Accused crooked NYPD cop Joseph Franco just ‘doing his job,’ defense attorney says

A former undercover NYPD detective accused of framing innocent people by lying about seeing them deal drugs was just “doing his job,” his defense attorney claimed during opening statements at his Manhattan trial Thursday.

Joseph Franco — who was fired in May 2020 after a departmental trial — is facing perjury, official misconduct and other charges for allegedly falsely claiming he saw drug deals go down in three cases between 2017 and 2018.

“We live in a society today where it’s very easy to be critical of the police,” said Franco’s attorney, Howard Tanner, told jurors on Thursday.

“Joe’s on trial for doing his job,” Tanner said. “Second guessing, Monday morning quarterbacking an overzealous district attorney’s office that has it in for the police — I’ve got to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it’s not right.”

The disgraced ex-cop, a 19-year veteran of the force, was assigned to Narcotics Borough Manhattan South when he busted four people for dealing drugs in separate incidents, claiming he observed each illicit exchange.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said the case will focus on some of the defendants who pleaded guilty to avoid a longer prison sentence, despite being innocent, having allegedly been framed by the crooked cop.

“This case is about former NYPD detective Joseph Franco and the lies he told in the line of duty that contributed to the wrongful arrest, indictment, conviction and incarceration of the very New Yorkers he was duty bound to protect and serve,” said Assistant District Attorney Samantha Drorken. 

Franco “repeatedly stated that he observed individuals exchange items with each other, a term commonly used by narcotics detectives to describe a drug sale between two people,” Drorken told the jurors. 

But video evidence will prove that “in truth and fact, Franco did not and could not have seen what he said he saw.”

“He lied in each case to his fellow officers, to prosecutors, in official paperwork, and under oath in sworn testimony before the grand jury,” Drorken alleged.

“This was not a mistake, it was a pattern,” she continued. 

Since his indictment in 2019, city prosecutors, including in Brooklyn and the Bronx, have dismissed dozens of cases that relied on Franco’s testimony.

Franco has pleaded not guilty. The trial is expected to last three to four weeks.