EPISODE 4: Cops & Robbers

Summary

Spotlight: Snitch City – Episode 4: Cops & Robbers

Introduction

In Episode 4 of Spotlight: Snitch City, hosted by investigative reporter Dugan Arnett from The Boston Globe Spotlight Team, listeners are plunged into the shadowy realm of police informants within a single police department. This episode, titled "Cops & Robbers," delves into the intricate relationship between drug dealers and law enforcement, spotlighting rampant misconduct and the systemic reliance on informants in a nation grappling with drug addiction.

Frank Simmons: The Kingpin

The narrative centers around Frank Simmons, known as Rizzo among friends, a prominent drug dealer in New Bedford during the 1990s. Simmons provides a candid account of his operations and lifestyle:

"Yeah, I was dumb. That's what I was. I always had three, four grand in my pocket, but I'd go out and spend two, three grand a night at the clubs." [01:07]

He managed large-scale drug distribution, primarily dealing in significant quantities of marijuana:

"I was more of like a high end. Like, I wouldn't go give you a little bag. I was selling 10 pounds, 20 pounds, you know what I mean." [00:46]

Frank's operation was expansive, dealing not just in marijuana but also in cocaine and ecstasy. His ability to move large quantities kept his business covert and substantial.

The Aggressive Police Narcotics Unit and Paul Oliveira

New Bedford's narcotics unit, under the leadership of Paul Oliveira, harbored a particularly aggressive stance against drug dealers. Oliveira, nicknamed "Robocop" on the streets, became notorious for his relentless pursuit of offenders:

"92, 93 maybe is when he started making a name for himself. You know, people knew you had to watch out for him." [02:06]

Frank recounts the tense atmosphere, always evading Oliveira's unit:

"You didn't want to run into them. You tried to stay away from them. Like, if we knew they were on the ave, we'd go to the south end." [01:36]

The Raid and the Green Fund Scandal

The tension between Frank and Oliveira culminated in a dramatic police raid in the summer of 1998. Frank had anticipated increased police scrutiny and had prepared to relocate his operations. However, the police struck unexpectedly:

"I pulled in the driveway, put the car in park, and I had a gun to my head. I had the window down about six inches." [03:40]

During the raid, law enforcement uncovered a significant stash of drugs and an unexpected $33,000 in cash, which Frank claims was mishandled by Oliveira and his team:

"Paul was passing out thousand dollar stacks to everybody. And then he turns to me and he says, that's what we call the fucking green fund. Thanks, buddy." [04:37]

Official records, however, contradict Frank's account, stating only $2,200 was found. Frank alleges a substantial discrepancy, suggesting corruption within the narcotics unit.

The FBI's Offer and Frank's Dilemma

Facing substantial prison time, Frank was approached by the FBI with an opportunity to reduce his charges by cooperating against Oliveira:

"I got offered $150,000 cash and if I wanted to be relocated, they'd relocate me." [19:45]

This proposition placed Frank at a crossroads: honor his personal code by refusing to snitch or accept the deal to mitigate his legal troubles. Despite the temptation, Frank upheld his stance against cooperating with law enforcement:

"I'm not gonna rat on somebody to get myself out of trouble. That, to me, that's a broken rule." [22:26]

Aftermath and Impact

Frank's refusal to cooperate led to a plea bargain, sparing him from the harshest penalties but leaving Oliveira's ascent within the department unchallenged. This decision had lasting implications, as Oliveira later became New Bedford's police chief. Frank's story underscores the pervasive code of silence among drug dealers and the challenges it poses to law enforcement efforts.

Accountability and Conclusion

The episode concludes by examining the broader impact of such no-snitching cultures on accountability within police departments. Barry Wilson, a defense attorney who represented Frank, criticizes Oliveira's integrity and highlights systemic issues:

"Everybody knew way back when nobody trusted Oliveira. Anybody you ask would have said, you trust this guy?" [34:41]

Despite multiple attempts by other informants to expose corruption, the entrenched silence effectively shielded Oliveira from prosecution. Former FBI agent Dave Madigan corroborates suspicions of interference:

"I think Paul Oliveira went and talked to somebody." [Madigan]

Ultimately, Spotlight: Snitch City Episode 4 paints a compelling picture of the intricate dance between drug dealers and corrupt law enforcement, illustrating how personal codes and systemic failures can undermine justice and perpetuate corruption.

