Dirty Cops: 15 Cops Who Turned Evil
Cops swear to protect. Sometimes power gets the best of them—driven by greed, revenge, or simply insanity, the cops profiled here went evil.
Police corruption is more than just a crime; it is a betrayal of trust. When somebody entrusted with enforcing the law and protecting the public turns on the people he or she is supposed to protect, society itself suffers. The real victims of police corruption are law-abiding citizens that learn to distrust or fear the police.
Find out more in this book!
Police corruption is more than just a crime; it is a betrayal of trust. When somebody entrusted with enforcing the law and protecting the public turns on the people he or she is supposed to protect, society itself suffers. The real victims of police corruption are law-abiding citizens that learn to distrust or fear the police.
Find out more in this book!
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Excerpt
Introduction
Police corruption is more than just a crime; it is a betrayal of trust. When somebody entrusted with enforcing the law and protecting the public turns on the people he or she is supposed to protect, society itself suffers. The real victims of police corruption are law abiding citizens that learn to distrust or fear the police.
Police corruption takes many forms and often reflects larger trends or problems affecting society. In many cases police corruption is closely tied to political corruption. A perfect example of this is modern South Africa, where police officials are appointed for their loyalty to the party rather than their ability. Another was the American cities of the early 20th century, where police officers were little more than enforcers and bribe collectors for political bosses.
A modern trend has been lone wolf cops that commit crimes such as rape, robbery, murder, and extortion on their own. These rogue law officers often do much more damage than the old time corrupt cops because their behavior is senseless and self-serving.
One thing is certain about police corruption; it won’t go away anytime soon. When one kind of police corruption gets stamped out, a newer and often more destructive variety appears.
Antoinette Frank: Policewoman, Armed Robber, Murderer, and Death Row Inmate
New Orleans has long had a reputation as having the most violent, incompetent, and corrupt police department of America’s major cities. In 1995 one officer took the New Orleans force’s dismal reputation to new lows. Antoinette Frank committed armed robbery and murder while in uniform.
A police officer had turned against the citizens she was supposed to be protecting. Worst of all, those she robbed and killed were people who considered her a friend. Another of the victims was a fellow police officer; even the jaded people of New Orleans were shocked by such violence.
The Little Girl Who Wanted to Be a Cop
For an African American girl growing up in a small Louisiana town in the 1970s and 80s, Antoinette Frank had a big dream—she wanted to be a cop. To make her dreams come true, Frank joined organizations such as the Junior Police and the Police Explorers. When she turned 20, Frank applied to the New Orleans Police Department.
A preliminary investigation discovered that Frank was a poor candidate for law enforcement. A psychologist who evaluated her said she was unsuited for the job and investigators said she had lied about her employment history. After talking to the police psychologist, Dr. Scurria, Frank even threatened to commit suicide. Despite the bizarre behavior, Frank was hired as a police officer anyway.
The New Orleans Police Department was so poorly paid that only the worst candidates were willing to work for it. Frank may have been hired simply because she was the only African American woman to apply to the department. Nobody seemed to care that she was a known liar and possibly mentally ill. Nor was her employment record that impressive; the lie Frank told was to cover up the fact that she had been fired from Wal-Mart.
Bonnie the Cop and Clyde
After joining the force and going on patrol, Antoinette Frank fell in love with a loser and small-time hood named Rogers LaCaze. LaCaze had just turned 18, but he was already a hardened criminal and drug dealer. LaCaze’s criminal behavior was so blatant his own mother had kicked him out of the house.
Frank met LaCaze when he was shot in a dispute over a drug deal. Frank was supposed to be investigating LaCaze’s criminal activities. Instead, she started hanging around with the young gangbanger and bought him expensive presents, including a pager, a cell phone, and clothes. After that Officer Frank even rented LaCaze a Cadillac so he could ride around in style like a real gangster.
The worst part of the “romance” was that others officers were well aware of it. Some of them even saw Frank giving LaCaze a ride in a patrol car. Yet nobody did anything about Frank; she kept her badge and her gun.
Robbing and Killing Friends
At the time she was romancing Rogers LaCaze, Antoinette Frank was moonlighting as a security guard at the Kim Anh Vietnamese restaurant. She shared the duty with her partner, Ronnie Williams. Frank and LaCaze had been close friends with the family that owned and ran the restaurant, the Cuongs.
Becoming close to Frank was a terrible mistake for the Cuongs. Frank learned that the Cuongs, refugees from Vietnam, didn’t trust banks. They only accepted cash at their restaurant and didn’t put it in the bank. Instead, the family kept thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of dollars in cash in the restaurant.
