Slain cop's brother, PBA president meet parole board - New York News | NYC Breaking News

Slain cop's brother, PBA president meet parole board

Police union president Patrick Lynch and Larry Byrne, the brother of murdered officer Edward Byrne, went into a closed session of the parole board. Larry Byrne delivered a victim's family statement.

Byrne was a 22-year-old rookie cop during the height of the crack epidemic in 1988. He was guarding the house of a witness on 107th Avenue and Inwood Street in South Jamaica when one man tapped on the window to distract Byrne while another executed him, said Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Four men were later convicted of murdering Byrne on the orders of notorious drug lord Howard "Pappy" Mason.

The four killers, 25 years later, will be eligible for parole as they will every two years.

The PBA president said he heard about how it changed the lives of the Byrne family.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg wrote a letter to the parole board urging no parole "both now and in the future" as did police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

The chief spokesman for the Parole Board said the parole process review of the crime, the victim's family statement, and the prisoners' behavior.

Philip Copleand has been clean for 12 years while David McClary and Todd Scott have had more recent problems. Killer Scott Cobb has been in federal prison.

The next step is to interview the cop killers themselves, asking them why they should be freed. That will take place next month. Within 48 hours of those interviews a decision will be made.