Notable Quotes

• Frank Simmons on his lifestyle:

  "I was dumb. That's what I was. I always had three, four grand in my pocket, but I'd go out and spend two, three grand a night at the clubs." [01:07]

• Frank on the green fund incident:

  "Paul was passing out thousand dollar stacks to everybody. And then he turns to me and he says, that's what we call the fucking green fund. Thanks, buddy." [04:37]

• Barry Wilson on Paul Oliveira:

  "Everybody knew way back when nobody trusted Oliveira. Anybody you ask would have said, you trust this guy?" [34:41]

Conclusion

Episode 4 of Spotlight: Snitch City masterfully intertwines personal narratives with investigative journalism to shed light on the murky intersections of drug trafficking and police corruption. Through Frank Simmons' story, listeners gain insight into the complexities and consequences of a culture resistant to cooperation, ultimately questioning the efficacy of law enforcement's reliance on informants in battling systemic misconduct.

Transcript

[Dugan Arnett]

Before we begin, this story contains strong language and descriptions of violence. Take care when listening.

[Frank Simmons]

Yeah, I mean, I was very, very well liked, very well known. Like, I could go anywhere in the city, all the different projects, and I was good with all the top dogs in all the places.

[Dugan Arnett]

This is Frank Simmons, Rizzo to his friends. And in the 90s, he was a big time drug dealer.

[Frank Simmons]

In new bed newspapers, they said I was the kingpin, but I just kind of overseen everything, you know, as a whole. So that way it kept it in.

[Dugan Arnett]

Line long before it was legal. Frank moved loads of marijuana.

[Frank Simmons]

I was more of like a high end. Like, I wouldn't go give you a little bag. I was selling 10 pounds, 20 pounds, you know what I mean?

[Dugan Arnett]

He dealt in more than just pot.

[Frank Simmons]

We never kept it all in the same place, of course, but. And then we'd just distribute it, and then when it was gone, we'd get more.

[Dugan Arnett]

Were you rich? Did you feel rich?

[Frank Simmons]

I was dumb. That's what I was. I always had three, four grand in my pocket, But I'd go out and spend two, three grand a night at the clubs. Whether it was the drinking clubs or the strip clubs or whatever it was.

[Dugan Arnett]

We spent money funding this lifestyle. Staying in business meant being careful. In New Bedford, where the drug war was being waged daily, the police narcotics unit was aggressive.

[Frank Simmons]

You didn't want to run into them. You tried to stay away from them. Like, if we knew they were on the ave, we'd go to the south end. If we knew they were in the south end, we'd come to the north end. I'd get a call eight and knocks her out full force tonight. They're all over. So we all right, let's get out of here. We'd go to Boston, we'd go to Providence. Just. Just stay away from him.

[Dugan Arnett]

One drug cop in particular had his eye on Frank. When's the first time you ever heard the Name Paul Oliveira?

[Frank Simmons]

92, 93 maybe is when he started making a name for himself. You know, people knew you had to watch out for him. You know, if he didn't like you, he was on you. Yeah, I stayed away from him.

[Dugan Arnett]

And on the street, Oliveira had a nickname.

[Frank Simmons]

Robocop. Yeah, everybody knew, you know, Robocop. They knew you were talking about him.

[Dugan Arnett]

Do you think it was a fitting nickname?

[Frank Simmons]

Oh, yeah, he thought he was.

[Dugan Arnett]

You know, decades before Paul Oliveira became the city's police chief, he was making a name for himself as one of the most prolific narcotics cops in New Bedford, which put him and Frank On a collision course. It all came to a head one day late in the summer of 1998.

[Frank Simmons]

All right, so my brother. My older brother called me. I want to say it was on Wednesday. And he's like, what are you doing? And I'm like, what are you talking about? And he said, I got a phone call. They're on to you. You better smarten up.

[Dugan Arnett]

Frank's brother had heard that the cops were keeping tabs on him. Frank's main headquarters, where he kept most of the drugs, was a three story walk up in the city's north end.

[Frank Simmons]

So I had actually made arrangements for everything that was in that house to get moved on Saturday.

