Michael Dowd — A former New York City police officer dubbed 'America's dirtiest cop,' who ran a corruption operation while on the force and served over 12 years in federal prison. His story was the subject of the documentary The Seven Five.
The gist
Steven Bartlett interviews ex-NYPD officer Michael Dowd about how he went from a 21-year-old who joined the force just for a job to a corrupt cop earning more than the US president by protecting a major drug organization. Dowd explains the systemic incentives that discouraged arrests, how he began 'taxing' drug dealers, stealing cash and drugs from crime scenes, and eventually selling cocaine himself. He recounts taking sexual favors on duty, surviving a hit, the guilt after a fellow officer was killed, his spiral into addiction, and his 1992 arrest after a friend wore a wire. The conversation closes on his prison years, his relationship with his parents, and reflections on honesty, fear and love.
Big reveals
- Admits to stealing a dead murder victim's porn collection from a crime scene and getting caught drinking beer at the scene.
- Describes his first 'tax' in 1983, soliciting bribe money from a Puerto Rican driver for 'lobster lunch money.'
- Admits having sex with women in his police car while on duty, calling it 'my biggest sin in the world.'
- Reveals he charged a Dominican drug organization $8,000 a week for police protection.
- Recounts pulling over the cartel boss who put a hit on him and challenging him to a 10-pace shootout to call it off.
- Says he ordered fellow cops to put cocaine and cash back into a drug house to protect Adam Diaz.
- Calls his 1992 arrest 'the biggest moment of relief' and 'the best feeling in the world.'
- States that as a result of the Mollen Commission, 200 officers were arrested for drug trafficking.
Things worth remembering
- Dowd made only 43 arrests in roughly 10 years, estimating he should have made about 500.
- The average overtime for a single crack arrest was 18 hours, so the city discouraged arrests to manage its budget.
- He describes a 'God complex,' feeling indestructible while watching himself decline.
- Adam Diaz allegedly moved up to 1,500 kilos and sold around $50 million of cocaine a year.
- Dowd was sentenced to 168 months (14 years) and served 12 and a half years.
- His mother went to church every day for the 12 years he was imprisoned, which he only learned about 20 years later.
- He came out of prison at 44 with nothing, saying 'you come out to zero. You are zero.'
- His core life lesson: 'It's easier to tell the truth in the end than it is to lie,' because everything has a consequence.
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The Seven Five
Tiller Russell (inferred)
“you go on to be approached to make a documentary about your life called the 75 documentary which explains your life in more detail” — Steven Bartlett 01:23:18Find it on Amazon