by James S. Soviero
The getaway driver in the 1988 assassination of NYPD Officer Edward Byrne has been granted parole — a move the city’s police union called “especially outrageous” on Wednesday.
Scott Cobb, 60, could be released from prison as early as next month after serving 34 years behind bars for his part in the gangland execution of the rookie cop that shocked the nation at the height of the crack epidemic.
Byrne was 22 when he was ambushed by Cobb and three accomplices while guarding the home of a witness planning to testify against drug kingpin Howard “Pappy” Mason.
Cobb drove the gunmen to the South Jamaica, Queens intersection where Byrne was parked in the early hours of February 26, 1988 — and distracted the officer while the killers unloaded five rounds into his head at point-blank range. The four co-conspirators shared an $8,000 payment for the cold-blooded “hit.”
Caught within a week of the slaying, Cobb was convicted of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon and sentenced to 25 years to life.
Byrne was shot five times in the head as he waited in his patrol car outside a drug suspect’s house.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said the NYPD commemorates the anniversary of Byrne’s death each year with a midnight ceremony at the intersection where he was killed.
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“When Eddie Byrne was assassinated, it galvanized cops and the community to work together to take our streets back from these violent drug gangs.”, Hendry said in a statement.
“That was Eddie Byrne’s legacy, and the insane Parole Board is tearing it to shreds.”, the PBA boss added.
He continued, “All cop-killer paroles are infuriating. But this one is especially outrageous considering the shockwaves this crime sent through this precinct, the NYPD, the city, and the nation.”
The New York Parole Board, packed with Cuomo/Hochul appointees, has, according to data from the PBA, freed up to 36 cop-killers since 2017.
Two others in this soulless, murder-for-hire crew will be eligible for parole in the fall. So, given the soft on criminals culture in one-party, Democrat-run New York, we can fully expect that frightening number to rise.
One of many reasons the “Empire State’s” out-migration numbers are through the roof.
EDITOR’S NOTE
The killers were David McClary, Phillip Copeland, and Todd Scott, and Scott Cobb.
Cobb’s horrifying 1988 videotaped confession was played at trial. He provided graphic details of the killing and told how the participants bragged about it afterward. He claimed one of his accomplices, Todd Scott, laughed on Inwood Street after the shooting, “I seen the cop’s brains come out.” Accomplice David McClary was convicted as the shooter.
The crack cocaine kingpin in South Jamaica, Queens—Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols—the dealer they worked for, was sentenced to 25 years to life. His chief lieutenant, Howard “Pappy” Mason, ordered the hit. Mason was sentenced to life in prison in 1994 for drug racketeering and for ordering Byrne’s murder. Mason’s mother, Claudia Mason, took over the criminal drug business.
The NYPD’s Police Benevolent Association issued a press release condemning the decision and describing Byrne’s assassination as “one of the most heinous and noteworthy cop killings of the 20th century.”
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