The Queens narcotics officers under investigation for framing four men in a drug bust could get seven years in prison if they’re brought up on criminal charges, according to law-enforcement sources.
The three undercover cops – Henry Tavarez, Steven Anderson and Alan Figueroa – could be hit with perjury, official misconduct and filing false documents charges stemming from the Jan. 4 incident inside Club Delicioso, sources said.
Video footage from the Elmhurst club exonerated the four men arrested and contradicted the officers’ claims that they had purchased two bags of cocaine from the quartet.
“These were nice people in the middle of something that was non-existent,” a law-enforcement source familiar with the case told The Post.
Tavarez and Figueroa were placed on modified duty Wednesday. Anderson has since left the NYPD to join the Nassau County police.
Sources said some of the officers have already started speaking with Internal Affairs. Prosecutors have also begun a review of all their arrests.
“No one should be shocked by this,” said Brad Wolk, a lawyer representing the accused men. “The narcotics investigation system is out of control.”
The probe is the latest black mark on the Organized Crime Control Bureau, which oversees narcotics, vice and auto crimes:
* In January, the OCCB took a hit when Queens detective Wayne Taylor was busted for pimping teen girls, authorities said.
* Also that month, Brooklyn South Narcotics Detective Sean Johnstone and Officer Julio Alvarez were caught allegedly keeping drugs seized during arrests.
* In March, a Queens narcotics detective was suspended after shooting at a parked car holding an unarmed man and woman during a foot chase. Though no one was injured, the incident was an eerie reminder of the shooting of Sean Bell and two of his friends by a Queens vice unit in November 2006.
* A month ago, a Manhattan South narcotics sergeant was suspended after owners of a club raided accused him of stealing from their register. Footage inside the club shows the sergeant going behind a cashier and picking an unidentified item off the ground.