Justin Volpe, cop who sodomized Abner Louima with broomstick inside Brooklyn police station, marries Staten Island woman in Florida prison
The 'I do’s' came 13 years after Volpe admitted torturing Louima in a 70th Precinct bathroom, becoming a national symbol of police brutality and igniting racial tension across the city.
Caroline Rose DeMaso wed Justin Volpe in Florida federal pen, where Abner Louima's torturer is serving a 30-year sentence with no conjugal visits allowed.
This loving couple, an inmate and his soulmate, was registered with the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Justin Volpe, the rogue cop who infamously sodomized Abner Louima with a broomstick inside a Brooklyn police station in 1997, married a Staten Island woman earlier this year in a Florida prison ceremony, the Daily News has learned.
The couple exchanged vows on May 13 inside the Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Fla., according to a state marriage record.
“It’s happened, thanks be to God,” said the Rev. Thomas Devery, who presided over the nuptials. “They’re very happy, and that’s it.”
Devery, who has known the couple for years, declined to comment on a source’s claim that the pair were childhood sweethearts — or on how long the newlyweds had known each other.
The “I do’s” came 13 years after Volpe admitted torturing Louima in a 70th Precinct bathroom, becoming a national symbol of police brutality and igniting racial tension across the city.
The second-generation cop pleaded guilty in the vicious attack that nearly killed the helpless Haitian immigrant.
The wedding between Volpe, 40, and blushing bride Caroline Rose DeMaso was officiated by Devery, a priest formerly of Staten Island. Both Volpe’s and DeMaso’s families hail from Staten Island.
Their union will go unconsummated for a long time to come: Federal prisoners are banned from enjoying conjugal visits, according to Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke.
And Volpe’s earliest release date on his 30-year prison term is Aug. 3, 2025.
“It’s a unique arrangement,” Devery told the Daily News. “I wish them the best.”
Devery declined to say anything more, noting the couple had struggled with the notoriety of Volpe’s past: “I know the family has been really scorched by what’s been written in the press.”
While it’s unclear if the bride wore white, prison policy barred Volpe from wearing a suit. Inmate No. 49477-053 likely sported a prison-issued wedding ensemble of khaki pants and matching shirt with sneakers.
Once the ceremony concluded, federal prison guidelines would allow Volpe to wear a new wedding ring back to his cell.
The bride, who could have asked the warden for approval of a wedding dress, turned 40 on Tuesday. The two witnesses included Volpe’s mother, Grace, and a relative of the bride.
The groom’s dad, former NYPD Detective Robert Volpe, died in 2006. Prison officials declined to comment on the wedding.
Volpe’s supportive parents were frequent visitors to their son as the years passed by in federal lockup.
Volpe was sentenced in December 1999 to three decades in prison, dodging the maximum of life without parole, for the cruel attack on Louima.
“I broke a man down,” he reportedly told fellow cops after emerging from the bathroom with Louima’s blood all over a pair of leather gloves.
The ex-cop acknowledged that he shoved a broken broomstick into Louima’s rectum — and then shoved the filthy piece of wood into the injured man’s face.
The victim suffered a ruptured colon and a ruptured bladder, and needed two months of hospitalization to recover.
Volpe admitted targeting Louima in retaliation for a punch thrown at his head in a brawl outside a Flatbush nightclub. While Volpe blamed Louima, the punch was actually thrown by another man.
At the time of the trial, Volpe was in a three-year relationship with a black woman who stood by him during the racially charged case.
The couple was living together, and planned a big wedding that never came off after Volpe’s conviction. In a twist, she moved to Florida before his sentencing — but still sent a letter to the sentencing judge asking for leniency.
DeMaso was apparently married once before, to a fellow Staten Islander in 2001. The bride spent her first honeymoon in Florida, too — visiting Orlando, the home of Disney World — before heading to Antigua.
Her first husband, like Volpe, was a police officer in Brooklyn. He now works in the NYPD Mounted Division.
It was unclear when the couple broke up.
Reached by The News, the disgraced cop’s mother, Grace Volpe, had little to say.
“We have no comment on this,” she said. “The family doesn’t want to respond. Thank you, Merry Christmas.”
