Americas
![Justin Fenton - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B08DKDCSDK.jpg)
We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption
The astonishing true story of "one of the most startling police corruption scandals in a generation" (The New York Times), from the Pulitzer Prize–nominated reporter who exposed a gang of criminal cops and their yearslong plunder of an American city
COMING SOON AS AN HBO SERIES FROM THE WIRE CREATOR DAVID SIMON AND GEORGE PELECANOS
"A work of journalism that not only chronicles the rise and fall of a corrupt police unit but can stand as the inevitable coda to the half-century of disaster that is the American drug war."-David Simon
Baltimore, 2015. Riots are erupting across the city as citizens demand justice for Freddie Gray, a twenty-five-year-old Black man who has died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody. Drug and violent crime are surging, and Baltimore will reach its highest murder count in more than two decades: 342 homicides in a single year, in a city of just 600,000 people. Facing pressure from the mayor's office-as well as a federal investigation of the department over Gray's death-Baltimore police commanders turn to a rank-and-file hero, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, and his elite plainclothes unit, the Gun Trace Task Force, to help get guns and drugs off the street.
But behind these new efforts, a criminal conspiracy of unprecedented scale was unfolding within the police department. Entrusted with fixing the city's drug and gun crisis, Jenkins chose to exploit it instead. With other members of the empowered Gun Trace Task Force, Jenkins stole from Baltimore's citizens-skimming from drug busts, pocketing thousands in cash found in private homes, and planting fake evidence to throw Internal Affairs off their scent. Their brazen crime spree would go unchecked for years. The results were countless wrongful convictions, the death of an innocent civilian, and the mysterious death of one cop who was shot in the head, killed just a day before he was scheduled to testify against the unit.
In this urgent book, award-winning investigative journalist Justin Fenton distills hundreds of interviews, thousands of court documents, and countless hours of video footage to present the definitive account of the entire scandal. The result is an astounding, riveting feat of reportage about a rogue police unit, the city they held hostage, and the ongoing struggle between American law enforcement and the communities they are charged to serve.
COMING SOON AS AN HBO SERIES FROM THE WIRE CREATOR DAVID SIMON AND GEORGE PELECANOS
"A work of journalism that not only chronicles the rise and fall of a corrupt police unit but can stand as the inevitable coda to the half-century of disaster that is the American drug war."-David Simon
Baltimore, 2015. Riots are erupting across the city as citizens demand justice for Freddie Gray, a twenty-five-year-old Black man who has died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody. Drug and violent crime are surging, and Baltimore will reach its highest murder count in more than two decades: 342 homicides in a single year, in a city of just 600,000 people. Facing pressure from the mayor's office-as well as a federal investigation of the department over Gray's death-Baltimore police commanders turn to a rank-and-file hero, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, and his elite plainclothes unit, the Gun Trace Task Force, to help get guns and drugs off the street.
But behind these new efforts, a criminal conspiracy of unprecedented scale was unfolding within the police department. Entrusted with fixing the city's drug and gun crisis, Jenkins chose to exploit it instead. With other members of the empowered Gun Trace Task Force, Jenkins stole from Baltimore's citizens-skimming from drug busts, pocketing thousands in cash found in private homes, and planting fake evidence to throw Internal Affairs off their scent. Their brazen crime spree would go unchecked for years. The results were countless wrongful convictions, the death of an innocent civilian, and the mysterious death of one cop who was shot in the head, killed just a day before he was scheduled to testify against the unit.
In this urgent book, award-winning investigative journalist Justin Fenton distills hundreds of interviews, thousands of court documents, and countless hours of video footage to present the definitive account of the entire scandal. The result is an astounding, riveting feat of reportage about a rogue police unit, the city they held hostage, and the ongoing struggle between American law enforcement and the communities they are charged to serve.
