Eight serving or retired New York police officers were among 12 people arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiracy to smuggle assault rifles, handguns and other items worth more than $1 million.
The news was a shock to a city with one of the most sophisticated police forces in the world and a much-touted record of reducing crime.
A two-year sting operation by police and the FBI nabbed the alleged gang when it brought in an out-of-state arsenal that included three M-16 military rifles, a shotgun and 16 handguns, as well as cigarettes and slot machines.
The goods were believed by the gang to have been stolen and most of the handguns had had their identification numbers erased, making them more attractive to criminals, prosecutors and police said.
What the alleged gang didn\'t know was that the weapons had all been rendered inoperable and that the entire operation was under surveillance.
Active duty NYPD officer William Masso was described as the ringleader.
"The most disturbing aspect of this sting," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement, was that Masso "had no way of knowing that the guns to be transported had been rendered inoperable. It was a betrayal of the highest order of an officer\'s oath."
The chief federal prosecutor for Manhattan, Preet Bharara, deplored that "a group of crime fighters took to moonlighting as criminals."
However, Bharara said he was "proud to work with a police department that has the courage to police itself, as it has shown today."
In a separate matter, prosecutors are considering charges against at least a dozen police officers who routinely helped friends and others see traffic tickets disappear.
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