0:02

You

0:09

know what, after

0:11

fucking 30 some odd years, you

0:14

would think that you gotta get over

0:16

it.

0:18

But apparently not. I'm not a bad

0:20

guy, man.

0:21

I'm not a bad guy. But, Zach, I mean, the story

0:23

should be told.

0:40

From Odyssey Originals, I'm

0:42

Zach Leavitt, the creator of Root

0:45

of Evil, Gangster Capitalism, and

0:47

Relative Unknown. And

0:49

this is a story about a time that New

0:51

York City would like to forget. Dangerous

0:54

times in New York City. The biggest city in America

0:57

is on the ropes. On the streets of New York, it's

0:59

called crack and the deals go down

1:01

quickly. It was the most violent

1:04

year in the city's history, the

1:06

height of the crack era. There were

1:08

no opportunities. You

1:10

got into the game back then, yo, you had

1:12

no choice. But if you're moving

1:14

coke, you're making money hand over

1:16

foot, baby. Entire

1:19

neighborhoods had been transformed into open-air

1:21

drug markets. But for some

1:23

criminals brazen enough, even the dealers

1:26

became marks. Was it a common

1:28

practice to break into apartments

1:30

which were suspected drug locations? Yes.

1:34

Why would you break into these apartments? For

1:36

money, for drugs, whatever was in there.

1:39

Weren't you afraid of getting caught at doing

1:41

this? No.

1:45

Who's going to catch us? The

1:48

state of police. We Americans

1:50

have an endless fascination with police

1:52

stories. Well, there's a police story being

1:54

told here in New York that is so shocking,

1:57

you couldn't make it up.

1:59

The City Police Department

2:01

was keeping a secret. Instead of

2:03

locking up drug dealers, some

2:05

cops were out on the streets competing

2:07

with

2:07

them. I

2:10

would suit up in my uniform

2:14

and you're going out on fucking

2:16

patrol.

2:17

What are we going to do tonight? Well,

2:20

we're going to rob some drug dealers and

2:23

I know how to do it really

2:25

well. But

2:28

even worse, the NYPD knew

2:30

and allowed it to happen. They saw

2:32

their role as protecting

2:35

the department, not rooting

2:37

out corrupt cops. A

2:39

special commission was formed to investigate

2:42

the police department itself.

2:44

And what it uncovered would shake the city

2:46

to its foundation. It was a banana

2:49

republic precinct operating

2:51

in the city of New York.

2:53

It was unbelievable.

2:56

In New York City tonight, a major scandal for the

2:58

nation's largest police force. This is the inside

3:00

story of the biggest police corruption

3:02

scandal in NYPD history and

3:06

the investigation that uncovered it all.

3:09

We told them that we wanted them to wear

3:11

a wire. They only got them on a few things and

3:13

they get them on every time. And

3:16

he said, okay. All told for the first

3:18

time by the people who lived it. Did

3:21

you consider yourself a rat?

3:23

I saved my soul

3:25

just like everybody else does. I'm

3:28

not a bad guy, man, but I

3:32

can't explain it. I

3:34

loved being that dirty motherfucker.

3:37

Welcome

3:39

to The Set, an Odyssey Originals

3:41

documentary podcast series. Listen

3:43

and follow on the Odyssey app, Apple podcasts,

3:46

or wherever you get your shows. The

3:49

fuck up world or the fuck up the department?