{"id":1063,"date":"2025-05-12T03:54:33","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T03:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/captainnews.info\/?p=1063"},"modified":"2025-05-12T03:54:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T03:54:33","slug":"meet-rafael-perez-the-crooked-lapd-officer-who-stole-pounds-of-cocaine-and-inspired-training-day-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/captainnews.info\/?p=1063","title":{"rendered":"Meet Rafael P\u00e9rez, The Crooked LAPD Officer Who Stole Pounds Of Cocaine And Inspired \u2018Training Day\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"dek\">In 1998, Rafael P\u00e9rez was arrested for stealing $800,000 worth of cocaine and later took a plea deal and exposed the LAPD&#8217;s Rampart scandal.<\/h2>\n<p class=\"dropcaps\">Rafael P\u00e9rez should have protected the public by lawfully dismantling gangs. Instead, he and dozens of other officers in the Los Angeles Police Department\u2019s Rampart Division ran the streets by shaking down gang members for drugs and money and stealing and fabricating police evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Assigned to the LAPD\u2019s Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) anti-gang task force in 1995, P\u00e9rez swiftly earned a reputation as an aggressive officer who had an ear to the ground in the neighborhoods west of downtown Los Angeles that fell under Rampart\u2019s jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh_inline\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1452277890523-0\" data-google-query-id=\"CNz9u9qCnY0DFfGt6QUdFlE1lw\">\n<p>But by August 1998, he was in jail for stealing $800,000 worth of cocaine from an evidence room. And by 2000, he\u2019d cut a plea deal and implicated 70 of his fellow CRASH officers in misconduct ranging from drinking on the job to murder. As a result, the city was forced to vacate more than 100 tainted convictions and pay out $125 million in settlements.<\/p>\n<p>So, how did Rafael P\u00e9rez and his elite anti-gang unit become responsible for the biggest police scandal in Los Angeles history?<\/p>\n<h2>Rafael P\u00e9rez And The Robbery Of A Los Angeles Bank<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_384371\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-384371 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rafael-perez.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rafael-perez.jpg 600w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rafael-perez-210x300.jpg 210w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rafael-perez-150x214.jpg 150w\" alt=\"Rafael Perez\" width=\"600\" height=\"856\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-384371\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-384371\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">LAPD Handout<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">Rafael P\u00e9rez in 1995, the year he was transferred to the Rampart Division of the LAPD.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1747021634124-0\" data-google-query-id=\"COjM8tqCnY0DFS1EwgUdLEAotQ\">\n<p>Over the weekend of November 8, 1997, LAPD officer Rafael P\u00e9rez and two other men gambled and partied in Las Vegas. They had reason to celebrate. Two days earlier, one of the men, David Mack, had masterminded the robbery of the Los Angeles branch of Bank of America. According to\u00a0<em>The Los Angeles Times<\/em>, $722,000 had been stolen.<\/p>\n<p>The investigating officers became immediately suspicious of assistant bank manager Errolyn Romero, who had arranged for more cash than was necessary to be delivered to the bank just 10 minutes before the robbery. Romero confessed and implicated her boyfriend, David Mack.<\/p>\n<p>Mack was arrested and subsequently sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. Detectives investigating Mack discovered that two days after the robbery, Mack and two others had gone on their Las Vegas trip, where they spent thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Like Rafael P\u00e9rez, David Mack was a current Los Angeles police officer \u2014 and they were both members of the anti-gang unit CRASH.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1747021634124-1\" data-google-query-id=\"COmyn9uCnY0DFfTdFgUdWKQC_g\">\n<h2>The Formation Of The CRASH Task Force<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_381294\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-381294 post-img-landscape\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/former-rampart-police-station-303-s-union-ave-los-angeles.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/former-rampart-police-station-303-s-union-ave-los-angeles.jpg 800w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/former-rampart-police-station-303-s-union-ave-los-angeles-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/former-rampart-police-station-303-s-union-ave-los-angeles-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/former-rampart-police-station-303-s-union-ave-los-angeles-150x100.jpg 150w\" alt=\"Rafael Perez's Rampart Division\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-381294\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-381294\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Clinton Steeds\/Flickr<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">The former Rampart Division police station where Rafael P\u00e9rez was based.