[Dugan Arnett]

But it was too late. The police raid the house on Friday.

[Frank Simmons]

I pulled in the driveway, put the car in park, and I had a gun to my head. I had the window down about six inches. And they were like, don't move. And I was like, okay, I'm not going to move.

[Dugan Arnett]

Who's there? Is Paul? Is Paul there? From the start?

[Frank Simmons]

About 10 others, yeah. There was a shitload of them.

[Dugan Arnett]

They have a warrant.

[Frank Simmons]

They were surprised because they thought they were just coming for weed. And they ended up finding coke and ecstasy. So they were, like, partying up. They were, like, happy.

[Dugan Arnett]

Along with all the drugs, the cops find a lot of cash.

[Frank Simmons]

There was $33,000 in the safe. And then they just started passing out money. Thousand dollar stacks. Just passing them out, passing them out.

[Dugan Arnett]

To everybody sitting there handcuffed on the couch. Frank says he watches Oliveira doling out wads of his money to the other drug detectives.

[Frank Simmons]

Paul was passing out thousand dollar stacks to everybody. And then he turns to me and he says, that's what we call the fucking green fund. Thanks, buddy. That's. That's how that went down.

[Dugan Arnett]

The green fund. According to Frank, police trash his place, seize the drugs, and take his money, even his baseball cards.

[Frank Simmons]

I mean, I can't say much at that point. I was just like, keep it. Let me go. You know, I knew I was fucked. Like, I knew I was fucked.

[Dugan Arnett]

The official records from the raid say the drug unit only found about $2,200. But Frank says there was roughly 15 times that and the cops pocketed the difference. I know it's a big allegation, but I've been able to verify much of what Frank has told me through search warrants, court records, prison paperwork, and more. Frank knows what's coming next.

[Frank Simmons]

I was facing a lot of time.

[Dugan Arnett]

You know, and Paul Oliveira knows. This is the perfect time to try and add a New CI to his roster. He's done it many times before. Did he try to turn you?

[Frank Simmons]

Yeah. Yeah, he tried to turn all of us.

[Dugan Arnett]

But cooperating with police is a cardinal sin in Frank's world.

[Frank Simmons]

Snitch, informant, CI. You didn't want to be labeled a rat. Not around here.

[Dugan Arnett]

Frank's in a tough spot, facing a lot of jail time. And he's got a decision to make. But this won't be the last time he'll find himself in the hot seat. And next time it's going to be harder to stay true to his code. Because next time he'll be asked to snitch on Paul Oliveira himself.

[Frank Simmons]

They said they'd relocate me, give me money. Because that was the concern was like what are you worried about? What am I worried about? I'm gonna rat on a cop. Like I gotta live around here. Every single cop in the city is gonna be after me.

[Dugan Arnett]

I'm Dugan Arnett from the Boston Globe. This is Spotlight. Snitch City Episode 4 Cops and Robbers.

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[Dugan Arnett]

So is this the.

[Frank Simmons]

Station 3 right here. Paul's old stomping grounds. This is where they were.

[Dugan Arnett]

Just that little station.

[Barry Wilson]

Yep.

[Dugan Arnett]

It's a sweltering summer day in New Bedford and I'm riding shotgun in Frank's suv. Who would have worked out of there was that drug unit.

[Frank Simmons]

Yep.

[Dugan Arnett]

Back in the day I first came across Frank's name in a 25 year old federal court file. Frank's in his early 50s, shaved head, tattoos. He's got a Cheshire Cat grin framed by a goatee and wears a chunky diamond ring on his pinky finger.

[Frank Simmons]

I used to walk by that car law every day. And the guy one day was like, hey, kid, you want a job? And I was like, hell, yeah.

[Dugan Arnett]

And he's like, Frank grew up in public housing. His parents split up when he was young. Things were pretty unstable, and he went to live with his grandparents.

[Frank Simmons]

They were wicked strict, but, like, everybody in the neighborhood's parents were strict, like, you know what I mean?

[Dugan Arnett]

Like a lot of people in New Bedford. Frank's grandfather spoke Portuguese at home.

[Frank Simmons]

You know, mostly all Portuguese families in this neighborhood, you know, Spanish and Cape Verdeans.

