Crooked Cops Busted.

The ex-narcotics detective at the center of a brewing corruption scandal pleaded guilty this morning to a federal conspiracy charge and said in court that he shared narcotics money stolen from drug dealers with other officers.

Julio Vasquez, 43,who was arrested last year with ex-cop Thomas Rachko after investigators spotted both men taking cash from a drug dealer, entered his plea early this morning at around 9:00 a.m. before Brooklyn federal judge Carol Amon.

"I along with other New York Police Department officers stolen narcotics, narcotics proceeds from drug dealers," Vasquez said when asked by Amon to explain what he did. "Some of these thefts occurred in Queens County, New York."

"I and the other officers shared the drug money that we stole," Vasquez continued, according to a transcript of his remarks. "I sold the drugs that we stole and shared in the proceeds of those sales with other officers."

Vasquez said that the thefts happened over a five-year period between January 1998 and November 26, 2003, the date he had Rachko were spotted on Astoria Boulevard, taking $169,000 cash from courier Christian Hernandez,28. At the time of the incident Vasquez was a narcotics detective but resigned shortly afterwards. Rachko,45, had retired in 2002.

On Monday Hernandez plead guilty to a similar conspiracy charge and admitted passing the $169,000 to the two other men.

Former New York City police detective Julio Vasquez leaves Brooklyn Federal Court after being arraigned on drug and money laundering charges in Brooklyn, N.Y., Friday, March 12, 2004. Vasquez and former NYPD detective Thomas Rachko pleaded innocent to robbing drug dealers for cash and cocaine.

Eric Franz, the defense attorney for Vasquez, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

When questioned by Amon about the amount of stolen narcotics that had been resold Vasquez indicated it amounted to over ten pounds of cocaine.

The plea by Vasquez followed months of negotiations between his attorney and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. While the entire transcript of the court proceeding was not available this morning, it appears that Vasquez is cooperating with prosecutors and police in a probe of other officers and ex-officers in the probe.

Law enforcement sources have told Newsday that the investigation is looking at several other former officers.

No announcement was made of the proceeding or the plea by the Brooklyn U.S. Attorneys Office, although a spokesman for the office confirmed that Vasquez had entered a guilty plea and the matter was heard in open court. The case was not on Amon's daily court calendar, which was available late yesterday afternoon.

A law enforcement source who asked not to be identified said the unannounced nature of the Vasquez plea proceeding stemmed from the fear that publicity about the case has made the probe more difficult and may have alerted potential suspects to the direction of the investigation.

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I dunno what to say. Obviously it's wrong from them to have sold off the drugs but should cops be punished for keeping the money for themselves?

Do you think it would increase the morale of the police force if they got to keep even a percentage of drug money confiscated?

1 down, 93840913850913591933593250 to go.

and they couldnt even cover it up...they deserve to be arrested.

they're all dirty, including our old police chief:

Md. Police Chief Quits After Indictment

BALTIMORE - Maryland's police superintendent resigned Wednesday after being indicted on charges of spending charity money on extramarital affairs and personal trips while he was Baltimore's police commissioner.

Edward T. Norris will be re-instated if he is cleared of the charges, said Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who accepted the resignation.

Indicted with Norris on Tuesday was his former chief of staff in Baltimore, John Stendrini. They are accused of misusing more than $20,000 between May 2000 and August 2002 from an account created from three Depression-era charity funds set up to benefit police officers. The indictment was unsealed Wednesday.

"The defendants repeatedly used the funds as if it were their own ATM," U.S. Attorney Thomas DiBiagio said.

DiBiagio said the pair also used police officers to "transport female companions in connection with romantic encounters" between Norris and at least six women.

Norris also used money from the fund to "stock his house with alcohol, pay for travel, pay for gifts from Victoria's Secret and Coach," DiBiagio said.

Norris' attorney, Andrew J. Graham, did not respond to phone calls Wednesday seeking comment. Stendrini's attorney, Michael Schatzow, was out of town and could not immediately be reached for comment, his office said.......

...He is charged with conspiracy to misapply funds, misapplication of funds and making a false statement in a mortgage application to a municipal employees' credit union. Stendrini, 60, is charged with conspiracy to misapply funds, misapplication of funds and obstruction of justice.

If convicted of all charges, Norris would face up to 45 years. Stendrini would face a maximum sentence of 25 years.

More indictments could follow, DiBiagio said.

"The investigation is continuing, and this case is about more than Ed Norris," DiBiagio said.

i couldn't find another article about it, but he ended up pleasing GUILTY

all narco's are corrupt..i got bagged by the 70th precent(the one with the plunger up the guys ass back in the day) i mean they where cool they let me off wit a d.a.t. and no central booking but they took all the weed...one dude took it...came back like 3 hours later like yo that was some good ass weed...i was like thanks...save me a roach? and he laughed and walked away...fuckin jerkoffs.

if i was a cop, i'd be crooked too, for real. about the money, it would be nice to get to keep some, but all money confiscated is supposed to go to crime labs.

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"where da chronic at nukka"

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