A city police officer is convicted on drug charges in a case that led the NYPD to more corruption in the department. NY1′s Dean Meminger filed the following exclusive report.
Jurors in the Bronx saw surveillance video—obtained exclusively by NY1—showing the sting operation that nabbed Jose Ramos.
He was wearing his NYPD uniform at the time. Prosecutors say Ramos thought he was working with drug dealers, transporting several kilos of heroin from the Bronx to Brooklyn.
The driver in the video was a confidential informant.
“What we learn from the conviction of Jose Ramos, who was acting as a police officer back in 2009 when he committed these offenses, is that there are people in public service that lack integrity,” says Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.
Ramos was convicted Monday of attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance, attempted grand larceny and attempted robbery.
He was working out of the 40th precinct when the distict attorney and NYPD’s internal affairs bureau took the video.
On it, Ramos says he wasn’t worried about getting stopped at any check points. He’s heard saying, “You know what? To be honest with you, I didn’t—my heart didn’t skip a beat…You don’t know the power of the blue.”
Ramos’ defense attorney, Matthew Kluger, says he’s disappointed by the verdict, and is considering an appeal.
“None of these were instances where officer Ramos went out on his own and committed a crime. Our position is that these were all fictitious crimes to a certain extent that were set up or created,” Kluger says.
This investigation, which included several wire taps, led to the so-called NYPD ticket fixing scandal. More than a dozen cops are accused of getting rid of parking and traffic violations for friends and family. Those officers are scheduled to be in court in January.
For Jose Ramos though, ticket fixing is the least of his worries. He still faces a conspiracy case because prosecutors say he tried to get the informant killed.
“It led us to the charge while he was awaiting trial conspired to cause the death of one of the witnesses,” Johnson says.
All of those cases are expected to land Ramos back in court in December.
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via Great Local News: New York http://ift.tt/1iZiLP1
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