[Dugan Arnett]

Do you have fond memories of, like.

[Frank Simmons]

That time I could run back then I seen headlights, I was gone. Yeah, I was always afraid to get arrested because my grandfather was in law enforcement. And he always used to tell me, you get arrested, don't call. Don't call me. You're staying there, you know?

[Dugan Arnett]

Growing up, Frank thought he'd follow in his grandfather's footsteps and go into law enforcement himself. He even had a plan to go.

[Frank Simmons]

In the Marines, go to Desert Storm, and then come back and, you know, apply for the New Bedford Police Department.

[Dugan Arnett]

And it might sound crazy, but even well into his career as a dealer, Frank still believed he could do it.

[Frank Simmons]

That was going forward until I got in trouble.

[Dugan Arnett]

The trouble started when Frank graduated high school.

[Frank Simmons]

We started drinking every day. We started hanging out. We had a big crew, and it just took off from there.

[Dugan Arnett]

At the time, drugs coursed through New Bedford, and before long, Frank was deep in the weed business, which meant a lot of attention from police.

[Frank Simmons]

We used to follow them, follow us, like, you know what I mean? We used to drive around behind them and let everybody know where they were.

[Dugan Arnett]

Frank's other business helped with that.

[Frank Simmons]

I had a pager and cell phone store back then. Beepers were pretty popular.

[Dugan Arnett]

It was called Beeper Shack, and it helped Frank maintain an air of legitimacy. But he knew who his customers were.

[Frank Simmons]

One hand went with the other. Back then, you were either a doctor or a lawyer or a drug dealer. If you had a pager, you know.

[Dugan Arnett]

Of course, police knew that, too, including Paul Oliveira, RoboCop. In Frank's mind, Oliveira always stood out from the other cops.

[Frank Simmons]

Paul was like a pretty boy back then, you know?

[Dugan Arnett]

What makes you say pretty boy?

[Frank Simmons]

Well, you know, he was like, always. Always had his hair nice. Always had, like, you know, just, to me, looked like a pretty Boy.

[Dugan Arnett]

For the record, I'm under no illusions about the kind of guy Frank was back then. He's open about his drug dealing. Yet Frank says he also lived by a code. His own sense of right. And. And what bothered him about Oliveira and the other drug cops was that in Frank's eyes, they didn't operate by a code of their own.

[Frank Simmons]

We were all just pissed off that they were so crooked and they could get away with it. So we were like, you know, how can we let people know? So somebody came up with the idea, let's make T shirts. And everybody can wear the T shirts. So that's what we did.

[Dugan Arnett]

I've seen the shirt. Frank wore it to one of our interviews. It's pretty faded. Now, on the front it says, 10 questions to ask a New Bedford narcotics detective.

[Frank Simmons]

And on the back that lists the 10 questions. It says, how much money did you pocket in last night's raid? Number two, if it wasn't for snitches, where would you work? Number four, when was your last drug test? Now, these all have a story behind them, too. How many innocent people did you set up in the last month? What is your brownie point status with the lieutenant? How many times did you lie in court under oath this month? And number 10, where would you spend your well paid time if there were no donut or pizza shops? Because they were always there.

[Dugan Arnett]

Was it hard to find somebody to print those up?

[Frank Simmons]

It really was. That was the hard part.

[Dugan Arnett]

But eventually they did.

[Frank Simmons]

And we sold them for 20 bucks a piece. We probably sold about 100 of them. I don't know. We thought it was pretty funny. We sent one to the da. We sent one to the chief at the time. Bunch of guys wore them in court and the judge flipped out and made them put them inside out. We sent one to him, of course.

[Dugan Arnett]

To who?

[Frank Simmons]

Paul? Yeah. Yeah.

[Dugan Arnett]

The T shirts were actually a direct response to what happened on the day of the raid. When Oliveira and the others showed up at Frank's headquarters In the summer of 98, the day Frank learned about the green fund. Frank says that after the police tossed his apartment, seized the drugs and pocketed his money, he and his crew were taken to the New Bedford police station.

