Ex-MSP Lt. Col. Talks On Mansion Case
A retired Michigan State Police lieutenant colonel was deposed Friday in Lansing about his knowledge regarding the rumored but never-proven Manoogian Mansion party.
Bob Bertee spoke to Local 4Defender Kevin Dietz before walking into the deposition. He said he has no problem with the way his investigators handled the case.
“We wanted out-state investigators. Frankly, so there wouldn’t be a conflict of interest of anything showing in Detroit,” Bertee said. “I choose investigators who have handled complex investigations through it all. No reservations about it all. To me, that’s just something that comes out later trying to cover up whatever they want to cover up to suggest that it was the state’s fault.”
Bertee is the first MSP investigator who looked into the alleged party to go on camera.
His deposition is part of a case being brought by Birmingham lawyer Norman Yatooma. Yatooma is representing Tamara Greene’s family in a $150 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Detroit. The lawsuit claims ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and high-ranking police obstructed the investigation into Greene’s unsolved slaying because it would reveal the truth about the never-proven party.
Greene, a dancer known as Strawberry, was rumored to have been at the alleged party thrown by Kilpatrick in 2002.
On April 30, 2003, Greene was in a car with her boyfriend on Detroit’s west side when a gunman opened fire on their vehicle, killing Greene and wounding the boyfriend.
Kilpatrick has denied that such a party took place.
In 2003, Michigan Attorney Mike Cox investigated and said he found no evidence that a party had occurred, calling the event an “urban legend.”
An assault on Greene at the alleged party by Kilpatrick’s wife, Carlita, was also rumored but never proven.
Bertee is the fourth MSP official to give testimony.
In recent weeks, MSP Lt. Curt Schram, MSP detective Mark Krebs and MSP investigator John Figurski have all given sealed depositions.
But Local 4Defenders have learned that all three officers gave testimony saying Cox was in a hurry to shut down the investigation into the alleged party.
Schram testified that Cox shut down the investigation into the Manoogian Mansion and an assault against Greene while there were still solid leads.
Schram testified there was information from an FBI informant and a second confidential source that was never followed up on. Schram also said two Detroit police internal affairs officers had their computers tampered with and files were deleted.
Also, Local 4 Defenders have learned that Krebs testified he believed the Detroit Police Department was destroying evidence in the case. In his testimony also, Krebs alleges that because of actions by Cox, he was powerless to stop them.
Krebs said Cox killed the investigation into the alleged assault by Carlita Kilpatrick on Greene by refusing to allow investigators to subpoena witnesses and insisting Carlita not be interviewed at all.
Local 4 Defenders learned that Figurski interviewed a Detroit police officer who was also an exotic dancer rumored to have been at the party.
According to police documents, the officer/dancer denied having any knowledge of the party and agreed to take a lie detector test. But when police scheduled her test, she refused. The attorney general’s office denied a subpoena to make the test a requirement.
“I have nothing to gain by this,” Bertee said. “It was an extremely frustrating process and to see the way that was handled … I have 30 years with MSP and I have never anything handled like this with an attorney general.”
Cox has agreed to be deposed in the case on Dec. 11.
By phone late Friday, Cox said the two sides have a difference of opinion. Cox said from a prosecutor’s standpoint there was not enough evidence to continue with the investigation into the alleged party or that any crime was committed.
