WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
Director/producer Tiller Russell, helming his 8th documentary feature, transports the viewer back to 1983 through the early Nineties in the Big Apple and delves into the ultimately infamous life of 75th Precinct NYPD officer Michael Dowd, arguably the most notorious and corrupt cop in New York City’s history. As crime escalates to near epic levels during the onset of the Eighties, officers in the 75th already had their hands full trying to keep up with a record number of calls per day around the city. And in doing all of this extra work, little extra pay was involved, putting their lives on the line for a meager existence outside of their shift duties. And with this pressure and high-risk came a moment of choice for Dowd during a house raid, finding a large amount of marijuana and more importantly, a bad of cash, which Dowd convinced a fellow officer to help take from the scene. Once this decision was made, Dowd went on to more daring and more consistent “obtaining” of funds like this, and only thanks to the brotherhood among fellow officers, did these misdeeds go covered up and unchecked. But Dowd soon showed that his ambitions were far greater, and with a new partner, Officer Ken Eurell, he made a high paying deal with a local cocaine lord, offering protection and other services to him in order to live a “richer” life. But as so often occurs with crime, consequences will come back to haunt you.
Russell really does deliver a sobering reality check in delving into Dowd and his severely checkered past as an NYPD officer. Plus, the actual weight of this story is made so much more freakishly vivid in hearing Dowd himself, Eurell, another former officer known as “Chickie”, and even Eurell’s own wife Dori recollect those years via the interviews conducted, putting the human faces on the biggest overall corruption scandal in NYC’s existence. While Dowd in particular served 12 years in prison for his crimes of racketeering and drug-related escapades, hearing him pour out the details almost seems like a pleasure to him at times, though once coming to the point of sharing who finally sold him out does have a profound effect on him, while the other party seems more than regretful he ever even met Dowd, much less got involved in his nefarious schemes. The harsh language of those interviewed and the gritty, old crime scene photographs illustrate the true darkness that was happening during Dowd’s “reign” on the mean streets of East New York City and one cannot help but just be in shock as one man makes a single choice that sends him down the path he did, and with that, ended up taking others down with him. When Dowd comments that he only ever wanted to be a good cop, it comes through with that aura of bitterness and sadness as only someone paying the price for bad choices would. And so instead is the story of one bad cop.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
