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#Two NYPD cops probed over alleged ties to Oath Keepers

#Two NYPD cops probed over alleged ties to Oath Keepers

The NYPD has launched an internal probe into two cops who are suspected of having ties to a far-right extremist group linked to the US Capitol attack, The Post has learned.

Officer Aniello Napoli, who has 13 years on the job and is assigned to the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, and Sgt. Stuart Wohl, a 19-year veteran in the Firearms and Tactics Section, were allegedly two of the cops named in membership data from the Oath Keepers that leaked online earlier this week, police sources confirmed.

“The incident is under internal review,” said NYPD spokeswoman Sgt. Jessica McRorie.

Both members remain on active duty as the department investigates any possible involvement with the group, which claims to have tens of thousands of active and retired law enforcement in its ranks.

The NYPD patrol guide says cops cannot associate with groups that are tied to criminal behavior.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil-rights nonprofit law firm that tracks hate groups, says the Oath Keepers are part of an anti-government movement “based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy Americans’ liberties.”

The cops’ alleged ties were first reported by Gothamist on Thursday but their names were not published.

Neither is suspected of attending the Jan. 6 riot in DC. FBI investigators have found that members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, another extremist group, plotted to break into the Capitol building that day, but there was no evidence indicating they had serious plans if they made it inside.

The officers could not be reached for comment Friday. Spokesmen for the Police Benevolent Association and the Sergeant Benevolent Association did not return calls.

Rioters clash with authorities before successfully breaching the Capitol building.
Rioters clash with authorities before successfully breaching the Capitol building.
John Minchillo/AP

Mayor Bill de Blasio decried the NYPD cops’ alleged membership after news of the internal investigation broke, saying Friday on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” that: “Anyone who’s claiming allegiance to the Oath Keepers is inherently denying their own oath as a police officer.”

But Hizzoner stopped short of vowing to actively remove anyone in the department with ties to the anti-government group — claiming in two separate media appearances it echoed McCarthyism.

“We’re not going to go through all the ranks of the NYPD looking for what people’s political values are,” de Blasio said on WNYC. “That smacks of McCarthyism to me.”

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