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 Introducing Betrayal
News and Reviews
Legal Information
My search for justice described in BETRAYAL begins in 1985 when I was working
as a deputy in an understaffed jail in upstate New York and was injured by a
prisoner. This injury not only turned my world upside down but it led me to discover
the injustices against jail deputies injured in the line of duty engaged in by
an administration more interested in the bottom line than in fair compensation
for employees injured due to poor conditions in the jails. Even though the odds
were stacked against me, my lawsuit against the administration helped to highlight
these injustices, even though I ultimately didn't win. Following is a brief synopsis
of my story...
On December 12, 1985, I was a jail deputy, working with the sheriff's department
in Onondaga County, New York. I had spent over 11 years working in law enforcement,
including working as a patrol officer, investigator, and correctional officer
at an antiquated penitentiary. The jail where I now worked was sorely understaffed,
creating dangerous conditions for the deputies. Years before when I had worked
at the old penitentiary and was president of a union of correction guards, I
had reported my concerns about these problems to the media. The result was a
widely-publicized legislative hearing that led to the resignation of a county
commissioner for mismanagement and a general clean-up.
Then, after I married the daughter of the new commissioner
and transferred to the sheriff's department, these earlier efforts to improve
conditions for the guards and inmates came to haunt me. Soon after I transferred
to my new job, the head of the jail reprimanded me for speaking to the media
and airing department business. In response, I resolved to say nothing more,
and after that, I was promoted to sergeant and I gained supervisory experience
by working all three shifts -- during the day, in the evening, and late at night.
Even my family life was going well, and my wife and I had recently moved to a
larger home due to my large pay increase, when I was promoted to sergeant, and
we had a daughter, Ashley, now 18 months.
Then, that day in December, 1985, everything changed, and a captain who was eager
to get even used my earlier activism against me. His chance came after the incident
occurred when I was working the late night 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift. The lieutenant
in charge of the shift asked me to get a county blanket back from an inmate who
was using it as a rug. An hour earlier, the lieutenant and I had asked the inmate,
who had previously assaulted other deputies, to pick the blanket up from the
floor. But he still hadn't picked it up. Thus, I went to the inmate's cell and
asked him again. But he refused even more angrily. He cursed, threatened to kill
me, and challenged me to "Come in and get it", if I wanted the blanket.
Expecting a violent struggle, I rounded up two deputies to help me, but I couldn't
get any more than that due to the short staffing. When we entered the cell,
a violent confrontation ensued. The inmate threw me against the cell wall, and
ran down the hall, before several other deputies arrived to restrain him and
return him to his cell. Once the door locked behind him, I thought that was
that.
But as I later discovered, the struggle set off a time bomb inside me, because
a growing pain began spreading through my body, due to an injury that wasn't
immediately discovered until months later and initially was misdiagnosed as a
bruised rib. As the damage spread, the injury and my department's response to
my injury claim ultimately destroyed my world. Today, I am just recovering from
the experience, though the memory of it and the trauma it caused will never go
away for me or for my family. Our lives were irretrievably changed by what happened.
The first signs of problems occurred about a month later, soon after my son Brad
was born. My wife and I had been entertaining a small group of family and friends
at our house, when I noticed some pain on the right side of my chest. Over the
next few months the pain kept getting worse and worse, spreading throughout my
chest and back. After six months, I had to start taking days off from work, and
when I tried to make an "injury in the line of duty" claim, whereby I would remain
on the payroll, as is usual in such injury cases, my captain, still angry over
my speaking to the media about the department's understaffing problems years
before, resisted my getting the benefits for a line of duty injury. Using his
high position in the department as leverage, he struck back. In February 1988,
about a year after the pains started, he sought to get me off the payroll entirely
by asking me to file a claim for an accidental disability retirement. But I didn't
want to file such a claim, since I was not yet permanently disabled and my condition
wasn't due to an accident - it was due to an inmate's assault because I couldn't
go to his cell with enough guards due to the serious understaffing problem.
Several months later, after my battle with the captain turned into a stalemate,
he assigned me to light duty, based on my doctor's incorrect recommendations.
Then, he used this assignment to humiliate me and order me to do work which I
couldn't do. For example, he put an army cot in the basement, where I was supposed
to lie down while working, and I became the butt of department jokes. It was
his way of getting back at me for my earlier outspokenness. But I had to do what
he ordered, because he could file disciplinary charges or seek my dismissal if
I disobeyed his order. Meanwhile, as the battle between us dragged on, I became
increasingly depressed at work and at home, since in addition to suffering physical
and psychological humiliation every day at work, I feared losing everything,
because I began losing pay, too, after exhausting my sick leave. I feared my
wife and I would not only lose our home, but my wife was threatening to leave
me and take the children.
The low point came in March 1989, when I was forced to retire at only 1/3 of
my salary, due to my captain and a state official retiring me on an involuntary
basis and changing my retirement application form from accidental to a regular
disability retirement. This meant that I would now be removed from the payroll
and get only one third of my full pay. Once that change occurred, my wife decided
to leave with my two kids, now 3 and 5 years old, though I still had joint custody
and visitation rights. Soon after I lost my house and car, and moved into a small
apartment in my brother's house.
Over the next years, I fought back to get reinstated with full salary and be
placed on an "injured in the line of duty" status, so I would get paid until I recovered
from my injury. I felt betrayed by a system that sought to deny me my full benefits,
because I had been injured on the job and because a captain with a long-standing
grudge against me for once threatening the system took advantage of this injury
to do this. As a result, working with several different attorneys, I filed suit
and sought a full investigation, which led me to finally discover how he and
others sought to cover up my true medical condition. Plus I learned how my retirement
application had been altered as his request, so I would be dropped from the payroll
and only get 1/3 of my salary. I even sued the doctor and the HMO that had a
contract to handle the medical care for all Onondaga County employees for covering
up my true medical condition.
