PART 35 (52 page)

Jablonsky hesitated, uncomfortable. “I hope so, sir.”

“Is there any question, Officer?”

“As I said, Counselor, I hope I would do my duty.”

“Thank you. No further questions.” Sam was satisfied with Jablonsky's hesitation; it spoke loud and clear to the jury.

Ellis called Detective Johnson to the stand. Johnson told about taking Hernandez from the squad office to the locker room. He recalled the Spanish confrontation between Alvarado and Hernandez, but did not know what was said because he did not understand Spanish. He made the usual disclaimer about not having touched Alvarado.

“These cops stick together like glue,” said Sam. “I just hope the jury can see through this crappy veil of sanctity.”

“Don't worry, Tracy is up next. He's the only cop on the case who did any goddamn work, and it's all sticking to his fingers now that they've changed the story. He's going to get another DD5 shoved right down his throat.”

“Why don't you take him then,” Sam suggested.

“Okay,” said Sandro. Detective Tracy walked to the stand. He glanced at Ellis, then to Sam and Sandro. Tracy, too, said that he had never struck, beat, punched, kicked, hit, or in any way manhandled Alvarado. He testified that he did not stop any other officers from hitting or punching Alvarado, nor did he see any such thing. He said he never had a conversation with Alvarado where he advised him to say he shot the policeman in panic. Ellis sat down.

Sandro stood and walked toward Tracy.

“It was you who personally interrogated and took the statement from Alvarado, is that not so, sir?”

“I object, Your Honor. I'm not sure the witness understands the question,” said Ellis.

“Your Honor, it is Mr. Ellis who has suggested that the witness does not understand. The witness said nothing about not understanding. Will you direct Mr. Ellis to refrain from testifying or suggesting testimony to the witness?” retorted Sandro.

“Reframe your question,” instructed the judge.

“It was you who personally took the statement of Luis Alvarado?”

Ellis stood and objected again. “What does that mean, Your Honor. I object to the form of the question.”

“You may answer it, sir, if you understand it.”

“No, sir.”

“Did you say, sir, you did not personally take a statement?”

“That's right, sir. I did not.”

Sandro took out another DD5. He handed it to Tracy, who identified his signature at the bottom. Sandro offered it, and it was received in evidence.

“Detective Tracy, at paragraph three, this report states: ‘As a result of this interrogation, the assigned personally took a statement from the above-named subject at the Seventh Squad detectives office relative to this case.' Does it not state that?”

Tracy read. “Yes, sir.”

“You do understand what that means?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You wrote it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And this means that you took the statement from the defendant Alvarado, does it not?”

Tracy was red now on the sides of his neck between his shirt and his ears. He swallowed hard. “As representative of the homicide squad, yes, sir.”

“I see. It doesn't say that here?”

“No, sir.”

“Nor does it say that you interrogated him in the third-floor locker room, does it?”

“May I read it again, sir?”

“Surely.” Sandro handed Tracy the DD5.

Tracy read it slowly, carefully. The red on his neck deepened, now shading onto his face. “It says ‘Seventh Squad detectives office, sir.'”

“And the reason you wrote the squad office in your official report was that you were covering up the fact that the precinct cops took Alvarado to the locker room on the top floor of the station house, where no one could see or hear what really happened?”

“Objection,” Ellis exclaimed, rising abruptly.

“Sustained.”

Sandro watched Tracy's eyes. Tracy looked at Sandro. Sandro was sure the jury could see the color in Tracy's face now.

“I have no further questions,” said Sandro, turning back to his seat.

“At this point, gentlemen and ladies of the jury, we will adjourn for the day. Do not discuss this case. We'll resume at two o'clock tomorrow. We won't have a morning session because I have several cases which I have not been able to attend to, due to the length of this trial.”

CHAPTER XXI

Tuesday, April 16th, 1968

The courthouse loomed against the blue, afternoon sky, its massive form of staged concrete symbolizing its function. Sam and Sandro walked slowly toward another day in court.

“Ellis'll start with Mullaly,” said Sam. “After the judge denies our motion to suppress the alleged confession, that is. He's going to testify to Alvarado's confession. I don't know what the hell there is to cross-examine. He'll say he heard Alvarado confess. What are we going to say, his ears need cleaning?”

“We know what he's going to say,” said Sandro.

“Sure, it's a simple confession, period, no frills, nothing. And Mullaly's cool enough to stick to his story and not get flustered. I think you should cross-examine him, Sandro.”

“Why me?”

“This will have a lot to do with the roof and Alvarado crouching down and all that.” Sam looked straight ahead, aware that Sandro was studying him. “You know the area and the scene better than I do.”

“This son-of-a-bitch Mullaly is tough, Sam. And he's testifying to the goddamn confession. If we don't kick him around, Alvarado is well on his way to the chair. I'm not sure I can handle it, Sam. I'm really not.”

“You won't do any worse than I will, Sandro.”

“It's Alvarado's life, Sam.”

“We can't do anything about that. Whatever you do is better than he'd get anyplace else. You take him, Sandro, okay?”

They entered the elevator to ascend. Sam stared straight ahead as the door closed.

As the session began, Sam made the obligatory motion to suppress the confession. The judge, as expected, denied it. Ellis then asked Mullaly to resume describing what had occurred in the third-floor locker room after the second confrontation between Alvarado and Hernandez.

“I said to Alvarado, ‘Now, calm down. Sit down, Luis. Relax. You want to tell me what happened today? You want to tell me the truth?' And he said, ‘Yes.' I said, ‘Now, what happened today? Did you meet Ramon?'

“He said, ‘I met Ramon.' ‘Where did you meet him?' I asked. He said, ‘I met him at the Hotel Ascot. It's on Allen and Delancey Street.' I said, ‘What time was that?' He said, ‘Around nine o'clock this morning.' I said, ‘What did you do then?' He said, ‘We went into the men's room in the hotel, and we shot up.' I said, ‘What do you mean, shot up?' He said, ‘We both shot up with heroin.'

“‘Then what happened?' I said. He said, ‘We talked about doing a robbery. And then we left the hotel, and we got into Ramon's car, and we drove uptown.' I said, ‘Where did you go uptown?' He said, ‘It was somewhere in El Barrio.' I said, ‘Then what happened?' He said, ‘Then we drove downtown. And Ramon had asked me to do a robbery on a building in his block.' I said, ‘What block was that?' He said, ‘Stanton Street, near Suffolk.'”

“Your Honor,” said Siakos, rising, “may I at this time most respectfully interrupt the witness and ask the court to instruct the jury as to the effect of any alleged statement made by the codefendant, Alvarado.”

“And I grant your application. I state again to you, members of the jury, that any statement made by Alvarado is binding only on Alvarado. Any matter which may be deemed incriminatory in respect to his codefendant, Hernandez, must be disregarded by you. Proceed, Detective Mullaly.”

“I said, ‘How do you know that's Ramon's block?' He said, ‘Because I have been there before.' And I said, ‘Then what happened?' And he said, ‘We double-parked the car on Ramon's block.' Then he said they went to a building across the street from the factory.

“I asked him what the number of the building was. He said he did not know. I told him to go on. He said they pushed open the door of an apartment on the top floor of that building. I asked him what the apartment number was. He said he did not know. I asked him how they got into the apartment. He said that Ramon had a jimmy and gave it to him, and he used the jimmy on the door.”

The jury was transfixed as Mullaly spoke. So was Alvarado.

“I said, ‘Then what happened?' And he said they went into the apartment and looked to see if they could get something to sell. I said, ‘What do you mean, sell?' He said, ‘We had to get money to buy drugs for our habit.'”

Mullaly was cool, telling a simple story.

“Then Luis said he took a TV set from a bedroom and a white pocketbook. He said that Ramon took a small radio. I asked him what color the radio was. He said he thought it was either black or red. Then he said they carried this stuff up to the roof. He carried the TV set and the pocketbook, and Ramon carried the radio and the jimmy. I asked him why they carried the stuff to the roof. He said because they were going to take the stuff across the roofs and down into Ramon's apartment.

“I said, ‘Then what happened?' He said they put the property—the stuff—on the roof; and that he went down the fire escape, and he wanted to get into the apartment. I asked him why he wanted to get into the apartment. He said he wanted to get some of the stuff that was near the window. He opened the window, but he couldn't get in because the gate on the inside of the window was locked. He came back up the fire escape. He and Ramon started to lift the TV set over the roof when he heard a noise on the fire escape. He walked over to the edge of the roof, and he looked down the fire escape, and he saw a police officer coming up the fire-escape. And he said to Ramon, ‘
Los camarones! Los camarones!
' I asked him what that meant. He said, ‘The cops! The cops!'

“I said, ‘Then what happened?' He said he hid and crouched down behind the stairway wall, and he saw the cop go by him. The cop had his gun in his hand, and he was pointing it at Ramon. And he said that he was afraid, he saw the gun. And at this point Luis put his hands over his face, and he said ‘
Dios mio! Dios mio!
I did it! I did it!'”

The courtroom was deathly silent. Juror number six, the insurance salesman named Anthony Fresci, stole a glance at Alvarado, as if he were studying some wild beast.

“And I said, ‘What did you do?' He said, ‘I shot the officer. I shot him in the back.'

“And he was crying at this point, and sobbing. And I said, ‘Tell me how it happened. Tell me.'

“He said, ‘I saw him with the gun in his hand, and I was afraid. And he was pointing it at Ramon. He said, “Hold it! Hold it!” And when he passed me, I jumped on him from behind, and I put my left arm around his neck, and he fell down to the ground. And I struggled with him, with my right hand, and I pulled the gun out of his hand. And as the officer started to get up on his hands and his knees, I stepped back and shot him in the back.'”

Two other jurors, the retired buyer for Saks and the import-export man, looked quickly at Alvarado.

“I said to him, ‘How many times did you shoot him?' He said he did not know but he thought it was more than three times. I said, ‘Did you shoot him with your own gun?' And he said, ‘No. I didn't have a gun.' I said, ‘Then what happened?' He said, ‘I ran over the rooftop, and I ran down one of the buildings.' I said, ‘What happened to the officer's gun?' He said, ‘I still had it with me.'

“I asked him what building he ran down, and he said he did not know the number of the building. I asked him if he passed anybody as he ran down the stairs. He said as he ran down he passed a Spanish lady and a little girl who were coming up the stairs. I said, ‘Go on.' He said he ran down to the first floor, and he threw the officer's gun on the floor, next to the staircase. And he saw a door under the staircase. And he pulled an old radiator away from in front of it, and opened the door, and he ran out the steps to the backyard, and he hid there. And then he said later he went out another building and went to the front, to Stanton Street. And then he walked to Suffolk Street. And then he said he went to his room in Brooklyn, and he shot up again with heroin. And then he went down to the movies on 42nd Street, and he stayed there until he took the train home, and the detectives grabbed him.”

Ellis asked Mullaly if he had had Alvarado demonstrate how he attacked the policeman. Mullaly said he had. He stepped off the witness chair and demonstrated for the jury. He crouched next to the witness stand and sprang out as the imaginary Lauria walked by. Ellis described the motions for the stenographer to record. Ellis then had the property that was taken from the roof brought into the courtroom. Mullaly said Alvarado identified these items as the ones he took from Soto's apartment. Alvarado, he said, also identified the policeman's revolver. Ellis had no further questions. Mullaly sat calmly waiting for the cross-examination.

Sandro rose and walked to face Mullaly. He still felt at a loss. The detective had only testified to a conversation he had with Alvarado; how could he be shaken from that? Sandro had ammunition for every witness except the most important one.

“Now, Detective Mullaly, you say that after a few preliminary questions to Alvarado about his name and address, and after confronting him with Hernandez twice, sometime about two
A.M.
, you asked Alvarado to calm down and he told you a story, is that right?”

“He made a statement, yes, sir.”

“And that was not a story that you obtained piece by piece in response to questions?”

“Well, I would say, ‘Then what happened?' or ‘Go on.'”

“You didn't have to pry it out of him, in other words?”