Louima, now working in real estate and living near Miami, offered a no comment on the nuptials. He received a record $8.7 million settlement from the city and police unions after the attack.
“The spotlight may be once again on Justin Volpe,” said Louima’s attorney, Sanford Rubenstein.
“But what’s important is for police officers throughout the country to be reminded of his 30-year prison sentence, which demonstrates police officers will be held criminally accountable for perpetrating criminal acts against innocent victims.”
Louima, a father of three, immigrated to the city just seven years before his arrest outside the Brooklyn nightclub. He used some of his settlement to assist needy students in his native Haiti.
A second cop, Charles Schwarz, was convicted of perjury in the case and served five years while maintaining his innocence.
Prosecutors said he lied about his role in the attack, joining in the failed attempt to hide what happened to Louima.
Two other officers, including Volpe’s partner that night, were convicted of obstruction of justice — but their convictions were overturned on appeal.
The case and the attempted coverup caused a shakeup in the precinct brass along with an investigation into the vicious attack.
A tearful Volpe, at his December 1999 sentencing, apologized to Louima for the heinous assault. He pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Louima’s civil rights.
The disgraced cop said he was “ashamed and deeply regretful” for the attack that led many to label him a monster.
“I betrayed Abner Louima’s rights, I betrayed the city’s confidence in police officers, and I betrayed myself and my partners,” he said.
But Federal Judge Eugene Nickerson showed little compassion for Volpe.
“Short of intentional murder, one cannot imagine a more barbarous misuse of power than Volpe’s,” the judge told a crowded Brooklyn courtroom before imposing the 30-year term.
In a seven-page letter to The News on the 10th anniversary of the attack, Volpe — then serving time in Minnesota — quoted French philosopher Blaise Pascal and painter Paul Gauguin.
He wrote in large, underlined, capital letters about his “sadness” at serving his full sentence without parole.
“I am not a cop, I am not a prisoner, but a man,” he wrote in a letter that hinted at contrition just once.
“I’ve always believed in God regardless of my sins,” he said.
rparascandola@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...-island-woman-article-1.1213532#ixzz2ECHIczNW
The 'I do’s' came 13 years after Volpe admitted torturing Louima in a 70th Precinct bathroom, becoming a national symbol of police brutality and igniting racial tension across the city.
Caroline Rose DeMaso wed Justin Volpe in Florida federal pen, where Abner Louima's torturer is serving a 30-year sentence with no conjugal visits allowed.
This loving couple, an inmate and his soulmate, was registered with the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Justin Volpe, the rogue cop who infamously sodomized Abner Louima with a broomstick inside a Brooklyn police station in 1997, married a Staten Island woman earlier this year in a Florida prison ceremony, the Daily News has learned.
The couple exchanged vows on May 13 inside the Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Fla., according to a state marriage record.
“It’s happened, thanks be to God,” said the Rev. Thomas Devery, who presided over the nuptials. “They’re very happy, and that’s it.”
Devery, who has known the couple for years, declined to comment on a source’s claim that the pair were childhood sweethearts — or on how long the newlyweds had known each other.
The “I do’s” came 13 years after Volpe admitted torturing Louima in a 70th Precinct bathroom, becoming a national symbol of police brutality and igniting racial tension across the city.
The second-generation cop pleaded guilty in the vicious attack that nearly killed the helpless Haitian immigrant.
The wedding between Volpe, 40, and blushing bride Caroline Rose DeMaso was officiated by Devery, a priest formerly of Staten Island. Both Volpe’s and DeMaso’s families hail from Staten Island.
Their union will go unconsummated for a long time to come: Federal prisoners are banned from enjoying conjugal visits, according to Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke.
And Volpe’s earliest release date on his 30-year prison term is Aug. 3, 2025.
“It’s a unique arrangement,” Devery told the Daily News. “I wish them the best.”
Devery declined to say anything more, noting the couple had struggled with the notoriety of Volpe’s past: “I know the family has been really scorched by what’s been written in the press.”
While it’s unclear if the bride wore white, prison policy barred Volpe from wearing a suit. Inmate No. 49477-053 likely sported a prison-issued wedding ensemble of khaki pants and matching shirt with sneakers.
