Original subtitles

- He was the perfect image of a police officer.

He was a member of the special operations unit.

He looked good in uniform.

- This was gonna be his calling

for the rest of his life.

- And yet he had this dark side.

He was a true criminal.

- Identity theft.

- Strippers, prostitution.

- There was drug activity going on.

- He's capable of anything.

- You had these corrupt cops.

- This is the crossroads of the case.

- The next step is we've gotta take these guys down.

- They were wearing weapons.

That made them very dangerous.

- We had our SWAT team all over the place.

It was definitely a level 10.

- He was a true criminal.

The badge was just a means of getting there.

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- In the FBI, we make a lot of headlines.

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Drug busts,

mob stings,

terrorist takedowns.

- Get down! Get down!

- We understand why people want to tell stories about us.

- Mark it.

- Freeze! - FBI.

- FBI! - Action!

- But they don't know the half of it.

What really goes down,

we save that for each other

when we're talking agent-to-agent.

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This is "FBI True."

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- Hey.

- Kristy Kottis worked with the FBI for 24 years.

Gangs, crimes against children, drug trafficking--

nobody understands the perils and pressures of Bureau life

better than Kristy Kottis.

- Kevin, how does the FBI first learn about this case?

- It had to be, like, the summer of 2003.

- Kevin Constantine is third-generation

law enforcement.

He's worked organized crime, civil rights,

and public corruption cases.

- There's a lead from another office about an individual

that was arrested by the ATF in Philadelphia,

and a career criminal.

So he was looking at maybe 15 years.

We had information about health care fraud,

identity theft, and about public corruption.

And it intrigued me, so I ended up going out

with a couple prosecutors from Massachusetts.

We ended up talking to this guy for probably like four hours.

The person we were interviewing,

Troy, basically said he had information

from this identity theft ring that was being run in Boston.

- It was a sophisticated ring run by three women.

- Michael Carazza's skill with numbers

landed him his dream job with the FBI.

In three decades, he worked on numerous

financial crime and corruption cases.

- They employed runners throughout the city

to go to busy places, grab purses,

bump wallets,

and get someone's identity information.

And then they would go to Home Depot,

apply for instant credit, and buy gift cards

and sell them on the street.

- What was said specifically that made you go,

wait a minute?

- He was selling stolen gift cards

to a Boston police officer.

- Oh, wow.

- We didn't really know who this guy was.

He just gave a name, Roberto.

- Right.

And at this point, you're thinking,

we don't know if that bad guy is just saying

he's a Boston police officer.

- For some reason, that lead, it said--I don't know.

It was just my intuition that this guy had good information.

- What did you do? What was the plan?

- He had said that he had sold stolen gift cards

to Roberto in the past,

so let's see if he can do it again.

- Let's get case funds approved,

go purchase the gift cards at Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy,

give them to Troy, purport them to be fraudulently obtained.

- We were now the identity theft ring.

And then we kind of had Troy get back

into a relationship with this individual

that we really only knew as Roberto.

We met with Troy.

We met him in a car.

We sent him on his way, you know,

and Mike and I are on surveillance.

We see Troy, you know, get into a vehicle.

- He sold the gift cards.

He got the money. - Right.

- But Troy's contact isn't just buying contraband.

- All the sudden, you're sitting there, and...

- Troy's contact is a steroid seller and a steroid abuser.

- The agents now have a recording

of Troy's contact admitting to serious criminal acts.

But who is he?

- During that surveillance, you know, we took the tag down.

We went to Frank's unit to see who this guy was.

And then it turned out to be

a Boston police officer, Roberto Pulido.

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- I remember speaking to Kevin.

He says, you know, I hate to say

that it is a Boston cop,

but it looks like it is a Boston cop.

- Frank Mancini is a 30-year veteran of the Boston Police,

where he rose to head the department's

anticorruption division.

- So when you run Pulido's name in the system,

what kind of information are you getting back?

- He was an almost perfect image of a police officer.

He was a member of the SWAT team.

He was a member of the special operations unit,

the motorcycle unit.

- Clean cut. Looked good in uniform.

