And They Found No Witches: A True Police Story - Paperback

by Tom Alessi (Author)

A member of the Rochester, NY Police Department's Narcotics Unit had a history of theft and illegal activity-a history carefully hidden from his squad members. Believing his luck was running out, the investigator approached federal prosecutors with a deal to turn evidence against his fellow officers. The possibility that a crooked cop might be willing to fabricate such evidence apparently never entered the prosecutors' minds. A deal was struck, and for five months, the tainted cop wore a body wire, making up stories of misconduct and embellishing the facts of actual events for his handlers. When the federal government indicted Sergeant Tom Alessi and four of his colleagues in August 1991 on nineteen counts and seventy-two overt acts of theft, evidence planting, and excessive force, prosecutors planned to steamroll the officers into pleading guilty. They did not, instead they stood firm against invented lies and federal pressure while the media destroyed their reputations. Told in Tom Alessi's own words, And They Found No Witches recounts the remarkable true story of law enforcement officers who refused to sacrifice their honor-while serving as a cautionary tale of the power of a cynical justice system.

Author Biography

Tom Alessi was born and raised in Rochester, New York. He enlisted in the US Marine Corp for four years after graduating high school in 1967. Graduating from Monroe Community College in 1978 with an associate's degree in criminal justice, Mr. Alessi joined the Rochester Police Department the following year, where he patrolled the streets as both an officer and a sergeant. In 1987, Sergeant Alessi transferred to the Special Criminal Investigation Section's Narcotics Unit, where he served as commander of a specialized street drug enforcement unit until it was disbanded in 1990. After leaving the RPD in 1992, he worked for the Palmyra NY Police Department, then joining the East Rochester NY Police Department in 1995. While there, he served as it's firearms instructor and began the department's first DARE program. Mr. Alessi retired with the rank of sergeant in August 2003. In 2005 he relocated to South West Florida where he owns and operates a firearms training business. He has two adult children and five grandchildren.