Former Philly cop admits to shaking down dealers

A former Philadelphia police officer admitted Friday that he used his position to team up with drug dealers, and shake down their customers and competition for money and drugs.

Christopher Saravello, a five-year veteran of the force assigned to Chinatown's Sixth District, pleaded guilty to federal counts of conspiracy and extortion, capping off a week that saw four other Philadelphia officers either charged with or sentenced on criminal charges.

In a hearing before U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno, the former officer said that since his arrest in October, he has received counseling to treat his own drug addiction.

According to prosecutors, Saravello, 37, was heavily addicted to OxyContin and other drugs when he first teamed up with his own dealer, Robert Nagy, for their shakedown scheme. Nagy would set up a meeting with a competitor or one of his customers to buy or sell prescription pills and notify Saravello beforehand.

Saravello would arrive in uniform and pretend to bust the transaction.

Prosecutors estimate that between November 2011 and June 2012, Saravello carried out 10 to 20 such extortions, either with Nagy or other dealers he met through the dealer.

Nagy, 26, was sentenced in July to 10 months in prison.

His plea came two days after two former officers assigned to the 17th District faced sentencing in a robbery scheme involving stealing money seized from drug dealers.

On Thursday, Philadelphia prosecutors filed aggravated-assault charges against two other officers accused of beating a man who fled from a May 2013 traffic stop.