GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES (AFGE)
Tainted New York Boss Hid Arrest
Am. Fed'n of Gov't Employees Local 2005 boss, Raymond
L. Cotton, admitted in court that he did not reveal an arrest on his
job application, according to a court transcript. The federal correction
officers union head also testified that he did not disclose the arrest
in a pistol-license application filed with the N.Y.C. Police Dep't.
Cotton appeared at a Nov. 2000 presentencing hearing on behalf of ex-prison guard Anthony Martinez, who had been convicted on federal corruption charges. U.S. Dist. Judge Frederic Block later sentenced Martinez to more than 6 years in prison for taking $2,400 to arrange visits and bring drugs inside Brooklyn's Metro. Detention Ctr. Under cross-examination by Asst. U.S. Atty. John Kroger, Cotton testified that he did not tell the Bureau of Prisons about the arrest.
Newsday reported Apr.10 that Cotton is the subject of an internal Dep't of Justice report in which 17 inmates and three other correction officers allege that he did favors for members of organized crime between 1990 and 1998. The favors allegedly included smuggling in contraband like hero sandwiches, veal cutlets and radios, giving warnings of prison searches and breaking visitation rules in exchange for bribes. Cotton claimed all the allegations were false. [Newsday (N.Y.) 4/17/01]
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