Photo: Spencer Platt/2012 Getty Images
Brooklyn NYPD officer William Masso, 48, pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy charges for his “central role” in a gun smuggling case produced by an FBI sting operation, the AP reports. Masso, an eighteen-year veteran of the force who faces five to six years in prison at a June sentencing, started dealing cigarettes after getting involved with a federal cooperator and eventually began transporting expensive items including M-16 rifles, shotguns, handguns and slot machines. “He was trying to buy a house for his family and he started with cigarettes. It just got bigger and bigger,” Masso’s lawyer said. Cigarettes really are a gateway drug.