[Frank Simmons]

They had a room upstairs for the Knox. It was like a big room like this with all their desks. And they had us all handcuffed to the wall. So I'm literally sitting there like this, handcuffed. They put on the music over the loudspeaker. Another one bites the dust. And they were all dancing around, and they had all our cell phones and our pages on a table, like, right there in the middle of the room. And every time one of the pages would go off, they'd grab it and they'd go make a call because they were trying to do buys.

[Dugan Arnett]

Frank says the cops are using their cell phones and pagers to catch people looking to buy drugs. When a call comes in, instead of being answered by a drug dealer, there's a cop on the other end. They set up a fake deal and then go out and a bust is made.

[Frank Simmons]

So I'm sitting there, and all of a sudden, I look and there's a phone hanging on the wall, like, right here next to me. So I'm like, nobody's looking. I grab the phone. There's no dial tone. I hit nine. I get a dial tone.

[Dugan Arnett]

Frank's got one hand cuffed to the wall, but with his free hand, he calls a guy who works for him at the Beeper Shack.

[Frank Simmons]

So I said, go to the store. Shut my pager and phone and shut everybody's stuff off. Because he could go right to my store and go on the computer and shut it off. When I hung up the phone, Paul seen me come over, ripped the phone right out of the wall, threw it. Who did you call? And I'm like, your mother? Yeah. And maybe 10 minutes later, all of our pages and everything stopped. They were so pissed. They were so pissed. And they knew. He knew. Right there. He's like, that's the phone call you made? Yeah.

[Dugan Arnett]

And what happens next?

[Frank Simmons]

So then they ordered pizza.

[Dugan Arnett]

For you?

[Frank Simmons]

Nope. For them, I had out. Never forget it. I had $21 in my pocket. That's it. And he took it and ordered pizza with it out of my pocket and even said, hey, we're ordering pizza with that money. So when the pizza came, I was like, yo, can I get a slice? And he's like, what? And I was like, can I get some cheese?

[Dugan Arnett]

Can I get some cheese? This might not sound like anything of note, but in this context, asking for a slice of cheese has a very different meaning.

[Frank Simmons]

So he come over thinking I was going to rap. Cause that was the word back then. Hey, can I get some cheese? Meaning I was gonna rap. So he says, well, what do you got to tell me?

[Dugan Arnett]

Oliveira knows what a slice of cheese means, too. But Frank's just playing. Jokes aside, in that moment, there was a lot at stake for Frank.

[Frank Simmons]

I said, I ain't fucking going nowhere, bro. I got nothing to say to you.

[Dugan Arnett]

So Frank stays true. But now he's facing a slew of.

[Frank Simmons]

Char possession with intent to distribute, trafficking, possession in a school zone, cultivating, and my charges were added up to 18 to 24 years on the mandatory sentencing.

[Dugan Arnett]

It's looking really bad for Frank. He's lawyered up and bracing for a fight. He's ready to go down instead of becoming a snitch for Oliveira. But then he gets a call from another investigator who wants his cooperation. Frank is being offered another chance to snitch and this time he considers it. Because this time it's the FBI calling. Cancer is sadly very common in America. It's rare that someone has not been impacted by the disease, whether they endured it themselves or witnessed a loved one. Which is why I want to tell you about my Boston Globe colleague's brand new five part series the Stories of Cancer on the say More podcast. In the series, award winning columnist and host Shirley Leung shares her own journey with breast cancer for the first time. While telling her story, Shirley explores the science, history and real life impact of the disease, bringing together experts, survivors and groundbreaking research. Follow say More from the Boston Globe Wherever you get your podcasts pms, Pregnancy.

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[Dugan Arnett]

The FBI tells Frank they're building a case against Oliveira and the New Bedford Drug Unit and they make it clear that if he works with them, his charges will be reduced, maybe tossed all together. Do you remember the what they specific specifically what they offered you?

[Frank Simmons]

I want to say it was $150,000 cash and if I wanted to be relocated, they'd relocate me. If if if he got charged and.

[Dugan Arnett]

I testified, it's a wild stroke of luck for Frank. A winning lottery ticket. And with Frank on board, the FBI tells him their case would be really strong.

[Frank Simmons]

You know, they were saying that they had two. They already had two reports of this green fund and about Paul being crooked and all that.

