'PARTNERS' IN CRIME

It looked like a good arrest: a plainclothes sergeant and an officer donned
badges, cornered a reputed drug dealer on a Bronx street and hauled him off
before an audience of pedestrians.

But after driving away, they allegedly took off the prisoner's handcuffs
and sent him home.

Then, authorities say, they divided $60,000 in cash behind closed doors,
setting aside a cut for the dealer.

The officer, Robert Noyer, described the staged 1996 arrest from the
witness stand yesterday at the Manhattan federal court trial of Capt.
Dennis Sindone, who, he said, played the arresting sergeant.

Sindone is one of the highest-ranking NYPD commanders ever charged in a
drug-related corruption case.

Noyer, 32, has pleaded guilty to robbery charges and agreed to testify
against Sindone, 39, who is charged with conspiracy.

Noyer testified that he and Sindone were facing financial woes when they
hatched the plot with a drug dealer Noyer knew from the street.

The dealer, Noyer said, agreed to tip him off about where and when he would
be delivering cash to pay for his supplies - so he and his accomplice could
fake the arrest and steal the money. It wasn't clear what the dealer got
out of it.

Noyer said he and Sindone took the cash to Noyer's apartment, where they
spread it out on a bed and counted it.

The bills were coated with cocaine residue, prompting Sindone to wash his
hands afterward, Noyer said.

Before parting with their shares, Sindone "told me not to talk about it . .
. not to be flashy," he said.

Noyer said he used the cash to pay credit-card bills and take a vacation in
Mexico with his girlfriend.

James Culleton, Sindone's lawyer, told the jury that Noyer implicated his
client, once a rising star in the department, to avoid a stiff prison term
himself.

Noyer "was a professional con man who fooled everybody," Culleton said
during opening arguments. "His whole life has been a lie."

But prosecutor Andrew Dember said Sindone and his cohorts "believed they
had committed the perfect crime . . . For almost four years after this
crime took place, they thought they were free and clear."

The scheme unraveled when the drug dealer was arrested in 1999 and
identified Noyer and Sindone, Dember said.

Sindone, an 18-year veteran, had reached the rank of deputy inspector last
year. He has since been demoted to captain.