He either went on the lam or was killed...he didn't take his wife with him...

COURT COP PLEADS GUILTY IN $2M STOCK SWINDLE
By Laura Italiano November 30, 1999 | 5:00am
A Manhattan court officer admitted yesterday to collaborating with a reputed Mafia “concrete king” and snookering fellow officers into investing in a bankrupt Florida recycling plant.

With his guilty plea, former Sgt. Richard Furman — who spent 20 years guarding crooks and suspects as they were processed through Manhattan Supreme Court — officially joined ranks with his former charges, facing up to a year in jail when sentenced Jan. 21.

Furman, 58, of Queens, admitted helping to rook hundreds of gullible “investors” across the country of more than $2 million. Furman made only $50,000 in the scheme, prosecutors said.

The victims bought stock in the Florida-based Inorganic Recycling Corp., and had been told to expect an immediate windfall of three to 12 times their initial investment.

Instead, the company went bust.

Among Furman’s victims were 50 fellow court employees — who lost a total of $400,000. One court officer alone lost $60,000, Manhattan prosecutors said.

They will get money back through restitution payments made by other defendants in the scheme.

Furman met the scheme’s alleged mastermind, fugitive Genovese family mobster Edward “Biff” Halloran, back in 1986, prosecutors said. At the time, Furman was actually guarding Halloran, who was convicted in a $9.2-billion check-kiting scheme.

Halloran, whose last known address was in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has also been accused of working with mobsters to fix concrete prices on Manhattan construction projects.

Halloran allegedly hatched the investment scheme with his wife, Michele Caridi, 37, who has already pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.