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Police chief retires after racist e-mails

Jonathan Bandler
The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News
Pelham Manor (N.Y.)  Police Department headquarters.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — An embattled police chief has announced his retirement over racist e-mails he shared with fellow officers that included crude jokes stereotyping African Americans as frequently incarcerated and uninterested in working.

Pelham Manor police Chief Alfred Mosiello's last day was Friday. He will take two weeks vacation before his official retirement date March 1. Lt. David Donahue will run the department until a permanent chief is selected.

"The controversy created by the e-mails I forwarded has made my continued role here in the Department impossible," Mosiello wrote to the Board of Trustees on Friday. "I recognize that this thoughtless act has legitimately insulted members of our community and for this I cannot fully express my regrets and I offer my sincerest apology to anyone who feels wronged."

The chief, a 35-year veteran of the department, held the top job for eight years. The board suspended him after a retired officer who was critical of the chief, Marc Lenci, brought the e-mails to Mayor Bertrand Sellier's attention.

Last month, the village Board of Trustees opted to suspend Mosiello without pay for two weeks, to strip him of 25 vacation days and send him to counseling. At the time, Sellier suggested that while the bill for Mosiello's therapy — as much as $25,000 — was significant, the village would not have to spend money on litigation trying to oust the chief and that Mosiello was a longtime employee who had taken responsibility and "apologized for his poor judgment."

Mosiello's salary was $187,000.

Details about four of the e-mails — sent between 2010 and 2012 — were revealed last week.

The e-mails, copies of which The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News obtained last week included crude jokes stereotyping African Americans as frequently incarcerated and uninterested in working. Another accused black women of having many children so they can collect money for their care. And one complained about undocumented Hispanic workers getting to keep all their off-the-books income.

In his letter, Mosiello took a shot at Lenci and retired Officer Gregory Paci. He insisted he has worked hard to protect all members of the community, including Jamainne Hall, a black man he said was wrongfully arrested two years ago by the two officers "who I believe are working so hard to disparage me."

Both men retired when Mosiello threatened to bring disciplinary charges against them. Hall filed a federal lawsuit, which the village settled for an undisclosed amount. Neither Lenci nor Paci could immediately be reached for comment.

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