Officer Detail: Sylvestre(Sly) Acosta

Assignment History

Descriptions

• Field Not Available
  

  A federal investigation of the Buffalo Police narcotics squad started in 1993 and continued for years. In 2005, a jury convicted Acosta of violating the civil rights of drug suspects by using phony information to raid houses. Federal prosecutors said cash, jewelry and other items were stolen during some of the bogus raids. At the age of 51, Acosta received a 45-year prison sentence under a since changed federal law that dramatically increased some prison terms for police officers convicted of civil rights crimes while carrying firearms. It was the longest sentence ever imposed in a police corruption case in Western New York.

  On October 30, 2003, a federal grand jury returned a 14-count Second Superseding Indictment alleging various civil rights and firearms violations against defendants Paul Skinner, Sylvestre Acosta, and Gerald Skinner, all of whom were, at relevant times, employed as officers by the Buffalo Police Department.

  Counts I-III alleged that Acosta and another executed search warrants based on false information and stole property from private individuals, thereby willfully depriving those individuals of their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and of their Fourteenth Amendment right not to be deprived of property without due process of law, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 242 and 2.4 S. A20-23.

  Acosta continued to maintain his innocence. An attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to consider his case was turned down in 2008. Then, in 2019, Acosta walked out of prison a free man after a Supreme Court ruling in a different case cleared the way for a shorter sentence. He has been quietly living in South Buffalo since.

  The U.S. Supreme Court, in an unrelated case, determined the law Acosta was sentenced under was too broad and vague when it came to defining a crime of violence. In addition to the Supreme Court's decision, Congress also took steps to change the sentencing requirements on officer firearms charges.

  Acosta petitioned federal court in Buffalo and was re-sentenced to time already served, 14 years and nine months, sparing him more than three additional decades behind bars.

  Acosta said the government’s case was based on lies from drug dealers, drug users, prostitutes and a former narcotics detective who cooperated with the FBI to shorten their own time in prison. The chief prosecutor in the case said that even drug dealers and people on the fringes of society should not be victimized by corrupt police.

Links

• Ex-Narcotics Officers in Buffalo Convicted of Corruption
  A federal jury convicted Sylvestre Acosta, 50, following a three-week trial. Acosta faces a mandatory prison term of at least 55 years for his conviction on three counts each of deprivation of civil rights, conspiracy and using a firearm in a crime of violence. - Associated Press
• United States v. Skinner (1:03-cr-00011)
  District Court, W.D. New York | CourtListener
• United States v. Sylvestre Acosta, Also Known as Sly Acosta, and Paul Skinner, Gerald T. Skinner
  Acosta and Skinner, appeal from judgments of conviction. The convictions stem from their falsification of search warrants, armed robbery of money and property from suspected drug dealers, and repeated use of violent, intimidating tactics against suspects and informants. The Appellants raise a host of challenges to their convictions, the majority of which are addressed in a companion summary order filed today. We write separately to reject the claim that §§ 242 and 241 are not crimes of violence for purposes of § 924(c). - United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
• United States v. Acosta
  In this companion summary order, we address the other issues raised by Defendants-Appellants Sylvestre Acosta and Paul Skinner on appeal. For the foregoing reasons, and for the reasons stated in the companion per curiam opinion filed today, the judgments of conviction are affirmed. - Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• USA V Skinner, Skinner, and Acosta
  ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK | BRIEF FOR THE UNITED STATES AS APPELLEE - WDNY
• No crime too big to take away a public pension
  Being a crooked cop can cost a police officer his job, his reputation and even his freedom. But not his pension. Consider Buffalo Detective Sylvestre Acosta, who is serving 45 years in prison, and also collecting a $40,544 annual pension. Or fellow narcotics investigator Gerald T. Skinner, whose $54,751 disability pension was approved while he was behind bars. - Susan Schulman | Buffalo News
• Jailed Buffalo detective denied Supreme Court review
  The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of a former Buffalo narcotics detective who feels he was unfairly hit with the longest police corruption sentence in the history of Western New York. Sylvestre Acosta will continue serving the 45-year prison term that was imposed on him in 2005 by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara. - Dan Herbeck | Buffalo News
• South Buffalo detective faced 45 years after stealing. A Supreme Court decision sent him home
  But Acosta, who continues to maintain his innocence, never stopped fighting a prison term his lawyers and family called unfair. An attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to consider his case was turned down in 2008. Then, three years ago, with little fanfare, Acosta walked out of prison a free man after a Supreme Court ruling in a different case cleared the way for a shorter sentence. He has been quietly living in South Buffalo since. - Lou Michel | Buffalo News