Seal of the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office




REMARKS OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY DANIEL F. CONLEY ON THE ARREST OF ROBERT IACOVIELLO, Jr.

Nov. 9, 2007

At 2:00 this afternoon, based on significant, credible evidence developed in the course of an ongoing Grand Jury investigation, I directed the Suffolk County State Police Detective Unit to seek an arrest warrant for ROBERT IACOVIELLO, Jr., for the Sept. 29 murder of Revere Police Officer Daniel Talbot.

Iacoviello (D.O.B. 6/19/87), age 20 and of Revere, is expected to be arraigned on that charge Tuesday morning in Chelsea District Court. The warrant is being lodged at the Nashua Street Jail, where Iacoviello has been held since the morning of Oct. 1 on weapons charges and a probation violation unrelated to this investigation.

Iacoviello is the second individual to be charged with Officer Talbot’s homicide. The Grand Jury, which has already heard from 19 witnesses, will continue to hear testimony, and we expect that additional charges will issue. The investigation is far from over.

Since the early morning hours of Sept. 29, Suffolk County prosecutors and State Police homicide detectives have worked non-stop, in some cases around the clock, to determine the facts and the circumstances surrounding Officer Talbot’s death.

I would like to commend Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin, who led the Grand Jury investigation that brought us this far. I must also thank Det. Lt. William Christiansen, Lt. Jack Lannon, and the members of my State Police Detective Unit, including Troopers Kevin Condon, Steven MacDonald, and Robert Murphy. Their dogged determination to learn the truth is what brought the following facts to light:

On the night of Sept. 28 and continuing into Sept. 29, Officer Talbot, his fiancée, and three other members of the Revere Police Department left Margarita’s, a Revere bar, and proceeded to the bleachers in the rear of Revere High School. They continued to drink beer and socialize there.

By pure chance, another man was present in that area at the time. Derek Lodie, already charged as an accessory before the fact to Officer Talbot’s homicide, was cutting through the field when he happened upon the officers.

What happened next has been the subject of exhaustive scrutiny by experienced homicide prosecutors, State Police homicide detectives, and grand jurors. It is corroborated by the physical evidence and the statements and testimony of police and civilians alike.

The evidence suggests that Officer Talbot and his party exchanged words during a confrontation with Lodie, who left the scene through a hole in a nearby fence. Lodie called Iacoviello, orchestrating the confrontation that would follow.

A short time later, Lodie returned to the scene. Heated words were exchanged.

Evidence suggests that Officer Talbot and Officer William Soto then began to approach Lodie. It was at that time that Iacoviello and two other young men arrived at the scene. Iacoviello was armed with a 9mm handgun.

For reasons that only he knows, Iacoviello produced his weapon and fired.

Officer Daniel Talbot, mortally wounded with a gunshot wound to the head, went down. Officer Soto discharged his weapon in response.

Talbot’s fiancée and Officer Stacey Bruzzese called for help within seconds of the shooting. Revere Police responded to the scene immediately to find Officer Soto and Talbot’s fiancée cradling the wounded man in their arms.

Iacoviello, Lodie, and their associates fled the scene.

As they are with all homicides and police-involved shootings, State Police were notified promptly and arrived at the scene shortly thereafter. The Suffolk County State Police Detective Unit and the State Police shooting team followed their long-standing and well-established policies: to investigate Officer Talbot’s homicide and to review the circumstances of Officer Soto’s discharge.

Both investigations remain active, ongoing, and focused at this time.

There has been a great deal of speculation surrounding this case. Most of it has been responsible; some, unfortunately, has been wildly inaccurate. I would like to take a moment to dispel some of the more irresponsible rumors and innuendo that have been spread in recent weeks.

First and foremost, we have developed no credible evidence that Officer Talbot or any other member of his group was engaged in any illicit activity at all behind the high school beyond the minor infraction of drinking in public.

Second, State Police were notified promptly after the shooting. They took over the investigation because, as District Attorney, I have designated them to investigate all homicides in the City of Revere. It is no slight to the officers present for the shooting, who, frankly, were emotionally devastated. Their statements and recollections at the scene were more important to the investigation than their efforts out in the field would have been.

As each of you knows, we have kept a very tight lid on this investigation since it began. This has been for legal, tactical, and ethical reasons. Because of information developed very early on, and because the alleged shooter has been in custody since that time, we’ve had the luxury of being able to build a careful, methodical, exacting case against the individuals we believe responsible for Daniel Talbot’s murder.

Neither his homicide nor any other warrants a quick and careless arrest for the sake of an easy headline. Indeed, the homicide of a police officer demands that we proceed with caution and integrity so the mistakes of the past are never repeated. As prosecutors, we get only one chance to bring our best case to court.

On the day Officer Talbot was shot, I promised that my office would follow the facts wherever they led us. I promised that we would apply the law to hold accountable the individuals responsible for his death, whoever they might be. Today, 40 days later, we are delivering on that promise. We are not done yet, and much work remains to be done, but we are moving ever closer to finding justice for Daniel Talbot.