Michael P. Mayko, Staff Writer
Published: 11:29 p.m., Sunday, December 12, 2010
BRIDGEPORT -- Frankie Estrada, Jr., Adrian and Russell Peeler, Aaron Harris, Quinne Powell, Edwin Sanchez, Luke Jones -- the names read like a who's who of the city's biggest and baddest drug dealers.
But they all have one thing in common. All are behind bars partly because of the efforts of Police Sgt. Juan J. Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, a 23-year member of the department and a 14-year veteran of FBI Task Forces, was honored recently by U.S. Attorney David Fein with a lifetime achievement award for exceptional contributions to law enforcement during a ceremony in New Haven.
"It's only given once a year, and it's the highest award the U.S. Attorney's office bestows on law enforcement," said James Glasser, a former federal prosecutor who supervised the U.S. Attorney's Bridgeport office during many of the cases Gonzalez worked. "I can think of no more deserving officer than J.J."
While Gonzalez, 49, admitted it's "a great honor" to receive the award, he quickly added that "it's a testament to the work of a whole lot of other people -- detectives, federal agents, prosecutors. There should be 1,000 other names on this award -- all people I was fortunate enough to work with on these cases."
Several federal agents who have since been reassigned out of Connecticut drove back to attend the ceremony.
"I think it's great -- great for J.J., but also great for the department," added Police Capt. James Viadero. "He's an outstanding sergeant, and he's been at the forefront of many of our biggest cases. But just as important is the way he's helped develop an outstanding working relationship between our department and federal agencies. Everyone saw how effectively that paid off in the investigation and arrest of Faisal Shahzad. J.J. was one of our guys out there."
Shahzad, who lived on Sheridan Street, was arrested just two days after he loaded a sport utility vehicle with a three-stage bomb in the hopes of killing and maiming dozens in a Saturday dinner time crowd on New York's Time Square last year. The bomb failed to explode. However, evidence left behind enabled law enforcement to trace the car to Bridgeport and then to Shahzad, who had been trained by the Pakistani Taliban. Shahzad pleaded guilty to numerous federal charges and is serving a life sentence without parole.
Gonzalez, a tall, burly man, who looks like he'd fit in easily as a member of the New York Giants' linebacking corps, grew up in the former Father Panik Village, the city's roughest, deadliest housing project. He graduated from Waltersville School and Harding High School before joining the Bridgeport Police Department in January 1985.
His early days were spent patrolling the city's highest crime rate areas. After five years, he found himself being rotated into the Tactical Narcotics Team.
"About 90 percent of my job was surveillances," Gonzalez said.
Within three years he was promoted to detective. In 1996, he found himself assigned to the FBI's Fugitive Task Force.
"One thing that strikes you about J.J. is he's big and he's quiet," said Alex Hernandez, another former federal prosecutor who supervised the U.S. Attorney's Bridgeport office. "He's very low-key, but maybe that's the key to his success. He converses just as easily with street criminals as he does with agents, prosecutors and judges. I often thought of him as a duck -- calm on the surface but underneath the feet are always moving."
Those feet moved very quickly on Jan. 7, 1999.
That's the day police were called to a heart-breaking scene in an Earl Street duplex. There, they found a mother and her 8-year-old son murdered, execution-style. Fingers quickly pointed to Russell Peeler, the son of a deceased Bridgeport police officer. Peeler was awaiting trial for murdering the mother's boyfriend in a barbershop drug dispute. The boy was the state's key witness. The key was uncovering evidence that linked Peeler to the crime.
A joint Bridgeport police and FBI task force was assembled with Gonzalez as a member. "Whatever we needed done, J.J. was there, ready to do it," said Glasser, who headed the federal drug investigation of Peeler while now-retired Fairfield State's Attorney Jonathan Benedict supervised the murder investigation.
Glasser recalls how they received a tip the day before Thanksgiving 1999 that the gun used to kill the pair had been tossed into Long Island Sound just beyond the Seaside Park archway.
"On a day when most people would be preparing for the holiday," Glasser recalled, "J.J. was out there rounding up a search team, getting search lights and looking for metal detectors. He had the team working until 2 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. That's the kind of dedication he has. Neither time nor his own life was an issue to him. He wanted to find the gun that killed the little boy."
Unfortunately, it wasn't found that day. But the task force's work in flipping gang members laid the killings at the feet of Adrian Peeler, the trigger man, who was prodded by his brother to commit the murders. Both were convicted. Russell was given the death penalty, while Adrian is serving 20 years.
It also led to Gonzalez's permanent assignment to the FBI's Safe Streets Task Force in Bridgeport, which specializes in investigating violent crimes.
"He's the glue that holds the task force together," Hernandez said. "The task force model does not produce big results immediately and requires a lot of overtime as investigators work towards the big payoff. "He's been responsible in many cases for keeping other agencies involved."
On the local level, Viadero said Gonzalez supervises Bridgeport officers assigned to the FBI's Safe Streets, U.S. Drug Enforcement and State Police Statewide Narcotics Task Forces.
One of those is Det. Rick Donaldson.
"J.J. is not the type of guy who sits behind a desk," said Donaldson. "He's out there knocking on doors, making arrests, participating in car chases. He's a working sergeant."
But just as important, according to Fein, Glasser and Hernandez, is Gonzalez's historical knowledge of the criminals who work the city's streets and projects.
"Sergeant Gonzalez's unparalleled historical knowledge of every Bridgeport murderer, gang member and drug dealer -- including the cars they drove, who they dated, where they lived and where they worked has proven -- and continues to prove-- indispensable to each and every task force case," the U.S. Attorney said.
Fein related a story told him by FBI Special Agent Jon Hosney, who worked Bridgeport gang cases before being chosen to head the FBI's Terrorism Task Force in Connecticut. Apparently, Hosney expressed frustration to Gonzalez about the dead ends he was hitting while investigating Estrada, who headed the Terminators, a deadly organization of heroin traffickers.
"Sgt. Gonzalez calmly looked Hosney in the eyes and said we will make a case against Frank Estrada," Fein said.
Within a year, Estrada and 20 of his highest-ranking associates were indicted on racketeering, drug trafficking and murder charges. Estrada later became one of the federal government key cooperators in developing dozens of other cases against violent drug gangs and distributors.
"He's able to build relationships with the people he investigates," said Donaldson. "Many of them continue to stay in contact with him when they are in prison or move out of state."
That's because, Glasser said, "J.J. is a man of his word. He'll never cross anyone."
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