POLICE COMMANDER IS INDICTED IN THEFTS FROM DRUG DEALERS

A federal grand jury indicted a senior police commander yesterday in
connection with accusations that he stole money from drug dealers
about six years ago, a senior law enforcement official said.

The commander, Dennis M. Sindone, is the highest-ranking police
official in New York to come under scrutiny in a drug-related
corruption inquiry, officials said.

The investigation into Mr. Sindone's conduct has short-circuited what
had been his quick ascent within the department. He held the rank of
deputy inspector when he came under scrutiny last month but was placed
on modified assignment May 1 and demoted to captain May 5, after the
accusations surfaced.

The federal grand jury in Manhattan that has heard evidence in the
case handed up a sealed indictment yesterday charging Captain Sindone,
39, in connection with the thefts, which occurred when he was off
duty, the senior official said.

The precise charges could not be learned last night. Spokesmen for the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mary Jo White, the United States
attorney in Manhattan, whose office will prosecute the case, declined
comment.

Captain Sindone, the son of a retired police detective, was expected
to surrender to the F.B.I. this morning with his lawyer, the official
said. The lawyer, James Culleton, reached last night, would not
comment. In the past, through his lawyer, Captain Sindone has
vigorously denied wrongdoing.

A senior police official said Captain Sindone came under scrutiny
after a suspect arrested by the F.B.I. squad that investigates
Jamaican and Dominican drug traffickers implicated another member of
the Police Department, who in turn implicated Captain Sindone.

At about the time of the drug thefts, he was a sergeant in the Bronx
narcotics drug homicide task force, an elite unit that investigated
drug-related killings, one official said.

When the accusations surfaced, they stunned many colleagues of the
well-regarded police commander, who had just been promoted to the rank
of deputy inspector by Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik, making
him one of just 125 men and women in the department to hold that rank.

Mr. Kerik promoted him April 12 because he had been impressed by the
40 percent cut in crime in the 60th Precinct in Coney Island. Just 13
months earlier, Mr. Sindone was promoted from the rank of lieutenant
to captain.

Mr. Kerik was not the only person to take note of Captain Sindone's
achievements. In April 1996, he was among several supervisors and
detectives from the homicide task force who were honored for their
work investigating two murderous drug gangs that the authorities said
killed 48 rivals and bystanders in the course of their narcotics trade.

His first assignment as a police officer was patrolling the streets of
the 46th Precinct in the University Heights section of the Bronx. As a
police officer, he earned 18 citations for his conduct and made 150
arrests, most for serious crimes.