The Mount Vernon Police Tapes: At Least Seven Black Men Now Allege False Drug Charges Involving Controversial Detective

At least seven Westchester County residents are now saying in on-the-record interviews or lawsuits that they were falsely charged in drug cases involving Camilo Antonini, a detective in the Mount Vernon Police Department, and other officers. Some spent time behind bars as a result of their charges. Others lost jobs or had their reputations ruined by police officials who publicized their names and pictures for the press. All are Black men.

The flurry of innocence claims follows Gothamist/WNYC’s series on a trove of phone calls, secretly recorded by Murashea Bovell, a whistleblower who remains an active duty officer in the department to this day. The whistleblower’s tapes captured multiple Mount Vernon police officers describing their colleagues framing residents, assaulting prisoners in handcuffs, allying with local drug dealers, and permitting a dangerous gunman to prowl city streets.