Justin A. Volpe, 1999 News

27, New York City police officer, admitted in court in May that he tortured and meant to humiliate Haitian immigrant Abner Louima when he rammed a broom handle into the man's rectum and then stuck the feces-stained pole in his face in a 1997 assault in the restroom of Brooklyn's 70th Precinct station. Facing almost certain conviction, Volpe made the admission before the jury began deliberating in hope of a more lenient sentence. A federal judge sentenced him to 30 years in prison. Volpe did not implicate the four other officers who were on trial with him. Officer Charles Schwarz, 33, was convicted of violating Louima's civil rights. Officer Thomas Wiese, 35, Officer Thomas Bruder, 33, and Sgt. Michael Bellomo, 37, who were all charged with beating Louima, were acquitted.