[Dugan Arnett]

In fact, the FBI found out about Frank because they'd already talked to another New Bedford drug dealer, a guy by the name of Arlindo desantos. Desantos wouldn't talk to me, but his story is detailed in federal court records. Here's what happened. In August of 1999, DeSantos is arrested and charged in federal court with drug distribution and money laundering. Federal authorities say he's a key player in a scheme to move thousands of pounds of marijuana through the US Mail. But they give him a chance to cooperate by snitching on Paul Oliveira. De Santos tells investigators that Oliveira and his supervisor in the drug unit, Mel Watton, are notorious in the city. DeSantos calls Oliveira and Watton gangsters and says they're worse criminals than he is, that they're known to pocket cash during drug raids, that they call it their green fund. We reached out to the former head of the drug unit, Mel Watten. He denied all of these allegations. Meanwhile, Chief Paul Oliveira has ignored weeks of interview requests and hasn't directly addressed the questions I've put to him. Despite knowing other dealers were willing to turn on Oliveira, Frank's still not sure what to do. So he seeks out his trusted associates for counsel.

[Frank Simmons]

I went down at a fish house and talked to some friends of mine that, you know, to get their advice on what. What I should do. And one of the. One of the presidents of the fish company was like, yeah, rat on him. Fuck Paul. Put him in jail. He belongs in jail. The other guy, who I'm very close with, was like, no, I don't think that's a good idea, you know. You know, just. Just, you know, do your thing. Plead your case. Try to. Try to do it that way, even.

[Dugan Arnett]

With a chance to take down a cop he hated, Frank just can't stomach the idea of being a snitch.

[Frank Simmons]

I'm not gonna rat on somebody to get myself out of trouble. That, to me, that's a. That's a broken rule. You just don't do.

[Dugan Arnett]

So Frank doesn't bend. He has his lawyer tell the FBI to shove it.

[Frank Simmons]

So then he went back and says, yeah, my client's not a rat. He don't wanna, you know, whatever. So then they started saying, oh, well, if you don't Cooperate with us. We're gonna look into charging him with the rico act. Because I had, like, I had a lot of charges.

[Dugan Arnett]

But Frank's mind is made up, Whether.

[Frank Simmons]

It be ratting on the cops or ratting on someone, whatever. I just. That wasn't me.

[Dugan Arnett]

Frank's out on bail for almost three years. As his case moves through the court, he keeps his head down, tries to stay out of trouble. The other guys in his crew have already done their time and are back out again.

[Frank Simmons]

I didn't want a rat, but I didn't want to do 24 years either. I wanted to play.

[Dugan Arnett]

Then one day, he's sitting at the beeper shack and sees a drug cop he knows coming out of the market across the street.

[Frank Simmons]

That's when Bob richards came walking to his car with a bag of meat.

[Dugan Arnett]

It's none other than bobby richard, Paul oliveira's colleague in the drug unit. The guy who says Paul later got him fired for smoking a cigar.

[Frank Simmons]

He wasn't bad. I really didn't have much complaints about him. I think he was more of a pawn for paul than anything. And then that's when I asked, you know, I said, look, can we talk? You know, I showed. I lifted up my shirt, everything. Showed him I wasn't wearing a wire. I'm talking to you man to man.

[Dugan Arnett]

Frank says. He lays his cards on the table.

[Frank Simmons]

I'm letting you know what's going on, that they're investigating you guys. They know about his guys being crooked, and they know about the green fund, and they know all of that.

[Dugan Arnett]

He tells richard, the feds are trying to flip me, and I'm keeping my mouth shut, but there's something I want in return.

[Frank Simmons]

I said, listen, buddy, I know how it works. You know, I know how it works. If you guys called the d. A. And said, hey, listen, you know, we got to give this guy a plea. Something came up. Blah, blah, blah. These. They're going to do what you want. That's pretty much how it worked back then.

[Dugan Arnett]

And it seems to frank that he was right. It did work that way.

[Frank Simmons]

And then, I mean, I want to say it was three to five days later, if that is, when my lawyer called me and said they offered me a plea bargain.

[Dugan Arnett]

Just like that, a plea bargain. I reached out to Bobby richard after hearing this story. He told me he remembers running into frank, but says he doesn't remember anything about the FBI or what led to the plea deal. Regardless of how it happened, Frank feels like he won. The plea bargain. Means he'll only go to Prison for a couple years. But as he heads to court for sentencing, there's one more surprise in store.

