Former NYPD Officer Charged In Queens Cocaine Delivery Scheme: DA

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A former NYPD officer reportedly moonlighted as a security guard and deliveryman in a Queens-based cocaine operation in 2019. Now, he is formally being hit with substance, bribery, and conspiracy charges, records show.

On Aug. 27th, 2019, Ishmael Bailey, 38, met with a person who he thought was a drug dealer to discuss transporting cocaine in Queens. The person who he met with, however, was in fact an undercover police officer, according to the Queens District Attorney's office.

Bailey, who was also an NYPD officer at the time, made an agreement with the supposed drug dealer to securely transport drugs across Queens in exchange for cash, the DA said.

Officials said that Bailey participated in this scheme twice.

On once occasion, on Sept. 4th, he met with the same "dealer" in Astoria and reportedly held open a duffel as the person put in three packages of cocaine — two were fakes. Bailey was paid $2,500 to take the duffel to College Point, where another undercover cop posing as a drug dealer received the bag from him.

A little over a week later, on Sept. 12th, Bailey met with the same undercover cop in Astoria, who gave him $10,000 and told him to pick up two kilos of cocaine in Maspeth. Bailey reportedly went along with the plan, and met a person in Maspeth, who he gave the cash to in exchange for two packages — one was a kilo of coke, and the other was fake, records show.

Bailey, a resident of Staten Island, was arrested shortly after.

District Attorney Melinda Katz said that even though Bailey "took an oath to uphold the law" as a police officer he reportedly "helped protect 'drug dealers'" and transported cocaine across Queens.

On Dec. 10th, in Queens Supreme Court, Bailey was formally charged on a 13-count indictment, including substance, misconduct, bribery, and conspiracy charges.

He is expected to return to court on March 8, 2022 and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.