L.A. Confidential, for Real

By

the end of last week, the scandal swirling around the Los Angeles Police Department was being called the city's worst since the 1930s. But the bad cops of that era, who took bribes of French champagne from madams and cash from bootleggers and gamblers, almost seem like nostalgic Humphrey Bogart types compared with the officers who ruined the life of a 19-year-old kid named Javier Francisco Ovando.

In 1997 a judge sent Ovando to prison for 23 years after two anti-gang squad members, who had allegedly shot him multiple times, claimed he had threatened them with a rifle. L.A.P.D. partners Rafael Perez and Nino Durden had been working undercover in a vacant apartment in a building known as a gang hangout. They said they were forced to shoot Ovando when he burst in. Their story seemed a bit iffy--"He has a semiautomatic with a banana clip, yet they both manage to pull out their pistols and shoot?" asks Tamar Toister, who defended Ovando--but the testimony seemed persuasive, and a jury voted to convict. At sentencing, the judge noted that Ovando showed no remorse.

For good reason. Not only did the officers leave Ovando paralyzed for life, they also framed him, according to a new sworn statement from Perez. He also says Ovando wasn't armed and that officers planted the gun after they shot him. (Authorities aren't speculating as to why the cops shot Ovando, although sources told the Los Angeles Times that officials are probing charges the officers stole from drug dealers.)

Some justice came for Ovando last week, as officials began unraveling a scandal that goes beyond him. On Thursday, at the unusual request of the deputy district attorney, a judge dismissed Ovando's case. Ovando returns to what is left of his life and the bittersweet joy of seeing his daughter for the first time. She was born while he was in jail.

To be sure, Ovando was no angel. Though he had no convictions prior to the one in 1997, he was said to be a member of the 18th Street Gang. He also came to the U.S. illegally (and could be deported). As for Perez, the officer turning on his mates, his testimony will earn him a lighter sentence for stealing cocaine.

But if he's right, many others could go down. Police chief Bernard Parks has already relieved a dozen cops of duty, with pay. They all worked in the Rampart division, which handles a part of town heavily populated by immigrants. Durden was fired recently on charges (separate from the Ovando case) that he planted evidence and made a false arrest. Other cops are suspected of selling drugs, using excessive force or simply keeping the whole mess at Rampart quiet.

The worst disclosures may be to come. The Los Angeles Times reported last week that in 1996 nine Rampart officers took part in a shoot-out that left one suspected gang member dead and two people wounded. A review board said those shootings were justified, but now Perez says they were "dirty"; cops may have planted guns on those suspects as well. Federal authorities have joined the investigation, which could stretch to Las Vegas, where some Rampart officers may have partied with a fellow cop after he committed a bank robbery. "Sooner or later, the truth will come out," says Gloria Romero, grandmother of Ovando's daughter.