All language subtitles for We Own This City - S01E05 (2022) WEB.eng

That was Jenkins, though.

[CHUCKLES] He just didn't care
if he saw another sunrise.

Okay, let's shift back over
to you. You--

- you joined the force--
- '05. Started in the Northwest.

And you told us that, um,
you were doing small robberies,

places like Belvedere Towers
back then.

Hmm. Mm-hmm,
that was around '08.

Uh, just leaning
into some people, like I said.

- Not any big stuff.
- If I may, you, uh...

sustained a gunshot wound
in 2006. What was that about?

[SIGHS] I caught a hot one
when some dude tried to rob me

and he got shot.

It's in the reports.

You said that--
I'm sure you got all that.

Actually, we have conflicting
info on that incident.

- MOMODU GONDO: Conflicting?
- Mm-hmm.

One source indicated that
that shooting was, um,

actually drug related.

A retaliation
for some trafficking

you were involved with.

Who told you that? Rayam?

Shoot. It's...

Jemell just trying to shine
the teacher's apple

if he's laying stuff like that
off on me.

I mean,
that ain't even credible.

What-- what is that?

I mean, he's my boy,

but he always had
his own problems.

- JOHN SIERACKI: What kind of problems?
- He likes women, for one.

[SCOFFS, CLICKS TONGUE]

Excuse me, Miss Jensen.

♪ [UPBEAT SONG PLAYING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

MOMODU: This shit goes way back
to when he was in uniform.

♪ Shake that ass, girl
Make that coochie wet ♪

♪ Shake that ass, girl
Make that coochie wet... ♪

MOMODU: Yeah, he was lined up
with the underworld

from the beginning.

Jemell was married but,
you know,

- he had this girlfriend, Crystal Ferguson.
- JEMELL RAYAM: What's up?

♪ My dick gets so hard
You're what I'm looking for ♪

♪ Shake that ass, girl...

MOMODU: She knew all the players
west of MLK.

When they'd be at their cribs,
when they wouldn't.

She'd tell Jemell
when they could be got.

[CHUCKLES] Fucking G-Money
said that shit?

Oh, wow. That's fucking funny.

He-- he's acting
like he's all pure now? Okay.

This fucking guy.

Did Crystal Ferguson provide you
with robbery targets?

[CLICKS TONGUE]

She mighta. I don't recall, exactly.

JOHN: This was when you
and Detective Gondo

were on the Violent Crime
Impact Division together?

JEMELL: Nah,
we went there later on.

And we weren't on VCID together.

Look, we were doing our thing,
for sure. [CHUCKLES]

But, uh, separate.

In 2009, you fatally shot
a citizen, Shawn Cannady,

in an alley off Pimlico Road.

Self-defense.

Uh-uh. Yo, no, not just the one.

No, Jemell shot three people
that year.

Three.

JEMELL: Get out of the car!
Get out of the car, now!

- [GUNSHOT]
- [CAR ALARM BLARES]

- [GLASS BREAKING]
- [DOG BARKING]

Now, Rayam told me he did
the thing. I mean... [CHUCKLES]

...he never denied it.

Made it like the driver
of a Lexus

was using his vehicle
as a weapon,

claimed the Lex
had clipped Giordano.

And Jemell got off on that one.

And Palmere was right there
on the scene, coaching my man.

Palmere,
the deputy commissioner?

Yeah, uh, Colonel back then,
but, yeah.

- [HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING]
- [CHATTER OVER POLICE RADIO]

- [DOGS BARKING]
- [SIRENS WAILING]

JEMELL: Colonel.

[OFFICERS SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

DEAN PALMERE: You felt
that your life was in danger.

Got it?

[OFFICERS SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

The Cannady shooting
was justified.

And you were subsequently
suspended for two years.

JEMELL: Yeah, while they
investigated the theft

in the Gary Brown stop.

You lied to IAD investigators
regarding that one.

- Right.
- Suspended with pay.

I guess you could say
I was in limbo, yeah.

And when you came off suspension
in, uh, 2012?

Yeah, I went
to the Gun Trace Task Force.

What am I paying you 500 dollars
an hour for?

[SCOFFS]

♪ ["WE OWN THIS CITY"
THEME MUSIC PLAYING] ♪

- Back up.
- Back up.

BRANDON SCOTT:
Baltimore is a poster child

for the basic failure
to stop lawlessness.

PROTESTERS: No justice,
no peace!

I've heard your calls
for no justice, no peace.

PROTESTERS: No justice,
no peace!

KEVIN DAVIS: Where
there's smoke, there's fire.

These officers,
they're 1930s-style gangsters.

♪ [THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES]

LEO WISE: Detective Gondo,
you joined the GTTF, 2010.

Two years before Rayam.

MOMODU: He got bounced around
for a couple years.

He was battling an
Internal Affairs investigation.

Before Rayam joined the GTTF,

what was going on
within the squad?

Nothing inappropriate.
Nothing criminal. Not really.

And then after he came back
from his suspension

and rejoined?

I mean, this shit just seemed
to go downhill.

- ERIKA JENSEN: Hmm.
- JOHN: That's all for now.

MOMODU: Mm-hmm.

[MOMODU CLEARS THROAT]

OFFICER:
All right, hands in front.

[SIGHS]

Gondo doesn't have
a problem talking about

- a guy he says was his boy.
- [SCOFFS] Some friend.

Man, it's hard to believe Rayam
has all those shootings,

lies to the investigators,

gets caught
on those lies, and...

and when he comes
off suspension, they reward him

by dropping him in one
of the most elite squads

in the BPD.

Cream rises to the top.

[ERIKA CHUCKLES]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER
OVER POLICE RADIO]

OFFICER: [OVER RADIO] Copy,
turning 11 around.

Fifteen blocks away.
Can I get a...

JONATHAN JONES: No ID?

