Ticket-Fixing Defendant, Jose Ramos, Accused of Murder Plot A New York City officer accused in a broad investigation of ticket-fixing conspired with his wife to use money from his police pension to try to have one of the main witnesses against him murdered, prosecutors in the Bronx charged in an indictment unsealed on Thursday. Pool photograph by Norman Y. Lono Jose Ramos, accused in a ticket-fixing investigation, was charged with plotting to murder a prosecution witness in the case. The officer, Jose Ramos, 43, and his wife, Wanda Abreu, 39, were led into a courtroom in handcuffs for their arraignment on Thursday afternoon. Both pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges. "The two defendants have conspired to murder a witness," a prosecutor, Omer Wiczyk, told Acting Justice Steven Barrett of State Supreme Court. They were willing to pay a fee, but it was critical to them not to be involved. It was the latest and most serious accusation in an investigation that has unsettled police precincts in the Bronx. In October, 16 officers were indicted - 11 on charges related to ticket-fixing - as a result of a lengthy inquiry. The inquiry began in late 2008 with an anonymous complaint against Mr. Ramos and eventually led to more than two dozen wiretaps, many of them on the cellphones of police union delegates and trustees, several officials have said. When charges against the officers were announced in October, Mr. Ramos was accused of two dozen crimes, including attempted robbery, attempted grand larceny, transporting what he thought was heroin for drug dealers and revealing the identity of a confidential informant. Prosecutors said investigators had recorded phone calls between Mr. Ramos and his wife. The two used codes for people and places, prosecutors said, including five different aliases for one person. But the two used some language that was clear and unambiguous, Mr. Wiczyk said during the couple's 20-minute arraignment. For instance, he said, when the defendants were discussing a prosecution witness who they believed was crucial, Mr. Ramos told his wife: "Without him there is no case. They need him. Mr. Wiczyk said the two concocted a scheme to hire somebody to get rid of the witness and thus derail the case against Mr. Ramos. Ms. Abreu withdrew money from Mr. Ramos's Police Department pension and agreed to give a down payment to a man who would see to it that the witness was killed, Mr. Wiczyk said. In a recorded phone call, prosecutors said, Mr. Ramos gave his wife final approval for the scheme, saying: "Go ahead, do it, but do it right away." Ms. Ramos met in her home with the man she was to give the money to, but just before she was about to hand it over she balked, prosecutors said, realizing that she was under surveillance. Mr. Wiczyk said Mr. Ramos had made repeated applications for a reduced bail, partly to try to establish an alibi for the murder by traveling to Texas at the time it was to be carried out. In addition, Mr. Wiczyk said, Mr. Ramos and Ms. Abreu had discussed trying to get another witness against him to lie. "He has sold his soul," Mr. Wiczyk said of Mr. Ramos. And the prosecutor said that when Ms. Abreu first heard about the murder-for-hire scheme, "her only real question was how much it will cost." Justice Barrett ordered that Ms. Abreu be held in $500,000 bail. Mr. Ramos was already in custody. As she left the courtroom, Mr. Ramos's lawyer, Dawn Florio, told reporters: "We're very shocked. My client denies all these charges and we're going to fight them.