NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Mauro Zonzini, the subject of a week-long series by Talk of the Sound on his 2008 arrest for impersonating a police officer and illegal possession of two loaded handguns, gave a profanity-laced interview in which he denied the account of his arrest in Rye Police Department records, expressed a deep hatred towards police officers and justified his involvement with Police Commissioner Carroll as a way to have “clout” to help his business.
Up until recently Zonzini served for 15 years as a Director of the New Rochelle Police Foundation and was Vice President of the New Rochelle Police Advisory Board.
Zonzini said police routinely make false arrests, motivated by their desire for promotions and money.
“Cops lie 99% of the time on police reports because they have to embellish when they arrest someone and take them to jail,” said Zonzini.
Zonzini described police officers as as unethical people willing to perjure themselves to make an arrest.
“These cops, they sit down and write up a story and they gotta make it look really bad to justify their existence and what they’ve done and why they tried to imprison somebody, false imprisonment. All that shit is to cover their ass.”
Regarding Rye police records obtained by Talk of the Sound, Zonzini was dismissive.
“Whatever was written in that report is not exactly how it happened,” said Zonzini.
Zonzini characterized Rye police as “assholes” and “jerk-offs” with “no pride” and nothing better to do than harass innocent people.
Zonzini expressed great concern with how New Rochelle police interact with the public.
“You gotta keep your mouth shut because they can do whatever the hell they want with you, ripping you out of the car and slamming you to the ground and they’ll make up some fucking story that you tried to smack him or you tried to hit him, they write that in the report and that report goes right through the court system and that’s the story and that’s where the story stays and the story doesn’t change from that and then you gotta prove you aren’t that you didn’t try to bust a cop, this is how the system works, everybody’s full of shit, everyone’s looking for a stripe, everyone’s looking for a raise.”
“You know that’s how the cops work, the more scumbags they are, the better chance of them getting a promotion, you do a 100 felonies we’re going to promote you to detective,” said Zonzini.
Zonzini expressed concern for the average citizen in New Rochelle.
“It’s very unfortunate that the public had to go through things like this, and they put these guys with the shield on, who are trying to get ahead, to make more money, and get promotions, on poor civilians heads, that is how it works.”
When asked how someone who feels that way could serve so long on the New Rochelle Police Foundation and as Vice President of the Police Advisory Board, Zonzini said it was all about having influence in New Rochelle.
“Just because I am on the Foundation doesn’t make me love the police department,” he said.
“You gotta understand something, I gotta crew of guys out there, I got trucks on the road, we open up streets. It’s always nice to have a little clout to ease my work,” said Zonzini.
“I do what I gotta do, give back to the community, to give back to the police department, give them their donation and to have a little power around town is good, it’s a good thing,” Zonzini continued.
“You know so the cop says Zonzini’s over there, he’s alright, he just bought us a new uniform, he just bought us a new bicycle, he just bought us a new microphone, you gotta work with these guys or they can make your life rough, real tough they can make your life so you give them a piece of the action, you hire them as a flag man, you hire them here, you make a donation, we all got work together in the same town, and that’s how it works,” he said.
“So, I belong to the Foundation? That doesn’t mean I am a pro-cop, that I take cops sides in everything,” said Zonzini.
“I hate fucking cops,” he said. “I don’t have any friends that are cops because in 5 minutes they’ll turn on you because you know they’re looking for that stripe on their shoulder.”
“I always had it out for cops for doing that because many of my friends have been arrested wrongfully in the past,” said Zonzini.
Zonzini told one story about Anthony Esposito, a friend, who Zonzini says was wrongly arrested two years ago.
“The cops come, tackle my friend which was the innocent one, beat the shit out of him, make a mess out of his face, rubbed his face in the ice, they made a mess out of this poor guy.”
Zonzini said even though the charges were later dropped, the officers involved were credit with the felony arrests and received medals.
“That’s how these cops are motivated,” said Zonzini. “By medal day, and the more tickets and that’s how the system is so they gotta embellish they got to make things so much worse than they are meanwhile you are ruining a guy that did nothing.”
Medal Day refers to the annual New Rochelle Police Department Awards ceremony held annually at the Greentree Country Club.
New Rochelle Police denied a FOIL request to obtain a record of the arrest Zonzini described on the grounds the case had been sealed but sources tell Talk of the Sound the officer referenced by Zonzini is Police Officer Tim Adrian who has won a number of New Rochelle Police Foundation Awards including several Class “C” Citations.
“That cop got a big award, like 35 felony arrests, which probably 31 of them were fucking bullshit,” said Zonzini.
“That’s how the system works. The most felonies they get the more they get rewarded. They will write down anything,” continued Zonzini. “Most cops will sell their mother for a felony arrest.”
Zonzini told another story about New Rochelle Deputy Police Commissioner Anthony Murphy meeting with a New Rochelle police officer who had a high number of arrests.
“This one particular police officer, every arrest that he does, every arrest, it happens the exact same way,” said Zonzini.
“So they brought him, ‘you approach the car, you smelled this, asked to search, they consented to the search’, every arrest identical,” said Zonzini. “That detective he ruined a lot of people’s lives.”
“I hate the system, I hate how it works, that’s the reality of it the stories that you read when somebody’s going to court is never the right story. Cops are full of shit and I am aware of that,” said Zonzini.
This article is the sixth in a series.
Part III: Former New Rochelle Police Foundation Director Vigorously Denies Rye Police Report of 2008 Arrest
Part IV: Rye Police Tell Different Story About Arrest of New Rochelle Police Foundation Director