Nothing on him.

Rigor says he's been there
a while.

I'll start knocking on doors.

♪ [EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]

You all right?

SPEAKER: Just need a moment
of your time.

All right? That's all I need.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

How you doin' today, sir?
Detective Sean Suiter.

You are?

I'm not inclined
to give my name.

Do you live around here?

I stay up on Bond, near Preston.

I was wondering
if you saw or heard

anything related to this,
probably last night.

By any chance,
do you recognize the victim?

Look, let me be straight
with you, Detective,

to save you some time.

I don't talk to police.

I'm Homicide.

BOYD:
It make no difference to me.

Ain't nobody born Homicide.

Were you one of those
jump-out boys?

- I did that for a while, yes.
- [BOYD SCOFFS]

Some of y'all rob people.
Hell, I got robbed my damn self.

Look, nothing personal.

But I've been living
in Baltimore all my life.

I know. I know.

SPEAKER 2: Just a moment.

Something comes to you, uh,
please call.

JONATHAN: Hey, Sean.
These houses are vacant here.

So, what else we got, Charlie?

CHARLIE GIBSON:
What do you want?

I got Fourth Amendment violations,
warrant-less searches--

You know what people are gonna
say out in the suburbs?

Hell, you know what half
the country would say

if they were to read this stuff?

"They might not have
been guilty of something

on the day they got pulled over
or jacked up,

but they damn sure were guilty
of something."

CHARLIE: So?

So I'm saying, in the minds
of Wonder Bread Americans,

these people
aren't really victims.

They deserved it.

- Ahmed's right about the optics.
- Look, we dug up instances

where Baltimore police came down
on people

who weren't drug dealers,

who weren't doing
anything dirty.

These folks had
no previous charges whatsoever

outside of simple
marijuana possession

or traffic violations.
I've got claims that cops

flat-out robbed
straight citizens.

Hold on. Let's see, um, ah,
here it is.

Guy's name is James Otis.
You should talk to him.

He ran afoul of a guy we know
and love.

Our old friend. All right,
I'll go and talk to him.

We have a little time to add

the finishing touches
to the decree.

- [RAIN PATTERING]
- [THUNDER RUMBLING]

JOHN: There's Gondo.

DEREK HINES: Be advised,
the subject has gone to ground.

We'll wait to be sure he's in
for the night, then move.

OFFICER: [OVER RADIO] Copy that.

Okay.

Hey, um, I can do this for you.

You can do this for me?

JOHN: I mean, you know,
in case...

In case what?

JOHN: I'm just saying.
You know, I mean, it's dark,

you're crawling around
in there--

It's dark
and I can't find my way

around the interior
of a Chevrolet?

I guess that didn't sound right.

How did you want it to sound?

[SCOFFS] Like a middle-aged
white guy from 1974.

No, you pretty much nailed that.

- [CHUCKLES] Yeah.
- We are a go.

OFFICER: [OVER RADIO] Copy that.
We see her on the move.

JOHN: Come on, come on, come on.

[PANTS]

Testing. Can you hear me?

- JOHN: Okay.
- DEREK: She's out.

OFFICER: [OVER RADIO]
Copy. We see her.

Picked you up as soon
as you got in. Clear as a bell.

Sound activated. So as soon
as you opened that door,

it kicked in.

Okay, we're set. All clear.

Oh, man. Oh, no.
I think I messed my hair up.

- Oh, Johnny, how's my hair look?
- Okay. Enough. Thank you.

[SIGHS]

No casings anywhere
around the body.

Could be he got done
with a revolver.

- SEAN SUITER: Or the casings got picked up.
- Mm.

Well...

autopsy will tell us tomorrow.

We're not gonna get much help
from the residents.

[EXHALES, CHUCKLES]

Man you spoke to earlier
was rough on you, huh?

Yeah, he's right
about some things.

He had his truth.

I had my path.
I took it to get here.

I like what I'm doing now.

I'm not gonna get all dramatic
about it,

say it's my calling.
But being in Homicide,

doing this kind of work,
it feels right.

But working drugs,
that wasn't my finest hour.

I mean, that shit was pointless, really.

And I saw some things.

That was a long time ago.

You want another? I'm buying.

[CHUCKLES] In that case, let me
get something off the top shelf.

[CHUCKLES]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

- James Otis?
- JAMES OTIS: That's right.

Nicole Steele, DOJ. Thank you.

It's quiet in here.

- We got three kids, so that's unusual.
- [CHUCKLES SOFTLY]

Two of 'em are in school today.

And my wife took
the youngest one out,

so we could talk.

Are you currently employed?

Not currently. I was
a HVAC repairman, you know,

heating and air?
I'll get to that.

So, tell me about the incident.

You mean
when I got pulled over.

I had just grabbed some pizza
for me and my family,

at that Ledo's they got
behind Hopkins.

[POLICE SIREN WAILS]

JAMES: And I was headed home

on a street off of North Avenue,
near Green Mount Cemetery.

It was Hersl and two others.

And this wasn't the first time
I got stopped by Officer Hersl.

He had a thing about my car,
I guess.

Anyway, they said my taillight
was out.

Was it?

Yeah, it was.
I got this classic car,

an Impala SS. I bought on time.
I knew my light was out,

but I was waiting on the bulb
to come in.

Not easy to get parts
on older cars.

Homer Avenue.
Still in Lower Park Heights?

That's a nice neighborhood.

If you're gonna give me
a citation for that taillight,

give me one. I'm trying
to get home to my family.

Oh, you see that?
Assaulting a police officer.

- Cuff his ass.
- Motherfucker.

What'd you say?

Oh, shit. You know what?
That reminds me,

I almost forgot
to search your vehicle.

Man, you got no cause for that.

DANIEL HERSL: Yes, I do.

[INHALES] Ooh!

