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Suspect
Named in '81 Murder of Darien Officer
By Christina S. N. Lewis
Stamford Advocate Staff Writer
April 26, 2004
The
department decided to violate its policy on open investigations and reveal
the suspect's name after learning that a column describing Sabato's
alleged involvement had been published in The Connecticut Law Tribune
three years ago.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-nor.suspect2apr26,0,287714.story
DARIEN -- Police have
confirmed the name of a suspect in the unsolved murder of Darien police
officer Kenneth Bateman Jr., who was gunned down behind the town's Duchess
Patio Restaurant nearly 23 years ago.
The suspect is Anthony Sabato, 46, a former Stamford resident serving a
69-month sentence in federal prison for purchasing 29 stolen firearms.
"His name always seems to come around," said Darien police Sgt.
George Vitone, lead investigator in the case. "He has always been
considered a suspect."
The department decided to violate its policy on open investigations and
reveal the suspect's name after learning that a column describing Sabato's
alleged involvement had been published in The Connecticut Law Tribune
three years ago.
Investigators said they hope that former associates of Sabato will come
forward because he is in prison and cannot intimidate them.
Some who knew Sabato in the 1980s "live in fear of him to this
day," said Vitone, who recalls interviewing a former associate who
trembled when police said Sabato's name.
Bateman, 34, was shot to death when he interrupted a burglary at the
eatery on the Post Road at 3:30 a.m. May 31, 1981. It is believed to be
the only unsolved murder of a police officer in Connecticut.
Over the years, state and Darien police and the FBI have crisscrossed the
country conducting interviews about the murder of Bateman, who had been a
police officer in Darien for 71Ž2 years. Notes on the case fill eight
file cabinet drawers, and posters offering a $100,000 reward for
information leading to a conviction still are fixed to the walls at
several police headquarters. But police say there is not enough evidence
for an arrest.
Darien police said Sabato is not the only suspect but his was the only
name released. His suspected role is an open secret among law enforcement
officers.
Police say Sabato was committing commercial burglaries in lower Fairfield
County and was in the area at the time of the homicide. He also fits the
description given by two witnesses who saw a heavy-set white male with
brown hair fleeing the scene, police say.
Sabato is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighed 275 pounds at the time of the
murder, according to arrest records.
But the .38-caliber slug retrieved from Bateman's body has never been
linked to a weapon, and state laboratory examinations failed to find
traces of DNA on any of the evidence.
The suspects left burglary tools and $2,000 near the scene, Vitone said.
He declined to provide details about other evidence.
Police say there were rumors that Sabato told his girlfriend and two of
her relatives that he killed a police officer, but they never were
verified. Killing a cop is a badge of honor among criminals, Vitone said,
and investigators found several men who took credit for the crime "to
look meaner and tougher than the next guy."
Sabato had been scheduled to be released March 7, 2008. But last week he
pleaded guilty to federal gambling charges that will add to his time in
prison, according to authorities. Details on the plea and sentencing were
not available from federal authorities last week.
Sabato's criminal record dates to 1975. In the 1980s, Sabato also served
time for assault, forgery, burglary and drug trafficking.
In 1983, Sabato reportedly ran over a Monroe man with his car, breaking
his leg, according to Vitone. The victim reportedly was a hit man sent by
a rival criminal organization to teach Sabato a lesson, Vitone said. The
hit man sued Sabato over the assault, Vitone said, and the case was
settled out of court.
On the early morning of the murder, Bateman was patrolling alone and
responded to a silent alarm at the Duchess restaurant at 360 Post Road. He
walked to the side of the building and surprised the suspect, who broke
out through a door on the far side and started shooting.
Lt. Walter Victor Ponichtera found Bateman unconscious when he arrived
minutes later. Bateman never regained consciousness and was pronounced
dead at Norwalk Hospital about 90 minutes later.
Police say they believe the burglars -- there were at least two -- fled to
their car, which was parked at a nearby rest stop on the northbound side
of Interstate 95. A state police bloodhound traced them there but then the
trail went cold.
The investigation cast a wide net, but after about two years, then-Chief
John Jordan told The Advocate that police had no leads or suspects despite
a $20,000 reward that was boosted first to $50,000, then to $100,000.
