Eight correction officers could be fired because they urged a federal
judge to treat a mobster's brother leniently when he was sentenced for money laundering and loan sharking.
Essex County, Mass., Sheriff Frank G. Cousins Jr. was ''outraged'' by the officers' endorsement of John Salemme, said Cousins' spokesman, Paul T. Fleming. He was reviewing disciplinary options with his lawyer, Fleming said.
''The sheriff, to say the least, is not happy at all,'' his spokesman said. ''He doesn't feel that this is something that correction officers at the facility should be engaging in on behalf of an inmate. He thinks it's ethically wrong.''
Salemme is the brother of former New England Mafia boss Francis Salemme. John Salemme had been held without bail at the Middleton jail since September 1997.
Cousins, a former Republican state representative, was appointed to the job by former governor William F. Weld in 1996, when the former sheriff was imprisoned on federal corruption charges.
The internal review of the eight officers was disclosed as four other officers are suspected of smuggling heroin into the Essex County House of Correction in Middleton. Those four officers, who have not been identified by authorities, have been placed on administrative leave with pay.
The drug investigation is unrelated to the Salemme case, Fleming said. ''The four officers placed on administrative leave are not involved in having written the letters. They are two totally separate, unrelated matters.''
Cousins has asked the FBI to investigate the drug-smuggling case, his spokesman said, but has not been told if the agency has formally decided to do so.
If the FBI decides not to intervene, Fleming said the case will be sent to the Essex County Drug Task Force.