Sunday, August 25, 2002
Bribes drug dealer jailed for eight years
A heroin dealer who once said he gave corrupt police "so much money that I really can't remember" was sentenced to a maximum eight years' jail yesterday.
Judge David Shillington said he would have sentenced Vincent Caccamo to 15 years for the charges of drug supplying were it not for the assistance he had offered and would continue to offer to police.
As a result Caccamo, 45, would face hardship in prison, where he would be in protective custody. His family - in court for his sentencing - was also at risk, the judge remarked.
Caccamo pleaded guilty to charges of supplying a large commercial quantity of heroin, 1.22 kilograms, and supplying 1.28 kilograms of cannabis in 2000. He also pleaded guilty to supplying a commercial quantity of heroin in 1999.
Caccamo's daughter wept quietly in court as the judge ruled that her father would not be eligible for parole before September 30, 2006.
A heroin user and seller since 1985, Caccamo gave evidence to the Police Integrity Commission last year at the end of the long-running Operation Florida into corrupt police on Sydney's northern beaches.
His evidence was instrumental in charges being brought against three Manly detectives - former crime manager detective sergeant Ray Peattie, who was jailed earlier this month for accepting bribes from other corrupt police, and detectives Matthew Jasper and David Patison. Both Jasper and Patison face charges as a result of the investigation but have yet to enter pleas.
Caccamo told the PIC of the tens of thousands of dollars he had paid police to protect his business since 1989, when Peattie claimed payment for charging him with only minor drug possession instead of a more serious supply charge.
He told the commission he knew of other dealers who had paid police, including one who had been "dealing for 20 years open house - you can't do that without protection".
NSW District Court heard yesterday that Jasper and Patison had stolen cash after arresting Caccamo and had been bribed to have the charges dropped.
Saturday, August 17, 2002
Payment by was a mystery, PIC told
By Malcolm Brown
August 17 2002
The "Meltdown Man", a police informer permanently scarred by a botched arson job, gave evidence to the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) yesterday that he was given one reward payment without knowing what it was for.
The Meltdown Man, known in PIC proceedings as M13, said the payment, given to him in 1998 by senior detective Dennis Peter "Doodles" O'Toole in a coffee shop near the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills, was "clouded".
Mr O'Toole had handed him a piece of paper to sign and had then handed him $250 in a cigarette packet. The Meltdown Man assumed he had signed the paper as an authorisation for Mr O'Toole to give him the money.
He had told investigators recently that he suspected it had been a reward Mr O'Toole had negotiated for him for information he had or was purported to have given and that Mr O'Toole had pocketed the rest.
The Meltdown Man said he had first encountered Mr O'Toole in 1976 when Mr O'Toole and other police had arrested him on a break-and-enter charge.
Mr O'Toole and another police officer had introduced themselves by taking him back to North Sydney police station and beating him up.
The Meltdown Man had not complained about his beating and had become an informant for Mr O'Toole over the years. He had received legitimate reward money, including $1600 in 1996 for giving information on a jewellery robbery.
Questioned yesterday by Chris O'Donnell, counsel assisting the Police Integrity Commission, the Meltdown Man said he did not know what the $250 was for and it "may have been" for information Mr O'Toole had purported that he had given when he had not.
`
He said that in 1993 Mr O'Toole had contacted him and asked him to do "a favour", which was to make false statements that would assist another detective, James King, beat a drink-drive charge. The Meltdown Man had done so, including giving perjured evidence, and Mr King had beaten the charge.
The hearing resumes on Monday.
August 17 2002
The "Meltdown Man", a police informer permanently scarred by a botched arson job, gave evidence to the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) yesterday that he was given one reward payment without knowing what it was for.
The Meltdown Man, known in PIC proceedings as M13, said the payment, given to him in 1998 by senior detective Dennis Peter "Doodles" O'Toole in a coffee shop near the Sydney Police Centre in Surry Hills, was "clouded".
Mr O'Toole had handed him a piece of paper to sign and had then handed him $250 in a cigarette packet. The Meltdown Man assumed he had signed the paper as an authorisation for Mr O'Toole to give him the money.
He had told investigators recently that he suspected it had been a reward Mr O'Toole had negotiated for him for information he had or was purported to have given and that Mr O'Toole had pocketed the rest.
The Meltdown Man said he had first encountered Mr O'Toole in 1976 when Mr O'Toole and other police had arrested him on a break-and-enter charge.
Mr O'Toole and another police officer had introduced themselves by taking him back to North Sydney police station and beating him up.
The Meltdown Man had not complained about his beating and had become an informant for Mr O'Toole over the years. He had received legitimate reward money, including $1600 in 1996 for giving information on a jewellery robbery.
Questioned yesterday by Chris O'Donnell, counsel assisting the Police Integrity Commission, the Meltdown Man said he did not know what the $250 was for and it "may have been" for information Mr O'Toole had purported that he had given when he had not.
`
He said that in 1993 Mr O'Toole had contacted him and asked him to do "a favour", which was to make false statements that would assist another detective, James King, beat a drink-drive charge. The Meltdown Man had done so, including giving perjured evidence, and Mr King had beaten the charge.
The hearing resumes on Monday.
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