The Seven Five
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The Seven Five, also known as Precinct Seven Five, is a 2014 documentary directed by Tiller Russell. The film looks at police corruption in the 75th precinct of the New York Police Department during the 1980s. The documentary focuses around Mike Dowd, a former police officer of 10 years, who was arrested in 1992, which led to one of the largest police corruption scandals in New York City history.[1] The documentary uses footage from the Mollen Commission Investigation in 1992 and also provides in-depth commentary from Mike Dowd, Ken Eurell, and Adam Diaz, among others. The documentary premiered at DOC NYC November 14, 2014.[2] Sony Pictures recently purchased the rights of The Seven Five documentary in an auction.[3]
Plot
In the 1980s, Brooklyn, New York was considered crack capital of the world. Mike Dowd worked the 75th precinct in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, which was considered to be the most dangerous precinct in United States at the time. The 75th precinct had one of the highest murder rates in the country. Mike Dowd describes being under-appreciated for the amount of work he put in and hurting for money as the reasons for taking money from drug dealers. He initially began taking bribes from drug dealers on the streets before moving on to protecting a drug cartel leader and robbing from other drug dealers at gunpoint. Mike and his then-partner Chickie recount the first time walking into a domestic dispute in an apartment and seeing bags of marijuana, a duffle bag filled with approximately $20,000 in cash and two guns. Mike communicated that he and his partner would take the duffle bag and guns. Mike continued to rob drug dealers for thousands of dollars. Mike's partner Chickie resigned shortly after multiple police officers were arrested in the 77th precinct for corruption related offenses.
Ken Eurell, a police officer at the 75th precinct, was then assigned as officer Dowd's new partner in June 1987. Ken had a drinking problem and frequently drank on the job. Officers Dowd and Eurell met a Dominican gang leader by the name of Adam Diaz. Diaz ran The Diaz Organization, a gang that was responsible for countless murders and drug trafficking throughout New York. Diaz used several supermarkets in East New York as fronts to traffic drugs, mainly cocaine. Dowd and Eurell began a working relationship with Diaz, where they provided protection, inside information and raids and moving kilos of cocaine.
After numerous complaints and a prolonged investigation, the Suffolk County Police Department arrested Dowd and Eurell on drug trafficking charges. Dowd and Kenny came out on bail. While out on bail, Dowd concocted a plan with the Colombian gang to kidnap and rob a woman. Dowd's plan was to hand the woman over to the Colombians and for Dowd and Eurell to take the money and flee the United States. Eurell agreed to Dowd's kidnapping scheme but instead went to Internal Affairs. Shortly after, Dowd was arrested in July 1991 and sent to trial. Dowd was the main focus of the 1992 Mollen Commission that investigated police corruption in the NYPD.[4] In the wake of Dowd's arrest, Mayor Dinkins appointed The Mollen Commission to investigate police corruption within the NYPD, as a result dozens of officers across the city’s precincts were arrested.
Convictions
Mike Dowd was convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1994, serving 13 years.[5] Prior to trial, Dowd agreed to testify before the commission but he refused to implicate any NYPD officers other than himself.[6] Ken Eurrell did not serve any time for his cooperation with the investigation. Adam Diaz, after serving 8 years in prison, was deported to the Dominican Republic.
Reception
The film received highly positive reviews with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 22 out of 26 reviews they tallied for the film were positive for a score of 85% “fresh” rating.[7]
References
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