Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes has ordered a review of homicide cases handled by a decorated police detective whose record has been tainted by an overturned murder conviction, officials said yesterday.
Hynes’ investigators will take a fresh look at 50 murder cases involving retired NYPD Det. Louis Scarcella.
“We’ll be looking for certain red flags — for instance, one-witness cases or cases that are based solely on a confession,” said Hynes’ spokesman Jerry Schmetterer.
Scarcella allegedly coached witnesses to finger David Ranta for the February 1990 slaying of Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger in Williamsburg. Ranta, a career petty criminal, was convicted and sentenced to 37 years in prison.
A review by Hynes’ conviction-integrity unit re-examined the Werzberger killing and determined in March that Ranta’s conviction was unjust. Prosecutors convinced a judge to free Ranta.
“The DA says they’re going to investigate 50 cases. I welcome it. I will cooperate with them,” Scarcella told The Post. “But it saddens me I’m being treated this way. I’m angry. I’m standing up for myself because it’s the truthful thing to do.”
Scarcella said every move in the Ranta probe included top-to-bottom cooperation between cops and Brooklyn prosecutors: “We worked as a team.”
Despite Scarcella’s involvement with Ranta’s questionable conviction, the cop still has strong supporters in the department and DA’s office, law-enforcement sources said.