This combination of photos provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York on Oct. 26, 2023, shows John Costanzo Jr., left, and Manny Recio. A federal jury convicted the two former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration supervisors, Costanzo Jr. and Recio, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, of leaking confidential information to defense attorneys as part of a bribery conspiracy that prosecutors said imperiled high-profile cases and the lives of overseas drug informants.
Recio and Costanzo join a growing list of more than a dozen DEA agents convicted of federal charges in recent years, including one whoMuch of the case turned on text messages and wiretapped phone calls between the longtime lawmen, who remained close after Recio retired from DEA in 2018 and began recruiting clients as a private investigator for Miami defense lawyers.
The scheme relied on middlemen, including Costanzo's father, himself a retired and decorated DEA agent who prosecutors said lied to the FBI. Prosecutors said Costanzo and Recio also used sham invoices and a company listing its address as a UPS store to disguise the bribe payments while deleting hundreds of messages and calls to a burner phone.
“That is a remarkable failure of proof,” defense lawyer Marc Mukasey told jurors in his summation. “In a case about bribery and conspiracy, no one testified about bribery or conspiracy.” “It was a difficult case because we all trust law enforcement," the jury forewoman, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press."But as a public official, the public expects a certain standard of behavior.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »
Source: KIRO7Seattle - 🏆 271. / 63 Read more »
Source: sdut - 🏆 5. / 95 Read more »
Source: ksatnews - 🏆 442. / 53 Read more »
Source: wjxt4 - 🏆 246. / 63 Read more »
Source: WOKVNews - 🏆 247. / 63 Read more »