7 days ago
EXCLUSIVE Two veteran NYPD detectives are under investigation for providing security at luxury townhouse where crypto businessman was tortured
Two veteran NYPD detectives are in the hot seat for their role in providing security at a luxury Manhattan townhouse where a cryptocurrency businessman was tortured for two weeks - and one has ties to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, sources tell
Detective Robert Cordero, who's been assigned to Mayor Adam's Executive Protection Unit since 2021, was the one who allegedly picked up the Italian national from the airport on May 6 and drove him to the townhouse - delivering him to the so-called Crypto King of Kentucky, John Woeltz, 38, and William Duplessie, 32.
There, in an attempt to extort the password from B itcoin investor Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, 28, they subjected him to 17 days of being chained up, electrocuted and taunted with a chainsaw inside the swanky SoHo apartment.
The townhouse's surveillance and transportation to other locations was allegedly held down by Cordero and Detective Raymond J. Low, who has worked in the narcotics unit in Manhattan since 2005.
Neither had filed the required paperwork to work the private security job, sources said. However, one familiar with the investigation told that it's not believed that the detectives were involved in the actual crime.
'There's no indication either of them had any knowledge of what was going on inside,' the source said. 'It's not like they went up there and saw this guy being tortured. These (detectives) function was to basically drive them around.'
But despite this, both men have been placed on modified desk duty as the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau investigates their involvement in the horrifying scheme that was only exposed when the businessman was able to bust out of his confinement.
After 17 horrifying days, a shoeless and bloodied Carturan was captured on surveillance cameras hobbling down a busy street on May 23 after escaping the six-story apartment.
He was able to flag down an NYPD traffic officer at the intersection of Spring and Mulberry Streets and pleaded for help, NBC 4 reported.
The disheveled Italian national told the officer he had seized the opportunity to escape after being told it would be his 'death day'. Police said he was covered in bruises, cuts and had ligature marks on his wrists from where he was allegedly bound.
Officers converged on the property and arrested Woeltz on charges of assault, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a firearm.
Woeltz was allegedly part of a group that concocted a sadistic scheme to lure Carturan - who is understood to have been a business partner of Woeltz and his associate William Duplessie - to New York so they could access his crypto account.
Duplessie, accompanied by his lawyers, surrendered himself to police Tuesday morning. He will face charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Woeltz's glamorous Italian assistant Beatrice Folchi, 24, was also taken into police custody, but later released. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has declined to prosecute pending further investigation.
Police raided Woeltz's residence on Friday after Carturan's escape.
What they found inside was shocking: a trove of evidence offering a glimpse inside their apartment of horrors, including Polaroid pictures of Carturan being tied up and tortured.
Detectives also revealed they uncovered a gun that was used to 'inflict fear and pain on the victim'.
The nightmare for Carturan began when he was lured to the house by his former business associate, Woeltz, with the promise of returning Bitcoin already extorted from him.
But when he arrived, he was chained up, electrocuted, pistol-whipped and threatened with a chainsaw in an effort to give up the passwords to his crypto accounts, Carturan claimed.
Woeltz and his male 'accomplice' allegedly threatened to kill the alleged victim's family unless he provided passwords to accounts holding Bitcoin.
Believing he would soon be shot, Carturan told his alleged captors he would give up his password. Prosecutors claim as Woeltz went to retrieve his laptop from another room, the victim fled down the stairs.
Carturan was transported to a nearby hospital with a 'laceration to his face', 'injury to his wrists consistent with being bound' and various other injuries on his body and head, prosecutors said, describing the victim as having been 'traumatized'.
Sources close to the investigation told NBC 4 that Woeltz and Duplessie had 'roughed up' Carturan before, but never violently.
They would often pick on him, with the insider describing their relationship as 'complex' and having a 'Wolf of Wall Street/frat guys gone wild' vibe.
The duo would drink both Don Julio tequila and champagne straight from the bottle at The Box and had a 'frat bro' mentality with their friends and coworkers - often picking on Carturan before holding him captive
Police have now arrested a group of so-called 'crypto bros' in connection with the case.
The gang was alleged to have pistol-whipped Carturan and threatened to sever his limbs with an electric chainsaw before he pretended to concede his passwords.
At one point, they were said to have 'carried the victim to the top flight of stairs of the apartment in the compound and hung the victim over the ledge, after threatening to kill the victim if [he] did not provide the defendant with the victim's Bitcoin password'.
Police said the men took Polaroid photographs of themselves torturing him - one showing him bound to a chair with a gun pressed to his head.
The photos, authorities believe, were likely intended to extort money from either the alleged victim or his family back in Italy.
Investigators also found broken glass, helmets, night vision goggles and a bulletproof vest strewn across the apartment.
The men also reportedly forced him into taking drugs - including crack cocaine - and imposed mental torment upon him, repeatedly insisting he would never escape.
Prosecutors also allege that he was urinated on during the ordeal and that his captors slashed his leg.
Woeltz, described by police as the renting occupant of the apartment, was dragged out of the building in a white bathrobe on Friday morning. Officers found him in an upstairs bathroom.
He was charged on Saturday with kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a firearm, according to the Manhattan DA's office.
Prosecutors deemed him a flight risk as he owns a private jet and a helicopter. He is being held without bail.
Duplessie surrendered himself to the NYPD's Major Case Squad Detectives unit on Tuesday morning. The custody exchange was reportedly expected.
Officials have since revealed that he faces charges of kidnapping and false imprisonment.