- He looked good in uniform.

He got along with his supervisors.

- So I just want to clarify at this point,

we've identified that he's a buyer

of these stolen identity gift cards.

You know he's been selling illegal steroids.

Why didn't you just arrest him?

- Why didn't we just arrest him then?

Well, in the first meeting,

Pulido seemed very willing to participate

in an illegal activity.

- Are you thinking, what--what else

could it possibly be doing?

- What else has he done?

- Then Troy, he started mentioning that Pulido hosted

these after-hours parties that were at a location

in Hyde Park, Massachusetts.

It was on top of an autobody place.

Troy did tell us, you know,

that it's attended by known criminals.

But we want to substantiate that there was,

you know--we're not gonna take Troy's word for it.

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There's a side door.

It's right on the train tracks in Hyde Park.

- Mm-hmm.

- And right next to it was a big parking lot,

so that's where we would sit.

So Frank and his team and Mike and I,

we wired Troy up on the parking lot.

We sent Troy up there to one of these parties.

And then Troy would come out, we would turn off

the recording device, and he would

tell us what was going on.

Again, he would substantiate

there were criminals there that he knew.

- Strippers.

- Strippers there,

and there was drug activity going on.

- Pulido had a person behind the bar

that ran illegal alcohol sales and ran the drug sales.

He had a woman, Tatiana,

that was in charge of the prostitutes.

I'll check her out tomorrow.

- We observed uniformed police officers

from the Boston Police, in marked vehicles,

actually walking in to the front door

of this establishment.

So that was very, very shocking.

They did not seem concerned about being, uh, found out.

- And we're like, oh, shit.

- Right.

- What kind of things, what other things did he do?

Well, we found out Pulido's in partnership

in an auto repair facility,

where he decided he wanted the whole facility.

So he had to figure out a way to eliminate his partner.

- First of all, he planted a gun

and heroin in this individual's vehicle in the garage.

And then he had an associate call 911 to report that,

hey, this person is in this garage, in this vehicle,

and has a gun and heroin in his vehicle.

- He might have said he was waving the gun around.

- Waving the gun around.

- Two officers respond.

This individual gets arrested.

- During that same day,

Pulido instructed an associate of his

to break into that business partner's house.

- It was very alarming, because if he did it

to his business partner, he's capable of anything.

- There's evidence that Pulido is a dirty cop,

and way out of control.

What agents want to know now is,

why haven't those working near him noticed?

- At one of these after-hours parties,

Pulido introduces Troy to Nelson Carrasquillo.

And he goes, this is Nelson Carrasquillo.

He's a hustler just like me.

- Nelson Carrasquillo joined the force

the same year Pulido did.

The pair transferred into special ops

on the very same day.

So now it's not just one crooked cop they suspect,

but two.

- We directed to approach Pulido in terms of

opening up his own after-hours,

and whether or not Pulido knew any other

police officers that could be relied upon

to protect his enterprise.

And that's when Pulido brought in Pizarro for the first time.

- And we found out from another source

that Pizarro, before he became a Boston police officer,

was involved with a large drug organization.

- It appears there are two officers

watching Pulido's back.

The FBI wants to catch all three,

but prosecutors will need hard evidence to put them away.

- So we're having discussions about creating

an undercover scenario that we could implement

in the case, whereby Pulido would have to potentially

enlist Carrasquillo and Pizarro to assist

in some type of criminal activity.

We decided on what we typically call a protection.

- We reach out to this individual that eventually

became our main undercover, Jack Garcia,

one of the best the Bureau ever had.

- Absolutely. He's a legend.

- He participated in undercover operations

involving organized crime, drugs, drug cartels.

And we got Gerry Bermudez, an agent out of Miami.

- The undercover team is in place,

but how are they going to make contact

with Pulido without raising his suspicions?

- We tasked Troy, our cooperating witness, you know,

to see if Pulido would be willing to meet with...

- Cousin would like to meet you.

- His cousin.

- Troy told him that a cousin of his,

Gerry, was in the business and would like to meet Pulido.

- And?