[SNIFFS] Could it be
that sweet, sickening smell?

You know, the one they told us
about in middle school?

Middle school about as far
as you got, too.

- DANIEL: Yeah, keep talking.
- OFFICER: Sit down, asshole.

Had you been smoking weed?

JAMES: I mean,
everybody got that smell

on them these days.

You catch it just walking
down the street.

Cops use that as an excuse
to toss your car all the time.

NICOLE STEELE:
Okay, what happened next?

Hersl robbed me.

I had just cashed my paycheck
at the M-and-T on Fayette.

Six hundred
and fifty-eight dollars.

OFFICER: All right, come on.
On your feet.

Let's go. Up, up, up.

You take my money, huh?
You take my money, Hersl?

You ain't right, man.
That's some bullshit.

OFFICER: Come on. Shut up,
man, let's go.

JAMES: I was jail side
for two days

before anyone got to me.

- OFFICER: Otis.
- [CELL DOOR BUZZES]

[CELL DOOR SLAMS]

Never even spoke
to a public defender.

A state prosecutor
they had there interviewed me,

and when I told him
what happened,

he had me sign a form
that waived my right

to sue the city
for false arrest,

in exchange
for them throwing out

the charges on the spot.

They knew what they had on me
was bullshit and wouldn't stick.

So it never went to court.
That's a good thing, right?

JAMES: Let me finish.

Come on, man. Give me a break.

- JAMES: On account of the days I was locked up...
- I got a family.

...my calls went unserviced,
and we lost a couple customers.

- BOSS: Sorry, James.
- JAMES: My employer told me he had to let me go.

NICOLE: You had no recourse?

I already signed away my right
to a lawsuit,

I told you that.

But I did file a complaint,
on principle.

NICOLE: Did you get
your money back, at least?

[CHUCKLES] Shit.
Of the 658 dollars he took?

Hersl submitted 50
to Evidence Control.

- NICOLE: He pocketed the rest.
- You surprised?

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

JAMES: He probably
drank my money away.

DANIEL: About to take
all your money.

JAMES: Or had himself
a good old time with it.

PLAYER 1: Let's see
what you got there.

PLAYER 2: God damn! [CHUCKLES]

JAMES: Some shit like that.

PLAYER 3: Come on. I'll spot ya,
I'll spot ya. Come on.

JAMES: It was nothing to him.

DANIEL: Later.

That money meant something
to me. I earned it.

My wife and me,
we got no cushion, for real.

When I cash my paycheck,
every penny goes to my mortgage,

groceries, stuff for my kids.

This set me back.
Bank's about to repo my car.

If I do get a job now,

how am I supposed to get
to work?

Everyone who lives here knows
what time it is.

Police treating all of us
like criminals,

people like me, my family.

[SIGHS]

- [SIGHS]
- [JENSEN SIGHS]

LEO: Detective Rayam,
your partner, Gondo,

says that when you joined GTTF,

things, in his words,
"Began to go downhill."

[CHUCKLES] Yo, Gondo was in
the mix from the start.

All right?
It wasn't me who cultivated

a relationship with Brill.

- You mean Antonio Shropshire.
- Right.

That goes back to when they
were kids,

long before Gondo knew me.

And honestly, neither one of us
supervised the squad.

We just followed the leader.

You're talking
about Wayne Jenkins?

And Allers before him too, shit.

Oh, fuck. You know... [CHUCKLES]
...there-- there was this, um...

one robbery back in, uh, 2014.

Allers got the tip from a CI
he'd been working with.

Out in West Edmondale?

THOMAS ALLERS: That's it. 5454.

One with the white bars
on the door.

JEMELL: Sergeant Allers brought
his son with us on that one.

I reckon it was a "Bring Your
Kid to Work Day."[CHUCKLES]

- Husband and wife team.
- Yes, sir.

George Williams
and Yolanda Paige-Williams.

G, this shit could be big, man.

Yeah, seen his photo.
Bigger than a motherfucker.

[ALL LAUGH]

Are we gonna call
the county boys in on this?

After we see what we got.
Come on, y'all ready to do this?

- MOMODU: Let's go.
- You ready?

- Wake your ass us up, motherfucker.
- THOMAS: Let's get going.

[DOGS BARKING]

THOMAS: All right, son,
you fall back right here.

- THOMAS: Police!
- SPEAKER: What do you want?

Police!

- Stand back. Get down!
- MOMODU: Stand back, motherfucker.

JEMELL: That house was hot.

We cleaned the fuck up.
Boy, shit.

[CHUCKLES]

Hey, don't play with me.

Seventy, 80, 90, 100.
Look at this shit, baby.

That's a hundred grand
right there.

JEMELL: There
was 416,000 dollars
in that bedroom.

- Forty, 50, 60, 70...
- JEMELL: When the county police showed up,

- they found 350.
- You believe this shit?

Shit, stop playing with me.

Detective Ward,
when Wayne Jenkins took over

the supervision of the GTTF
from Sergeant Allers...

what was the biggest change?

Well, I came after Allers,
but from what I heard,

it wasn't like he didn't know
how to steal.

It's just, Jenks, man, he...

[CHUCKLES]
...he was something else.

LEO: Tell us.

Well, you gotta remember,
it was like a new squad.

Me, Taylor, Hendrix, and Jenkins
had just come on.

And later on, Jenkins added
this new kid, Kost-o-please.

- James Kostoplis.
- K-Stop.

Yeah, his people were from one
of them countries over there.

Um...

But Jenkins knew him from
when he was a patrol sergeant

in the Northeast. K-Stop
was in his squad over there.

- ["MIND PLAYING TRICKS ON ME" BY GETO BOYS PLAYING]
- [VOCALIZING]

♪ I make big money
I drive big cars ♪

♪ Everybody know me...

MAURICE WARD:
This kid adored Jenkins.

