The investigation also led to the arrest of 34 officers in the precinct, which became known as the “Dirty 30” after the corruption scandal broke in 1994.

The 30th Precinct is in upper Manhattan, on the western edge of the city’s Harlem neighborhood. With a territory of only one square mile, it is one of the city’s smallest precincts, and its proximity to routes leading in and out of the borough made the area a major distribution hub for cocaine in the late 1980s.

New York has fought corruption in its police department, the nation’s largest, for years, convening numerous commissions to tackle the problem. This included the Knapp Commission, made famous by the testimony of the whistle-blowing detective, Frank Serpico, which later became the basis of the movie, Serpico.

In 1992, the city created a commission to investigate a new wave of corruption and make recommendations on how to combat these problems. Mayor David Dinkins appointed Deputy Mayor Milton Mollen, a former State Supreme Court justice, to chair the commission, whose formal name was the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Police Corruption and the Anti-Corruption Procedures of the Police Department.

Better known as the Mollen Commission↗, the commission said in its report:

“Today’s corruption is not the corruption of Knapp Commission days. Corruption then was largely a corruption of accommodation, of criminals and police officers giving and taking bribes, buying and selling protection. Corruption was, in its essence, consensual. Today’s corruption is characterized by brutality, theft, abuse of authority, and active police criminality.” It continued: “The explosion of the cocaine and crack trade in the mid-1980s fueled the opportunities for corruption by flooding certain neighborhoods with drugs and cash, and created opportunities for cops and criminals to profit from each other. It also eliminated the unwritten rule of twenty years ago that narcotics graft is ‘dirty money’ that is not touched even by corrupt officers. With that change in attitude and opportunity came a wide spectrum of drug-related corruption ranging from opportunistic thefts from street dealers, to carefully planned group assaults on drug locations, and long-term partnerships with narcotics traffickers.”

Rumors emerged about corruption at the 30th Precinct, often involving a practice known as “booming,” even before the Mollen Commission began meeting. Groups of officers led by Sgt. Kevin Nannery, who referred to themselves as “Nannery’s Raiders,” targeted apartments based on a suspicion of drug activity.

They would bust down doors without warrants, at times faking 911 calls as a ruse for police response, and soon moved on to stealing the money found in the apartments. The department received complaints about the practice and disbanded the unit, but the officers found other ways to take from and work with the drug dealers. Officers also would frisk suspected dealers without probable cause or search known hiding places in apartment buildings for what they called “felony keys,” which opened more substantial, high-end locks that were considered out of place in the low-income neighborhoods of the precinct.

The officers surmised (reasonably) that these locks indicated a drug location. Once inside apartments secured with these locks, however, the officers would tear out floor tiles and wall panels searching for drugs and money.

Over time, the officers began a more symbiotic relationship with the drug dealers, shaking them down for contributions to avoid arrest. One officer said he set a target of $300 to $500 a day – more during the holiday season – and would use his relationship with dealers to find about other dealers who needed to be paying a “tax” to the police. In addition, the drugs they stole from one dealer might be resold to another.

One officer later described the relationship between police and drug dealer as something akin to friendship, including the exchange of gifts. Officer George Nova testified that he and his partner once bought a drug dealer a bulletproof vest. “We wanted to give him a Christmas gift, and we didn’t know what to give him.” Before finishing its report, the Mollen Commission began working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The New York County District Attorney in Manhattan began a parallel investigation.

The first three arrests occurred on March 18, 1994, when three officers were charged with assault and robbery. The Manhattan District Attorney and the police set up a sting with an undercover officer and a fake drug apartment. The sting captured the corrupt officers breaking in, beating up the undercover officer, and stealing cash. Other arrests swiftly followed. Complete records are not available, but most officers faced perjury, drug charges, or civil rights violations.

The district attorney’s office also began a review of the hundreds of cases and convictions involving these corrupt officers. Eduardo Ramos, for example, had his conviction vacated and charges dismissed in March 1994. He had been charged with possession of two kilograms of cocaine, but prosecutors later said that Ramos actually had three kilos. Officer Alberto Vargas stole one of the kilos and charged Ramos with possession of the other two. Both Ramos and Vargas testified at Ramos’s trial, but the jury believed the officer, and the court sentenced Ramos to 15 years in prison.

Vargas later pled guilty to distribution of narcotics and tax evasion. Vargas cooperated with investigators after being confronted with evidence of his misconduct by wearing a wire to record his fellow officers. Several other officers also cooperated in the investigation.

Police arrested Manuel Morillo in 1991 and charged him with weapons and drug possession. Officers Michael Walsh and Steven Pataki testified that they had seen Morillo drop a bag of drugs prior to his arrest. Morillo maintained throughout that the items were not his. The jury convicted him. Walsh later pled guilty to perjury and testified at Pataki’s trial, helping convict his partner of perjury. Walsh testified that he found the drugs tied to Morillo in another apartment. The court vacated Morillo’s conviction in 1994.

Pataki received three months in prison. Walsh, who admitted to investigators that he committed perjury approximately 75 times, received three years in federal prison. Published reports say state and federal prosecutors ultimately dismissed 125 charges against 98 defendants. Little or no information can be obtained on most of these defendants. Most of the known dismissals appear to be based on perjury or falsification of records by the officers.

For example, David Dickan was arrested on March 25, 1992, and charged with several drug crimes. He would later tell the New York Daily News that he was driving from Utica, New York, to New Jersey, when he missed an exit and ended up lost in the neighborhoods of the 30th Precinct. He said the police targeted him because he stood out as a white man in the largely Black and Hispanic community.