- No hesitation.

He goes, of course.

He talked with Carrasquillo.

- He was directing these guys that,

you gotta come meet these guys.

You need to come out and meet them.

- So basically, you guys are now

setting up a criminal enterprise for Pulido to see.

- To meet and then eventually work with.

- And they're all FBI agents.

- All FBI agents.

- The undercover agents may be

the best of the best,

but can they fool three trained cops?

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- Pulido's willing to talk about his criminal activity

with two people that he's never met before in his entire life.

And so Jack, the pro, turns to Pizarro,

who is not saying anything but eating shrimp.

Turns to Pizarro and he says, are you comfortable with that?

And Pizarro's on camera deferring to, uh, Pulido.

- We had discussed with Jack and Gerry

that Gerry would discuss that they want

to start a new business in Boston,

and it's a new market for them.

They would need some protection.

- There were gonna be buyers coming from Canada, bikers.

And then the drug cartels, people from Miami, Florida,

were gonna be driving up with the drugs.

There's going to be a swap of drugs.

- Pulido's response?

- I'm in.

- Pulido recommended that we could do it at his garage.

- So Gerry lets Pulido know what's coming, how much.

And we go from there.

- The buy is in place.

The FBI now needs to create an entire smuggling

operation from scratch.

- We're gonna make this happen.

What are the next steps?

- The US attorney's office did not want us to use fake drugs.

We had to get the cocaine, 40 kilos of real cocaine.

This is the ops plan.

- The FBI undercover offers to Pulido,

hey, we're gonna bring a van up from Miami with the drugs,

and we actually do drive a van up from Miami.

- Yeah.

Another FBI undercover employee

from Miami drive up the van.

Took two days for him to drive up.

- And why did we have to bring that particular van

up from Miami?

- We wanted it to be real.

- So it's a tricked-out van.

It's got, um, trap doors and secret hiding places.

- Yes. It was a legit, uh, hide van.

- Got it. Got it. OK.

So van comes up.

- This scenario was,

Pulido was gonna meet at the New York border

with Pizarro and Carrasquillo

and escort the van to Boston.

That's how it was supposed to work.

Let's get some FBI agents

that are undercover employees that are,

quote unquote, bikers from Canada...

- Mm-hmm. - To purchase the drugs.

We relied on Jack and Gerry to find the best of the best,

and we ended up getting two FBI undercover employees

that you would never know were FBI employees--

long hair, all tatted-up sleeves.

- All right.

So the van is loaded.

- It's a good two-hour ride, and Pulido, Carrasquillo,

and Pizarro, the idea was that they're going

to escort the van all the way to Pulido's garage.

Don't stop.

When he got to the Mass Pike, Pulido, Carrasquillo,

and Pizarro, you know, take turns being

in front and behind, escorting it.

- They were wearing weapons.

They were armed for a reason.

When they were coming down the Massachusetts highway,

if the truck was stopped for whatever reason,

their job was to protect the truck

from any Boston police officers,

and that made them very dangerous.

- It was a wild ride.

They get to the garage.

Pulido escorted the van into his garage.

And at that same time, Carrasquillo was out and about

doing surveillance, talking to Pulido

in case he saw anything.

Pulido tells Carrasquillo

to go pick up the Canadian bikers,

our buyers, the drug buyers,

to escort them to the garage

so they can do the swap.

Pulido never left the room.

He stayed there.

Then the bikers, they get to the garage.

They do the exchange.

Pulido is still there watching it.

They get the cocaine.

Pulido was amazed.

He was so impressed with, like, the hide,

saying this is, like, unbelievable.

- I believe the quote was, "I love this shit."

- Pulido got paid $5,000,

because we had promised him $500 a key of cocaine.

- A quarter up front, 75 down the road.

- Pulido and Pizarro and Carrasquillo,

they agreed that they would meet with our undercovers

in a couple weeks for the final payment.

- OK.

- And to talk future business.

So the next step is we gotta get organized,

and we gotta take these guys down.

We gotta arrest them.

