MIAMI -- Eleven Miami police officers schemed to plant guns on unarmed targets of police gunfire and lied under oath to protect each other, a prosecutor charged Monday in closing arguments of their federal conspiracy trial.

Lead prosecutor Allan Kaiser told jurors that the officers had "a premeditated plan that in case of a bad shooting, we get a 'throwdown,"' police slang for a planted gun. "That was the remedy. That was the way of doing business in bad shootings."

Defense attorneys said prosecutors offered conclusions but no proof and misled jurors in crucial areas. They said the case hinged on the testimony of two turncoat officers who made plea deals to protect their pensions and lighten any prison time.

"The government can suggest to you things all day long, but there's no proof of them," said Sam Rabin, attorney for Jose Quintero, one of the officers.

Closing arguments in the 10-week trial continue Tuesday and the case is expected to go to the jury Wednesday.

The officers face up to 10 years in prison and loss of their careers if convicted in the shootings that left three men dead and one wounded. The shootings occurred between 1995 and 1997.

William Matthewman, attorney for Alex Macias, accused prosecutors of trying to railroad his client and set up the defendants as scapegoats for other officers who were involved in the disputed shootings and later won promotions.

Matthewman claimed prosecutors are "taking innocent, simple, innocuous facts and trying to stretch it until the rubber band breaks."

Meanwhile, Macias "puts his life on the line, and this is what he gets," Matthewman said.

Attorney Roy Kahn said the case against his client, Jose Acuna, was "an example of an improper, sneaky, twisted prosecution" where consistent descriptions of shootings by officers are denounced by prosecutors as proof of lies.

"They have to prove it, not conclude it," said Kahn.

Kaiser depicted the officers as a tight-knit group, working together on elite undercover drug, robbery and SWAT teams. None of the defendants testified but gave sworn statements to investigators, at inquests and before grand juries.

Kaiser offered highlights from the testimony of former officers John Mervolion and William Hames, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and cooperated with prosecutors.

"It's like a house of cards, this conspiracy is. If one person discloses what happens, everybody goes down," Kaiser said. "Hames and Mervolion agreed to cooperate with the government and break this code of silence."

Defense attorneys said Mervolion held a grudge against some of the defendants over an obscene office prank and Hames retired after pulling a gun on a bus driver while intoxicated.

"The government rested its entire case on the veracity of those two gentlemen," Kahn said.

About 50 relatives and friends of the officers filled about two-thirds of the courtroom.

The indictment covered:

-- The deaths of two robbers who jumped 20 feet off a highway overpass to get away from police.

-- A 123-round volley that killed a 72-year-old drug suspect as his 14-year-old great-granddaughter crouched feet away.

-- The wounding of a homeless man.

-- Shots fired at a purse-snatcher who escaped injury.

Prosecutors say all of the targets were unarmed. Only one recognizable fingerprint belonging to an officer was found on the five handguns prosecutors say were planted and one of those guns was loaded with the wrong caliber bullet.

In addition, the victims of the two robberies said the thieves in those incidents were not armed. (AP)