“ Never ask a question if you don't know what the answer will be ”
Violent Crime: Cold Case
A Federal Prosecutor's Account of Justice Pursued Across Decades
About the Book
The Cases They Couldn't Close
Beginning in the 1980s, New York City was crippled by a wave of violent crime. That crime was spurred on by the drug trade, especially crack cocaine and heroin. Violent drug organizations were at war with each other, from street corner crack spots to sophisticated drug gangs. The result of those drug wars was an unprecedented number of homicides, many of which remained unsolved years and even decades later. Violent Crime: Cold Case recounts the stories of over a dozen of those unsolved homicides and the advent of the Violent Crime Unit in the Southern District of New York, which made the investigation and prosecution of those crimes possible. Those cases included:
- The C&C Drug Organization, responsible for numerous murders, including that of a pregnant woman and her unborn baby in Manhattan.
- United States v. Robert Acosta and Jose Diaz, involving the 1997 murders of Alex Acosta and Aneudis Almonte in the Bronx, New York.
- United States v. Antonio Guerrero, Edwin Maldonado and Omar Flores, involving the 1994 murders of Fernando Garrido, Livino Ortega, Leonard Overman and Carmen Diaz in the Bronx, New York (“Solid Gold I”).
- United States v. Jose Peña and Hector Raymond Peña, involving the 1997 murders of Pedro Medina, Jose Suarez and Juan Carmona in Brooklyn and the Bronx, New York (“Solid Gold II”).
- United States v. Johnny Cedeño, involving the 1994 murder of Carmen Diaz (“Solid Gold III”), in the Bronx, New York.
- United States v. Freddy Gonzalez, a/k/a “El Turbo,” involving the 1990 murders of Carmelo Gonzalez, Marisol Gonzalez, Clement Bedword, Rolando Nuñez and Carlos Polanco in Yonkers and Queens, New York.
- United States v. Jose Luis Grasesqui, a/k/a “Muffler,” involving the 1999 murder of Richard Diaz in Manhattan and the 2000 murder of John Ochoa in Queens, New York.