An ongoing investigation of corruption and illegal practices in the Brooklyn South Narcotics Unit could jeopardize dozens, if not hundreds, of successful prosecutions of drug dealers. The possibility has arisen days after a sergeant and a detective were arrested for paying an informant with drugs and cash that they themselves had robbed from the addict. Another sergeant in the unit was also arrested for using NYPD resources to investigate the vehicle IDs of a drug dealer's suspected rivals.

Last December, a police officer was arrested after inadvertently recording himself discussing allegedly stolen cocaine seized in a drug bust - forgetting he was wearing a surveillance wire. His arrest touched off an investigation that police may have been paying confidential informants not with cash, but stolen drugs like cocaine.

With four cops currently under arrest, the NY Times reports that prosecutors have moved to dismiss charges in 80 separate drug cases, because the arrested officers had been considered crucial to successful prosecution. Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes is also contemplating throwing out another hundred cases. (Side note: Hynes recently published a crime-genre novel about a NYPD cop accused of murdering a corrupt officer along with others, describing a decades-long culture of corruption.)

In addition to the arrest of the four officers, a fifth member of the NYPD has been suspended and many have been re-assigned to desk positions while the Internal Affairs Bureau continues its investigation. The Post notes an informant went to the IAB after one of the officers "crossed the line" and had sex with her.