On the docks of New Bedford, Massachusetts, whispers about a rogue police officer harassing fishermen and stealing drugs come to a head aboard a scalloping boat late one night. The officer forces his way on board, saying an informant told him there would be drugs on board, and demands some. But when another officer, Mark Raposo, shows up, he thinks his colleague is in the middle of a “drug rip.” Now Raposo is ready to blow the whistle on what he’s seen. And it turns out that this officer’s abuse of the informant system is just the tip of the iceberg in this historic port city. *Note: this episode was updated Mar 12, 2025, to include a statement from police that the Globe received after the deadline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What incident unfolds aboard the scalloping boat?
Before we begin, this story includes strong language. Please take care when listening. It's a warm summer night in 2018, and there's a strange situation unfolding aboard a scalloping boat docked in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The caller says there's an intruder on board.
The caller is a fisherman on the Little Tutti, a boat docked for the night along the city's waterfront.
The call comes in at about 9.30.
Some crew members are sleeping. Others are making final preparations for the next day's fishing trip down the Atlantic coast. When suddenly, there's a loud banging on the door and a frenzied man pushes his way inside. Does he have many weapons on him? Yeah, he has a system inside. He's dressed in all black. His eyes are bloodshot. And he has a gun.
The scene is chaotic.
And the dispatcher's trying to figure out what's going on. The fisherman is telling the dispatcher that the guy on his boat claims he's a police officer. So you think he's lying, he's not an officer?
No, sir, but he does have a badge. He says he's a security or something.
Around this time, a call goes out to police radios across town.
Control to all units, do I have anybody out at the Crystal Ice dock? We have a male calling stating that he's speaking with somebody who's claiming to be a police officer, but he thinks that this person is lying. Control to Unit 10. Unit 10. 10, could you make your way down to the Crystal Ice warehouse just to see exactly what's going on?
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Chapter 2: Who is Officer George Santos and what are his actions?
Well, that night, it was the end of a long day for me.
Freddie was exhausted after a day aboard the Little Tootie, captaining a crew of a half dozen. He hopped into his truck to run an errand before bed.
I think I was like minutes away when I got the call.
It was a member of his crew, and the guy sounded panicked.
He calls me and he tells me there's a cop in here. And now he's searching. I asked him, how does this cop look? So he starts describing me the cop. And it's exactly the description of Santos. And then he tells me, but he's not wearing a uniform.
What's going through your head when you get this call?
First of all, I'm upset. I started getting upset and mad immediately, you know. Second of all... As I am on the call, you know, I realize that he's doing this illegally and that he's not on duty, you know? So that's when I asked to call 911.
911, what's your emergency?
Within minutes, Mark Raposo steps aboard the Little Tutti and tries to make sense of what he's seeing.
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Chapter 3: What role do confidential informants play in police actions?
Tim Rasmussen is visuals editor. Legal review by John Albano. Fact-checking by Matt Mahoney. Marketing support for this podcast comes from The Podglomerate.