"Op. Deception" defendant speaks out

CRANSTON, RI (WPRI) - Speaking out from behind bars, "Operation Deception" defendant Khalid Mason says the charges against him are bogus.

The Target 12 Investigators met with Mason In a 30-minute meeting Wednesday night. Cameras, even pen and paper were banned from the Intake Services Center on the campus of the Adult Correctional Institution.

The 34 year-old Mason is accused by state police as being a major supplier of drugs to co-defendant Albert Hamlin. State police charged Hamlin with running a lucrative cocaine operation.

• Wiretaps helped end alleged drug ring

Mason questioned state police logic.

"If I'm such a drug kingpin, then why do I live in squalor?" Mason said.

State police raided his tiny Central Falls apartment last week and found no drug paraphernalia. Mason said he lives there with his girlfriend and two-month old child.

State Police Captain David Neill said additional information led them to another apartment, this one in Providence.

"Seized from that apartment believed to be belonging to Khalid Mason was approximately 125 grams of crack cocaine," Neill said.

Mason denied the claim calling the current charges against him because "of what happened in round one." A reference to a 2007 drug case that embarrassed the Providence Police Narcotics Unit.

In that case, a federal judge tossed a drug rap against Mason after Providence Detective Scott Partridge admitted he found a box of evidence in his home's attic. Evidence he previously testified didn't exist.

Neill denied any connection between that case and the current drug charges at a news conference last week.

During the interview Wednesday night, Mason claimed he identified several Providence police officers as "dirty." The same officers, he said, that are now being implicated in "Operation Deception."

• Operation Deception Timeline

Providence Police Detective Joseph Colanduono, Sergeant Stephen Gonsalves and Patrolman Robert Hamlin were all charged last week. In addition, Providence Police Colonel Dean Esserman said he placed three narcotics officers and a patrol officer on administrative duty after their names came up as part of the investigation. They have not been charged but an internal review is on-going.

Mason said he named those same officers years ago.

Mason was sometimes emotional, becoming distraught when he talked about his three children growing up without a father.

He said his financial situation is so bad, he hasn't been able to find an attorney. But he said he refuses to use a Rhode Island lawyer after his experience with disgraced attorney John M. Cicilline.

Cicilline represented Mason at the beginning of the first case. In court, Mason accused Cicilline of shaking him down for $100,000. Mason claimed Cicilline said he could pass the money along to corrupt cops to make the charges "go away."

• Disbarred Lawyer John Cicilline Begins New Business Venture

A federal judge ruled Mason never produced enough evidence to make the claim against Cicilline stick. But the judge blasted the Providence Police for "shoddy" work.

The next year, however, Cicilline pleaded guilty in a Boston courtroom to charges in a similar scheme. He just wrapped up a federal prison sentence.