Eventually, though, I suffered a major defeat in December 1999, when the New
York State Court of Claims judge ruled against me, claiming I had waited too
long to bring my claims against the state and the Sheriff's Department. Even
so, I had discovered the truth, when I learned how the captain had worked behind
the scenes with a state employee to change the documents, so they could be used
against me in the hearing.
Though legally it was too late for me to gain a remedy in my own case, my efforts
did result in a change in the enforcement of the injured in the line of duty
law. As in my case, many injured deputies were illegally retired to save the
department and the New York State Retirement System money, instead of keeping
them on the payroll, even when they could later work again. But once my case
called attention to this scheme, the union of jail deputies took steps to make
sure this situation wouldn't happen again to other deputies and their families.
I have also continued to work towards helping other deputies, such as by currently
working with a New York State Senator to strengthen this law involving injuries
on the job and make other public officials aware of the problem. As a result,
the New York State Retirement System has stopped accepting accidental disability
retirement applications when a deputy is injured in the line of duty, and in
the future, no one will be able to change the applications of injured deputies,
so they are forced to retire with reduced retirement pay rather than staying
on the payroll until their usual retirement age and then getting their full
retirement pay. I have felt some satisfaction in this result, since now injured
deputies are fully acknowledged and honored for their service.
BETRAYAL tells this story. Part I describes my experiences at the old
county prison when I spoke out successfully against the system. Part II describes
the growing storm when I transferred to the jail, found more problems there,
and had escalating run-ins with the union, system, and a vindictive captain
in personnel who sought revenge for past slights. It concludes with my dramatic
struggle with a prisoner in a jail cell resulting in my injury. Part III deals
with my efforts to fight back and seek justice after my increasing disability
led the captain to spearhead efforts to humiliate me and keep me from being
fairly compensated. As the book describes, my own battle eventually turned into
a fight to protect others in the system from what happened to me.
240 East Onondaga Street
PO Box 511
Syracuse, New York 13201-0511
(315)424-1830
Dennis J. Manning, MSW, MS
January 30, 2000
Mr. Capria and his family have suffered immeasurably
over the past decade as a result of injuries he sustained in service
to the people of Onondaga County.
— Dennis J. Manning, MSW, MS
An exciting, inspirational true story of one individual's struggle
with corruption and cover-ups by public officials.
P.O. Box 643
Syracuse, NY 13201
October 25, 1999
The Association is well aware of the long and
arduous ordeal he has undergone in his effort to accomplish this objective.
For this reason, all our members are committed to a quick an equitable conclusion
for him in this matter.
— Daniel F. Mathews, President
11 2 State Street
Suite 1212
Albany, NY 12207
(518) 462-7449
December 29, 1999
Retired Deputy Sheriff Sergeant Anthony M. Capria
has advised me of his long ordeal to have his retirement annulled, and to be
reinstated to his former position. I support his effort to correct the past
injustice, and to resolve the situation in a fair and equitable manner.
— Alan G. Wohlford, President
202 Hewitt Union
Oswego, NY 13126
www.oswego.edu/-studenta
(315)341-3601
November 18, 1999
Mr. Capria has been involved in a long legal
struggle to have his retirement annulled and to be rightly reinstated to
his former position. We believe that there should be a fair resolution to
this situation as soon as possible.
— Matt Silverman, President
194 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12210
(518)427-1551 | www.nyscopba.org | nyscopba@usa.net
Nov. 8, 1999
Sergeant Capria has endured a long and arduous ordeal
in an effort to have his retirement annulled and be rightfully reinstated to
his former position. For this reason, all of our members are committed to a
quick and equitable conclusion for him in this matter.
— Dennis Fitzpatrick, Director Public Relations
566 Spencer Street
Box 11307 - Franklin Square Station
Syracuse, New York 13218-1037
January 12, 2000
The Officers and Agents of Teamsters Local 317 fully support your
efforts to have your retirement annulled and reinstated to your
former position. It is the judgement of those that have viewed your
case that justice has not been served.
— Mark D. May
http://home.twcny.rr.com/dsba
Click Here to View and Download Court
Documentation Outlining the Case
The Court Document is a PDF file which can be
viewed using Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this program on your
computer, you can download this free software by clicking on the button
below.
12121 Vonn Rd.
Box 11307 - Franklin Square Station
Largo, FL 33774-3401
"Once we started to read the book it was practically impossible to put it
down. We found the book to be very informative about the prison system and all that goes on behind closed doors that the public never hears about. This story is about a man who tried to improve the workplace for himself and his co-workers but was stopped at every turn by high officials. Because of that, he nearly lost everything he had worked for for many years. However, that didn't stop him from continuing to bring out the truth. We highly recomend that you read this eye opening account of what really goes on in our prison system."
Pulaski, New York
"This book, Betrayal, really tells what goes on behind closed doors in the prison system. The system is not fair. It actually happens more than people realize. My husband and I met Tony at our local American Legion. We found him to be a great person. We also found a new friend. We wish the very best for Tony. Everyone should read the book Betrayal. In this book, Tony describes the things that really do happen in the prison system. It is also an illustration of how hard it is to fight the system alone. Good luck, Tony."
299 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10171
"Betrayal is an incredibly frustrating story to read and impossible not to feel for you and the hardship you have obviously suffered as the result of your experiences working in the jail system."
6750 SW Franklin St.
Suite A.
Portland, OR 97223
"Yours is an engrossing and powerful story. I sympathize with your situation."
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