[Frank Simmons]

This is our superior court in County Street, New Bedford.

[Dugan Arnett]

Frank's in a holding cell inside the courthouse. When Frank says, someone that he doesn't expect to see saunters in, It's Paul Oliveira.

[Frank Simmons]

I was like, this guy got a lot of fucking nerve coming back here, you know? And he was like, hey, Simmons, you did the right thing. Thank you. And I turned to him and I said, go fuck yourself. Like, don't thank me. I didn't do anything for you. You know, don't thank me. That was like. I was pissed. He could have said anything else, but not, thank you, because I didn't do anything to keep him out of trouble. But he. That, you know, that was his way of saying, you know, dodged a bullet there. Don't thank me, buddy. You can go fuck yourself. That's exactly was it. And he was like, oh, yeah. And he left.

[Dugan Arnett]

I keep thinking about this moment 25 years ago inside a courthouse jail cell. Because while Frank's decision not to work with the FBI got him a deal, it also helped clear the way for Paul Oliveira to become New Bedford's police chief. The city issued a statement after the Globe published the story online, saying Paul Oliveira has no knowledge of a formal request by either the FBI or the Department of Justice in this regard. The FBI's investigation into Oliveira and the drug unit ended without charges. And I talked to someone who I thought might know why. Why don't you think the feds ultimately did anything about the New Bedford narcotics corruption and Paul Oliveira? Because obviously, they were investigating it.

[Barry Wilson]

They didn't believe, in my opinion, that all their informants could beat all the cops that would go to the defense of Oliveira. That's just a visceral response.

[Dugan Arnett]

Barry Wilson is a lawyer who, over his career, has defended a lot of New Bedford drug dealers. He arranged Frank's plea deal. He was also the guy who told the FBI that his client Frank, wasn't going to snitch.

[Barry Wilson]

And one thing my clients knew was I fought long and hard for them. And it wasn't always clear who was going to jail, me or them.

[Dugan Arnett]

I interviewed Barry one afternoon in a seafood restaurant in Boston over crab cakes, and for Barry, a few stiff drinks.

[Barry Wilson]

Can I get one more Grey Goose on the rocks, please?

[Dugan Arnett]

Like Frank, Barry has a no snitching policy.

[Barry Wilson]

I had a rule when you came to see me. The first. One of the first things I'd ever ask you is, listen. At some point, they're going to suggest to you that you can cooperate with them, that you could make a deal with them. Now, if that's what you wish to do, I don't have a problem with that. Except I'm not your lawyer that can do that. I'm not going to represent you to cooperate against somebody else. It's not what I believe in.

[Dugan Arnett]

Barry's convictions run pretty deep.

[Barry Wilson]

I went to prison myself in 1985. Ironically, Donald Trump and I had something in common. Robert Mueller chased both of us back.

[Dugan Arnett]

When Mueller was in the U.S. attorney's office in Boston, he was part of a controversial push by federal prosecutors to force defense attorneys to disclose information about their own clients.

[Barry Wilson]

They were giving subpoenas to lawyers all over, and the lawyers were cooperating. I was one of the few that didn't cooperate.

[Dugan Arnett]

It sounds like something that would be protected by attorney client privilege, but the court ruled that it wasn't. Still, Barry was convinced that it was wrong. So he defied a court order, was held in contempt, and spent five months in prison. You're obviously, you've got a very strong code, it sounds like. Where does that come from?

[Barry Wilson]

Well, it comes from the idea that there are certain rules and regulations and, you know, if you do the crime, then you don't get out of it by talking, you know, ratting somebody out. The mentality of the police can be described as they believe us against them thin blue line. I mean, cops used to say this to me all the time. Well, get your client to come in here and qu I say, listen, man, I'm tired of this with you characters. You don't rat on each other. If it's not good enough for you, it ain't good enough for my clients. So don't start telling my client what d he or she should do. They're not going to do what you don't do. Now shut the up and leave me alone.

