TAMPA – Local and federal law enforcement agencies have been sued in federal court for violating the constitutional rights of 12 men and women accused of being part of the Latin Kings gang.
The FBI, Hillsborough County, and the city of Tampa, as well as Tampa police Officer Matthew Zalansky and Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Detective William Gergel are listed as defendants in the law suit.
Culminating in 2006, local and federal law enforcement arrested 52 people on racketeering charges at a suspected Latin Kings’ (the largest Hispanic street gang in America) meeting in Tampa.
The charges against the alleged gang members fell apart after criminal defense attorneys argued that law enforcement’s key paid undercover informant, Luis "Danny" Agosto, used threats of physical violence to ensnare the defendants into the sting operation.
Law enforcement’s case was not helped by Agosto’s previous conviction as a felon, and continued unlawful behavior known to law enforcement during the investigation including grand theft, counterfeiting, driving without a license, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Ultimately, in 2008 Circuit Judge Daniel Sleet dismissed many of the cases against the defendants. Even with justice served, many of the defendants had their lives severely disrupted. Mitchell Bernier, one of the men arrested and now seeking damages in federal court, spent 152 days incarcerated, was fired from his job, and lost his marriage.
Soon local and federal law enforcement will have their day in court to defend their actions.
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