MIAMI--Nearly a dozen cops were charged earlier this month with planting evidence and cover-ups in a string of police murders. And authorities say more indictments are on the way.

The 11 Miami officers were accused of planting guns at crime scenes, stealing evidence and lying to avoid prosecution. The indictments are the result of a federal investigation into the city's highest-profile police killings.

In one case, a 73-year-old man died in 1996 in a hail of 123 cop bullets during a drug raid that found no drugs. Police falsely claimed that the man had fired at them. In another, two Black teenagers were shot at 37 times while fleeing a robbery scene in 1995. Police planted guns near the bodies of their victims and claimed they were armed.

Two other cops have pleaded guilty, and officials in charge of the investigation say that more will be arrested. The scandal promises to rock Miami's police department--with a similar impact to the uncovering of a ring of corrupt killer cops in the LAPD Ramparts Division.

City officials say that the arrested officers are a few bad apples. But these departments are rotten to the core.

Home page | Back to the top