Police Corruption In New Orleans - Cop Pleads Guilty In Post-Katrina Murder & Setup

Details Of Police Officer's Guilty Plea and Information About The Crime Scene

The eco-system in and around New Orleans proves once again that it is a cesspool of corruption. The police killed people and then planted evidence to cover up their actions as the same department investigated the incident.

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In late December, the grand jury hearing evidence presented by District Attorney Eddie Jordan's office indicted Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, Sgt. Robert Gisevius, Officer Anthony Villavaso and former officer Faulcon with first-degree murder in the death of James Brissette, 19. Faulcon also faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting of Ronald Madison, 40.

Retired officer's guilty plea in Danziger Bridge case a blow to a struggling NOPD

Coverage Of Police Murder

The guilty plea hit the police force like a punch to the gut, one veteran cop said.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley, meanwhile, called it a dark day in New Orleans. Others likened the news to a black eye, the first blow in what is surely going to a knock-down, drag-out battle between the federal government and members of the New Orleans Police Department.

When former NOPD Lt. Michael Lohman pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to one count of conspiring to obstruct justice, for participating in a cover-up of the Danziger Bridge police shooting in which two civilians were killed and four wounded, cops and citizens alike cringed.

New Orleans, with its long-troubled police department and historically high crime rate, has spent the better part of the last two decades in a push-and-pull struggle to repair the force's tarnished image.

In the mid-1990s, the actions of a killer cop and crooked officers sullied all who wore the crescent-and-star badge. But a housecleaning followed, and things got better. Then, a decade later, Hurricane Katrina walloped the department and exposed its ill-preparedness again.

Now, after years of trying to rebuild, a lone guilty plea puts the department again on the precipice.

"Today is a dark and disappointing day for the citizens of New Orleans, especially for the honest and dedicated members of the New Orleans Police Department," Riley said in a news conference Thursday afternoon.

"Yesterday's guilty plea was a shock to me and the entire department," he said. "This action has disgraced the uniform worn by law enforcement officers."