A man convicted in the notorious killing of a rookie New York City police officer at the height of the city’s crack cocaine epidemic decades ago has been denied parole, state corrections officials confirmed Sunday.
Todd Scott had been serving 25 years to life for his role in the shooting death of Officer Edward Byrne in Queens. Byrnes was killed in 1988 as he sat in his police cruiser guarding the home of a witness in a drug case.
Police said Scott was part of a crew of four men paid $8,000 to kill the 22-year-old officer, who was just weeks on the job, in retaliation for the arrest of drug dealer Howard “Pappy” Mason.
The NYPD said Scott walked up to the passenger side window of Byrne’s car and distracted the officer while another man shot him five times in the early morning hours of Feb. 26, 1988. Police mark the moment each year with a s olemn ceremony at the intersection where Byrne died.