A furious mob of cops swarmed a Bronx courthouse yesterday in a massive show of support for their 16 embattled brothers in blue as the district attorney finally dropped the hammer on the sweeping ticket-fixing scandal.

The indicted 16 cops and five civilians all pleaded not guilty to a slew of charges that ranged from making tickets disappear to burying felonies.

As the drama played out inside the packed courtroom, hundreds of officers outside rationalized the cops’ alleged criminal behavior — chanting and holding signs that read, “It’s a courtesy not a crime!”

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One sign quoted Mayor Bloomberg as saying, “It’s been going on since the days of the Egyptians.”

In unsealing a sweeping indictment, DA Robert Johnson laid out the sordid charges stemming from the widespread three-year investigation. In the case:

* Prosecutors filed nearly 1,600 criminal charges stemming from nearly 300 ticket-fixing cases.

* The indictments accuse cops of a barrage of felonies, including forgery, conspiracy, tampering with public records and official misconduct.

* The Internal Affairs Bureau probe snared two sergeants and a lieutenant, as well as 10 union officials accused of essentially serving as ticket-fixing liaisons.

* The cops cost the city between $1 million and $2 million in potential revenue from paid tickets.

Despite the damning evidence mounted against the cops, the protesting officers outside — led by union officials — lashed out at the NYPD for starting the probe and blasted Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Bloomberg as “hypocrites.”

Noting that fixing tickets has been “accepted at all lengths for decades,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said the nearly 500 protesting cops showed up because “the fact that a courtesy has now turned into a crime [is] wrong.”

Kelly was quick to fire back, saying: “Those who try to rationalize [these crimes] are kidding themselves. These misdeeds tarnish the good name of police officers.”

Prosecutors said the systemic practice of making tickets go away was carried out in several ways.

Officers would either physically remove tickets from the precinct station house after they’d been written or doctor them so the tickets would be dismissed.

In other cases, the cops would call officers who had written the summonses and tell them to lie under oath so that the cases would be dismissed, Johnson said.

The first cop arraigned yesterday was José Ramos, the 19-year veteran who sparked the entire probe because of his reputed ties to Bronx drug dealer Lee King.

That investigation was winding down when Ramos was caught on a wiretap talking about fixing a ticket, sparking the bigger probe.

Ramos, who had been under police surveillance since 2008, pleaded not guilty and was held on $500,000 cash bail.

The charges against him include attempted robbery, attempted grand larceny and attempted heroin possession.

During his arraignment, Bronx prosecutor Omer Wiczyk noted that Ramos once boasted that “he could carry a dead body in the back of his car and get away with it because he was a cop.”

In one instance, Wiczyk said, Ramos concocted a scheme to sell stolen electronics with a cohort. When the buyer handed over $30,000 for the goods, Ramos drove up in his police car, and his associate ran off with the money.

Unbeknownst to Ramos, the buyer was an undercover cop.

Another time, the prosecutor said, Ramos offered to use his squad car to help a drug trafficker move a large stash of heroin out of Manhattan.

“He sold his shield,” Wiczyk said. “He violated his oath.”

“They were serious offenses [and police] followed the wrongdoing wherever it went.”

Ramos was arrested Thursday night as he left a parent-teacher conference for his stepdaughter.

His wife, Wanda Abreu, was also arrested on a related fraud charge.

Their lawyer, John Sandleitner, said his clients deny the charges.

Among the highest-ranking officers caught in the probe was Lt. Jennara Everleth-Cobb, a former NYPD spokeswoman who now works in the Internal Affairs Bureau.

She was charged with several misdemeanor counts, disclosing wiretap information, obstructing governmental administration and official misconduct.

“The allegations here, to me, are among the worst,” Johnson said.

Her lawyer said that blaming Everleth-Cobb for the leaks was “laughable” and that leaks were prevalent in IAB.

Also pleading not guilty were Sgt. Mark Manera — charged with falsifying business records after he and two other cops allegedly tried to cover up an assault for a friend — and Sgt. Jacob Solorzano.

Ramos was Solorzano’s NYPD driver and unwittingly got caught up in one of Ramos’ robbery schemes.

“He told [Solorzano] they were just messing with someone,’’ his lawyer, John Patten, said outside court.

Prosecutors noted that Solorzano was not aware of Ramos’ criminal activity, but going along for the ride earned him two counts of official misconduct.

Three top Bronx PBA union trustees, Joseph Anthony, Michael Hernandez and Brian McGuckin, were charged.

Anthony was charged with 100 counts, Hernandez was hit with 125 and McGuckin was slapped with nearly 200 counts, including forgery, conspiracy and official misconduct.

The others charged included Virgilio Bencosme, Jason Cenizal, Christopher Manzi, Eugene P. O’Reilly, Jaime Payan, Ruben Peralta, Jeffrey L. Regan, Luis R. Rodriguez and Christopher Scott.