Bloomberg's heavy emphasis on eliminating gun trafficking, and New York's crack-down in general, eight of their own police force members were arrested and charged with accepting bribes in return for illegally transporting firearms into the state. The corrupt group was comprised of five officers currently on the force, three who previously retired, a New Jersey correction officer, a former New York City Sanitation Department police officer, and two other unidentified men. The majority of the men all worked at the Brooklyn station house sometime in the past. These eight men accepted thousands of dollars in bribes to drive a caravan of M-16 rifles and handguns, as well as stolen merchandise, across state lines. For these crimes, they face charges of conspiracy to transport firearms across state lines, conspiracy to transport defaced firearms across state lines, conspiracy to sell firearms across state lines, and conspiracy to transport and receive stolen property across state lines (Rashbaum). .
Ironically, the men's plot was uncovered after an FBI confidential informant received a traffic ticket and tried to have it erased in exchange for payment. During this, he developed a relationship with Officer William Masso, who proposed that the two work together to illegally obtain and sell contraband in the form of cigarettes. From there, a yearlong undercover operation began that wiretapped the phones of Officer Masso and the Sanitation Department officer. In October of 2010, Officer Masso's illegal operation began slowly with carting cigarettes into New York. Gradually it grew into selling stolen or counterfeit goods such as slot machines, clothing, handbags, and firearms. After investigating, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and additional officers from the Police Department's Internal Affairs Bureau arrested the men in their homes before sunrise (Rashbaum). .
One of the corrupt officers, Ali Oklu, stated in a wire-tapped phone call, "As long as we're not tying anybody up, I don't care.
