American Notes Crime

At first it sounded more like a high school prank than a sophisticated criminal enterprise. From 1976 to 1984, according to federal prosecutors, Massachusetts Police Officers Thomas Doherty and Gerald Clemente periodically filched police entrance and promotional examinations to raise the scores of people they favored while lowering the marks of their enemies.

The two were apparently motivated by more than mischievousness. Authorities alleged last week that the test scam was designed to place certain officers in positions in which they could help cover up a racketeering operation that included drug dealing, robbery and involvement with organized-crime figures. Last week a federal grand jury indicted Doherty, Clemente and eight other current or former Massachusetts lawmen who were allegedly in on the scam.