Rikers is the island of misfit ploys

Rikers is the island of misfit ploys

Richard Harbus for New York Daily News

Jose Ramos, the rogue cop at the center of the Bronx ticket-fixing scandal and currently being held at Rikers Island, was behind a bizarre plot involving two other inmates and a planted razor blade, prison officials said.

Life behind bars can get awfully complicated: You really cant trust anyone.

Just ask Ronald DeShields, who was at Rikers Island awaiting trial for stealing police guns.

He recently spent 45 days in solitary confinement as punishment for keeping an illegal razor blade in his cell.

Turns out, the we apon was planted there by an accused terrorist working for Jose Ramos, the rogue cop at the center of the Bronx ticket-fixing scandal, sources told the Daily News.

The unlikely trio was housed in a special wing at Rikers while awaiting their respective court trials.

The bizarre plot began to unfold Feb. 16, when guards got a tip from Ramos, the NYPD officer whose suspected ties to a drug dealer sparked the ticket-fixing scandal.

As a result of the tip, they found a razor in the cell of DeShields, who is accused of posing as a retired fire marshal to steal two guns from a Queens police precinct.

DeShields protested that it wasnt his and that he cant even use a blade because of a skin condition.

But he went to solitary.

When officials checked the blade for prints, sources said they found two belonging to Algerian inmate Ahmed Ferhani, who is charged with plotting to dress up as a Hasidic Jew to kill synagogue worshippers.

Ferhani confessed to planting the blade, sources said. But he said he did it because Ramos paid him $ 150 to set up DeShields.

Investigators determined that Ramos was jealous of DeShields, sources said. The jailed cop believed DeShields, the son of a retired correction officer, had traded on his family ties to get extra food and permission to cut hair in the prison barber shop, sources said.

Supporting the story, authorities learned that a Ramos relative deposited $ 150 into Ferhanis commissary account, sources said.

Thats not enough to charge him, one source said. Other than that, we only have Ferhanis accusation.

DeShields lawyer, Jeff Chabrowe, said his client knew immediately who set him up.

Right away, he told them Ferhani did it, Chabrowe said. My client said he and Ramos were friends.

Ramos denies any wrongdoing and hasnt even been questioned by investigators, said his lawyer, Dawn Florio.

Ferhanis lawyer didn t respond to requests for comment.

DeShields dad, Ronald Sr., said his son lives his life by the book and that the family never uses his former position for perks.

Its absolutely something we dont do, the dad said. My son knows that.

DeShields has since been transferred to the Manhattan Detention Center.

Ferhani may face contraband charges.

With Reuven Blau

rparascandola@nydailynews.com