BOSTON (AP) - A former Boston police officer convicted of taking thousands of dollars from men he believed were drug dealers was sentenced to 26 years in federal prison Friday after a prosecutor called him "a criminal who managed to get himself a police badge."

Roberto Pulido, 43, received the exact sentence recommended by prosecutors, who described him as the ringleader of a group of three corrupt officers who were caught in a sting operation.

The men escorted two truckloads of cocaine into Boston in 2006 and were arrested later that year after they went to Miami to collect $35,000 from undercover FBI agents posing as drug dealers.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John McNeil urged U.S. District Judge William Young to give Pulido a stiff sentence to reflect his role as the leader of the drug conspiracy and for other crimes he was not charged with.

During two days of testimony at his trial before Pulido opted to plead guilty, prosecutors played numerous tape recordings in which Pulido could be heard discussing his role in an identity theft ring, the sale of steroids and the guarding of after-hours parties frequented by drug dealers, prostitutes and police officers.

McNeil said the recordings "paint a picture of a man who was so thoroughly corrupt ... that no crime was too small for him, no crime was too big for him."

The two other officers charged in the drug trafficking case - Nelson Carrasquillo and Carlos Pizarro - got 18 years and 13 years, respectively.

Pulido's lawyer, Miriam Conrad, acknowledged that as the leader of the group, Pulido should get a longer sentence, and recommended 20 years. Conrad said Pulido's conduct was fueled by his abuse of steroids.

Pulido apologized to his former colleagues on the police force, his family and friends. He said he achieved his lifelong goal of becoming a Boston police officer, but then disgraced the police department and himself.

"No one is more disappointed than I am in myself," he said.

AP-ES-05-16-08 1647EDT