DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS - BY TINA MOORE AND JOHN MARZULLI - Friday, February 1st 2008
A city detective was charged Thursday with conspiring to sell crack and tipping off members of a violent drug gang in Brooklyn.
Luis Batista, a 10-year veteran, was the second NYPD detective arrested in as many days on corruption charges. "Absolutely not guilty your honor," Batista, 34, said at his arraignment in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Batista first got on law enforcement's radar in 2006 when an informant claimed he and the cop went to a Bushwick hotel where they had sex with a woman and watched others use drugs, according to court papers.
The FBI then discovered that Batista was passing confidential information to a drug dealer, Virgilio Hiciano, before he fled to the Dominican Republic, authorities said. Batista was working in the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg and knew several drug dealers from the neighborhood, where he was raised.
When Batista feared he was under investigation, he called NYPD Sgt. Henry Conde, who was assigned to the Internal Affairs Bureau. Conde allegedly accessed the IAB database and told Batista about the informant's allegations against him. Five crack dealers also have been indicted, and Conde was charged with obstructing justice.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was bombarded with questions from reporters yesterday about Batista and another detective busted Wednesday for pimping out a 13-year-old girl.
"If these allegations [against Batista] prove to be true, it's despicable conduct," Kelly said.
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