I mean, he really looked up
to him.

♪ I feel I'm being tailed by
The same sucker's head lights ♪

[LAUGHS]

And also when he came,
Jenkins told us new guys

that Gondo and Rayam
were under federal investigation

for selling drugs.

Were Gondo and Rayam--
Did they seem concerned?

MAURICE: Not really.
I mean, when Jenks came in,

everybody was excited
about the money.

To be honest with you,

nobody really thought too hard
on anything else.

- The money?
- MAURICE: The overtime pay.

With Jenkins, it was like
we had permission

to rob that fund.
The faucet was on, full force.

I don't know Jenkins.
Not like you.

All right, let me tell you
how this boy be.

He'll come in late every day.

So we don't come in
till 10:00 or 11:00.

And depending on how he feel,

we might roll out
on regular time.

- [CHUCKLES]
- That's how he gets down, man.

We got that green light.
Some supervisor told Jenks

the overtime budget
is wide open.

- MOMODU: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- "Work as much as you want."

Bet.

Ain't no thing, man.

You gonna like him,
you gonna like Jenks.

Matter of fact...

last night, Jenkins tells us
to put in slips

for six OT hours.
We ain't even work a full shift.

We bang-- We like this.
Banging that OT, G.

- MOMODU: Hey. Yeah, hit me with that.
- You know what I'm saying?

- He cool.
- MOMODU: I'm with that.

- Yeah.
- Crazy, but he cool.

NICOLE: The summary reads
like butter.

Got it all done.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake
asked for it.

And she'll get her copy
just in time

for her to make her exit.

"The Baltimore Police Department
engages in a practice

or pattern of making
unconstitutional stops,

searches, and arrests."

Here we go. "Disparities
in the rates of stops,

searches, and arrests
of African Americans,"

and, "Driven
by systemic deficiencies

of BPD policies, training,

supervision,
and accountability structures."

This is incendiary shit.

I would hope so.
But it's not a directive.

We still have to get
the consent decree signed.

- AHMED: Right.
- So we drop that on Pugh

as soon as she puts on
the crown.

We're moving pretty fast now.

We gotta get the consent decree
out there

before the new administration
comes in, in January.

Hilary's AG, whoever that is,
should be

a little bit sympathetic
to police reform.

Assuming...

How is your friend,
the police commissioner,

gonna like this?

Hmm.

Have you read this?

I read enough.
We're doing our jobs.

What do people want,
for us to stop policing?

They want us to do it
in a better way,

without the collateral damage.

But how? How do you keep control
of this much violence

without being aggressive?

Doesn't help that shit like this
gets everyone all ginned up.

These popped up
all over the city.

- Idiots misspelled "loiterers."
- Does make a point.

[SIGHS]

Is that all?

JEMELL: Hey, G, what up?
What up?

MOMODU: Look, Jemell, I know
Jenkins do some crazy shit.

JEMELL: You don't gotta tell me.

Old Jenks
is code-motherfucking-red.

MOMODU: All right, but look...
[CHUCKLES]

...this last paycheck I just got
from the city?

Eight thousand dollars.

When I looked at it, I was like,
"Oh, my God, who did this?"

- [CHUCKLES]
- MOMODU: "This is a lie."

Telling you, there's a method
to Jenkins's madness. He...

JEMELL: Yeah.
Yeah, that motherfucker

off the chain, G.
But, look, like I said,

let's go at this shit hard.

Let's enjoy this shit
while we can

'cause all good things
come to an end.

MOMODU: For real.

But, Jenks, man,
he off the fucking chain, yo.

[CHUCKLING] He off
the motherfucking chain, B.

He off the fucking chain, B.

I swear,
that nigga off the chain, G.

[BOTH CHUCKLING]

All this bogus overtime
they're banking,

we'll get every one of 'em
on wire fraud.

Bring in the IRS,
we got tax evasion too.

The old-fashioned way.

Starting to love me
some Wayne Jenkins.

He off the chain, yo.

[CHUCKLES]

I read most of your book,
Mr. Grabler.

And sure enough, you write
about many of the same issues

that we at the DOJ are trying
to address.

Mm, thank you. You know,
there's an old joke

that inside of every old cop
is a book.

And that's exactly
where it should stay.

NICOLE: [CHUCKLES] Well,
you certainly wrote
from experience.

Oh, I did. I did.
I came on in '72.

Uh, walking foot up
in the Northwest, and then, uh,

plainclothes ops,
after that, narcotics.

And I did my longest stint
in Homicide.

After my retirement,
I ended up back here,

- at the Academy, teaching.
- Sounds like a rewarding career.

It was, it was.

I loved being a cop, you know.

I loved it when the job
meant something, when you could

make an arrest
for a street robbery
or a rapist,

or put down a murderer.
There was nothing finer.

Nothing finer.
But people had to talk to you,

and once upon a time, they did.

Well, of course,
not all of them.

There was a street code
for snitching.

But there were always
enough people

on the post that would talk
to you.

That trust is broken.

[CHUCKLES] You can't
get information

out of somebody
while you're beating on 'em,

or you got your hand
in their pocket.

- And then lying about it in court.
- DOUG GRABLER: Yeah.

[SIGHS] You know,
everything changed

when they came up
with that expression,

"The War on Drugs."

What an idiotic fucking thing
to say.

What the hell is a war on drugs?
What does that mean?

Waging a war against citizens

by definition is separating us
into two opposing camps.

The colonizer and the colonized.

DOUG: Ah, Albert Memmi,
very good, yes.

And with a war
comes police militarization.

SWAT teams, tactical squads,
stop-and-frisk, strip searches,

a complete gutting
of the Fourth Amendment.

I mean, it's like we're--
we're fighting terrorists

- on foreign soil.
- Hmm.

DOUG: And you can't just blame
the cops.

We serve the politicians,

who thrive on being tough
on crime.

