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GREENSBORO - The former deputy police chief wanted to rid his boss of a troublesome neighbor, even if it involved trumped-up charges against the woman, according to a tape released Tuesday.

The conversation between former police Chief David Wray's right-hand man and a detective came amid more than two hours of audio the City Council voted to release, seeking to show that Wray was aware of the alleged misdeeds that led to his resignation last year.

In an unusual session attended by several dozen police officers, City Manager Mitchell Johnson played recordings he said showed that Wray's deputy chief, Randall Brady, abused his police powers and misled investigators about a controversial "black book" photo lineup.

"Some in this community have tried to paint the problems in the police department as white versus black," Johnson told the council. "In truth, it is my belief that the problem was simply one of right versus wrong."

It was the covert tactics themselves of Wray's Special Intelligence squad that provided some of the most revealing conversations, transcripts of which were flashed on a large monitor above the audience.

Perhaps most dramatic was a conversation Special Intelligence Detective Scott Sanders recorded about Wray's problems with a neighbor whom Brady described as a "nut." Brady, apparently unaware that Sanders was recording him, told the detective, "You and I are going to figure out a way to get her kicked out of that freaking place."

Brady, who directly supervised Special Intelligence - known among the ranks as "the secret police" - told Sanders to handle the problem neighbor on Banking Street:

"Even if we have to do something to make it look like she's done something."

In voting to release what was considered confidential personnel material, several council members specifically cited that seven-minute recording. But Seth Cohen, a lawyer for Brady, said Tuesday that the recordings were "selective disclosures" that had been "taken out of context."

Wray's lawyer, Locke Clifford, said the condo neighbor was "disturbed" and had been "stalking" Wray. He added that Wray did not participate in any plan to force the woman to move.

"He (Wray) views it as an unfortunate, misguided display of loyalty," Clifford said Tuesday night. "He would say that Brady wasn't serious when he said that."

It is unclear from the audio transcripts provided by the city whether the chief was aware of Brady's directive.

In one section, for example, Brady asked Sanders, "You know what I'm going for here?"

Sanders: "Oh yeah. What's the address - of hers?"

Brady: "Well let me go ask him what his address is."

Later in the conversation, Brady tried to distance Wray from the matter: "Now the catch to this is, when you go talk to people, the chief has nothing to do with this."

Sanders: "Got ya."

Brady: "The chief has no idea what I'm doing."

Sanders: "OK ."

Brady: "If this backfires, it backfires on me."

Sanders: "OK ."

Brady: "He's totally out if it."

Sanders: "Got ya."

Although city officials learned only recently of the incident with Wray's neighbor, the issue that directly cost Wray and Brady their careers came into sharper focus Tuesday night. In interview transcripts, Brady, speaking to a consultant hired by the city, said he directed that a photo lineup be created after a woman complained of being assaulted by a black officer.

But Brady's interviewers told him that many among the ranks believed a "black book" of African American officers was being used to induce petty criminals to randomly incriminate black officers in exchange for favorable treatment.

As Michael Longmire of Risk Management Associates described it, the belief was "every prostitute, every junkie, just about anybody in Greensboro or Guilford County or surrounding counties that might have information about the inappropriate activities of a black Greensboro police officer has been shown some kind of a book or lineup or something."

Johnson reminded the council Tuesday night that he had asked Wray to investigate rumors of a book or "anything that might have been misconstrued as a black book."

"He assured me that although he had also heard rumors of a such a black book, he had never seen it or talked to anyone who had," Johnson said.

Johnson then played a recording in which Brady admitted to RMA investigators that the book did, in fact, exist. He told investigators that when he discovered the book that summer he showed it to Wray.

Longmire asked, "Was there ever any discussion between you and Chief Wray or others after the book was found, what to do now about the book and about the allegation that there was this black book?"

Brady answered, "He told me to secure it and be sure that I held onto it."

It would be during that interview that RMA investigators asked Brady to retrieve the book from the trunk of his police vehicle. Within days Brady filed his retirement papers.

Reasoning that Brady may have been fired, the city tried to withhold his full retirement benefits. A federal judge ruled in Brady's favor this month.

Although Johnson and the council had pledged not to make any information public that could impede the still-open SBI investigation of the Wray administration, city leaders have long cited their weariness of a public relations battle with the weekly Rhinoceros Times. Its ongoing series has told Wray's version of events leading up to his resignation.

Among those at the council meeting, which was broadcast live, were interim police Chief Tim Bellamy and Lt. Brian James, who was Wray's former executive officer and a one-time target of Special Intelligence.

Field Sgt. William Graves, one of the lower-ranking officers who sat through Johnson's presentation, was asked if the taped conversations were "bothersome," as Johnson had characterized them.

Answered Graves, "It was bothersome to everybody."

Brady's lawyer was bothered for different reasons, calling the release of confidential information "a last-ditch, desperate attempt" by the city in a case it has lost.

"The citizens of Greensboro should be ashamed and embarrassed by the actions of their leaders, " Cohen said.

Staff writers Nate DeGraff and Margaret Moffett Banks contributed to this report.