Three NYPD officers arrested in kickback and bribery scheme

NEW YORK — Bribery charges against a retired New York Police Department officer were the least of his sins.

Ex-cop Robert Smith was busted Tuesday along with current NYPD officers Robert Hassett and Heather Busch on charges of collecting thousands of dollars in crooked payoffs for steering cars damaged in wrecks to a specific towtrucking business.

But Smith, in court documents, was outed as as a racist who feds say delivered heroin, spewed hatefilled rhetoric and randomly pointed his gun at Black passers-by just to enjoy the look on their faces.

“Bro I point my gun out the window now at (racial slurs) and watch their reaction and drive way,” the then-retired officer allegedly wrote in a text message cited by federal prosecutors. “Hilarious.”

In one recording, Smith described himself as “one of the most corrupt cops in the 105 (Precinct)” and declared his badge was the only thing sparing him from repeated arrests, according to prosecutors.

“Smith’s unabashedly racist and hate-filled language in his communications included regular references to Black individuals as (racial slurs) and numerous references to the Ku Klux Klan,” wrote Ryan Harris, the assistant U.S. Attorney on the case.

Just after his retirement, the former officer allegedly wrote, “Now the real (Smith) will shine. I even shaved my head. Klan.”

According to prosecutors, the three officers responded to car crashes while on the job and made sure the damaged vehicles went to a specific tow truck and repairs business in exchange for kickbacks.

Smith started the scam in 2016 and Hassett joined in 2017, according to the feds. When Smith retired from the force at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, he recruited Busch into the racket, prosecutors say.

The scheme went further, with Smith and Hassett allegedly giving the contact info on crash victims to another unidentified individual in return for bribes — so that person could sell the information to physical therapy businesses and personal injury attorneys.

The police union quickly announced it would not provide legal representation to any of the officers.

Smith additionally tried to abet a criminal organization by moving drugs in exchange for money after his retirement, according to the feds.

In July 2020, the ex-officer met with a person he thought was a drug trafficker and accepted a baggie “containing what Smith understood to be a kilogram of heroin,” prosecutors said. He took the bag to another person and was given $1,200 in cash for his work, the feds said.