Vile AI-doctored photos \u2014 including one depicting a cop in a KKK hood and another showing a man with a rifle standing over a gorilla \u2014 were among\u00a0images\u00a0allegedly passed around a specialized NYPD unit\u2019s chat group, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n
The chat group used by the Major Case Squad was titled \u201cMajor case \u2013 team building,\u201d with the offensive images showing up in 2025 and 2026, according to a Manhattan Supreme Court discrimination lawsuit.<\/p>\n
Veteran NYPD Det. Luis Pichardo, who was part of the Manhattan North Narcotics Bureau, sued the city and department bosses after allegedly being passed over for a spot on the new squad.<\/p>\n
Now-retired Det. Luis Pichardo, a 19-year NYPD veteran, filed a discrimination lawsuit that\u2019s been fueled by racist posts in an internal group chat. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n
Pichardo, who is Hispanic, later learned of the racist imagery \u2014 and said it shows he was at a disadvantage from the start.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese images reveal deliberate, open, celebratory racism shared among the officers who populated the very unit from which [Pichardo]was excluded,\u201d according to the suit. \u201cThat this imagery was circulated casually among NYPD detectives in 2025 reveals a workplace where anti-black and anti-minority sentiment was not merely present but normalized.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
The NYPD said its Internal Affairs Bureau was investigating the posts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NYPD has zero tolerance for hate and discrimination of any kind,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cThese allegations are deeply disturbing and are under internal investigation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the snaps included a photo showing an officer at the Harlem unit sitting in a desk chair, wearing a white Ku\u00a0Klux Klan-style hood superimposed over the cop\u2019s head, Pichardo said in court papers.<\/p>\n
The other, posted in February, showed a black colleague\u2019s face superimposed onto a gun-wielding man who lifts the head of an ape that appears to be his prisoner. The photo includes the address 100 Centre Street, which is the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where cops take prisoners.<\/p>\n
Some in the chat group responded with \u201claughing emojis and affirmative commentary,\u201d Pichardo said in the legal filing.<\/p>\n
When one of the photos was posted on X Friday, a member of the chat group asked, \u201cWhy can\u2019t there be 1-hour disappearing message?\u201d\u00a0he alleged in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
Pichardo, 41, was allegedly passed over for a position in the Major Case Squad despite having 1,000 arrests under his belt and 19 years on the job, he claimed.<\/p>\n
In one offensive photo, a man with a rifle holds up the head of an ape under the address 100 Centre Street, which is the address of Manhattan Criminal Court. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n
An A.I. doctored image shows a detective sitting at his desk with a KKK hood over his head and comments that other unit members posted in the internal chat. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n
His superiors said the detective was \u201ctoo old\u201d and claimed they \u201cspoke a lot of English in the unit,\u201d according to the suit filed by lawyer John Scola.<\/p>\n
Pichardo,\u00a0who\u00a0came from the Dominican Republic when he was 12\u00a0and grew\u00a0up in the Bronx, joined the NYPD in 2005 and worked in several specialized NYPD units, including anti-crime, frequently testifying in court cases in English, he said in court papers. <\/p>\n
He decided to apply to the new squad, previously known as the Gang Unit, in 2025 with his partner, who is also Hispanic, and was interviewed by a panel of five white men, he said.<\/p>\n
But the pair were told the unit could only take one of them and Pichardo stepped aside for his younger partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Major Case Unit was filled based on merit, then [Pichardo] would have been selected,\u201d according to the suit.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody at the NYPD knows the Trinitarios like I do,\u201d Pichardo told The Post, referring to a gang active in the city.<\/p>\n
Pichardo was forced to retire after he complained about being passed over for a position on a new specialized unit last year. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n
Four white detectives allegedly with no experience in narcotics made the team, including Richard Shea, the son of former NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea, Pichardo claimed in the legal filing.<\/p>\n
Pichardo\u2019s discrimination complaints to his bosses were not reported to the NYPD\u2019s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity until he told a Hispanic boss, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
One of the bosses named in court papers, Inspector Christopher Vacarro,\u00a0\u201cwas visibly angry\u201d after learning of the complaint and allegedly \u201cwas seen throwing and breaking things in his office,\u201d according to the court papers.<\/p>\n
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Members of the Narcotics Bureau stopped talking to\u00a0Pichardo\u00a0and his overtime was cut \u2014 forcing him to retire in July 2025 to avoid a reduction in his pension, he alleged in the legal fiing.<\/p>\n
The chat included numerous offensive posts. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn December 2025, a Nazi Swastika was posted in the Major Case squad group chat,\u201d according to the lawsuit, which did not include a photo of that post.\u00a0\u201cMembers of the group chat laughed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet another member posted a YouTube video Jan. 6 titled \u201cI exposed New Jersey\u2019s Jewish Invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n
The post prompted a chat member to respond, \u201cAnd we\u2019re worried about Karens and snowballs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The police officers in the unit work in an NYPD facility in Harlem. Robert Miller<\/p>\n
When police officers are \u201ccirculating Klan hood images\u201d and \u201cmocking minorities\u201d it \u201ctaints every arrest,\u201d Scola said. <\/p>\n
\u201cPichardo\u2019s career was destroyed because of his race, but his bravery gives others a chance to speak up,\u201d the attorney said.<\/p>\n
Pichardo, who is seeking unspecified damages, filed the suit in hopes that in the future officers would be judged by their work, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to be based on your color,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be based on your experience. That\u2019s why I\u2019m doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vile AI-doctored photos \u2014 including one depicting a cop in a KKK hood and another showing a man…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[469,57,42585,9,11,10,103,3863,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-194060","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-harlem","9":"tag-metro","10":"tag-narcos","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-nypd","15":"tag-racism","16":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}