Zero tolerance.

Zero tolerance,
quality of life arrests.

Having a beer on your own stoop.

Uh, loitering, spitting
on the sidewalk, existing.

Existing.

In 2005, I think it was,
when O'Malley was still mayor,

they made 100,000 arrests,

most of them Black,
most of them poor.

That's almost one arrest

for every six Baltimoreans
in one year.

They jacked up people six,
seven times, maybe 12 times.

And many of those arrests
were illegal,

never made it to court.
But they got their stats.

What do you teach here?

I teach the law

to cadets who are about
to hit the streets.

Fourth, Fifth,
and Sixth Amendments.

A cop can't uphold the law
unless he understands the law.

I teach these young kids
to be good, honest cops.

The rest is up to them.

You've given a lot of thought
to this.

DOUG: Yeah.

I come off as angry sometimes.

Aren't you angry?

[STUDENTS CHATTERING]

[SIGHS]

So, at some point,
Jenkins told you

that you were
under investigation?

JEMELL: We knew.

By that time, we had a sense
y'all was on us.

Wasn't no charade about the fact
Jenkins was in the shit, too.

There was this one night
where we pulled over a suspect,

and followed him to his house.

Took him off for like a pound
of marijuana to sell.

Jenkins told me to off it.

JOHN: Did you?

JEMELL: No, I had Gondo sell it
through his friend, Glen Wells.

Yeah, but you must have had
your own connect

to sell the drugs
that you'd been confiscating.

That was my boy
up in Philadelphia.

LEO: Let's come back to that.

On July 15 of 2016,
you and other GTTF,

uh, detained a Ronald
and Nancy Hamilton.

[CHUCKLES] Oh, shit.
Y'all remember that?

Tha-- Wow,
that's fuckin' impressive.

We have you and Gondo on tape,
discussing it.

Right. Well, yeah,
we got the tip on Hamilton

from a sergeant
in the Southwestern.

We got a warrant from a judge.
I put a tracker on the car.

Had a big old house out
in Carroll County with a pool.

[SCOFFS] Motherfucker
was a monster. Shit.

You had authority
for the tracker?

JEMELL: Hell no.
Did that on my own.

Anyway, after we decided to do,
you know, the thing,

we followed the Hamiltons
to Reisterstown Road.

- JEMELL: Where's your money at?
- Jacked 'em up.

See what you got here.

Is that a cellphone, hmm?
Now, where that money at?

JEMELL: I found a roll of cash
on Hamilton right there.

Put your hands down.
Go over there.

Yo, go over there.

Shit had to be drug money,
so I knew we had the right dude.

Don't talk to her.

LEO: Was Sergeant Jenkins there?

No, he was at the barn.

You see, the plan
was to bring them there,

and then to introduce Jenks
as a US Attorney. [CHUCKLES]

Oh, shit, fucking Jenkins
as a US Attorney.

Oh, no offense
intended there. [CHUCKLES]

WAYNE JENKINS: Sir, I can see
from your file here

that you are a smart individual,
and as a federal prosecutor,

I have been dealing with these
kinda cases for quite a while,

I'm just gonna tell you
in full candor,

Mr. Hamilton, you are looking
at a serious amount of years

unless you start giving us
the right answers.

Now, look, we have you on
three separate controlled buys.

- Now, we--
- Man, get the fuck out of here.

Okay, first off,
I'm not "man," okay?

So, let's just do that again.
I'm a US Attorney, okay?

Whatever.
And I don't sell no drugs.

Man, what are you doing?

You have multiple
federal drug convictions.

You did six years
because of those convictions.

This says that right there.
What do you think you gonna do?

You think you're gonna
outsmart me?

Now, let's try this shit again.

You currently own this home in,
uh, in Westminster, correct?

Do you currently have quantities
of drugs at that home?

- Man, he don't like talking much, huh?
- No.

WAYNE: I'm sorry,
you-- you're hearing
what I'm saying, right?

I'm hearing you
perfectly fucking clear.

Am I not talking loud enough?
What is it?

You want me to be slower?
What is it? Is it pronunciation?

- What do you fuckin' think the deal is?
- Heard you just fine.

Yeah, I heard you good.

Do you currently have quantities
of drugs

at your home in Westminster?

[BLOWS RASPBERRY] Well, shit.

Guess we're just gonna have
to go out there and find out.

JEMELL: Hamilton's house
was nice.

Oh. Boom! Yahtzee.

- Hey, yo! I see money.
- Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.

- Come on.
- 'Bout that shit.

JEMELL: Hersl and Gondo
found money.

- But no drugs.
- Look at that. All right, man.

- MOMODU: Yep!
- Hell, yeah!

JEMELL: He left Hersl
in the room,

which was a mistake.

We were downstairs,

waiting on the State Police
to arrive.

Fifty K?
Where the rest of it at?

Y'all are gonna take my money?

I earned that gambling,
selling cars I get at auctions.

We're seizing this
under forfeiture laws.

You'll have a chance to account
for it later.

- That's some bullshit.
- WAYNE: Appreciate it, fellas.

Y'all get home safe,
all right?

LEO: You left after that?

Jenkins wasn't done. [CHUCKLES]

WAYNE: Man,
this a nice-ass crib, man.

I tell you.

That what you call it?
This your crib, hmm?

God damn.

This was a long-ass drive, man,
so we gonna need something.

[CHUCKLES]

Come on, man.
Where the drugs at, man?

What, you got one
of those safes?

- Ain't no fucking drugs.
- Okay, but you do know people, right?

You know drug dealers.
Where's your plug, man?

I know you know somebody.
Give us a name, baby.

Look, here's the bottom line.

You take care of us,
we gonna take care of you,

'cause here's the crazy part...

One morning, you could wake up
with ten kilos in the backyard.

LEO: You split up
the Hamilton money?

