Today's story says three NYPD officers pleaded guilty to gun smuggling. Interestingly, if you follow the story back, to date nine NYPD officers were involved, both active duty and retired.
Originally 12 men were charged:
October 26, 2011: New York City Police Officers Charged With $1 Million Gun-Running Scheme
Federal prosecutors charged 12 men, including New York City police officers, in an alleged scheme to transport M-16 rifles and handguns with defaced serial numbers across a state line as part of a $1 million conspiracy.
“A group of crime fighters took to moonlighting as criminals,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said yesterday at a press conference in Manhattan. He said they were paid more than $100,000 in cash for goods with a “street value” exceeding $1 million.
October 25, 2011:
8 City Officers Charged in Gun Smuggling Case
Eight current and former New York police officers were arrested on Tuesday and charged in federal court with accepting thousands of dollars in cash to drive a caravan of firearms into the state, an act of corruption that brazenly defied the city’s strenuous efforts to get illegal guns off the streets.
February 27, 2011:
Three Former Officers Plead Guilty in Gun-Smuggling Case
Three former New York City police officers pleaded guilty on Monday to taking part in a scheme to illegally transport firearms across state lines, the authorities said.
Six active-duty or former members of the Police Department have now pleaded guilty in connection with the case, with charges pending against two others.
Two associates and a corrections officer in New Jersey have also admitted to taking part in the scheme, and charges are pending against a former police officer for the city’s sanitation department.
The apparent ring leader was an active duty NYPD officer.
Apparently, Officer Masso first met with an informer in 2009.
February 6, 2011: City Officer Pleads Guilty in Gun-Smuggling Case
A New York City police officer whom prosecutors called the leader of a group of officers who accepted thousands of dollars in cash in return for illegally transporting firearms into the state pleaded guilty on Monday in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
Mr. Masso first met with the informer in late 2009, and the next year he indicated interest in working with him to obtain and sell various types of contraband, including cigarettes, a federal complaint said.
At one point, Mr. Masso told the undercover agent that he could recruit active and retired officers to assist in the scheme. “Whatever he wants we get,” Mr. Masso said in a conversation that was secretly recorded, the complaint said.
In an ironic twist, the new case began after an F.B.I. confidential informant sought to have a traffic ticket fixed in exchange for payment.
He was introduced to one of the officers, William Masso, 47, according to the complaint. They developed a relationship, and Officer Masso began expressing interest in working with the informant to obtain and sell contraband, largely cigarettes.
So, why would Officer Masso be the officer to talk to about fixing a traffic ticket to begin with?
Dozens Of Cops Could Be Charged In Bronx Ticket-Fixing Probe
Masso was a Brooklyn officer, however, in this article it states:
More than 500 cops were tied to the NYPD's biggest scandal in two decades as it stretched from the streets of the Bronx to the offices of Police Headquarters.
And who wanted their tickets fixed?
One sergeant said the list of high-profile New Yorkers who had tickets quashed - including one well-known religious figure - would "show the hypocrisy of this investigation."
So Masso wasn't a lone wolf fixing tickets.
Sources told Kramer NYPD Internal Affairs investigators have been secretly wire-tapping calls made to and from dozens of police officers and reportedly have thousands of hours of tapes.
Needless to say, Mayor Bloomberg is very upset that his city's police officers were smuggling guns INTO New York City.
I skipped the Super Bowl, but found this Bloomberg Gun Control Ad dated February 5th:
There are 34,500 NYPD officers. As with any swath of society, there are bound to be some rotten apples (no pun).
Quite frankly, the police aren't paid all that much for serving the uber expensive and dangerous New York burroughs. One article mentioned the cops fixed tickets for cash, alcohol, and favors. Small potatoes to help a 1%er or well-placed technocrat get out of paying a ticket at a huge risk for the officer on the street.
Speaking of Numbers of NYPD Officers do you know you can volunteer to be an Auxiliary Police officer? Maybe some OWS people can look into this. Volunteer police is a national trend, btw. You might find an opportunity in your area, too.
Who are the NYPD Volunteer Auxiliary Police?
They are civic-minded men and women who volunteer to assist their local Police Precincts, Housing Police Service Areas, and Transit Districts, by performing uniformed patrol in their communities. They are recruited, trained and equipped by the Police Department. They come from many diverse backgrounds and a myriad of occupations throughout the City, such as computer programmers, mechanics, merchants, nurses, security guards, school teachers, students, etc.
What could possibly go wrong with hundreds of volunteer, part-time police officers?
And, are their uniforms such that we can tell them apart from the REAL police?
Lastly, Google Search "police indicted for" guns
Here's one
NW Ind. police indicted for selling machine guns
The US Attorney for Northern Indiana says the men bought 74 fully automatic machine guns and 92 laser sights. They are accused of falsely claiming the equipment was for use by the sheriff's department.
This story makes me cringe.