One of two rogue detectives caught stealing $169,000 from a drug ring has implicated an NYPD lieutenant in the burgeoning scandal, and confessed that he himself committed rip-offs for about six years, The Post has learned.
Since his arrest last week, Thomas Rachko, a retired narcotics detective cooperating with the feds, claimed that one of his supervisors from his days in an elite upper Manhattan drug-fighting team participated in robberies of suspects.
The sources declined to say if the supervisor, a lieutenant, is still on the force.
Rachko and his former Narcotics Division partner, Julio Vasquez, who were busted Thanksgiving Day, had been part of a six-man team of detectives who made drug seizures involving hundreds of thousands of dollars while working undercover.
Shortly after their arrests, another cop realized that one of their former informants, Miguel Peralta, had been found gagged, handcuffed and shot in the neck Nov. 24 – the day before Rachko and Vasquez were videotaped “arresting” a drug courier who was carrying $169,000.
Authorities said the courier was in on the scheme and was going to split the money with the cops.
No charges were filed in Peralta’s murder.
Sources say Rachko, a degenerate gambler, began spilling his guts as soon as he was arrested. He admitted he had been ripping off drug dealers since about 1996, and said he could name other cops.
It was then that he implicated the lieutenant.
Insiders say it may be decades – perhaps as far back as the Knapp Commission-era in the 1970s – since a lieutenant has been implicated in corruption.
Probers are also investigating several other cops.
Rachko’s lawyer, David Goldstein, declined comment.