Yeah, later that night at a bar.

When Gondo went back
to the bedroom for the cash,

there was the 50, and then
there was the loose 20,000.

I mean, I had counted more.
You know, Hersl must have taken

a few thousand
when he was up there alone.

Of course,
I lifted the 3,500 off

of Hamilton
when we pulled him over...

What I'm sayin' is,

we weren't just stealing,
all right?

We were stealing
from each other.

Jenkins more than most, though.
At that point in time,

we was all in it for ourselves,
to be honest.

But all this while you knew
we were looking at you.

You knew there was
a federal investigation.

JEMELL: Oh, my God,
Keisha, last night.

Whoo! This girl got
a big old ass.

I call her Bonanza, 'cause she
got them wide open spaces.

[CHUCKLES] What the fuck
is Bonanza?

JEMELL: Like some show
out west, B, I don't know.

My father used to watch
that shit.

Yeah, bet. Look,
women gonna get you in trouble.

The females is just... You know,
who needs an extra complication?

You know the big boys
are looking at us.

"Looking at us"? [CHUCKLES]
They looking at you.

Jenks said that we was
under investigation,

and you in particular.

The way you be flashing money,

you could be
the biggest drug dealer

- in the whole God damn department.
- Fuck you, man.

- JEMELL: Look.
- That's some bullshit.

Look, look, if it is the feds
who are on this,

- the case could go on for years.
- What case?

This ain't no Pablo Escobar.
It's the police.

I'm just saying, you doing a lot
of flashing of shit,

- you know, like, silk...
- MOMODU: You finished, or you done?

...silk robes, and...
You like the king of Zamunda

in Anne Arundel County.

If you're gonna get it,
you gonna spend it.

We-- we in Baltimore.
It's not Houston, all right?

Hey, look here.
When this shit ends, it ends.

Meantime, we keep bangin'.

- JEMELL: Yeah, guess we keep bangin', then.
- [SIGHS]

So, Detective,
what you're saying,

everyone in the squad knew
they were being investigated.

The way Jenks put it,
Ryan Guinn had hipped him

to the fact that y'all
were looking into Gondo
and Rayam.

Like, Guinn thought Jenkins
was clean,

and he was just warning him
about Gondo and Rayam.

Still, into the fall of 2016,

the GTTF continued to operate
as a rogue unit?

Mm-hmm, until Jenkins went
on leave.

And then Jenkins went on leave
in October.

Yeah, maternity. Paternity?

- Uh, his-- his wife had a baby.
- Is Jenkins a family man?

He said. You know,
I mean we all went

to titty bars,
and watched girls dance,

and stuff, so...

He had stayed married
a long time.

He-- he met his girl
in high school.

And they had a crib
out in Middle River

where Wayne grew up.

So, yeah,
he took a couple months off

- when they had their new kid.
- [WAYNE SINGING]

- Singing to him? He loves it.
- Yeah.

He had a better day, huh?

Yeah, we went for a walk
and everything.

- You gonna come next time?
- Yeah.

MAURICE: Jenkins
was a proud father.

But he had his other life, too.

- Baby's down.
- Hey, baby.

[CHUCKLES] I guess
I'll make dinner.

You okay if we just
boil some pasta tonight?

- WAYNE: Baby, you so pretty.
- [CHUCKLES] Yeah, gorgeous.

Make whatever you want as
long as I get to kiss you later.

Mm-hmm. You two,
downstairs in twenty.

- Love you, baby.
- KRISTY JENKINS: Love you.

♪ [SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]

You'll kiss me, won't you?

MAURICE: Jenkins spent time
down in Harbor East

- on his own...
- [CELL PHONE RINGS]

...at those fancy hotels there.

He had money, so why not?

WOMAN: Look at you, baby.

MAURICE: He liked those big
rooms they had upstairs, too.

He had this one chick
on the regular.

[WOMAN MOANS]

MAURICE: Jenkins never really
copped to it directly.

You know what they say,

"If it's eatin',
it ain't cheating."[CHUCKLING]

- He wasn't a family man exactly.
- Oh, fuck!

- More like...
- [GRUNTS]

- Fuck. Come on.
- ...just a man.

Mother-- [MOANS]

What happened
with Officer Kostoplis?

K-Stop. Um, Jenkins
was grooming that boy,

but it didn't go the way
he planned. [LAUGHS]

DANIEL: Quiet tonight.

This cold keeps
the natives indoors.

WAYNE: Yeah, tough to make money
on a night like this.

WAYNE: All right. This is good.

Cut the engine. [GRUNTS]

Hey, K-Stop.

Just go on and leave your phone
in the van, all right?

Don't worry, Danny's not gonna
make out with you, man.

This is good.

JAMES KOSTOPLIS: What's up?

You've been doing
a hell of a job, K-Stop.

- Thank you.
- Yeah, man.

I just... I guess, we wanna...

Yeah, we wanna run a little--
little hypothetical by you.

You know, like, a "What if?"
Right?

- Okay.
- WAYNE: Yeah.

Say we're on an investigation,

following
a big-time drug dealer.

A real fucking monster, right?

We... Yeah, we get wind
on where he's keeping his cash.

And then we actually come upon
that cash.

It's right there in front of us,
and we just...

you know, we take it.

What would you think about that?

I think that's
a terrible fucking idea.

Can't have a badge
on your chest,

do things like that.
We don't do that shit.

♪ [DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

We don't.

[BOTH LAUGH]

Hey, man.

- Exactly the answer we're looking for.
- There you go. Come on.

WAYNE: Good shit, K-Stop.
I like it.

- [DANIEL CHUCKLING]
- Great.

Let's get something to eat.
I wanna go to Matthew's.

WAYNE: You always
wanna go there, man.

DANIEL: Yeah,
'cause it's fucking good.

