The NYPD has launched an official investigation to smoke out the lieutenant who offered Lillo Brancato — the actor who did time for his role in the murder of a cop — his union’s “courtesy” card, which holders have been known to use to get out of jams.
As The Post reported, five officers hobnobbed with Brancato at the premiere of “Back in the Day,” his first feature movie since being released after eight years in prison for a 2005 bungled burglary during which his accomplice, Steven Armento, fatally shot Officer Daniel Enchautegui.
At the premiere, the lieutenant even offered Brancato what’s known as a “get-out-of-jail free card.” Now a Manhattan-based investigation unit is “trying to identify” the officers involved, according to an NYPD source.
We’re told the team is looking for witnesses to the interaction, and even searching for photographs of the cops involved to find out “if any misconduct was committed.”
The insider added that the “department is not happy” about the behavior.
Brancato, who starred in “The Sopranos” and “A Bronx Tale” told us back in May that he had met the lieutenant on the set of a short that he shot after his release in 2014, and that they caught up again at the party at the Monarch Rooftop Lounge in Herald Square on May 17.
Brancato declined the card, but quoted the lieutenant as telling him: “You’re a good guy. Here’s this card in case you ever run into any trouble. I know what you’ve been through in the past.”