[Dugan Arnett]

You might be thinking that Barry and Frank's strict code is admirable, but no snitching policies like theirs have consequences. Law enforcement depends on people's cooperation. And when it came to the alleged misconduct in New Bedford's drug unit in the 90s, people's refusal to cooperate hamstrung the FBI. Geez. Okay, so just got off the phone. Two hour conversation with Dave Madigan. He's a former FBI agent down there. Dave Madigan arrived in the New Bedford area back in the 90s, and one of the first cases that he gets is when he goes down there is Arlindo de Santos. Madigan didn't want his interview to be recorded, but he's fine being on the record. So right after I got off the call, I told my editor what he said, and he brought Paul Oliveira up before I even did. He's like, you can't trust anybody down there. Everything got back. Everybody knew each other and went to high school with each other. Madigan had heard about setup cases where cops worked both sides of the drug deal. You know, we've been hearing time after time after time after time that the FBI was looking into the New Bedford police department and Paul Oliveira. And this is the first time that somebody from the FBI says, yes, we were doing that, and that's big. And Madigan told me that roughly 25 years ago, he and other federal agents were deep into an investigation into the New Bedford narcotics unit. They were developing their own cis, two New Bedford drug dealers and working on a plan to catch Oliveira and others in the actual. He goes, we were going to set up a fake drug bust at this house in New Bedford and have Mel Watton, Paul Oliveira respond to it. And we were figuring it out what we were gonna do. But just before the FBI was able to pull the trigger on its plan, the dealers suddenly stopped cooperating. Madigan told me, quote, I think Paul Oliveira went and talked to somebody. So this former FBI agent believes Paul Oliveira interfered with a federal investigation, and he's fully on the record about it. I also spoke with another former drug unit officer who didn't want to be identified. And this source told me he believes that the FBI's inability to push forward on Oliveira and the department in the 90s had huge consequences. He said, had they done their job back in the day, this department would be totally different. But what happened later when the FBI had people almost begging to talk to them? In 2015, former police officer Bobby Richard was contacted by the FBI and says he told them everything. And a few years ago, officer Mark Raposo called the FBI on his own volition and tried to tell them about how Oliveira knew that a cop in his department named George Santos was stealing drugs under the guise of having information from an informant. He says he didn't even get a call back. I reached out to the FBI for comment. They said, quote, as a matter of long standing policy, we cannot confirm or deny the existence of investigations.

[Barry Wilson]

The idea that he got the chief of police is beyond my understanding.

[Dugan Arnett]

Where does the accountability for all of this land?

[Barry Wilson]

Let's put it this way. To say he didn't have a good reputation as a drug cop is an understatement. Everybody knew way back when nobody trusted Olivera. Anybody you ask would have said, you trust this guy?

[Dugan Arnett]

Fuck no. And Barry warns me not to trust him either.

[Barry Wilson]

You know, I don't get afraid easily, but I would not deal with Paul Olvera except at arm's length. And making sure I crossed every T and dotted the I's. I mean, I believe the man is treacherous. I mean, let me just tell you, you don't go to a meeting by yourself with Paul Oliver. You make sure you take another person. You make sure you're fucking in public. You don't meet him anywhere. I mean, he's clever. He got to be chief of police.

[Dugan Arnett]

Indeed, he is the police chief. A public official. Someone who's supposed to be accountable to the people of New Bedford. All right. Westport, Massachusetts, home of Paul Oliveira. It's the fifth day that we've tried to reach out. Haven't heard anything. That's coming up on Spotlight. Snitch City. Snitch City is reported and hosted by me, Dugan Arnett. Additional reporting by Andrew Ryan and Brendan McCarthy. The podcast is written by Max Green and Kristen Nelson. Along with me and Brendan McCarthy. Max Green is senior producer. Executive producers are Spotlight editor Brendan McCarthy and Kristen Nelson, the Globe's head of audio. Additional editing and support from Gordon Russell and Kathleen Goldhar. Nancy Barnes is the Boston Globe's executive editor. Sound design and mix by Stephen Jackson. Episode artwork by Julian D. Paulson. Art direction by Ryan Huddle. Podcast visualization by Olivia Jarvis and Anoush Elbakian. Heather Cyrus is the audience editor. Tim Rasmussen is visuals editor. Legal review by John Albano. Fact checking by Matt Mahoney. Marketing support for this podcast comes from the podglomerate.