the family's jewelry, then removed his valuables because it was too inconvenient to get to the bank. He said he put his jewelry in a pouch and hid it, along with $7,000 cash he used for a down payment on a house, in a crawl space underneath his parents' home. He never bought his own house because the financing was not approved, he said. Novicki also asked him if defendant Osvaldo Coello had a Cadillac in August 1985. Garcia said he did not know. Novicki was referring to an Aug. 9, 1985 traffic stop by Metro-Dade police. Coello and two other men were riding in a blue Cadillac with a temporary license tag that matched the description of a Cadillac used in an abduction-robbery in which the robbers used police badges. Garcia will resume testifying on Monday. |