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In 1979, the LAPD created a specialized anti-gang task force with good intentions in reaction to a surge in the drug trade and related gang activity. Known as Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH), every division had its own branch. And in\u00a0Rampart Division, the CRASH unit was seen as a necessity.<\/p>\n<p>The division encompassed a densely populated area of 5.4 square miles west of downtown Los Angeles that included the neighborhoods of Echo Park, Silver Lake, Westlake, and Pico-Union, which were home to numerous Hispanic street gangs. At the time, Rampart contained the city\u2019s highest crime and murder rates, and the administration expected the gang unit to do something about it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1747021634124-2\" data-google-query-id=\"CK2kr9uCnY0DFW9qDwId1G0myw\">\n<p>But soon, the Rampart CRASH unit would epitomize the insularity of special police units that operate with virtual autonomy. And for officers like Rafael P\u00e9rez, who joined the task force in 1995, CRASH was one side of a vicious war.<\/p>\n<p>P\u00e9rez knew gang members had no moral compunction about playing fair, so he thought, why should he. He operated with the attitude, arrogance, and untouchable air that typified the perceived protection he received. P\u00e9rez existed in a police world above those of ordinary men and women where the rules don\u2019t apply. Working primarily at night with minimal supervision, the job was an intoxicating mix of adrenaline and power.<\/p>\n<p>If Denzel Washington\u2019s role in\u00a0<em>Training Day<\/em>\u00a0(2001) comes to mind, it\u2019s for a good reason. The character of Alonzo Harris was an amalgamation of Rafael P\u00e9rez and other CRASH officers. The character\u2019s vehicle even displayed the license plate ORP 967 \u2014 allegedly a reference to Officer Rafael P\u00e9rez, born 1967.<\/p>\n<p>With CRASH, P\u00e9rez worked gang suppression and undercover narcotics. But in entering and thriving within the world of gang culture, he became in many ways himself a gangster with a badge \u2014 planting evidence, witness intimidation, falsified arrests, beatings, perjury, and drinking on duty.<\/p>\n<h2>How Rafael P\u00e9rez Became A Dirty Cop<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_381068\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-381068 post-img-landscape\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/police-officer-stands-at-hoover-street-rampart-division.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/police-officer-stands-at-hoover-street-rampart-division.jpg 800w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/police-officer-stands-at-hoover-street-rampart-division-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/police-officer-stands-at-hoover-street-rampart-division-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/police-officer-stands-at-hoover-street-rampart-division-150x113.jpg 150w\" alt=\"LAPD Officer Rafael Perez\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-381068\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-381068\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Raymond Yu\/Flickr<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">Hoover Street within Rampart Division.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rafael P\u00e9rez was born in Puerto Rico in 1967. When he was five years old, his mother moved him and his two brothers to the U.S. P\u00e9rez\u2019s father stayed behind in Puerto Rico. The closest P\u00e9rez came to seeing him was via a photograph at age 30. By that stage, P\u00e9rez was rampaging through Rampart.<\/p>\n<p>P\u00e9rez and his family eventually moved to North Philadelphia, according to\u00a0PBS. According to P\u00e9rez, the family initially stayed with an uncle who dealt drugs, where he witnessed first-hand the ebb and flow of the street trade. It furthered his resolve to become a cop, which he was always interested in as a little kid.<\/p>\n<p>Following high school, Rafael P\u00e9rez entered the Marines, then applied to the LAPD. He entered the Los Angeles Police Academy in June 1989. Following his probation period, P\u00e9rez worked patrol in Wiltshire Division. P\u00e9rez adopted a different persona as a cop. He knew he was inexperienced in law enforcement, so he acted with authority.<\/p>\n<p>In time, his reputation as a streetwise aggressive cop got him transferred into an undercover narcotics team in Rampart Division. P\u00e9rez spoke fluent Spanish, and his personality fit right in with the bombast of the gangs he was tasked with going after.<\/p>\n<p>P\u00e9rez, like many young officers, felt the adrenaline rush of buying drugs from street dealers, relishing in the power and authority of it. P\u00e9rez believed he\u2019d found his place and took no heed when a colleague warned him that he loved working narcotics too much.