8 Men Are Accused of Abducting, Torturing and Robbing Dozens of Drug Dealers

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By MICHAEL WILSON
Published: May 7, 2008

A gang of robbers used fake police lights, sirens and badges — and real handcuffs and guns — to pull over and rob more than 100 drug dealers of cash and cocaine in New York and elsewhere up and down the East Coast, federal prosecutors charged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

After identifying themselves as police officers and handcuffing the drug dealers, the thieves interrogated and frequently tortured their captives, beating them, dunking their heads under water and threatening sexual mutilation, documents filed with the indictment in Federal District Court in Brooklyn said. The men stole about $4 million and 750 kilograms of cocaine, prosecutors said. The police seized more than 20 guns, prosecutors said.

“The defendants’ robbery crew was particularly sophisticated in their tactics,â€