Wiretaps reveal alleged drug mule’s panic

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The drugs were gone and a sobbing Misty Gallo attempted to explain to her boss why.

She had just been hauling $23,000 worth of cocaine and heroin from their Long Island supplier to Schenectady, according to authorities.

There had been a traffic stop but the officer had let her go. Then she discovered the drugs were gone, according to state police wiretap transcripts.

Gallo was crying so hard that Kerry Kirkem, charged with being her boss in the drug operation, couldn’t understand what she was saying. At one point, he asked if somebody had hit her car.

Wiretap transcripts

Several calls involving an alleged drug deal in which state police “stole” the drugs from a mule for the alleged Schenectady drug ring were recorded by police wiretaps.

– To read the transcript of a call between Kerry Kirkem and Maximo “Max” Doe allegedly setting up the drug deal, click here.

– To read the transcript of calls between Kerry Kirkem and Dawn Kirkem and Misty Gallo right after Gallo is stopped by police, click here.

– To read the transcript of calls between Kerry Kirkem and Oscar Mora and Misty Gallo after Gallo allegedly first realizes the drugs have been taken, click here.

– To read the transcript of the call between Kerry Kirkem and Misty Gallo in which Gallo allegedly explains that the drugs have been taken, click here.

– To read the transcript of the call between Kerry Kirkem and Oscar Mora in which Kirkem allegedly tells Mora of the missing drugs, click here.

He finally realized.

“Ain’t nothin’ in your trunk no more?” Kirkem asked as she confirmed the situation, still crying. “Are you serious? Oh my God!”

The conversation was captured as part of state police wiretaps, transcripts of which have been obtained by The Daily Gazette.

The yearlong federal, state and local investigation culminated last week in the indictment of 24 people, including Kirkem and Gallo. They and two others were arrested in March, as part of an initial sweep.

Among the others indicted and arrested last week was Lisa Kaczmarek, accused of being an independent dealer. She is the wife of former Schenectady police chief Greg Kaczmarek. Both are heard on other wiretaps discussing what authorities say was the drug operations, though Greg Kaczmarek has not been charged.

Kirkem and Gallo go on for several calls on Feb. 20, discussing the shipment and the aftermath.

Hours later, according to the indictment, Kirkem is meeting with the Kaczmareks to decide how to respond to the loss of drugs. That meeting, however, does not appear in wiretap transcripts.

Two days earlier, on Feb. 18, the Kaczmareks are heard on the wiretaps asking about an upcoming shipment and even offering to go themselves to pick it up. Lisa Kaczmarek talked with Kirkem about noon that day, and Greg Kaczmarek can be heard in the background, according to the transcripts. These transcripts can be found at dailygazette.com.

After Gallo’s return empty-handed, Kirkem’s response came within hours.

He nervously ordered everyone to get new telephones, he also ordered several workers to move a safe from one of the stash houses to another location, according to an application for a search warrant that was executed later.

According to the indictment, those workers were Gary Cherny and Miles Smith. Smith is Lisa Kaczmarek’s son. They moved the safe from an apartment on Union Street to one on Avenue A, according to authorities.

Kirkem’s attorney, Michael Braccini, has said he expected to attack the legality of the wiretaps. Gallo’s attorney, Stephen Rockmacher, declined to comment. Gallo is to appear in court Wednesday.

The trip to Long Island Feb. 20 had begun with hopes for cash returns.

“Can you say rich?” Kirkem told Gallo Feb. 18. “Cause that’s what we’ll be after we finish that key.”

Kirkem was referring to a kilogram of cocaine and 150 bundles of heroin he was sending Gallo to purchase, according to investigators.

Gallo’s Long Island trip was set up minutes before, with a 9:33 call by Kirkem to his alleged supplier Maximo Doe in Suffolk County, also revealed in transcripts.

Kirkem agreed to send $14,000 for a half kilogram of cocaine and another $9,000 for 150 bundles of heroin.

A minute later, Kirkem is on the phone with Gallo. “Oh, damn!” she replies when told of the size of the shipment.

The trip, however, apparently did not happen until Feb. 20. At 5:11 p.m. that day, Kirkem learns of the traffic stop.

Everything, however, is fine, according to Gallo who had not yet checked her trunk.

“They pulled me over for no [expletive] reason,” she told Kirkem. “Not one.”

She explained the stop. The officer, she said, told her she had cut off a truck. “I was mad far ahead of the truck,” she said.

The officer told her that her car smelled of marijuana. She replied she didn’t smoke; she was going to school.

The officer then asked her to take some field sobriety tests.

“He was trying to joke with me and everything and I wasn’t rude and he was impressed with me,” she told Kirkem, “and he just let me go.”

She was six miles from Albany. Kirkem told her to call once the shipment was put away.

Gallo would soon realize that while she was taking her sobriety test, the troopers were busy in her car, taking approximately 900 grams of powder and crack cocaine and 148 bundles — 1,480 bags — of heroin. The presence of these drugs was later cited in the search warrant used subsequently.

They then let her continue on her way.

It was unclear how the officers seized the drugs without Gallo knowing. She didn’t realize exactly what happened until 5:54 p.m., 43 minutes later. As she sobbed her way through the opening of the call, Kirkem screamed that he couldn’t hear her.

“The stuff isn’t in my trunk no more,” Gallo cries. “The stuff isn’t in my trunk no more.”