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Rampart CRASH Was A Gang In Its Own Right<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_381030\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-381030 post-img-landscape\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/alonzo-harris-in-training-day.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/alonzo-harris-in-training-day.jpg 800w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/alonzo-harris-in-training-day-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/alonzo-harris-in-training-day-768x480.jpg 768w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/alonzo-harris-in-training-day-150x94.jpg 150w\" alt=\"Alonzo Harris In Training Day\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-381030\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-381030\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Warner Bros.<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">Alonzo Harris in\u00a0<em>Training Day<\/em>\u00a0was based on Rafael P\u00e9rez.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rafael P\u00e9rez stated Rampart CRASH became a brotherhood, a gang in its own right. One of the most corrupt examples happened just a year after P\u00e9rez joined CRASH. On October 12, 1996, P\u00e9rez and his partner, Nino Durden, shot and framed 19-year-old Javier Ovando, an unarmed gang member.<\/p>\n<p>The shooting had left Ovando paralyzed from the waist down. According to P\u00e9rez, they were conducting drug surveillance from an apartment in an unoccupied building when they justifiably shot Ovando.<\/p>\n<p>At Ovando\u2019s trial in 1997, P\u00e9rez and Durden lied. They stated Ovando burst into the apartment, attempting to murder them. Ovando disputed their story. The apartment building wasn\u2019t abandoned; he lived there on the same floor as the observation post. Ovando stated the officers had harassed him and knocked on his door the day of the shooting, demanding to come inside. Once inside, they handcuffed and shot him.<\/p>\n<p>It meant nothing. Rafael P\u00e9rez and Nino Durden were golden boys in the eyes of the law. Ovando was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison based on the perjury of P\u00e9rez and Durden, according to\u00a0The National Registry of Exonerations. It would be years before he was freed.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_384376\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-384376 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/nino-durden.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/nino-durden.jpg 600w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/nino-durden-223x300.jpg 223w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/nino-durden-150x202.jpg 150w\" alt=\"Nino Durden\" width=\"600\" height=\"808\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-384376\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-384376\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Lucy Nicholson\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">Nino Durden, the first Los Angeles anti-gang police officer to be charged with attempted murder in connection with the Rampart scandal, appears in court for the preliminary hearing of his trial in Los Angeles on Oct. 18, 2000.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But more troubling rumors also circulated within the LAPD of connections between officers and Death Row Records, a hugely successful rap record label owned by Marion \u201cSuge\u201d Knight, according to\u00a0<em>Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Knight was a member of the Mob Piru Bloods gang. Internal investigations discovered Knight was hiring off-duty police officers as security guards. More disturbingly, a subset of police officers was acting like gangsters.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1747021634124-7\" data-google-query-id=\"COOX9NyCnY0DFVfKFgUdWVEapg\">\n<p>Then, on March 27, 1998, Rafael P\u00e9rez became a magician. He made six pounds of cocaine disappear from the police property room. Within a week of the theft, detectives focused on him. In May 1998, The LAPD created an internal investigative task force. It focused primarily on the prosecution of P\u00e9rez. An audit of the LAPD property room had identified another pound of missing cocaine.<\/p>\n<p>On August 25, 1998, task force investigators arrested P\u00e9rez. His initial response to arrest was, \u201cIs this about the bank robbery?\u201d according to\u00a0<em>The Los Angeles Times<\/em>\u00a0No, it was about those six pounds of cocaine that had vanished. The cocaine had been checked out of the property room by P\u00e9rez under another officer\u2019s name. Worth up to $800,000 on the street, P\u00e9rez had resold it through a girlfriend.<\/p>\n<h2>Of Rampart<\/h2>\n<p>In December 1998, Rafael P\u00e9rez, having been charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell, grand theft, and forgery, was brought to trial. After five days of deliberations, the jury announced that it was deadlocked, with a final vote of 8-4 favoring conviction.