When organized crime investigators announced the takedown of an auto-theft ring stealing luxury vehicles from Toronto Pearson Airport 25 years ago, one name stuck out on the list of accused.
For years, Toronto Police Constable Andrew Kostorowski had allegedly been doing illegal computer checks for a tow-truck driver and a body shop owner involved with a criminal syndicate. The group, police said, were selling stolen cars and deliberately damaging others to defraud insurance companies. Constable Kostorowski pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit breach of trust in October, 2002.
In the years since, police officers have faced remarkably similar allegations in cities across Canada and the United States: Baltimore. Boston. Buffalo. Chicago. Detroit. New York. Miami. Ottawa. Toronto again – and then, Toronto again.
