By Allison Steele
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA -- As federal prosecutors see it, former Philadelphia Police Inspector Daniel Castro, accused of scheming to shake down a former business partner who owed him money, started on the path to corruption more than 10 years ago when he befriended the owner of a local electronics store.
Castro, then captain of North Philadelphia’s 39th Police District, developed a quid pro quo with Rony Moshe, owner of a Germantown Avenue store, according to a pretrial motion filed this month in U.S. District Court. In exchange for free merchandise, prosecutors say, Castro tried to help resolve a zoning dispute that Moshe had with the city and later tried to get Moshe out of a traffic ticket.
And both men say that last year, when Castro was desperate to recoup $90,000 that he lost in a business deal, Moshe said he knew people who could use threats and violence to force Castro’s debtors to pay up.
When Castro, 47, goes on trial Monday on extortion and bribery charges, his attorney, Brian McMonagle, will argue that Moshe, an informant secretly working with the FBI, entrapped Castro into going along with the plan and that wiretapped conversations between the men prove that Castro did not want anyone hurt.
In a motion filed this month, McGonagle states that Castro tried to get his money back through legal means for four years before turning to Moshe.
“It was not until . . . a vulnerable and financially exposed Daniel Castro was approached by a wolf in sheep’s clothing, shrouded in the false auspices of friendship, who suggested a fast and easy way to recover his money that he became involved in the government’s extortion scheme,” the motion states.
To use an entrapment defense, McMonagle must show a jury that the government initiated the crime. He also must show that Castro was not predisposed to committing a crime.
Castro, a police officer for 25 years, was seen by some as a rising star in the department until he was fired shortly after his arrest in November.
He is believed to be the highest-ranking officer to face criminal charges in the last 20 years, and FBI filings say that as he and Moshe developed the plan, Castro warned that “I can’t get myself in trouble. I want to be police commissioner.”
Castro has been free on bail since shortly after his arrest. McMonagle said it was a “distinct possibility” that Castro would take the stand. Moshe, who has been convicted of selling crack cocaine, is also likely to testify.
McMonagle’s motion also outlines the circumstances that he argues led Castro to accept Moshe’s help.
In 2006, Castro gave $90,000 to businessman Wilson Encarnacion for a planned real estate development. Encarnacion, of New Jersey, guaranteed repayment of the investment and promised a return of $500,000, but soon told Castro the venture had failed and he could not repay him.
Castro sued Encarnacion last summer, but that case has not been resolved. The loss of the money was “devastating” to Castro and his family, according to the motion.
Several of Castro’s friends and colleagues were aware of the situation, including Moshe, who knew Castro was “vulnerable,” McMonagle said.
“Moshe thereafter set out to entrap Castro into committing criminal activity under the direction of the FBI,” the motion states.
Federal prosecutors say Castro approached Moshe about finding someone who could collect the debt. Castro denies that, McMonagle said.
In April, McMonagle says in the motion, Moshe told Castro that Encarnacion was a “con artist” and that Castro would never recover the money unless he took matters into his own hands.
Initially, Moshe said he knew people who could get Castro’s money back easily and without violence. But in the months that followed, McGonagle says, Moshe “embarked on a treacherous campaign wherein he persuaded, encouraged, enticed, promised, and solicited Castro in an effort to convince him to authorize the debt collectors to use violence in order to obtain his money.”
Eventually, McMonagle says, Moshe talked Castro into allowing an enforcer to “get rough.” Moshe then put Castro in touch with an FBI agent who posed as the “collector.”
According to federal prosecutors, Castro provided the agent with Encarnacion’s home address and said he would likely be susceptible to intimidation because he had a wife and a child.
Castro later asked Moshe about the methods that the “collector” would use, then quickly said that he did not want to know.
In June, according to prosecutors, the FBI agent posing as the collector told Castro that he had threatened Encarnacion and collected $5,000 from him. Later, when the agent told Castro that Encarnacion was scared, Castro replied, “Good, good, good.”
During the next few months, federal documents allege, Castro collected several payments from the FBI agent, money that Castro believed had been taken from Encarnacion. At one point, Castro expressed concern that Encarnacion would go to the police and urged the collector to speed up the process. In September, prosecutors said, Moshe told Castro that the collector had “roughed up” Encarnacion, to which Castro did not object.
A month before Castro’s arrest, FBI agents offered Castro a chance to own up to the scheme and interviewed him about the alleged beating of Encarnacion. Castro told them he did not know anything about it, but later told Moshe to stop the visits from the collector “for now.”
The FBI also alleges that Castro accepted a 42-inch television from Moshe in exchange for looking up a license-plate number in a police database for him. The plate number supposedly belonged to someone who owed Moshe money.
Additionally, Castro is accused of referring the services of the collector to two friends who wanted help collecting debts, businessman Alan Kats and local restaurateur Billy Wong. Kats and Wong have pleaded guilty to extortion-related charges.
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