James Costanzo was fully aware conversations he had with his girlfriend in late January while behind bars awaiting trial on federal drug charges were being monitored and recorded.
But federal prosecutors say that didn’t stop him from instructing her on how to conduct his drug business while he was away.
A federal judge on Friday cited the “disturbing” recordings in denying a request from Costanzo to allow him to stay in Florida with relatives who were willing to post bail in the case.
Background
Costanzo, 35, was arrested Jan. 23 by federal agents at his Dwight Street home, where federal prosecutors say agents also discovered 600 oxycodone pills and about $5,500 in cash.
In court documents, prosecutors allege Costanzo has been using the house as a black market pharmacy to peddle prescription pills illegally.
They also said he bragged about having police connections and smashing a man’s face into an oven door, as well as sending “associates” to intimidate others.
He is charged with conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone, as is an alleged co-conspirator, Brian Earl, of North Haven.
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Bid For Freedom
At U.S. District Court in Bridgeport Friday, Costanzo’s lawyer, Donald Cretella, asked U.S. Magistrate Judge William Garfinkel to allow Costanzo to live with family members in Florida, who were willing to use properties they owned as collateral for bail.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan objected to the request, playing in court snippets from a series of recorded conversations, most of which were between Costanzo and his girlfriend when she visited him at a Rhode Island federal jail after his arrest.
In a Jan. 25 recording, Costanzo told the woman to tell others that he had made some “new federal friends.”
Two days later, Costanzo told the woman to get a man who owed him $1,455 to get the money.
He told her to warn the man “he better get his (expletive deleted) together.”
“I’ll be seeing him … with my new (expletive deleted) friends,” he says.
Sullivan argued the recording showed that Costanzo was pressing for payments from “people (who) are working off their drug debts.”
The prosecutor said it “defies logic” for Costanzo to be conducting his business through his girlfriend on a phone monitored by federal law enforcement.
Cretella argued that the man mentioned on the recordings had agreed to do work for Costanzo.
Costanzo had paid him, Cretella said, but the man never did the work.
“That is why Mr. Costanzo is upset over that situation,” Cretella said.
The lawyer also said many of the recordings were garbled.
“It seems to be a leap that he owes him drug money, so he’s going to work it off,” Cretella said.
Sullivan then played a Jan. 28 recording between Costanzo and his girlfriend during which Costanzo berated her in an expletive-laced tirade for telling others he had been arrested.
“The more you (expletive deleted) spread the word, the less I have to work with,” Costanzo told the woman, though he did add a quick “Love you” before the end of the conversation.
Sullivan asked Judge Garfinkel to keep Costanzo behind bars, arguing “as long as he can find a telephone, he is a danger to the community.”
Judge Garfinkel asked Cretella if he could explain the recordings played by Sullivan.
“It’s hard to put lipstick on that pig,” the judge said.
Cretella replied that all the recordings showed is that his client is, for lack of a better word, “an asshole.”
But that’s not illegal, he noted.
“Thank goodness for me anyway that’s not against the law,” Cretella said, adding that Costanzo was also under “extreme stress” because he was behind bars for the first time in his life.
The lawyer said Costanzo’s family are “salt of the earth” people and wouldn’t stand for him stepping out of line if released.
“Maybe Mr. Costanzo shouldn’t have access to a phone, and I have no problem with that,” Cretella said.
Not good enough, Sullivan told the judge.
The prosecutor noted that Costanzo allegedly continued selling drugs out of his Ansonia home last year even after discovering a pole camera that had been installed outside it by feds.
Sullivan said he didn’t doubt the sincerity of Costanzo’s relatives, but he questioned whether Costanzo “is suddenly now going to see the light because somebody’s going to be his nursemaid in Florida, hundreds of miles away.”
After taking a five-minute recess to consider the arguments, Judge Garfinkel sided with Sullivan.
The judge said Costanzo’s request was a “close call” before he heard the recordings, but wasn’t afterward.
“It just shows someone who has lost his bearings and is uncontrollable,” Judge Garfinkel said, calling the recordings “very disturbing.”
“There’s no situation too bad that someone can’t make it worse,” the judge said later, ordering Costanzo’s detention in Rhode Island’s Wyatt Detention Facility to continue. “There’s just too much there to be explained away.”
Constanzo was then handcuffed and mouthed a kiss to family members in the courtroom before being led away.
Costanzo’s family declined to comment outside the courtroom.
Federal court records in the case say jury selection will begin March 18, but that date will likely be continued for Cretella and Sullivan to try to negotiate a plea agreement.
