Jury hears tapes of officer discussing heroin theft

Using conversations recorded by an undercover agent and discussions caught on government telephone taps, prosecutors Tuesday described how a Philadelphia police officer worked with drug dealers in an attempt to earn extra cash.

Mark Williams, 27, was discharged last year after he was arrested with two other officers and accused of cooperating with drug dealers to steal 300 grams of heroin in May, and then share the profits when it was sold.

He is also accused of later planning to rob a purported Mafia courier carrying cash from Atlantic City. On a recording made by an undercover federal agent in July, Williams is heard planning the heist and says, "We want it to look as legit as possible."

"Sort of like the first time," he says, an apparent reference to the May incident.

The other two officers, Robert Snyder and James Venziale, pleaded guilty last year, but Williams chose to go trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maureen McCartney and Anthony Wzorek played recordings of Williams and his codefendant, Zachary Young, 51, planning and discussing the May and July incidents. Young is not a police officer.

The jurors in U.S. District Court were also shown a videotape of the May incident: a fake traffic stop at Somerset Avenue and Broad Street where Williams and Venziale pretended to arrest two men. One, Angel Ortiz, has pleaded guilty to drug dealing and may testify this week.

The other person in the vehicle was an undercover agent from the Drug Enforcement Agency, Randy Sampson, who spent much of the day on the stand. During the investigation, Sampson pretended to be a money launderer named Matt McCue.

He played tapes of Young, 51, discussing the heroin theft and expressing amazement when Williams worries that Sampson is actually an undercover agent.

"That's unbelievable," Young is heard saying, and then telling Sampson not to worry. The conversation was held while Young was hospitalized receiving treatment for diabetes. He is now in a wheelchair.

The staged arrest took place in view of the courier for a heroin supplier, so he would report to his supplier that the drugs had been confiscated, the indictment says. The officers then released Ortiz and gave the drugs to Sampson, who told them he was taking it to Camden for sale. In fact, Sampson said he was taking it to the DEA's Philadelphia lab.

Snyder and Venziale remain on bail pending sentencing.

Snyder's wife, Christal, was also charged with involvement in the plan and pleaded guilty last month.

Before they were fired, Snyder was assigned to the 25th District. Venziale and Williams worked in the 39th.

Snyder and Venziale are childhood friends who grew up together in Kensington and attended the same high school. When Venziale went to the 39th District, he was partnered with Williams.

At some point, according to a federal indictment, Snyder introduced Williams and Venziale to Ortiz, who has children with Christal Snyder's sister.