It wasn't too long after that,

Wayne Jenkins transferred K-Stop
to a new squad.

Jenkins forgot there
was still straight police

on the job.

K-Stop.

AHMED: These are the attendees?

According to the email
we received.

Andre Davis. I know this name,
from the Fourth Circuit.

He's been
a federal appeals court judge

going back to the Clinton years.

Yeah, I hear that Pugh's
gonna make him city solicitor.

Now, my impression is
that he'll be on our side.

- Mm-hmm.
- And the police commissioner, he's gonna be an ally too,

for the most part.

But the two that we have
to look out for

are Tisha Edwards and Jim Smith.
They both have Mayor Pugh's ear.

- We better get over there.
- All right.

I'm ready.

I'm sure you'll understand
with all the hustle and bustle

in my first month in office,

I have to study up
on this cassette decree.

I've read it, of course,

but I wanna confer with
my people about the details.

NICOLE: We do understand,
and we appreciate

your attention to this.

But in light of the outcome
of the presidential election,

and Trump's
impending installation

of Jeff Sessions
as attorney general--

Simply put, Sessions
is not going to support

any consent decree anywhere.

We need to get this done
before Trump is inaugurated

- on January 20th.
- I agree.

Due to
the unforeseen circumstances

of the national election,
time is of the essence.

This is not something to rush.

Of course not, but with my team,
Jason and Ganesha,

I can iron out the finer points

of the decree with Nicole,
Vanita Gupta, and the DOJ.

We do have concerns.

But let me be clear,
Madam Mayor,

I support this initiative.
It's not a cure-all,

but it is a tool for reform.

- Mayor Pugh, may I jump in?
- Please.

I've looked at what
this has cost in other cities.

You're gonna have to hire
monitoring teams.

You're gonna have to purchase
new equipment, new technologies,

body cameras for all officers
on the street.

Are you aware of the expenditure
on those items?

The money has to come
from somewhere,

or rather, it will be taken
from somewhere else.

I'm all for police reform.

But not at the expense
of social programs.

I'm especially concerned
that this decree

could siphon off funds earmarked
for young Black boys

who've been
historically marginalized here.

That's right.
We can't forget about my babies.

No one's suggesting this
is an either-or proposition.

The consent decree is designed
to protect citizens,

including those young men
you're talking about.

But we can't ignore
the expense of it. And, frankly,

a report is not gonna be a cure

for bad leadership
within the department,

present company excepted,
Chief Davis.

I mean,
how many police commissioners

have we had
in the last ten years?

Three, four?

You can't keep throwing money
at a management problem.

These are dollars
that will be better spent

enticing business interest
and development in Baltimore.

We have to do something.

Well, I would not
in good conscience

recommend to our mayor

that we increase
the police budget

to accommodate this decree.

In my opinion, Chief Davis,
you're gonna have

to find the money
within your existing budget.

And that means making
significant cuts

to the department in advance
of the decree being implemented.

LEO: I wanna know
if we're ready.

Well, we can always get more
evidence to shore up our case.

I'd really like to see how far
up the chain this goes.

We're fighting time here.
I'm worried about leaks.

None of the brass know about us.

We've even managed to keep
the commissioner
out of the loop.

Look, the fact is,
we have enough.

We have taped conversations

where the subjects discuss
robberies they committed

resulting in the illegal seizure
of cash and drugs.

We've recorded jail calls

where the inmates
talk about being robbed

of drugs and money
by those same subjects.

That's enough
for a racketeering conspiracy.

Will the victims testify
in court?

Not all of them, no.
Some of them don't trust us,

and, to some, snitching on a cop
is still snitching.

But we've got a couple of people

that I'm pretty certain
will stand up.

- What about wire fraud?
- Rock solid.

We have multiple conversations
on the wire

with massive overtime theft
being discussed.

I've used my departmental access
to pull their time cards.

It wasn't just others
clocking in for 'em.

Uh, Taylor was pulling OT

when he was
in the Dominican Republic.

Jenkins was collecting overtime
when he was on-- on vacation

with his family in Myrtle Beach.

It's time to go.
We're on the indictments.

Uh, you handle the logistics
of the arrests

and keep us apprised,
and we'll tell

the police commissioner
at the last moment.

As for the dog and pony,

the US Attorney will wanna be
at the podium.

JOHN: Rosenstein?

Yeah, he's getting bumped up
in the Trump administration,

and this will be
a nice send-off for him.

- Okay.
- All right.

♪ [FLUTE PLAYING]

[SIGHS] Wow.

- W-- what is that from?
- Debussy's "Prélude."

I feel like I heard that
in an episode of Star Trek.

[CHUCKLES]

You know how to play some,
you know, some other stuff?

ERIKA: Classical, mostly.

Like Jethro Tull?
"Aqualung," I mean,

that's some classical shit
right there, right?

Someday, John,
you're gonna surprise me.

JOHN: Maybe.

You sleep in that shirt?

Uh, I don't think
I slept at all. You?

ERIKA: Not much.
The details kept me up.

So many things can go wrong.

JOHN: Your people are monitoring
the GPS on their phones, right?

ERIKA: Yeah, as of this morning,

they're all
in the Baltimore area.

And they all got their orders
to report to IAD?

They all confirmed
their appointments.

[CELL PHONE BUZZES]

ERIKA: Jensen.

OFFICER: Hey, he's on the move.
Stand by.

Copy that.

- Jenkins just left his house.
- JOHN: Let's go.

WAYNE: Look at you, Steve.

Getting that good
police work in, huh?

- You know, committing suicide by cigarette.
- [CHUCKLES]

- Got a date with IAD?
- WAYNE: Yeah, some nuisance shit.

You know, vehicular.

- What's good?
- MAURICE: What's up, man?

MARCUS: Passed out.

