The officers

The officers arrested on Thursday are Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, 3, and Detectives Momodu Gondo, 34; Evodio Hendrix, 32; Daniel Hersl, 47; Rayam, 36; Marcus Taylor, 30; and Maurice Ward, 36. All were charged on a racketeering indictment. Gondo faces additional drug charges in a separate indictment.

Defense attorneys for the officers and family members reached by phone and approached in court during detention hearings last week all declined to comment.

During the hearings, attorneys for Ward and Hendrix questioned the extent to which their clients were involved in the alleged conspiracy. They said prosecutors had provided little evidence of their direct participation.

Rayam’s attorney said the allegations against his client were “taken out of context or blown out of proportion.”

Hersl’s attorney said his client was being “besmirched” by “nothing more than allegations.”

Jenkins’ attorney said he has spent his career “risking his life” to protect others.

All of the officers were described by their attorneys as family men with deep roots in their local communities who represented no threat to the public.

Police union President Gene S. Ryan said union officials were “very disturbed” by the charges, but the “officers are entitled to due process and a fair trial in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of our state.”

In the fallout of their indictments, federal and state prosecutors have been reviewing cases that had been investigated by the officers and dropping some.

Ali Bey, 42, was scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon to face gun charges. Hendrix, Jenkins, Taylor and Ward were listed as the arresting officers.

Bey was still making his way into the courtroom when prosecutors dropped the case.

Bey and his attorney said the officers involved in his arrest used a flimsy premise to pull over a vehicle he was traveling in — they cited a missing front license plate on a