In 1999, the department reactivated the case and for 14 months a task
force of FBI officials and state and Darien police worked on it
exclusively, hoping that time had persuaded someone to reveal information.
But since 1981, several "persons of interest" who might have
knowledge of the case or Sabato's actions have died, Vitone said, one from
a drug overdose, two of cancer and one who was accidentally shot.
Bateman's wife, Barbara, now 56, a teacher in the Stamford school system,
moved recently and could not be reached for comment.
The Darien Police Department continues to remember Kenneth Bateman even
though only four members of the force remain who worked with him.
Every Memorial Day, it commissions a floral display in his honor, said
Chief Hugh McManus, a lieutenant at the time. Each year, scholarships in
his name are awarded to the children of Darien police officers. A plaque
with his likeness hangs in the lobby at police headquarters.
Hecker Avenue, the address of police headquarters, was renamed Kenneth E
Bateman Jr. Way in 2001. Those who knew Bateman remember a man who loved
challenging himself outdoors by skiing or hunting sharks off Montauk
Point.
"No one needs to remind me that the case has not been solved,"
McManus said. "But I know we've done everything humanly possible to
solve the case." Copyright © 2004, Southern Connecticut Newspapers,
Inc.
2001 COOL JUSTICE COLUMN FOLLOWS --
Bateman Killer Still Walks
January 8, 2001
A key figure in the murder of Darien police officer Kenneth
Bateman has escaped many close calls over the years, but Chief Hugh
McManus remains confident that the case will be solved.
It is the only unsolved killing of a Connecticut police
officer in more than 50 years.
Bateman, 34, fired six shots at his assailants after taking a
bullet in the throat on Memorial Day, 1981. Two witnesses reported seeing
a heavyset man running away.
The lucky man, call him Anthony, is described by associates
as short, hefty and a would-be tough guy who hangs out with real tough
guys.
Back in the days of wide-open, illegal gambling in Fairfield
County, Anthony spent part of his time sticking up card games and rolling
bagmen. In one game on East Main Street in Stamford, the take for Anthony
was in the neighborhood of $86,000. This was not appreciated by the
overseers of the card games, in particular Frank Piccolo of Bridgeport, a
captain in the Gambino crime family.
Piccolo dispatched one of his enforcers, Jimmy Mondo, to
teach Anthony a lesson. Mondo made the mistake of walking in front of
Anthony's car. A construction worker told patrol officers that a man had
been run over and suffered a broken leg. He even gave police the license
plate of the offending vehicle.
Stunned, patrol officers asked the man how he got the license
number. A cop gave it to him, the man said, and immediately ran away from
the crime scene because he knew who was involved.
Anthony's father, who had friends in New York, paid the debt
and all was forgotten, if not forgiven. We're not sure how Mondo fared
after the broken leg and botched assignment.
Within days of the Bateman killing, Anthony told his girl
friend and at least two of her relatives: "The job went sour. I had
to kill a cop." Darien police were made aware of the details.
Others in Anthony's loosely-knit crew included a guy named
"Pete the Weasel" and a man considered the weak link who was
found dead by a dumpster on Stamford's East Side. A fourth man, feared as
a legitimate tough guy, was believed to have been the driver.
When not at a job, Anthony and Co. would spend time at a
Stamford bar called Sea Beach where they would openly discuss some of
their activities.
Darien and state police found burglar tools and $2,000 that
was stolen and dropped as the burglars fled the Duchess, a fast food spot
on the Post Road near Interstate-95 on May 30, 1981.
State troopers assisted Darien police again in 1999, but the
case still needs a break.
"We need the necessary amount of evidence to obtain an
arrest warrant and gain a conviction," Chief McManus told The Law
Tribune during an interview on Christmas weekend. "Kenny was an
outstanding officer with a promising future. His great loss is still felt
in town, and we remain optimistic that this case will be resolved."
Bateman's widow still lives in town and is a teacher. Around
the time of his death they had planned to start a family.
Darien police are still looking for help from someone who saw
something near the Duchess that night, or perhaps a girlfriend, family
member or associate of the shooter. There is a $100,000 reward for
information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who killed
Kenneth Bateman.
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