Commonwealth v. Rosario

There were two confidential informers who identified the defendant Rosario to the Worcester police as a “big cocaine dealer.” The first informer had no track record with the authorities which would classify him as reliable under Aguilar-Spinelli standards.1 The second informer was reliable in the sense that his information had previously led to arrests and seizure of narcotics. From the first informer, however, the police received detailed information about an imminent sale of cocaine. Most of that detailed information the police corroborated through observation before making a search and…