When Rogers LaCaze heard about the Cuongs’ cash stash, he formed a plan: He and his girlfriend would rob the restaurant. They chose a night when 25-year-old Ronnie Williams would be guarding the restaurant: March 4, 1995.
Cold Blooded Murder for Cash
Frank and LaCaze simply walked into the Kim Anh at night. Frank pulled a pistol and forced Williams and the two people working there into the kitchen. The two were Cuong Ha, the owners’ daughter, and her 18-year-old brother, Cuong Vu.
Once in the kitchen, Frank forced the three to cower on the floor then fired bullets into each of their heads. All three were dead, eliminating witnesses and allowing her and LaCaze to rampage the eatery in a search for cash. At the time of the outrage, Frank was on duty and wearing her police uniform.
The robbers had made one mistake. Two other restaurant employees, Chau Vu and Cuong Quoc, escaped detection by hiding in a walk-in cooler. The two were able to see and recognize Frank through glass doors in the cooler. Incredibly, Frank had seen the two but let them get away.
Returning to the Scene of the Crime
Officer Frank returned to the scene of her crime in her patrol car. She had taken Rogers LaCaze home before coming back. Frank told detectives that she was in the restaurant but had fled during the robbery. The detectives didn’t believe Frank; they took her to police headquarters and booked her for first degree murder. Instead, the detectives believed Frank had come back to kill the remaining witnesses.
Frank almost immediately confessed to the crime, then came up with a simple motive: Rogers LaCaze made her do it. She also tried to blame LaCaze for Ronnie Williams’ murder. Nobody believed her, not prosecutors and not the jury. The jury just took 40 minutes to convict Frank of three counts of first degree murder.
Nearly 18 years after the murders, New Orleans is still wrestling with police corruption and brutality. Antoinette Frank is still on Louisiana’s death row, but her case has been delayed by constant appeals. Rogers LaCaze is also on death row; he was convicted in a separate trial. If Antoinette Frank is ever executed, she will be the first police officer executed for an on duty murder since NYPD Lieutenant Charles Becker died in the electric chair in 1915.
Bibliography
Haine, Sam. "Louisiana Stays Antoinette Frank's Execution." 26 November 2008. www.zimbio.com. News Article. 16 March 2013.
Hustmyre, Chuck. "Blue on Blue: Murder, Madness and Betrayal in the NOPD." n.d. trutv.com/library/crime. Online Encyclopedia Entry. 16 March 2013.
New York Times. "Death Row for Ex-Policewoman Who Killed Partner and 2 Others." 14 September 1995. nytimes.com/1995. Wire Service News Article. 16 March 2013.
Wikipedia. "Antoinette Frank." n.d. en.wikipedia.org. Online Encyclopedia Entry. 16 March 2013.
Police corruption is more than just a crime; it is a betrayal of trust. When somebody entrusted with enforcing the law and protecting the public turns on the people he or she is supposed to protect, society itself suffers. The real victims of police corruption are law abiding citizens that learn to distrust or fear the police.
Police corruption takes many forms and often reflects larger trends or problems affecting society. In many cases police corruption is closely tied to political corruption. A perfect example of this is modern South Africa, where police officials are appointed for their loyalty to the party rather than their ability. Another was the American cities of the early 20th century, where police officers were little more than enforcers and bribe collectors for political bosses.
A modern trend has been lone wolf cops that commit crimes such as rape, robbery, murder, and extortion on their own. These rogue law officers often do much more damage than the old time corrupt cops because their behavior is senseless and self-serving.
One thing is certain about police corruption; it won’t go away anytime soon. When one kind of police corruption gets stamped out, a newer and often more destructive variety appears.
Antoinette Frank: Policewoman, Armed Robber, Murderer, and Death Row Inmate
New Orleans has long had a reputation as having the most violent, incompetent, and corrupt police department of America’s major cities. In 1995 one officer took the New Orleans force’s dismal reputation to new lows. Antoinette Frank committed armed robbery and murder while in uniform.
A police officer had turned against the citizens she was supposed to be protecting. Worst of all, those she robbed and killed were people who considered her a friend. Another of the victims was a fellow police officer; even the jaded people of New Orleans were shocked by such violence.
The Little Girl Who Wanted to Be a Cop
For an African American girl growing up in a small Louisiana town in the 1970s and 80s, Antoinette Frank had a big dream—she wanted to be a cop. To make her dreams come true, Frank joined organizations such as the Junior Police and the Police Explorers. When she turned 20, Frank applied to the New Orleans Police Department.
A preliminary investigation discovered that Frank was a poor candidate for law enforcement. A psychologist who evaluated her said she was unsuited for the job and investigators said she had lied about her employment history. After talking to the police psychologist, Dr. Scurria, Frank even threatened to commit suicide. Despite the bizarre behavior, Frank was hired as a police officer anyway.
