Five NYPD cops, five former law enforcement officers and two civilians were rounded up Tuesday on charges they were part of a smuggling ring that trafficked in guns, slot machines and cigarettes.

The active-duty officers -- along with three retired NYPD cops, a New Jersey state correction officer and a retired city sanitation cop -- were arrested by federal agents and New York Police Department investigators in a sting operation.

"If the charges against the police officers arrested this morning prove true, it would be a disgraceful and deplorable betrayal of the public trust," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.

According to a four-count criminal complaint, the defendants were part of a smuggling conspiracy that began in 2009. While they thought they were moving stolen property and real weapons, the items actually were provided by the FBI, which disabled the guns.

A lead defendant was officer William Masso, 47, a Brooklyn resident and 18-year veteran of the force assigned to the 68th Precinct in Brooklyn. Other active-duty cops arrested were Eddie Goris, 31, and Ali Oklu, 35, both of Queens; Gary Ortiz, 27, of Brooklyn and John Maloney, 26, of Staten Island.

Masso was the apparent kingpin of the ring, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told a news conference. He allegedly promised an undercover officer that he could put together a "good army" of cops to help move guns, stolen merchandise and cigarettes for a price.

"It is a heartbreaking thing," Bharara said of the arrests of the cops, a sentiment echoed by a grim-faced NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, who almost sneered with disdain over Masso's alleged transport of guns, including M-16s.

"He had no way of knowing that the guns to be transported had been rendered inoperable. For all he knew, they were fully capable of being fired at another human being. What is outlined in the complaint was a betrayal of his oath of the highest order. And for what? Six thousand dollars," said Kelly.

The arrests come at a time when Kelly's NYPD has been buffeted by bad publicity. A ticket-fixing grand jury probe in the Bronx is said to be focusing on more than a dozen officers, and last week an NYPD deputy inspector was disciplined for improperly pepper-spraying Occupy Wall Street protesters.

"I think sometimes when things go well for so many years for an organization, a lot of individuals in there forget what can go wrong," said author and former police commander Tom Reppetto. "They don't remember past scandals where cops went to jail."

Masso was disciplined by the NYPD in 1998 after he wrote a letter for a second cousin, Alfonso Malangone, a reputed Genovese crime family captain, who was being sentenced on a state coercion charge, said a senior law enforcement official who didn't want to be named.

Malangone, now out of prison, said he was stunned by Masso's arrest. "He is a police officer, he should know better," Malangone said in an interview.

None of the other arrested officers had disciplinary problems as cops, the official said.

All the cops arrested were suspended, while four other officers who had discussions with Masso were on modified assignment pending an internal affairs investigation, said Kelly.

Late Tuesday the defendants were released on $100,000 personal bonds. Masso also was ordered under home detention with electronic monitoring.