The cop brother of disgraced former NYPD Detective Louis Scarcella was found dead Thursday of an apparent suicide — and left behind a note calling ex-Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes “a liar” for questioning his brother’s police work, sources told The Post.
“My brother’s a good man, a good detective. He told the truth. The ADAs are liars. Hynes is a liar,” read the note found Thursday near the body of Officer Michael Scarcella, a source said.
The 50-year-old cop, who shot himself in the chest, was found on the couch in his Flatlands, Brooklyn, home with a revolver nearby, the source said.
The dead man’s girlfriend, who had not seen him for several days, called 911 about 11 a.m. Thursday when she went to his house to check on him and could not get in, authorities said.
It was Hynes who in March 2013 first revealed the elder Scarcella’s questionable investigative work in the 1990s, asking a judge to toss the conviction of David Ranta, a man who’d spent 23 years behind bars in the killing of a rabbi. Ranta was freed from prison last year amid allegations Louis Scarcella coached witnesses and even fabricated his confession.
Hynes could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday on the suicide note.
Current DA Ken Thompson’s office is reviewing all the homicide cases Louis Scarcella investigated during his hard-charging career as a Brooklyn homicide detective.
Louis Scarcella, 62, was out scuba-diving Thursday and heard the news when he arrived home, sources said. His wife said, “We just want to be alone. He can’t talk right now. It’s too much,” as Scarcella could be heard wailing from within his Staten Island home.
Sources said his brother, a 25-year veteran who spent his entire career in the 71st Precinct in Crown Heights, was on “terminal leave,” which means he was using up vacation time before retiring, and was depressed that his career was about to end.
“The job was his life,” a source said about the childless bachelor.
The review of more than 50 Louis Scarcella cases has so far concluded that five of his cases were made with questionable evidence while 11 were solid.
In addition to Ranta, three half-brothers convicted of murder were exonerated last month after prosecutors revealed Scarcella used a crack-addicted witness he used in other cases to convict them.
And on Tuesday, a man who spent 17 years behind bars for a 1997 murder had his conviction overturned and walked free.
Louis Scarcella has repeatedly defended his work and denied that he fabricated evidence or coached witnesses.
A spokeswoman for DA Thompson declined to comment. Louis Scarcella’s daughter, Jackie, is a prosecutor in the Brooklyn DA’s office.
Additional reporting by Frank Rosario, CJ Sullivan and Bob Fredericks