Billy White.
New Haven police Lt. Billy White, who helped the feds send gang leaders to prison for decades during the War on Drugs until the feds sent him to prison as part of a corruption probe, has died at the age of 80.
White, a lifelong New Havener, was an omnipresence in town, from playing and coaching sports to working his way up the ladder in the police department. He probably was among the New Haveners who knew the most people in town, from all walks of life, as well as their secrets. He often knew the people he arrested, not just from the beat, but through sports and community work.
White ascended through the ranks of the detective division in the final quarter of the 20th century, when law enforcement prioritized arresting and locking up people in the “War on Drugs.” The “war” was cheered at the time by many politicians and people seeking relief in crime-plagued neighborhoods. It was subsequently repudiated by national experts as having destroyed lives and communities through mass incarceration without addressing the root economic and health causes of the problem — while also taking a toll on the police officers themselves enlisted as soldiers.
Billy White’s intelligence work was credited with having enabled joint federal-state task forces to arrest and imprison leaders of violent drug-dealing gangs throughout New Haven during the ‘80s-‘90s crack epidemic.
Those gangs included the Latin Kings — one of whose members shot White’s son, Tyler, to death, an incident that haunted the father the rest of his life.
White passed along his love of investigative work to his surviving children. One, Billy Jr., retired after a successful career as a New Haven detective. Another, Elizabeth White, was a beloved top cop in the West Rock neighborhood from which her father hailed and has become a skilled and respected investigator specializing in tech-related fact-gathering.
Billy White found himself implicated in investigations of abuses tied to some of his Drug War era work, including a “cocaine-quinine” scandal involving the alleged substitution of quinine powder as evidence in cocaine busts; and most famously in a 2007 federal bribery and theft-related raid on the NHPD in which the feds arrested him.
The 2007 raid made national news. White subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery for taking money from bail bondsmen to headhunt wanted suspects. He also pleaded to two counts of theft of government funds for money he stole that was planted by the FBI at sting operations. The feds planted $27,500 in cash in a paper bag that an informant advised White about, then caught him taking $5,000 of it and then discussing how to cover it up (as well as whether the informant would face potential physical harm). White was sentenced to 38 months in prison. The NHPD disbanded, then restructured, the drug unit White had led at the time of the raid; the city also hired an outside agency to recommend structural changes to the NHPD.
While that scandal tarnished his reputation, others who encountered White, including as arrestees, maintained a more nuanced view of a cop who cared deeply about people and was dedicated to his craft.
City Plan Commission Chair and Hill Community Management Team leader Leslie Radcliffe previously recounted this story about White:
40 years ago I sold coke out of the home I shared with my young son and partner, a criminal act. One night after we ‘closed up shop’ the door to our home was kicked in. Not knowing who was trying to come thru or their intentions, my instinct was to protect my son. I removed the fully loaded 357 magnum from its hiding place, positioned myself between the intruders and my son and stood locked and loaded for whomever came thru first. Then a voice of calm in the midst of the chaos called me by my name and said ‘this is Billy White with NHPD … put the gun down … you don’t want to do this’. THAT Billy White did NOT shoot me. He called my name and brought me into focus. I surrendered the firearm that I had pointed at POLICE OFFICERS! without incidence. He let me sit with my son until someone I was allowed to call came to take custody of him. I was arrested and incarcerated at Niantic Women’s Correctional facility for a crime I committed. I turned my life around. I am fortunate and pleased to know and work with many good officers in my community. I’ve built positive relationships over the years because of my experience. I can be objective because of my experience. I’m Black and a former member of the CRB. You CANNOT be a good candidate if you focus on the negative.
As a young cop in 1970, White found himself participating in the arrest — and reassuring the safety — of the late New Haven Black Panther leader Warren Kimbro during a raid connected to a murder. “It’s me, Billy,” White told him while officers ransacked Panther headquarters in the middle of the night. White and Kimbro had previously worked together in an anti-poverty program; Kimbro had coached White’s younger brother in little league. The arrest didn’t harm their relationship; both were just doing their jobs as part of a national drama controlled by forces much larger than they.
After his 2007 federal arrest but before his conviction and sentencing, White won approval for his pension (leading to a reexamination of rules governing pensions for arrested officers).
That put an end to a 38-year career in the profession he loved, the profession that largely defined his life, one from which many others retire at the first chance, at 20 or 25 years. It was hard to leave policing behind. When he returned home to Westville after serving his time, White brought with him pages of lined paper he had filled out in details and meticulous handwriting evocative of an evidence form, listing the hundreds of books he had read during his incarceration. It consisted of row after row of titles of crime novels and true-crime stories.
Official Obituary
It is with profound sadness that the family of William L. White announces his passing on November 24, 2023. Born and raised in New Haven, a proud “Brookside Boy” he was the son of the late William and Mary White. Billy was a gifted athlete who passed on his love of sports to his children, coaching them and their friends from Little League through high school sports. He was a steadfast and loyal friend. With his boundless energy, he was always there for whatever anyone needed.
Billy served for thirty-eight years as a police officer in New Haven, retiring as a Lieutenant. During that time, he organized road races and charity events – always giving back to those in need. But above all, Billy was a man who cherished his family – his wife, his children, his grandchildren, his sisters and brothers, and his nieces and nephews. He was wholeheartedly devoted to them. He leaves behind his broken-hearted family – his wife of forty years Nancy, (“Sterlin”), his deeply loved children William, Patrick (Sara Richwine) and Elizabeth (Carlos Conceicao), his sisters Linda Pascale and Mariellen Vogt, and his sisters in law Sandi White, Carolyn Sterling and Susan Jennison (Watson). He was a much-loved Grandpa and Poppy to his grandchildren Taylor White, William White (Sabrina), Sarah White, Aurora and Antonio Conceicao, and Jackson and Lillian White, and a new great grandfather to Lucas White. Billy was tragically predeceased by his son Tyler, a heartache that he carried with him every day of his life. He was also predeceased by his brothers Robert White and John Noble and his sisters Marilyn Mueller and Joyce Nettleton, his brothers in law William Pascale, Ernst Vogt and Tim Hennessey, and his mother and father-in-law who loved him as a son, Julius and Grace Sterling. Uncle Billy was a force to be reckoned with. He loved his children, his grandchildren and his nieces and nephews fiercely and unconditionally and was always a part of their lives – watching over them and their friends ‑whether they wanted him to or not ‑supervising their every move, especially as teenagers. We cannot imagine a world without him.
The visiting hours will be Tuesday, Nov. 28th from 4:00 to 7:00 PM at The Havens Family North Haven Funeral Home, 36 Washington Avenue. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated in Blessed Michael McGivney Parish at St. Mary Church, 5 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven on Wednesday morning, Nov. 29th at 10:00. Interment will be private and at the convenience of the family.