By Lukas I. Alpert, The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - A former narcotics detective who led a group that stole millions of dollars worth of cocaine and resold it on the streets pleaded guilty Monday to the theft of police funds that started the investigation that brought the ring down, prosecutors said.
Thomas Rachko, 46, pleaded guilty before Supreme Court Justice Robert Raciti to grand larceny charges, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Rachko admitted he and another detective took the cash from a man he believed was a drug courier but was actually an undercover agent working on a joint police and U.S. customs money laundering investigation.
When agents confronted Rachko and the other detective, Julio Vasquez, they claimed they were working on their own case. The agents later learned that Vasquez was not part of an active investigation and that Rachko had retired in 2002 after 20 years on the force.
That began an investigation that uncovered the drug operation, the worst scandal to hit the New York Police Department in a decade.
In June, Rachko pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to leading five others in a ring that stole cash and 100 kilograms of cocaine from drug dealers between 1998 and 2003 and sold it to other dealers.
Rachko could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for stealing the cash, Brown said. He faces up to 27 years in prison when he is sentenced on the federal charges.
Vasquez also has pleaded guilty to stealing the cash and to federal narcotics conspiracy charges. He will be sentenced to one to three years for the theft and up to 27 years on the federal charges, Brown said.
At least seven other police officers have been implicated in the scandal.