“She sold drugs according to your report, Sergeant…” Munick interjected.
“Yes, she did but his drugs. She was set up. Ultimately, he did this so that he could use a poor kid to peddle his drugs while he wears a badge of law. That kid now is at the helm of a major drug operation…one of the largest in the country.” Lombardi paused in hopes of having proven his case. He didn’t get the response he had hoped for so he continued.
“Captain, I am willing to risk my career on this. Now, we may not be able to get every bad cop in this great Sunshine State but we can get Harrison.”
Munick gave James a deep apprehensive gaze, “Why us? Why the CBI? Isn’t this something for Internal Affairs or FBI?”
“Eventually we’ll have to transfer this over for federal charges but right now it belongs to Major Case because there was a murder involved and the overall complexity of this case. My guy in the 88th Precinct, back in Brooklyn, tells me that Harrison has been suspected in the murder of a fellow officer, Dasu Jacobs in a drug feud. He’s a monster, Captain!”
Munick gave a deep sigh before saying, “Sergeant Lombardi, I will sign off on a discreet, low priority, preliminary investigation. And I will give you one month to produce adhesive evidence. If nothing comes about, I expect your Request for Transfer on my desk immediately following this thirty-day period. Understood?”
Lombardi exhaled deeply before resting his index finger on the conference room table across from his superior and said, “Completely, sir!”
Munick was a short time away from retiring and didn’t want to leave labeled as disloyal. He wanted to be respected for all the thirty-plus years he put on the job. “This undescended-testicle little pisser isn’t going to tarnish my reputation just because he’s jonsin’ for a high profile case!” he thought to himself.
He only took Jim, as he was affectionately referred to, into his unit to cut him a break. He remembered being that green, nose-in-the-air, justice-will-be-done, bring-down-the-bad-guy-at-all-costs type of cop. Munick thought that with a little patience and time he could sketch the reality of being an officer of the law in Southern California. He saw the good in Lombardi. Hell, he even pitied him to some degree, no one wanted to work with the guy. He was three times divorced and had no family to speak of. This Bureau was his life.
Munick didn’t think Lombardi would dig up much but gave him the green light thinking this was an opportunity to impress upon him humility.
“Brief me on the details of this investigation so far,” Munick requested in acquiesce.
Lombardi produced a knowing grin as he began opening his notes. He couldn’t hide his exult as he peered upon his Captain.
Munick was a sixty-two-year-old with salt and peppered hair and huge beer belly, from a small town right outside of Seattle. He’s maintained a fairly decent reputation among his peers but Lombardi felt that he had gotten too soft, too banal in practice. This is a solid case and he knows it, is what Munick believed and would prove to him.
“Well, here’s the other piece. We’re not the only office looking into this, sir. Major Case in New York has opened an investigation already. They’ve released a woman by the name of Yazmine Jacobs from Sing Sing in Ossining, New York. She’s the wife of Dasu Jacobs and mother of a suspected drug lord named Azmir Divine Jacobs. Harrison had her hunted down in Chicago on trumped up charges of drug trafficking. New York says he did this to corner the Jacobs’ boy who was then around fourteen or fifteen years old so that he can coach him into the drug game,” Lombardi explained.