“Because otherwise you know that Savarese will have him killed.”
“I know nothing of the kind!”
Who do I think I’m fooling?
“Come on, Manny!” Coughlin said.
“You’ve got the deal lined up?”
“The U.S. Attorney has been very helpful.”
“Why?”>
“Because—I’m guessing—he thinks he’d have a hard time convicting Savarese on an unlawful-abduction charge. And maybe because he thinks he’ll look good in Washington if he put a local cop away on a civil rights charge. And the FBI will get the credit for uncovering that travesty of justice.”
“Very interesting,” Giacomo said.
“That’s it, Manny,” Coughlin said.
The two men looked at each other. First Coughlin shrugged, and then Giacomo.
“Let’s go back on the record, Counselor,” Coughlin said
Giacomo shrugged again.
“I presume, Mr. Giacomo,” Coughlin said, “that you are here to represent one or more of the police officers we arrested last night and this morning on charges of misprision in office?”
“That’s right, Chief Coughlin.”
“I advise you herewith that I am about to arrest one of those officers, specifically Officer Herbert J. Prasko, Badge Number 5292, on additional charges.”
“What would those charges be?”
“That Officer Prasko, at gunpoint, stole twenty thousand dollars, more or less, from Mr. Ronald R. Ketcham, of Philadelphia, who then occupied Room 138 at the Howard Johnson motel on Roosevelt Boulevard in this city, such acts constituting armed robbery in the first degree.”
“Anything else, Chief Coughlin?”
“That Officer Prasko, in Room 138 of the Howard Johnson motel on Roosevelt Boulevard in this city, forced Miss Cynthia Longwood, of Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, by threatening her life, to disrobe, and thereafter did force Miss Longwood to take his penis into her mouth, where he therein ejaculated, such acts constituting Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse.”
They looked at each other.
“Do I understand, Mr. Giacomo, that you are representing Officer Prasko?”
“I am willing to represent Officer Prasko if that is his desire. I have not yet had the chance to confer with Officer Prasko.”
“I will take you to him now, Counselor,” Coughlin said.
He pushed himself out of the armchair, walked to the door, and opened it.
“Where’s Prasko, Danny?”
“In the interview room, upstairs,” Danny said.
Coughlin waved Giacomo ahead of him toward the stairs that led up to South Detectives.
Officer Prasko, who was handcuffed to the metal chair in the interview room, smiled when he saw Armando Giacomo come into the room.
“Boy, am I glad to see you, Mr. Giacomo,” he said.