'DOZENS' RAT ON STATE COPS

The New York Post by FREDRIC U. DICKER

April 3, 2008 -- ALBANY - Investigators for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo have been inundated with "dozens and dozens" of tips alleging a wide range of improper conduct - including political spying - by renegade members of the State Police, it was learned yesterday.

Among the tips were claims that members of a special State Police squad that guarded then-Govs. George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer carried out personal missions for high-level state officials - including the transportation of private cars, relatives and private supplies, a source said.

Such private services for public officials could be "imputed income" for income-tax purposes and could form the basis of tax-evasion charges, the source said. Other tips focused on the Dirty Tricks Scandal, in which Spitzer and several top aides used the State Police to dig up dirt on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer). "There are so many tips that it's going to take quite awhile to sort them out ," said a source.