While working in Brooklyn's 77th Precinct, Anthony Trotman joined a violent robbery crew that he outfitted with NYPD raid jackets and radios so they could rob drug dealers, he said in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Early in his NYPD career, Trotman said, his crimes were petty: stealing from the dead and even once from the pocketbook of an elderly lady who was lost.

But in 1997 and 1998, "That's when all these disgusting things came to pass," Trotman said.

Trotman, 37, was testifying at the trial of crew member Kingsley Bernard, who is charged with numerous heists and the murder of a Brooklyn drug dealer during a botched robbery.

Wearing a gray sweatsuit, Trotman wiped tears as he described the crimes he pleaded guilty to, including armed robbery and conspiring to kill a fellow cop. He faces up to 70 years in prison when sentenced.

Trotman teamed up with Bernard in the January 1998 kidnapping of a drug dealer in the Bronx. After ramming the dealer's sedan on the street, Trotman and the leader of the crew, Vere (Joker) Padmore, jumped out of their van wearing NYPD raid jackets. The victim was forced into the van and pistol-whipped, Trotman said.

"I remember the drug dealer said, 'You guys look like cops, but you're not,'" Trotman said.

The drug dealer was taken to a basement apartment in Brooklyn and held for $20,000 ransom. Trotman admitted kicking the bound man several times, but said he was not present when the victim was tortured with a hot iron.

"I heard him yell," Trotman said, adding that he got $4,000 for his role.