Three police officers are in prison after robbing and framing drug suspects in East Cleveland, Ohio, but authorities are still unwinding the damage this rogue street-crimes unit brought, NBC News reported.

They were busted after raiding the home of a Cleveland drug dealer and saying in a search warrant that an informant had recently bought crack cocaine there. But the man had surveillance cameras that proved the officers were lying, which the FBI used to uncover a scandal that has led to 22 drug cases being dismissed — so far.

"I always took it on the chin when I got arrested for something I know I did. But when a cop lies to get you in prison, that's a different story," said Kenneth Blackshaw, one of the people who had a conviction overturned.

The Cleveland-area victims are among thousands of people cleared in group exonerations involving police graft in the last three decades nationwide, from California to Texas to New Jersey.

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