We always felt that it made more sense to do it in Miami,

because we knew if Pulido

and Carrasquillo and Pizarro flew,

they wouldn't have their service weapons.

So there was an added safety.

- Gerry entered into discussions with Pulido

about having Pulido travel to meet for the additional

payment on the protection.

- Once they get paid, we're gonna arrest them that day.

That was the scenario.

We had Pulido and Pizarro get picked up

by an undercover limo driver.

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- So we had already planned a suite

at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables

to do the final payment.

And we put both audio and video on the room,

so we could actually see the transaction

and what was gonna be going on between Jack,

Gerry, and Pulido.

- And what was Pulido's attitude now at this point?

Was he comfortable in the suite?

- More than comfortable.

He comes walking into the room

in shorts and a tank top.

First thing he does is, uh, hug Gerry and Jack

like they're best friends.

There was no hesitation whatsoever.

- It's chilling.

- And what happens then?

- You had these three corrupt cops

sitting in this very luxurious place

where Al Capone used to live.

And they were there.

They were happy.

They were ready to accept payment.

It was rather sickening.

What Gerry did in giving them the final payoff,

uh, is forever ingrained in my mind.

The final payment was made.

Gerry had individually wrapped each of their payments

in a band.

He takes them out of a binder

and tosses them to each of them.

He threw it at them.

It showed his disdain for these individuals,

how they betrayed the badge.

They weren't real Boston police officers.

They were criminals.

- The idea was they're gonna meet

later on that night to, uh, have a big party.

- And on video, as they were leaving,

they again hugged goodbye, and can't wait--

couldn't wait to meet later on that night.

Pulido felt that this was his--

this was gonna be his calling for the rest of his life.

- They get in the limo and think that

they're heading to their hotel.

- That day, we probably had a team

of 20 people in addition to our SWAT team.

It was definitely a level 10.

- The limo driver, also undercover FBI,

has his back to three dangerous felons,

and both hands on the wheel.

- The three subjects were driven

to the American Airlines Center,

and our FBI Miami SWAT team

have been waiting for this takedown to take place.

- But if the SWAT team attempts a takedown now,

the limo driver could become a hostage, or worse.

- Our limousine driver got out of the limousine,

booked his way out of there, locked the doors.

And our FBI Miami SWAT team came from over the berm.

- The Miami SWAT team affected the arrest safely.

Pulido, Pizarro, and Carrasquillo were

handcuffed and on the ground.

- When I first arrived on the scene,

I approached Pulido.

And I says, do you know who I am?

He looked up at me and says, yeah, I know who you are.

And I told him that he was a disgrace to the badge.

- Yeah. - And all he did in response

was put his head down

and didn't look up at me.

And then I immediately contacted my boss

and told him that the takedown was successful,

and then we processed them at the FBI office.

- So he's under arrest.

He's in the FBI building.

You guys are getting ready to go in for the first time.

What are your thoughts at this point?

- For one of the first times in an investigation when

confronting a subject, I really didn't

care if we got a confession.

- Mm-hmm.

- Because our evidence was overwhelming,

video, audio, undercover agents.

He goes, before I say anything, you gotta promise me

my family's gonna be safe.

I go, what do you mean?

He goes, I'm worried that the cartel

is gonna come get them.

I go, no, everyone you dealt with

was an undercover agent-- Gerry, all the truck drivers,

the bikers, Jack.

And it took three or four times of telling him,

no, you don't understand.

Everyone you dealt with the last seven months,

other than Troy, was an undercover agent.

And he just kind of slumped and then started to tell us,

admitting all he had done over the course of three-plus years.

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- Not often do you get a chance to work

a case so difficult against three corrupt police officers.

- And they did a tremendous disservice

to the hardworking men and women in police work.

- I think that's about as egregious of criminal behavior

as a police officer could do, short of murder.

- My dad worked his way up to become the head

of the New York State Police,

and then my brother became a police officer.

I took pride in coming from a family

of all law enforcement officers,

and going after people that really

should not be police officers.

- So at the end of this investigation,

who is Pulido?

- He was a true criminal.

The badge was just a means of getting there.

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