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The Seven Five

The Seven Five

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The 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 1980's. 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 scandal 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 Eurrell,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

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In the 1980’s Brooklyn, New York was considered crack capital of the world. Mike Dowd worked the 75th precinct, considered to be the most dangerous precinct in United States. The 75th precinct had one of the highest murder rate in the country. Mike Dowd describes being under appreciated for the amount of work he put in and hurting for money for being the reasons behind 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 domestically dispute in an apartment and seeing bags of marijuana, a duffle bag filled with approximately twenty grand in cash and two guns. Mike communicates that he and his partner take the duffle bag and guns. Mike continues rob drug dealers for thousands of dollars. Mike’s partner Chickie resigns shortly after multiple police officers get arrest in the 77th precinct for corruption related offences.

Ken Eurell, a police officer at the 75th precinct, was assigned as officer Dowd’s new partner June of 1987. Ken had a drinking problem and frequently drank on the job. Officers Dowd and Eurell meet a Dominican gang leader by the name of Adam Diaz. Adam Diaz ran The Diaz Organization, a gang that was responsible for countless murders and drug trafficking throughout New York. Diaz had several supermarkets in East New York as fronts to traffic drugs, mainly cocaine. Dowd and Eurell begin a working relationship with Diaz, where they provide protection, inside information and raids and moving kilos of cocaine.

After numerous complaints and prolonged investigation, Suffolk County Police Department arrested Dowd and Eurell on drug trafficking charges. Dowd and Kenny came out on bail. While out on bail, Dowd conspires a plan with the Dominican gang to kidnap and rob a woman. Dowd’s plan was to hand the woman over to the dominions and for Dowd and Eurell to take to the money and flee out of the United States. Eurell agrees to Dowd’s kidnapping scheme but instead goes to Internal Affairs. Shortly after, Dowd was arrested July of 2014 and trialed. Mike Dowd was the main focus of the 1992 Mollen Commission that investigated police corruption in the NYPD [4]. In the wake of Dowds 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

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Mike Dowd convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1994, served 13 years[5]. Prior to trials Dowd agreed to testify before the commission but he refused to implicate any NYPD officers other than myself[6]. Kenny Eurrell did not serve any time for his cooperation with the investigation. Adam Diaz, after serving 8 years in prison, gets deported to the Dominican Republic.

Reception

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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].

Cited

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  1. ^ "About the Film". The Seven Five. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  2. ^ Yamato, Jen (Nov 11, 2014). "'The Seven Five' To Reunite Dirty NYPD Cops At DOC NYC Premiere". Deadline. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  3. ^ Scheib, Ronnie (Jan 2, 2015). "Corrupt cop Michael Dowd candidly reveals the secrets of his high-flying success in this wildly entertaining documentary". Variety. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  4. ^ "About". The Mike Dowd. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  5. ^ "About". The Mike Dowd. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  6. ^ Russell, Tiller (May 8, 2015). The Seven Five. ALL3Media America. pp. Digital. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  7. ^ "The Seven FIve". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster inc. Retrieved 22 October 2015.