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors began preparing their case for a retrial. Investigators uncovered another 11 instances of suspicious cocaine transfers from the Rampart property room. P\u00e9rez pulled off his magic trick again. He ordered the cocaine evidence from property and replaced it with Bisquick.<\/p>\n<p>Correctly sensing a lengthy conviction, P\u00e9rez cut a deal on Sept. 8, 1999, according to an\u00a0LAPD press release. He pleaded guilty to the cocaine theft and provided information to investigators about Rampart CRASH officers involved in illegal activity.<\/p>\n<p>Rafael P\u00e9rez received a five-year sentence and immunity from further prosecution. P\u00e9rez began confessions with the story of Javier Ovando.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1747021634124-9\" data-google-query-id=\"CMiA0d2CnY0DFXpFwgUd-_gX2w\">\n<div id=\"attachment_384368\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-384368 post-img-portrait\" src=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rafael-perez-sentencing.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rafael-perez-sentencing.jpg 600w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rafael-perez-sentencing-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/rafael-perez-sentencing-150x195.jpg 150w\" alt=\"Rafael Perez Sentencing\" width=\"600\" height=\"779\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-384368\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-384368\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"credit\">Rick Meyer\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/span><span class=\"caption-body\">Rafael P\u00e9rez reads a statement during his sentencing hearing in February 2000.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>As a result of his plea deal, P\u00e9rez was required to cooperate with investigators looking into the Rampart CRASH unit. Over nine months, P\u00e9rez admitted to hundreds of instances of perjury, fabrication of evidence, and false arrests.<\/p>\n<p>He admitted stealing drugs from police evidence lockers and reselling them on the street. He admitted stealing drugs, guns, and cash from gang members. The Rampart unit sought to send neighborhood gang members to prison, whether they committed crimes or not. In the end, Rafael P\u00e9rez implicated 70 other officers, including former partner Nino Durden.<\/p>\n<p>On July 24, 2001, Rafael P\u00e9rez was released, having served three of a five-year sentence. He was placed on parole outside California. Federal charges awaited \u2014 the civil rights and firearms violations resulting from the unlawful shooting of Javier Ovando. P\u00e9rez pleaded guilty under the conditions of his plea agreement and, on May 6, 2002, received a two-year federal prison sentence.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pbh-lazy-inline pbh_inline\" data-loader=\"revLoader\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1747021634124-10\" data-google-query-id=\"COPI_N2CnY0DFZdfDwIdGGkfdA\">\n<p>As a result of the Rampart scandal, Javier Ovando\u2019s 23-year conviction was vacated, with the charges dismissed. Los Angeles awarded him $15 million in compensation, the largest police misconduct settlement in the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>It didn\u2019t stop there. More than 200 lawsuits were filed against the city by persons wrongfully convicted or those who had been falsely arrested. Almost all were settled for several millions of dollars. The years of corruption led to more than 100 convictions being overturned. By 2000 all CRASH anti-gang units had been disbanded.<\/p>\n<p>While still in prison P\u00e9rez agreed to telephone conversations with the\u00a0<em>The Los Angeles Times<\/em>. The paper summarized the corruption and failings of Rampart CRASH: \u201cAn organized criminal subculture thrived within the LAPD, where a secret fraternity of anti-gang officers and supervisors committed crimes and celebrated shootings.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1998, Rafael P\u00e9rez was arrested for stealing $800,000 worth of cocaine and later took a plea deal and exposed the LAPD&#8217;s Rampart scandal. Rafael P\u00e9rez should have protected the public by lawfully dismantling gangs. Instead, he and dozens of other officers in the Los Angeles Police Department\u2019s Rampart Division ran the streets by shaking &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-1063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-true-crime","tag-true-crime"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meet Rafael P\u00e9rez, The Crooked LAPD Officer Who Stole Pounds Of Cocaine And Inspired \u2018Training Day\u2019 - CAPTAINNEWS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/captainnews.info\/?p=1063\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet Rafael P\u00e9rez, The Crooked LAPD Officer Who Stole Pounds Of Cocaine And Inspired \u2018Training Day\u2019 - CAPTAINNEWS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1998, Rafael P\u00e9rez was arrested for stealing $800,000 worth of cocaine and later took a plea deal and exposed the LAPD&#8217;s Rampart scandal. Rafael P\u00e9rez should have protected the public by lawfully dismantling gangs. 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