One of the corrupt arresting officers, Thomas Nolan, testified at Dickan’s trial about the circumstances of the arrest, and Dickan was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison. The court vacated his conviction in 1995 after Nolan admitted to lying about other arrests he had made prior to the Dickan’s arrest. Nolan pled guilty to corruption charges, cooperated with investigators, and was sentenced in federal court to five months in prison on December 3, 1996.

U.S. District Court Judge Loretta Preska said at Nolan’s sentencing: “In a society of laws like ours, the breach of a law enforcement officer’s trust is among the most grievous offenses to society.”

In another case, Officer Michael Kennedy arrested Anthony Curry after he said he saw Curry toss a bag of cocaine. Curry said Kennedy actually stole money from him, but he pled guilty to avoid a lengthy prison sentence. (He received a sentence of two to four years.) A prosecutor admitted that at the time of the plea, he was aware that Kennedy had already been caught on video beating an undercover officer posing as a drug dealer. Kennedy eventually pled guilty to extortion in a separate case.

Officials said that most – although not all – of the defendants wrongfully convicted due to the official misconduct were likely involved with the drug trade, but the arrests and prosecutions were tainted by misconduct.

Featured case: Daniel Batista

Police arrested Daniel Batista on June 30, 1992, outside a building on 149th Street while he was on his way to have dinner with a friend. Officers David Benitez and James Velez first stopped Batista and asked him why he was coming out of a particular building. Batista denied that he was. The officers handcuffed Batista, took his keys, and began trying to open doors in the building. They took his wallet, which contained about $400, and later planted a gun on him, with Benitez saying, “You’re screwed. The weapon is yours.”

Batista faced charges for third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He went to trial in December 1992 in New York County Supreme Court and testified that the officers planted the weapon on him when the keys did not work on any of the doors in the building. The officers testified that they found the gun after seeing a bulge under Batista’s clothing.

The jury convicted him on December 21, 1992, and Justice Bernard Fried accused Batista of committing perjury and said his account was “preposterous.” Justice Fried sentenced him to two to six years in prison. Batista served 13 months. Batista’s attorney filed a motion to vacate the conviction after Benitez and Velez were convicted for crimes related to their misconduct.

In 1996, Justice Fried granted the motion and vacated Batista’s conviction. The prosecution then dismissed the charge. Batista subsequently was awarded $650,000 to settle a lawsuit against the city of New York. In 1998, Batista settled a lawsuit against Benitez and Velez. The settlement required each to pay Batista $100 a month for 25 months—a total of $5,000.

Several defendants, including Batista, won settlements from the city for their wrongful convictions. According to the Daily News, by 1997, the city had paid more than $2.1 million to settle civil suits related to misconduct in the 30th Precinct, with more awards expected. No public accounting of the total settlement costs is available.

Samuel Victor, for example, received $725,000 related to his wrongful conviction. The two officers involved in his arrest lied about the details of their search, leading to the vacating of Victor’s conviction. Athos Lopez, convicted based on officer perjury, received $15,000.

Officer Barry Brown aided the Mollen Commission as it began investigating the 30th Precinct. Brown worked undercover, gathering information about the misconduct and later testifying anonymously before the commission. He was known as “Officer Otto.” The police department recruited Brown into internal affairs right out of the police academy and in 1988 placed him in the 30th Precinct, where his older brother had once worked. He relayed information to internal affairs on the misconduct he observed but nothing came of those tips, and later turned to the commission after police officials didn’t take sufficient actions.

Brown eventually resigned under pressure from the police department after it was revealed that he gave false testimony leading to the conviction of at least six defendants, including Victor. Brown said he lied to maintain his credibility with other officers in order to help the commission gather information on corruption. He said his supervisors told him to commit perjury and that he tried to tell the commission about his dilemma, but that “they did not want to hear about it.”

Mollen denied that the commission knew about Brown’s perjury. “He had a nasty job and did something that very few people would do,” he told the Daily News. “It is sad to see his career end up this way ... but on the other hand, we cannot condone false testimony.”

Officer John Arena was the first officer to go to trial, charged with violating the civil rights of defendants through illegal searches. He was acquitted by a jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 1, 1995. The government based its case largely on the testimony of Arena’s former partner,  Nova, who cooperated with investigators and wore a wire to record alleged misconduct by Arena and others. (Nova pled guilty to civil rights violations and distributing stolen drugs.) Arena’s attorney painted Nova as a liar. He predicted that the acquittal did not bode well for prosecutors.

That prediction was mistaken. Juries convicted 30 of the other 33 officers arrested; two officers had charges dismissed, and one officer died by suicide after his arrest. They represented approximately one-third of the precinct’s roster. While one officer received an eight-year sentence, most received sentences of three years or less.

Nannery was the last of the officers to be sentenced, receiving a year of house arrest on April 19, 1997, with a waiver allowing him to go to the deli he owned in the Bronx. Prosecutors sought a tougher sentence, citing Nannery’s rank as a sergeant and his leadership in the misconduct. But Nannery, who pled guilty and cooperated with investigators, persuaded the judge to impose a sentence below federal guidelines. He told U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence McKenna that “I wanted to be so much like one of the guys, I lost sight of myself.”

The Mollen Commission recommended the creation of an independent police oversight board. It also recommended better training for current officers and supervisors, and better screening and recruiting for new hires. As part of those reforms, the city revised its Civilian Complaint Review Board to become all civilian. The board was also given subpoena power. The commission wrote in its report: “External independent oversight will help ensure that these reform efforts succeed. Ultimately, however, it is the Department’s own officers, supervisors and commanders who will determine whether the battle is won or lost – whether a culture that tolerates corruption can be transformed into one that drives it out.”

— Ken Otterbourg