A police officer from the NYPD’s firearms task force and a retired cop conducted a phony raid in Queens and made off with $169,000 in drug money, law enforcement sources said.
Det. Julio Vasquez, who’s assigned to Manhattan, and former cop Thomas Rachko, who lives in The Bronx, were arrested late last week following Wednesday’s alleged heist.
An old informant of Rachko phoned him to say he was going to a street corner in Jackson Heights to drop off the drug money with another man.
Rachko contacted Vasquez, and the two planned to break up the money drop with a phony raid, said sources. Then, they planned to split the cash they seized with Rachko’s informant, the sources said.
Unfortunately for them, the money drop was being watched and filmed by the NYPD’s organized crime investigation division.
When Vasquez and Rachko showed up in raid jackets, they grabbed the man with the money bag and threw him in a police car, sources said.
The organized crime cops moved in and asked what was going on and Vasquez told them they were conducting an investigation.
When that turned out not to be true, the two men were arrested.
They were charged with grand larceny, money laundering, official misconduct and obstructing governmental administration.