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MPAA Under Investigation for Illegal NYPD Payoffs
An anonymous reader writes "The New York Post is reporting that two NYPD officers are being investigated for taking illegal payoffs from the MPAA for busting sellers of pirated DVDs. According to the article, MPAA investigators would tell the cops where pirated movies were being sold, which is perfectly legal, but, after the bust, they'd give them several hundred dollars in gratuities, which is illegal. Naturally, the MPAA denies all of this."
April 21, 2005 -- Two NYPD veterans are being investigated by Internal Affairs for allegedly accepting payoffs from the motion-picture industry to arrest vendors of pirated DVDs, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
One officer, a sergeant on the force since 1992, has been transferred from the Staten Island Task Force to the 122nd Precinct pending the internal investigation.
The other, a cop for five years, still works on the task force.
As members of the unit, the officers, ages 36 and 32, would arrest the sellers of illegal DVDs and confiscate their stock.
Often they would act on tips from investigators with the Motion Picture Association of America, many of whom are former cops, sources said.
There is nothing improper about that practice. But on at least four occasions in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island, the task force officers arrested the vendors, confiscated the illegal movies and then allegedly received gratuities of several hundred dollars from the MPAA itself or its investigators, the source said.
The MPAA strongly denied that the payoffs came from the trade organization.
"We don't give cash to police officers," said Bill Shannon, an MPAA anti-piracy official.
"We work with law-enforcement organizations by providing information and logistical support, and the police make the arrests."
No department charges have been filed against the NYPD officers, and neither is on modified duty.
The Staten Island Task Force last made headlines in 2003, when one of its members, Officer Bryan Conroy, allegedly shot and killed Ousmane Zongo, an unarmed African immigrant, inside a Manhattan storage warehouse.
Conroy and other officers were at the warehouse to bust DVD pirates.
Zongo, who spoke little English, was an innocent bystander. Conroy's trial earlier this year ended in a hung jury. He will be retried this summer.
The Motion Picture Association of America estimates that it loses $3.5 billion in potential worldwide revenue because of movie piracy.
Hollywood has stepped up its effort to bust video and DVD pirates.
An MPAA tip, for example, led to the recent prosecution of Randy Guthrie, the black sheep of a blueblood New York family, who was recently sentenced to 21/2 years in a Chinese jail for selling nearly $1 million in pirated movies over the Internet.
Living in New York is an expensive lifestyle. But on the other hand, New York cops really seem to enjoy themselves when it comes to corruption. Take for example last year's Republican convention. New York Cops did their best to round up thousands of people, stick them in an asbestos contaminated concentration camp and then charge them with crimes they never committed.
The Banno Story - Corrupt nyc cops lie, the DA encourages and participates in the lies.. get caught red handed
Police Perjurers
another story related to the new york DA editing/manipulating video tapes
Google the story, hundreds of cases have been dropped because the Police were inventing stories that never happened and then having the DA charge innocent people with full knowledge.
Maybe because some of the cops already break the law at home, away from work. Personally if I was a cop I wouldn't give 2 hoots about piracy. I'd care more about the person being mugged 2 streets away
As a cop I can tell you that this is indeed the case. As a small department with a lot of area to cover, piracy is the LAST concern any of us have. To put it in perspective I would rather write someone for J-walking...
Aside from the fact that they are not underpaid, there is this problem. If you have a "tip" system, pretty soon they only enforce laws to benefit those who tip them. Want that burglary investigated? Tip them, or they will "ignore it due to more pressing matters".
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
businesses in large cities have always tipped police in order to obtain adequate protection...
It's not the first time the RIAA has been involved in criminal activity.
Law enforcement goes wild and imprisons students for sharing a few thousand dollars worth of mp3s. It's about time we start imprisoning music industry CEOs who steal $143 million from the public.
We know they are guilty. It's fucking obviously so why "wait". Theres no smoke without fire and you can look at any major company you want and there is always smoke.
MS, Apple, MPAA, RIAA and hundreds of others now having to compete with the internet. The internet is seen as "the wild west", the general people don't care and us geeks are in the minority with no money. So they do whatever they wish with the money they have and if they get caught who really cares but their lawyers who just wants the cash?
I like muppets.
Don't get the two mixed up.
The RIAA is a criminal cartel that buys their own cops
The MPAA is a criminal cartel that buys their own laws
(oh and if any lawyers representing either of those organisations are reading this, please sue me for sying that, I'd just love the chance see the expression on your faces when a judge agrees with me)
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
Seems right up their alley to me.
Anti-Piracy Bureau of Sweden Planted Evidence
Anti-Piracy Bureau of Sweden has nothing to do with the swedish government, and is funded by the record/movie companies.
This has also caused a lot of debate in sweden.
From what I can tell, as long as you are not selling warez/pirated music, it will most likely be perfectly safe to use P2P programs in sweden.
"I don't know who's worse: people paying cops to enforce the law, or cops that won't enforce it unless you pay them extra."
Sure, if it were as simple as that. But could it be that you are buying a change in their priorities? For instance, they really should be dealing with the mugger that has been in Central Park recently, but because of your "tips" they ignore the threat of physical harm to citizens and instead help you enforce your copyrights.
Another thought just came to me. Haven't I seen something in the news recently about cities refusing to have local police enfore federal laws? So aren't copyright violations, violations of federal laws? Was this the FBI getting "tips" or city cops? Hmmmm. Anyone care to bat this thought around?
all the best,
drew
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
Apparently have the Swedish "Antipiratbyrån" (read Antipirate-Bureau) has been doing some not-so-legal stuff when they not long ago raided the swedish ISP Bahnhof.
Bahnhof states that hey planted evidence through a informer inside the ISP. They payed for the servers which then was filled with warez, mp3s and such.
Then they come and raided the stuff and now they're under investigation by the swedish government computer agency (which might lead to police investigation, i hope!).
FYI, the "Antipiratbyrån" is a non-government agency which are funded by Sony and other recordcompanies and the like.
The quote is from The Shield (warning: link has heavy use of flash) which is (sadly) one of the best shows on television right now.
While Vic Mackey is the main character, the quote was actually said by Claudette Wyms; a black detective who is justifying the excessiveness of Vic to the police captain.
I would actually say that this is on-topic simply for the fact that FX is, of course, FOX which is a member of the MPAA and "The Shield" is about cops going above the law.
"There should be less government in business and more business in government." -- Warren G. Harding, a Republican