Miami-Dade Officer Michael King, a patrolman in the Northside district, was arrested Wednesday.


Authorities on Wednesday morning arrested two Miami-Dade cops and an ex-jail guard for their suspected involvement in a cocaine and illegal gambling ring in Liberty City.

Some 20 people were arrested in a joint local and federal investigation, including Miami-Dade Officer Michael King, a patrolman in the Northside district.

The charges against the men will be detailed at an afternoon press conference Thursday at the U.S. attorney's office. The name of the second Miami-Dade officer was not immediately available.

Police say King, 42, was heard 16 times on a wiretap taking illegal bets on basketball games, including from Marvin Coney, a former Miami-Dade jail guard.

King is also facing racketeering charges for his role in an organization allegedly headed by a man named Ricardo Muñoz.

One of the most galling allegations: On April 8, detectives allege, King noticed an undercover pickup truck. He pulled the truck over and was met by a Miami-Dade sergeant who told him he was surveilling a heroin drug operation, according to police.

King allegedly called Muñoz to say: ``I just stopped one of my lieutenants at the corner watching ya'lls s--t, man.''

Also in April, detectives say, King -- sitting in his green-and-white patrol car -- gave a client $450 in gambling winnings. The exchange was videotaped by investigators.

A former narcotics detective, King has been a Miami-Dade policeman since 1989.

Coney was a Miami-Dade Corrections & Rehabilitation guard from 1998 to 1998. He was fired for drug abuse, said corrections spokeswoman Janelle Hall.

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