The police chief in a working-class city where four officers have been charged with tyrannizing Latino residents and using excessive force against illegal immigrants is retiring from office, his attorney said Monday. 
 
 Leonard Gallo had been suspended as chief of the East Haven Police Department in April 2010 after the FBI launched the criminal investigation, but he was reinstated to the post in November after his friend Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. took office. 
 
 Gallo apparently has been referred to as an unnamed co-conspirator in the federal indictment, accused of blocking efforts by the police commission to investigate misconduct. His attorney, Jon Einhorn, has denied the allegations. 
 
 The retirement will take effect on Feb. 10, Einhorn said. A news conference on the retirement is planned for later Monday and Einhorn declined to comment further. 
 
 The four officers, who were arrested Jan. 24 by the FBI, are charged with waging a campaign against Latino residents that included beatings, false arrests and harassment of those who threatened to report misconduct. They have all pleaded not guilty. 
 
 Frederick Brow, chairman of the town's police commission, said Monday that the commission was preparing to vote Tuesday night on whether to recommend to the mayor that Gallo be fired. He said he believes Gallo should be dismissed. 
 
 "It's been a general breakdown in control in that department for quite a while and it's time for Gallo to be terminated," Brow said. 
 
 The FBI also is targeting additional suspects, and state officials say they are preparing for the possibility of widespread arrests that could cripple the town's police department. 
 
 An investigation by the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division, which was separate from the criminal probe, noted concerns in a December report that Gallo had helped created a hostile environment for people who cooperated with federal investigators. It said Gallo had warned staff that the Justice Department had agreed to provide him with the names of individuals who cooperated with the investigation, even though that was not the case. 
 
 Maturo is also facing heavy criticism for saying last week that he "might have tacos" as a way to do something for the Latino community. He later apologized for the remark. 
 
 More than 15,000 people have signed an online petition calling for Maturo to replace Gallo. The petition was started by Reform Immigration for America, the same group that sent hundreds of tacos to Maturo's office to protest his remark that he would eat tacos as a way of doing something for the Hispanic community. 
 
 Maturo was mayor from 1997 to 2007 and was re-elected again in the fall. After taking office in November, he reinstated Gallo, saying at the time that he did not believe the abuse allegations were true. The previous mayor, April Capone Almon, placed Gallo on administrative leave in April 2010. 

 Embattled East Haven police chief Len Gallo announced his retirement Monday, although the head of the town's police commission said he wants Gallo fired so he can't collect unused vacation and sick time that could total more than $100,000.A Latino group also asked Mayor Joseph Maturo to step down Monday, but there was no indication Maturo was going anywhere.Gallo's resignation is effective Friday. He is at the center of a federal probe into civil rights violations against Latinos and is an unnamed co-conspirator in last week's indictment of four officers, his lawyer has acknowledged.The arrests, and subsequent comment by Maturo that he would eat tacos to help ease tensions between police and Latinos, has thrust the shoreline community into the national spotlight.Maturo said he will put together a search committee for a new chief, which will begin its work immediately. The new chief will have to "restructure the department, implement reforms and work with the community," he said. He named deputy chief John Mannion to head the department on an interim basis."I expect the road ahead to be difficult," said Maturo. He called Gallo's decision to step down an "unselfish act."Gallo's attorney, Jonathan J. Einhorn, said in a written statement that Gallo decided to retire "for one reason alone: that is his desire not to be a distracting element in East Haven's efforts to rehabilitate its image both upon its citizens and the general public."Einhorn noted that Gallo also has a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of Latino groups pending against him and there is potential for him to be charged as part of the criminal case in which four of his officers were arrested."Chief Gallo will be vindicated in the civil case. … He is not guilty of any wrongdoing. He should not be arrested; if arrested he will be acquitted of any charges."The town's police commission will meet Tuesday night and two commissioners will ask Maturo to fire Gallo instead of accepting his resignation.Chairman Fred Brow said firing Gallo won't affect his pension, but could prevent the town from having to pay him for unused vacation and sick leave, which could total $150,000."His behavior was so poor, we don't feel he's entitled to anything," said Brow.Sources said Maturo, soon after his election in November, was notified by federal investigators that the arrests of officers were expected. He said federal officials were angered that he reinstated Gallo, who was put on leave by the previous mayor.The plaintiffs in the civil rights lawsuit and community activists said that Gallo's resignation presented an opportunity for the department to reform its ways."Gallo's position at the top of the East Haven Police Department signaled to the brave victims who risked everything to testify and to the Latino community that their dignity was not respected," said Ángel Fernández-Chavero, a leader of the pastoral council at St. Rose of Lima Church. "I hope that the department now moves swiftly to implement the recommendations of theU.S. Department of Justiceand its own consultant, the Police Executive Research Forum."The Rev. James Manship, whose arrest while taping police actions helped lead to the federal probe, said, "Gallo cultivated a racist and dishonest police force."Justice demands that State's Attorney Dearington review the convictions of persons arrested by the four indicted officers, and seek to vacate those tainted by racial bias or other unconstitutional conduct," he said."The power structure that perpetuated a toxic culture within the East Haven Police Department is finally crumbling," said Christopher Lapinig, a student in the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School, which represents the plaintiffs in the civil rights case.The head of AFSCME Council 15, the Connecticut Council of Police, which represents East Haven police officers, said he agreed with Gallo's decision."Despite the work and dedication of Chief Gallo, his continued presence would have only served as a distraction to turning the department around, said Jeffrey Matchett, the union's executive director.Latrina Kelly, of Junta for Progressive Action, the group which delivered tacos to Maturo's office last week in response to the mayor's comment, said she welcomes an open dialogue with the mayor, but that he should resign if he proves that he is not interested in reaching out to the Latino community.Three members of the state Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission met with Maturo Monday morning, urging the mayor to resign."The Latino community feels (Maturo and Gallo) are not fit to be our stewards, so to speak," said commission member Isaias Diaz.Republican Rep. Leonard Fasano , who represents East Haven, R-34, attended the meeting, and said, "(Maturo) has expressed an eagerness to work with them. If they can help us, .. help him, help the town, that would be great."Fasano said he understood the call for Maturo's resignation."They're upset because Joe said something he shouldn't have said. I think Joe has apologized. I think Joe is saying let's move forward and heal the town."
– The police chief of a Connecticut town has resigned after four officers were indicted by the FBI in a racial-profiling case. East Haven chief Leonard Gallo was an unnamed co-conspirator in the indictment, the Hartford Courant reports. Last week, the governor's criminal policy head condemned Gallo's department for failing to follow civil-rights guidelines in targeting Latinos. "These are best practices nationally," the official said. "What is very clear is that Chief Gallo did not follow these recommendations." The town's ex-mayor put Gallo on administrative leave in 2010 amid the federal probe. A few months later, the East Haven police board filed 15 administrative charges against him. But current mayor Joseph Maturo, a friend of Gallo who himself is facing calls to step down after a bad taco joke, reinstated Gallo last year. "It's been a general breakdown in control in that department for quite a while," the town's police commission chairman said earlier, calling for Gallo's firing. A petition with some 15,000 signatures also urged his termination, the AP notes.