OFFICER, SOBBING, RECALLS SECRET LIFE OF CRIME

The fear of getting caught had passed, as had the shame of pleading guilty
before a federal judge to charges of armed robbery and murder conspiracy.
So the only thing that remained for Anthony Trotman yesterday was to tell
the tale of his startling transformation from a New York City police
officer to a member of a brazen Brooklyn robbery gang.

Mr. Trotman spent more than four hours on the witness stand in Federal
District Court in Brooklyn testifying at the trial of James Woodard, who is
accused of being one of Mr. Trotman's accomplices in the violent gang.
Crying so often that a courtroom official had to bring him a wad of tissue,
the former officer said he beat up drug dealers, robbed a jewelry store,
even plotted to kill a federal prosecutor and a fellow detective -- all
while serving as a patrolman in the 77th Precinct in Bedford- Stuyvesant.

"I've done some terrible, terrible things," Mr. Trotman said.

It was the first time since pleading guilty last week that Mr. Trotman, 35,
had spoken of his secret life of crime. He not only told the jury that his
former partner, Jamil Jordan, had introduced him to the gang, but he also
painted a sordid picture of life in his precinct, where, according to his
testimony, a handful of officers had been breaking the law for years.

For example, Mr. Trotman testified that he and another officer, Keith
Manley, stole $200 or $300 from a woman they were sent to escort home from
Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. A third officer, Adam Schachtel, once stole a
wad of money he was supposed to have stored for safekeeping after it was
found at a crime scene, Mr. Trotman said.

The two officers named by Mr. Trotman were placed on desk duty last night,
and the department began an investigation of the allegations, said Charles
V. Campisi, chief of the Internal Affairs Bureau. Both have been on the
force since 1986. Officer Manley has been at the 84th Precinct for five
years; Officer Schachtel is now at the 69th Precinct.

The 77th Precinct was the location of a notorious corruption scandal in the
1980's, when a dozen officers known as the Buddy Boys were charged with
robbing drug dealers and committing other crimes. But senior police
officials said yesterday that routine annual audits in recent years to
check for corruption in the precinct had not found any compelling evidence
that any officers other than Mr. Trotman and Mr. Jordan had done anything
wrong.

"This is not a corruption scandal," said Assistant Chief Thomas P. Fahey, a
department spokesman. "This is a couple of officers who did bad things."

The lion's share of Mr. Trotman's testimony yesterday was filled with
stories of his own criminal past.

When Mr. Jordan was arrested on Jan. 24, federal prosecutors released a
complaint that said he and Mr. Trotman had conspired to kill Michael Paul,
a detective in the 77th Precinct who had testified against them in a gun
case in 1997. But in a new twist yesterday, Mr. Trotman admitted that he
and Mr. Jordan had also toyed with the notion of murdering Dan Alonso, the
federal prosecutor who worked on the gun case.

Mr. Trotman said that he had been lying and committing crimes for nearly
his entire 11 years on the force. He said he once kidnapped a drug dealer
in the Bronx with his fellow gang members and beat the man senseless while
wearing his police officer's shield. He said he once robbed another drug
dealer and handcuffed him to the steering wheel of a car.

On patrol one day, Mr. Trotman said, he and Mr. Jordan stopped a car and
stole about $7,000 from the driver. On another day, he said, he and Mr.
Jordan stole from a corpse.

Mr. Trotman confessed to having a network of informers who would tip him
off to criminal opportunities. He said one man would tell him where he
could find drug dealers to rob. Another man, he testified, would alert him
when people carrying large amounts of cash were passing through areas he
patrolled.

With so many tales of mayhem spilling from Mr. Trotman's mouth, it was easy
to forget that he was not the defendant in the case but merely a witness.
Indeed, only one of the crimes that Mr. Trotman mentioned yesterday -- the
1997 armed robbery of H. L. Gross Jewelers in Garden City, N.Y. -- was
directly linked to Mr. Woodard, the man on trial.

Mr. Trotman testified that he went to the store with another gang member,
Vere Padmore, ostensibly to look at engagement rings. He later returned
with the entire gang, including Mr. Woodard -- this time to rob the store
with gun in hand.

The only other time that Mr. Woodard was the focus of the trial was before
Mr. Trotman came into the courtroom.

Mr. Woodard's lawyer, Philip Katowitz, had said that Mr. Trotman would not
be able to pick out his client. So Judge Frederic Block created what
amounted to an ad hoc lineup in the courtroom gallery.

There was a problem: Mr. Woodard is black, and there were only a few other
black men in the room. So Judge Block asked the prosecution to find some
more "nonwhite folks" in the courthouse for balance.

"It's a bit disturbing that we can't find more minority persons in a United
States courthouse," Judge Block said while court officials scoured the
building for men who looked even remotely similar to Mr. Woodard. "What
does it say for us?"

Eventually, two or three other black men were found, and Judge Block
arranged them in the gallery. He had Mr. Woodard take a seat among them.
Mr. Trotman easily picked the defendant out.

"These things happen," Judge Block said after the identification was made.
"You never know during a trial what may materialize."