The New Orleans Police Department was so poorly paid that only the worst candidates were willing to work for it. Frank may have been hired simply because she was the only African American woman to apply to the department. Nobody seemed to care that she was a known liar and possibly mentally ill. Nor was her employment record that impressive; the lie Frank told was to cover up the fact that she had been fired from Wal-Mart.
Bonnie the Cop and Clyde
After joining the force and going on patrol, Antoinette Frank fell in love with a loser and small-time hood named Rogers LaCaze. LaCaze had just turned 18, but he was already a hardened criminal and drug dealer. LaCaze’s criminal behavior was so blatant his own mother had kicked him out of the house.
Frank met LaCaze when he was shot in a dispute over a drug deal. Frank was supposed to be investigating LaCaze’s criminal activities. Instead, she started hanging around with the young gangbanger and bought him expensive presents, including a pager, a cell phone, and clothes. After that Officer Frank even rented LaCaze a Cadillac so he could ride around in style like a real gangster.
The worst part of the “romance” was that others officers were well aware of it. Some of them even saw Frank giving LaCaze a ride in a patrol car. Yet nobody did anything about Frank; she kept her badge and her gun.
Robbing and Killing Friends
At the time she was romancing Rogers LaCaze, Antoinette Frank was moonlighting as a security guard at the Kim Anh Vietnamese restaurant. She shared the duty with her partner, Ronnie Williams. Frank and LaCaze had been close friends with the family that owned and ran the restaurant, the Cuongs.
Becoming close to Frank was a terrible mistake for the Cuongs. Frank learned that the Cuongs, refugees from Vietnam, didn’t trust banks. They only accepted cash at their restaurant and didn’t put it in the bank. Instead, the family kept thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of dollars in cash in the restaurant.
When Rogers LaCaze heard about the Cuongs’ cash stash, he formed a plan: He and his girlfriend would rob the restaurant. They chose a night when 25-year-old Ronnie Williams would be guarding the restaurant: March 4, 1995.
Cold Blooded Murder for Cash
Frank and LaCaze simply walked into the Kim Anh at night. Frank pulled a pistol and forced Williams and the two people working there into the kitchen. The two were Cuong Ha, the owners’ daughter, and her 18-year-old brother, Cuong Vu.
Once in the kitchen, Frank forced the three to cower on the floor then fired bullets into each of their heads. All three were dead, eliminating witnesses and allowing her and LaCaze to rampage the eatery in a search for cash. At the time of the outrage, Frank was on duty and wearing her police uniform.
The robbers had made one mistake. Two other restaurant employees, Chau Vu and Cuong Quoc, escaped detection by hiding in a walk-in cooler. The two were able to see and recognize Frank through glass doors in the cooler. Incredibly, Frank had seen the two but let them get away.
Returning to the Scene of the Crime
Officer Frank returned to the scene of her crime in her patrol car. She had taken Rogers LaCaze home before coming back. Frank told detectives that she was in the restaurant but had fled during the robbery. The detectives didn’t believe Frank; they took her to police headquarters and booked her for first degree murder. Instead, the detectives believed Frank had come back to kill the remaining witnesses.
Frank almost immediately confessed to the crime, then came up with a simple motive: Rogers LaCaze made her do it. She also tried to blame LaCaze for Ronnie Williams’ murder. Nobody believed her, not prosecutors and not the jury. The jury just took 40 minutes to convict Frank of three counts of first degree murder.
Nearly 18 years after the murders, New Orleans is still wrestling with police corruption and brutality. Antoinette Frank is still on Louisiana’s death row, but her case has been delayed by constant appeals. Rogers LaCaze is also on death row; he was convicted in a separate trial. If Antoinette Frank is ever executed, she will be the first police officer executed for an on duty murder since NYPD Lieutenant Charles Becker died in the electric chair in 1915.
Bibliography
Haine, Sam. "Louisiana Stays Antoinette Frank's Execution." 26 November 2008. www.zimbio.com. News Article. 16 March 2013.
Hustmyre, Chuck. "Blue on Blue: Murder, Madness and Betrayal in the NOPD." n.d. trutv.com/library/crime. Online Encyclopedia Entry. 16 March 2013.
New York Times. "Death Row for Ex-Policewoman Who Killed Partner and 2 Others." 14 September 1995. nytimes.com/1995. Wire Service News Article. 16 March 2013.
Wikipedia. "Antoinette Frank." n.d. en.wikipedia.org. Online Encyclopedia Entry. 16 March 2013.
