by TChris

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the convictions (pdf) of four Chicago Police Department officers “who devoted a considerable amount of effort to making money from local drug dealers (and undercover agents whom they mistook for drug dealers) through robbery and acts of public extortion at the expense of their public duties.” The Internal Affairs Division, assisted by the FBI, used informants and an undercover officer masquerading as a drug dealer “to lure the suspect officers into a trap.” Reacting to the informants' tips, the officers would search drug dealers (including an IAD sergeant posing as a dealer), find drugs and cash, and give the dealers a choice: “We get all the money, or you go to jail.”

The undercover cop recruited officers to act as armed escorts when he went on his fake “drug runs.” The officers also robbed drug houses, confiscating “drugs and drug paraphernalia, money, and jewelry, none of which was reported or inventoried according to CPD protocol.” The officers were convicted of "various racketeering, extortion, robbery, drug, and weapons violations."