3/15/18. A decent documentary about the dirtiest cop on the NYPD. As Dowd says in the end, he didn't start out wanting to be a bad cop. Who starts out that way? With easy money on one side and temptation on the other side one can see how easy greed can grease those wheels that will just slide right through that tunnel to hell. Worth catching.

File this one under amazing, but true: Coming across like the most extremely lurid and outrageous kind of crime fiction, this sordidly fascinating documentary relates the extraordinary tale of fearless, amoral, and unrepentant cop Michael Dowd, who organized a band of fellow dirty cops who ran happily amok in the downtrodden 7th precinct located in Brooklyn in the bad ol' days of the 1980's at the height of dismal poverty and the toxic crack epidemic. Director Tiller Russell's unflinching pull-no-punches approach to the seamy subject matter vividly captures the greed, danger, and lawlessness of the period as Dowd and his loyal, yet reluctant partner Ken Eurell live the high life on their ill-gotten gains after forming an unholy allegiance with ruthless, but magnetic drug kingpin Adam Diaz. Eventually Eurell ratted Dowd out in order to avoid doing any jail time, but in a true travesty of justice Dowd wound up serving a mere twelve year sentence in prison. It's the smugness that Dowd, Eurell, Diaz, and fellow crooked police officers Chickie and Walter Yurkiv display about their heinous misdeeds which in turn gives this documentary an extra devastating impact: Obviously more concerned about making a bundle of cash through any means necessary and strictly looking out for their own slimy hides (that old code about cops watching out for each other's backs apparently only goes so far after things take a turn for the worse),these guys are truly nasty pieces of rotten work. Surprisingly, this documentary proves to be wickedly funny in spots, especially when Down starts driving around in a flashy Corvette that he clearly could never afford on an honest cop's pay and the end with Eurell claiming he betrayed Dowd in order to prevent a woman from being kidnapped. A total powerhouse.

Michael Dowd took the oath to uphold the law and protect the citizens of New York. He was assigned to precinct seven five and, at the time, it was the toughest the city had to offer. He soon found that his small pay check was far from adequate recompense for the life he was leading and so helped himself to some dirty money. After that there was no turning back.

This film features archive footage of the trials and the scenes of the time through the 1980's up to 1993. We also have more recent interviews with the main players. This includes his erstwhile partner Kenny Eurell and even some of the gangsters who 'worked' with these dirty cops.

It is disturbing to think that so many cops could be so blatant in their breaking of the laws they were supposed to uphold. It was also not an isolated incident or two but seemingly endemic with a culture of collaboration with other so called 'good' cops. Being 'good' meant not 'ratting' on your fellow cops and thereby allowing their criminal activities to flourish. There are some stunning black and white still photography of the time and some of these photos look like they belong in a gallery – absolutely stunning. This is a documentary that shows how powerful films can be and how fiction is often far behind where truth actually is – absolutely recommended.