Pubdate: Fri, 01 Jun 2001 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: William K. Rashbaum Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption) CHARGED POLICE OFFICIAL HAD RISEN SWIFTLY The promising career of a senior police commander who built his reputation as a savvy investigator of drug-related murders was derailed yesterday when federal prosecutors charged that six years ago he staged an arrest to steal money from a drug dealer. The case against the commander, Dennis M. Sindone, makes him one of the highest ranking police officials ever charged in a drug-related corruption case. Mr. Sindone was a deputy inspector until the accusations against him led to his demotion to captain last month. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday that he knew Captain Sindone personally. And while he would not discuss the nature or extent of the relationship, Mr. Giuliani said of the case: "I am very disappointed and am hurt by it. I know that it can affect the way people look at the entire department and I hope that it doesn't. I hope people are able to see through that." A man who was singular in the department for his rapid ascent through the ranks, Captain Sindone, 39, the son of a retired police detective, was visibly shaken at his arraignment yesterday in federal court in Manhattan. He said nothing during the brief hearing before Judge Michael B. Mukasey of United States District Court, as his wife and father sat in the wood-paneled courtroom's gallery. Captain Sindone's lawyer, James Culleton, entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf, and the captain was released on $50,000 bond. After the hearing, Mr. Culleton said his client had had "a brilliant career in the Police Department" and "did absolutely nothing wrong." "He categorically denies the charges in the indictment," he said. The two-page indictment unsealed yesterday charged Captain Sindone with a single count of conspiring to violate the civil rights of a drug dealer whom he is accused of robbing in the summer of 1996. At the time, he was a sergeant supervising six or seven investigators and two undercover detectives in the Bronx Narcotics Drug Homicide Task Force. The indictment said the crime occurred near the Grand Concourse and East Tremont Avenue in the 46th Precinct, where Captain Sindone began his police career in 1983. Although the charges provide few details, and prosecutors would not discuss the case, a senior law enforcement official involved in the case said that Captain Sindone, an officer who worked for him and a third man, a drug dealer they knew, staged the arrest to steal about $50,000 from another dealer. The second officer and the dealer the two police officers knew are now cooperating with federal authorities in the case. The money was largely divided between the two officers, with the third man receiving a small share, the official said. Mr. Culleton scoffed at the indictment, noting that his client had made major drug cases and had access to millions of dollars in seized cash when he worked on the drug homicide task force, and was never accused of wrongdoing. "What, was the Police Department sleeping?" Mr. Culleton said. "That this happened in 1996 and he's moved up from sergeant to lieutenant to captain to deputy inspector. He's well respected; he's well thought of. He's an excellent, fine police officer." Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik had apparently agreed with that assessment: he promoted him to deputy inspector in April, just 13 months after he had been promoted to captain. It was an extraordinarily swift ascent through the ranks that Mr. Kerik said was propelled by Captain Sindone's achievement in overseeing a 40 percent reduction in crime in the 60th Precinct in Coney Island after he took command. But the official involved in the case said that investigators suspected that the authorities were investigating whether the 1996 theft was the only time that he might have fallen to the temptation of easy money on the streets where he and his unit were investigating drug killings. "You don't do this kind of thing once," the official said. "What's the odds of it happening again? Good. That's why you continue the investigation; you have to look and see." Spokesmen for the F.B.I. and federal prosecutors in Manhattan would not discuss the case, but officials said the investigation was continuing. Marc Greenwald, an assistant United States attorney, said at the arraignment that the evidence in the case included financial records, as well as two tape recordings. One law enforcement official who was briefed on the case said that federal authorities have been poring over Captain Sindone's finances. Court records show that he filed for personal bankruptcy in 1992, settling the case in August 1993. A little more than two years later, he bought a $226,000 home in Pomona, N.Y., property records show. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe