81°
EXCLUSIVE: A Hackensack police officer who is suing city and county law enforcement was charged today with retaliating against a man who got into a bar fight with a fellow city officer: Officer Anthony Ferraioli is expected to be suspended without pay, a source with direct knowledge of the investigation said.
NEWSBREAK: Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli this afternoon confirmed an earlier CLIFFVIEW PILOT report that his investigators have charged Hackensack Police Officer Anthony Ferraioli with beating up an arrestee and then covering it up. CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY ….
Ferraioli, a 47-year-old former union president who has a lawsuit pending against his own department and the prosecutor’s office, is being charged by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office with official misconduct, aggravated assault and filing a police report in connection with the June 7 arrest and subsequent beating of Andrew Milberg, who was involved in the incident outside a Houlihan’s restaurant, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.
After determining his address, officers went to his home and arrested him on charges of possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia, two law enforcement sources told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. In the process, Ferraioli bashed Milberg in the head and tried to cover it up, they said.
“On the one hand, a guy like him says he wants to get rid of the style from the olden days,” one officer told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “But then there are these kinds of charges brought by [investigators from the prosecutor’s office].”
Ferraioli got a six-month unpaid suspension in April 2010 following an administrative hearing on charges that he posted derogatory comments on an NJ.com forum while posing as an internal affairs officer. Ferraioli first lied about who owned the computer, then said it belonged to Dawn Fray — then his girlfriend and now his wife. She insisted she was responsible, not him.
Ferraioli is one of more than a dozen officers who have brought civil rights charges against now-suspended Police Chief Charles “Ken” Zisa, claiming he retaliated against them for various reasons. Also named in the suits are the city of Hackensack and other superior officers.
Ferraioli and three other officers filed an amended federal suit this spring, alleging rampant corruption in the department’s upper management. Also named in the suit is Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli and his entire office.
Molinelli’s office monitored the city department for 11 months, under a Memorandum of Understanding with the city, after Zisa was charged in April 2010 with insurance fraud and covering up a DWI crash involving his girlfriend. Major internal matters have since been referred to his investigators to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Capt. Tomas Padilla has remained in charge.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.