Seven officers
from the plainclothes unit

known as
the Gun Trace Task Force

have been arrested and charged
with racketeering conspiracy

and racketeering-related
charges,

including robbery, extortion,
and overtime fraud.

These officers
have been involved

in a pernicious
conspiracy scheme

that included abuse of power.

[REPORTERS CLAMORING]

Commissioner Davis,
in light of these arrests,

what are your thoughts
on the deeper implications

for the department?

These officers,
I have no sympathy for them.

They are like 1930s gangsters
as far as I'm concerned.

As for the department,
I'll act swiftly and decisively

to address the problem areas.

I'll immediately disband
select plainclothes units

and order those officers
back into uniformed patrol.

This is the absolute,
final dismantling of VCID.

[REPORTERS CLAMORING]

REPORTER: [ON TV]
Officers Gondo, Hendrix, Hersl,

Jenkins, Rayam, Taylor, and Ward

are now in FBI custody
after being arrested

this morning
at the Internal Affairs
Department

on Kirk Avenue.

Officials say that some
of these officers

are named in prior complaints...

- Holy shit.
- ...having been previously accused

of using excessive force
or of other wrongdoing.

- In fact--
- DETECTIVE: Hey, Sean.

You used to work with Jenkins,
didn't you?

REPORTER: [ON TV]
...in settlements

related to the actions
of some of these officers.

DETECTIVE: What was
that guy like?

REPORTER: [ON TV] A long-time
public defender we spoke with

had this to say...

PUBLIC DEFENDER:
...accountability issues

for many years.
We have worked tirelessly

to highlight the issues
on the force,

but much of our efforts
were ignored by the department.

What message does that send
to the criticism--

You all right, man?

SEAN: Yeah, I-- I just gotta
hit the head.

- REPORTER ON TV: ...last year, Commissioner Davis praised...
- This is some fucked up shit.

...the Gun Trace unit
in a departmental newsletter.

Sergeant Wayne Jenkins
was to be seen

as an example
for getting guns--

- [TIRES SCREECHING]
- [CAR CRASHING]

REPORTER ON TV:
The Gun Trace Task Force made

more than 110 gun arrests
in 2016.

Here's Davis responding
at the briefing earlier today.

♪ [DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]

WAYNE: Why don't you do me
a favor, man?

Just go and toss
the car one more time,

you know,
in case we missed something.

MAN: Man, you fucking planted
that shit.

Get off me, man!
Y'all cruddy as hell!

WAYNE: Man, you got it now,
dawg.

That was some serious
police work, man.

REPORTER: [ON TV] ...to describe
this rogue plainclothes unit

of the Baltimore
Police Department.

- SPEAKER: Danny Hersl.
- REPORTER: [ON TV] These brazen officers allegedly...

Our poster boy
got caught up in this.

REPORTER: [ON TV]
...robbing them

of large quantities
of cash and guns.

The defendants are accused
of racketeering.

[CAR HORN HONKING]

AHMED: The way I was raised,
there wasn't any way

I wasn't gonna be a lawyer.

- NICOLE: Oh, I know how that works. [CHUCKLES]
- [CHUCKLES]

Your father was a--
He was a judge, right?

NICOLE: US District Court.

So, I guess it was preordained
that you would go into law.

I have a sibling named James,

and he had no interest
in going to college.

So, someone in our house
was going to law school.

- Ah.
- Fell on me. [CHUCKLES]

AHMED: Got it.

But I-- I made a wrong turn
for a while.

How so?

NICOLE: Well, early on,
I was a Trial Team AUSA in DC,

prosecuting mostly drug cases.

And it got to me.

Day in, day out, in courtrooms,

sending young Black men
to prison.

But, I guess, I needed
to go through that

to make the next step and pivot
to Civil Rights, so...

You grew up in DC?

NICOLE: Uh, outside the city. Bethesda.

- It's, uh, high-income, mostly White.
- Mm-hmm.

You know, not a very
diverse area to say the least.

My parents knew we'd lose

a little something
growing up there,

but they figured the benefits
outweighed the bad,

and they were right.

I have been very fortunate.

And my kid brother...

he got it a lot worse
than I ever did.

He's a tile man.

He does high-end bathrooms.
A real craftsman.

So, you know,
he has his hair braided.

He wears workman's clothes,
jeans, hoodies.

When he was in his teens,

he'd be standing
outside our house,

and this happened more
than once,

the Montgomery County Police
would stop and ask him,

"What are you doing here?"

He'd point back at the house
that we grew up in,

and he'd say, "I live here."

They couldn't see
a Bethesda kid.

When they looked at James,
all they could see was a nigger.

Yeah.

- Yeah, I get that.
- One time, he was coming home from work,

driving down our street,

and a couple cop cars
followed him into our driveway.

When James got out of the car,

I don't know,
maybe he got out too fast,

but they cuffed him.

Said that he made
a threatening move.

And on the report, to justify
the stop, they lied.

They said that he was speeding
down our street.

All he was saying was,
"Why are you doing me like this?

I just worked a 12-hour day,
and all I was doing

was driving to my house."

I came outside,
and so did my father.

And there was a Black cop,
and he wouldn't answer

any of our questions.
And the other cop,

the one who cuffed him,
the White dude...

he threatened my dad.

And it was all for nothing.

None of the cops
showed up in court.

The damage was done.

AHMED: Where's your brother now?

After that last incident,
he moved to Atlanta.

I don't hate the police,
but it's fair to say

that my brother has no love
for them at all,

and never will.

I don't know if what we're doing
is gonna change a thing, Ahmed,

but shit...

You ready for another?

I'm gonna go home.
We have work to do.

- [TIRES SCREECHING]
- [THUNDER RUMBLING]

- [RAIN PATTERING]
- [WIND BLOWING]

♪ ["WE OWN THIS CITY"
THEME MUSIC PLAYING] ♪

♪ [THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES]