A prisoner’s offer to turn in dirty cops was supposed to reduce corruption. 
Instead, it led to murder.

THE FIRST VICTIM

A disoriented, beaten man staggered to a parked Police car. With duct tape still attached to his arms, the victim told cops he feared for his life and sought protection from his attackers. Detectives were called to investigate.
The victim had been beaten by his drug supplier. I usually hated drug dispute cases because the victims wouldn’t be completely honest and there was usually more to the story.  This victim was different. He was very honest, admitting that he was a small time drug dealer who sold on Miami Beach. He said his supplier was  a South Beach “gangster” named Roman.
The victim was called to Roman’s house to discuss a past due drug payment. Soon after he arrived, the victim was attacked and forced into bedroom. Roman and his sidekick Samuel bound the victim’s hands and feet with duct tape, and beat him repeatedly. Roman and Samuel discussed killing the victim as a gun was placed to his head. The victim was held for several hours until  he agreed to make his payment, with interest, within 24 hours. The victim was warned he would be killed if he didn’t get the money. Roman bragged of Mafia connections and told the victim no matter where he ran, he couldn’t hide. The last place Roman and Samuel thought the victim would run was to the Cops, but he did.
I believed the victim’s story, and he had the injuries to back it up. We recorded conversations between Roman and the victim, and developed probable cause for arrest and search warrants. We used the SWAT team to serve the warrant at Roman’s house and arrested Roman and Samuel there. We recovered a firearms and a large amount of drugs.
When I interviewed Roman I found him to be cocky with a desire to be a big Gangster. He bragged about what he had done to the victim, leaving me with the feeling he would likely kill the victim if he was released from jail.
I charged Roman and Samuel with attempted murder, kidnapping, trafficking in cocaine and felony possession of marijuana.With those charges, Roman and Samuel were not getting a bond. They would sit in jail until their trial which could be years away.
3 months later…
THE “INFORMANT”
What I didn’t know was that while he was sitting in jail, Roman created a story to get released.  He convinced a Prosecutor and State Public Corruption Agent that he knew corrupt Miami Beach cops. He said would work as an informant to help set them up, but to do so he had to be out of jail. The Prosecutor fell for it, and Roman was released after signing a contract to work as an Informant. The Agent was his “Handler”, responsible for Roman while he worked as an Informant.
Ramon was released from jail on June 20th, 3 months after his arrest.  Samuel was released 6 days later after pleading guilty to the charges and received 5 years of Probation. Their releases were kept secret.
2 months later…
THE BODY
On August 5th the  body of a white male was discovered floating in Biscayne Bay.  The victim’s body was recovered  just off the City of Aventura, about 15 miles north of downtown Miami. The Aventura Police Department had just been formed that year, and they would be investigating the murder.
A few days after the body was recovered I received a call from my squad partner, Det G. He had worked an off duty security job at a South Beach nightclub the night before. He was approached by Joe, a club employee, who had a question. Joe said he had watched a television program where investigators had recovered a handcuffed body from the ocean. Joe was curious if Police were able to lift fingerprints from handcuffs that had been sitting in salt water. Luckily, Det. G knew about the handcuffed body recently recovered ...