Once the ceremony concluded, federal prison guidelines would allow Volpe to wear a new wedding ring back to his cell.
The bride, who could have asked the warden for approval of a wedding dress, turned 40 on Tuesday. The two witnesses included Volpe’s mother, Grace, and a relative of the bride.
The groom’s dad, former NYPD Detective Robert Volpe, died in 2006. Prison officials declined to comment on the wedding.
Volpe’s supportive parents were frequent visitors to their son as the years passed by in federal lockup.
Volpe was sentenced in December 1999 to three decades in prison, dodging the maximum of life without parole, for the cruel attack on Louima.
“I broke a man down,” he reportedly told fellow cops after emerging from the bathroom with Louima’s blood all over a pair of leather gloves.
The ex-cop acknowledged that he shoved a broken broomstick into Louima’s rectum — and then shoved the filthy piece of wood into the injured man’s face.
The victim suffered a ruptured colon and a ruptured bladder, and needed two months of hospitalization to recover.
Volpe admitted targeting Louima in retaliation for a punch thrown at his head in a brawl outside a Flatbush nightclub. While Volpe blamed Louima, the punch was actually thrown by another man.
At the time of the trial, Volpe was in a three-year relationship with a black woman who stood by him during the racially charged case.
The couple was living together, and planned a big wedding that never came off after Volpe’s conviction. In a twist, she moved to Florida before his sentencing — but still sent a letter to the sentencing judge asking for leniency.
DeMaso was apparently married once before, to a fellow Staten Islander in 2001. The bride spent her first honeymoon in Florida, too — visiting Orlando, the home of Disney World — before heading to Antigua.
Her first husband, like Volpe, was a police officer in Brooklyn. He now works in the NYPD Mounted Division.
It was unclear when the couple broke up.
Reached by The News, the disgraced cop’s mother, Grace Volpe, had little to say.
“We have no comment on this,” she said. “The family doesn’t want to respond. Thank you, Merry Christmas.”
Louima, now working in real estate and living near Miami, offered a no comment on the nuptials. He received a record $8.7 million settlement from the city and police unions after the attack.
“The spotlight may be once again on Justin Volpe,” said Louima’s attorney, Sanford Rubenstein.
“But what’s important is for police officers throughout the country to be reminded of his 30-year prison sentence, which demonstrates police officers will be held criminally accountable for perpetrating criminal acts against innocent victims.”
Louima, a father of three, immigrated to the city just seven years before his arrest outside the Brooklyn nightclub. He used some of his settlement to assist needy students in his native Haiti.
A second cop, Charles Schwarz, was convicted of perjury in the case and served five years while maintaining his innocence.
Prosecutors said he lied about his role in the attack, joining in the failed attempt to hide what happened to Louima.
Two other officers, including Volpe’s partner that night, were convicted of obstruction of justice — but their convictions were overturned on appeal.
The case and the attempted coverup caused a shakeup in the precinct brass along with an investigation into the vicious attack.
A tearful Volpe, at his December 1999 sentencing, apologized to Louima for the heinous assault. He pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Louima’s civil rights.
The disgraced cop said he was “ashamed and deeply regretful” for the attack that led many to label him a monster.
“I betrayed Abner Louima’s rights, I betrayed the city’s confidence in police officers, and I betrayed myself and my partners,” he said.
But Federal Judge Eugene Nickerson showed little compassion for Volpe.
“Short of intentional murder, one cannot imagine a more barbarous misuse of power than Volpe’s,” the judge told a crowded Brooklyn courtroom before imposing the 30-year term.
In a seven-page letter to The News on the 10th anniversary of the attack, Volpe — then serving time in Minnesota — quoted French philosopher Blaise Pascal and painter Paul Gauguin.
He wrote in large, underlined, capital letters about his “sadness” at serving his full sentence without parole.
“I am not a cop, I am not a prisoner, but a man,” he wrote in a letter that hinted at contrition just once.
“I’ve always believed in God regardless of my sins,” he said.
rparascandola@nydailynews.com
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...-island-woman-article-1.1213532#ixzz2ECHIczNW
