DETROIT - Feds weave tale of crooked Detroit cops, big money, big schemers

Corrupt cops worked hand in hand with drug dealers to rip off money and drugs, according to trial testimony.

He referred to them as Superfriends.

Curly. Hater. And Bullet — the nicknames of three Detroit police officers who would come to his rescue in a time of need.

In return, Gary Jackson, the well-connected dope dealer who ran a trucking business, a car wash and a beauty salon over the years, testified he would help the cops skim cash and drugs. He would tip off the officers about drug deals and they would swoop in and seize the money and drugs. Some of it made it into evidence lockers, he said. Some of it didn't.

The setup worked for awhile, he said, but the FBI caught on.

• Related: Trial's cast of characters: Drug dealers and cops

Now, years later, in a federal courtroom in downtown Detroit, Jackson has turned on his Superfriends, becoming a key witness in an ongoing corruption trial that could send Detroit narcotics officers David Hansberry, 35, and Bryan Watson, 47, to prison for 20 years if a jury believes the prosecution's claim that they were dirty cops.

• Related: Feds: Corrupt Detroit cop threw money at strippers, hair doc, cars

The smooth-talking drug dealer in his fancy suits and bright-blue alligator shoes is one of 42 government witnesses who have testified in the monthlong trial, which has played out like a Hollywood suspense thriller, complete with wiretaps, death threats, snitches, secret hotel hookups, strippers, trickery and deception galore.

Jurors have listened to testimony about lavish spending on cars, hair restoration treatments and at strip clubs, forged signatures on search warrants, made-up cop names, fake cocaine that smelled like chocolate, another batch that was made of powdered sugar and baking soda, a police officer who planted heroin and a gun in a house — he hid it in the oven — and a man who posed as a cop during a fake bust. A federal agent testified both officers lived beyond their means, especially Hansberry who owned two Cadillacs, a Corvette and an exotic British sports car while making between $75,000 and $143,000 a year as a Detroit Police Department narcotics officer.

An Internal Revenue Service  agent said that Hansberry bankrolled his lifestyle with $157,000 in mysterious cash deposits during the 2010-14 scheme. So did Watson, he said, noting Watson made more than $211,000 in unaccountable cash deposits during the same four years. His salary ranged between $44,000 and $96,000 a year.

This week, the jury is to hear from the defense.

While the case focused heavily on deception and trickery, perhaps the biggest trick jurors heard about was one that involved Jackson.

He testified that the officers had just stiffed him out of a reward for tipping them off about a $3.3-million cash shipment involving cocaine money. He was supposed to get $800,000 for the tip, he said, but ended up with $250,000, which was delivered to him in cash during a secret meeting in a hotel room.

When he went to pick up the money, he tucked a gold-tipped spy pen into his pocket because he didn't trust the officers, he said.

"I knew I had been cheated," Jackson said, claiming the police had pulled a fast one. There was $3.3 million on that truck, he said, but police reported seizing only $2.2 million.

"Nobody in the world would believe me," said Jackson, claiming a drug-dealer's word versus that of a sworn police officer was no good. "I couldn't fight em. I couldn't argue. I couldn't do anything."

So he slipped the special pen in his pocket. It was his trump card.

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