EASTON, Pa. – Testimony wrapped up Monday in the Northampton County trial of Christopher Ferrante, charged with drug delivery resulting in death in connection with the 2020 overdose of Michael Racciato, a former wrestler from Pen Argyl.
Ferrante, 43, of Macungie, testified for hours in his own defense, and an Allentown police officer gave new insight into Ferrante’s work as a confidential informant for the department.
- Testimony concluded with the defendant, Christopher Ferrante, as well as the Allentown police officer who recruited him as a confidential informant
- Ferrante is charged with drug delivery resulting in death and six other charges, in connection with the Dec. 24, 2020 overdose death of Michael Racciato
- Closing arguments in the trial begin at 9:30 Tuesday morning; afterwards, the jury will receive their instructions and begin deliberation.
During questioning by defense attorney Gary Asteak, Ferrante laid out much of his life story post-high-school.
He walked the jury through how he grew up in New Jersey, built a successful business flipping houses, expanded the enterprise to Florida and got engaged.
A few years later, Ferrante said, business problems and his father’s late-stage lung disease diagnosis pulled him back home to New Jersey, and eventually to Macungie, Pa.
Ferrante told the jury his drug use started “in his head” when he arrived home and first saw just how sick his father was. Heroin helped him to cope.
“I’d had enough pain,” Ferrante said.
He told the jury his addiction deepened after his father’s death in late 2019.
At one point, he said, he found himself in front of a 7/11 in Allentown, looking for anyone who could point him toward some heroin. He found a man named Tommy – he knew a dealer, and offered to buy from the dealer on Ferrante’s behalf.
Ferrante told the jury this was how he met Racciato: They would both find themselves standing around together, waiting for Tommy to return with their drugs. Eventually, he said, they started spending more time together.
“We bonded over our fathers,” Ferrante said. “We were all sad in different ways about our fathers.” Ferrante’s father was dead; he described Racciato as “explosive” about his father.
In the hours leading up to Racciato’s death, Ferrante said, the pair were looking to make sure they had enough heroin to make it through Christmas with their families without becoming sick from withdrawal.
On the night of Dec. 24, 2020, after one failed attempt for Ferrante to deliver drugs, Racciato asked for a ride from the hospital. Ferrante said he didn’t know Racciato was there being treated for an overdose.
Ferrante said he obliged, and handed Racciato three bags of “heroin.” The prosecution contends he handed over five.
Cross-examination
During the prosecution’s questioning of Ferrante, First Assistant District Attorney Richard Pepper began by trying to pin him down whether he is “a drug dealer.”
“When you bought drugs… and you sold them yet to someone else,” Pepper asked Ferrante, “that is not a drug dealer?”
“You’re the Amazon of drug dealers.”First Assistant District Attorney Richard Pepper
Ferrante replied that he is not a drug dealer, and described his actions as fronting a friend money for drugs and then collecting on some of that debt. He eventually agreed that he “resold those drugs,” as Pepper put it.
“You’re the Amazon of drug dealers,” said Pepper.
The prosecution also walked through text conversations between Ferrante and Racciato hours before his death, focusing on when either talked about money.
The records show Racciato offered an increasing amount of money for Ferrante to give him a ride and some heroin, which Ferrante said he ultimately did.
Rather than payment for drugs, Ferrante characterized the money discussed as repayment for various loans; he said he did not receive any money that night.
According to the records, in a message to Racciato on Christmas morning, after his death, Ferrante wrote he would have done it for free, if he weren’t so broke himself.
Confidential informant
New details emerged Monday morning about Ferrante’s work as a confidential informant for the Allentown Police Department, as David Howells III, an officer with the Allentown police vice and intelligence unit, took the stand as the prosecution’s final witness.
Howells directed Ferrante to make two successful drug buys on Nov. 12 and Dec. 1, 2020, weeks before Racciato’s death on Christmas Eve. He also attempted a third unsuccessful drug buy in late November
From the department’s perspective, Howells testified, Ferrante was an active informant with the department at the time of Racciato’s death, though he had not bought drugs for them for weeks.
Ferrante eventually confirmed that he was not acting at the department’s behest on Dec. 24, the day of Racciato’s death. Howells said he communicated regularly with Ferrante through the month of December.
His time as an informant began with an arrest for drug possession in October 2020.
Howells testified that he told Ferrante that if he made a series of controlled drug buys for the department, they could “make something happen in the future” regarding the drug charge.
Ferrante said he took that to mean the charges would be dropped. Howells testified that he never made any promises, and the county's district attorney ultimately makes charging decisions.
While some informants work with Allentown police out of a sense of civic duty, others are paid by the departments, and still others have charges reduced or dropped, Howells said.
Confidential informants must follow a list of rules, among them not possessing or buying drugs without permission, Howells told the jury. Ferrante denied Howells explained most of this.
Howells said that, aside from documentation of the two drug buys, no records exist of any of his and Ferrante’s activities or communications. He also said that Ferrante signed a form acknowledging he knew the rules, but did not produce it in response to a subpoena.
Ferrante testified that he felt he had no other choice than to be a confidential informant.