Editorial Reviews
"Fenton populates his narrative with a network of officers, informants and street dealers, all with different motivations and interests. . . . The overall effect is to capture the disorienting, churning quality of a city where the good guys and bad guys aren't easily distinguished. . . . [Fenton] shows how, in our zeal to combat crime, we have allowed institutions to produce it."-The New York Times Book Review
"Baltimore's grim realities have been mined by talented writers like D. Watkins, Wes Moore and, most famously, celebrated author and TV producer David Simon, whose books and television series-Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood and The Wire-deftly illuminated Charm City's complex web of problems. One could be excused for wondering whether there is any more to say about Baltimore and crime. But the gripping new book We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption puts that concern to rest."-The Washington Post
"Fenton tells a story of bad people and bad attitudes. . . . His book reveals the way systemic discrimination operates, whom it affects and how it is sustained. His narrative is brisk and engaging."-London Review of Books
"A standout examination of the failures of policing, laid out in context with greater systemic failures . . . We Own This City is a sobering and necessary account of one dramatic way that trust was destroyed, but it is as much a damning indictment of how that destruction grew out of a mixture of negligence, incompetence and hubris."-The Wall Street Journal
"A remarkable story about the real-life collision of corruption, criminality, and racial profiling. Justin Fenton tells a well-written, wrenching narrative about a dark chapter in not only Baltimore's history but in the legacy of disconnect between American citizens and those who are sworn to protect and serve them. This book is a must-read."-Wes Moore, author of The Other Wes Moore and Five Days
"A masterful account of how police corruption takes root in a Baltimore plagued by crooked cops, oblivious leaders, and beleaguered citizens. The scandal at its heart is shocking in the sheer scope of its venality, and Fenton's years of reporting lays it bare in novelistic, riveting detail. Here is a writer with a singular command of his story, spinning a dark tale so deftly that it's impossible to look away."-Evan Ratliff, author of The Mastermind
"A tale of chaos and corruption, We Own This City is a meticulously researched account in which one of our foremost criminal justice reporters unwinds one of the biggest scandals in the history...
"Baltimore's grim realities have been mined by talented writers like D. Watkins, Wes Moore and, most famously, celebrated author and TV producer David Simon, whose books and television series-Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood and The Wire-deftly illuminated Charm City's complex web of problems. One could be excused for wondering whether there is any more to say about Baltimore and crime. But the gripping new book We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption puts that concern to rest."-The Washington Post
"Fenton tells a story of bad people and bad attitudes. . . . His book reveals the way systemic discrimination operates, whom it affects and how it is sustained. His narrative is brisk and engaging."-London Review of Books
"A standout examination of the failures of policing, laid out in context with greater systemic failures . . . We Own This City is a sobering and necessary account of one dramatic way that trust was destroyed, but it is as much a damning indictment of how that destruction grew out of a mixture of negligence, incompetence and hubris."-The Wall Street Journal
"A remarkable story about the real-life collision of corruption, criminality, and racial profiling. Justin Fenton tells a well-written, wrenching narrative about a dark chapter in not only Baltimore's history but in the legacy of disconnect between American citizens and those who are sworn to protect and serve them. This book is a must-read."-Wes Moore, author of The Other Wes Moore and Five Days
"A masterful account of how police corruption takes root in a Baltimore plagued by crooked cops, oblivious leaders, and beleaguered citizens. The scandal at its heart is shocking in the sheer scope of its venality, and Fenton's years of reporting lays it bare in novelistic, riveting detail. Here is a writer with a singular command of his story, spinning a dark tale so deftly that it's impossible to look away."-Evan Ratliff, author of The Mastermind
"A tale of chaos and corruption, We Own This City is a meticulously researched account in which one of our foremost criminal justice reporters unwinds one of the biggest scandals in the history...
Readers Top Reviews
Ian CBrian Weathe
In a word, superb. An absolutely enthralling and absorbing read from start to finish. At times it feels like you're reading a crime novel, as opposed to a real life story of corruption and the illegal activities of the GTTF. Brilliantly researched and put together by Justin Fenton, the upcoming TV show based on this book is a must see (hope it lives up to the source). Amazing work.
mlcgraceLeeIan CB
"We Own This City" was a very informative book written by someone who not only researched the subject but who lived through it. But as I read it I kept seeing how it could have been better. The "List of Characters" filed to include a lot of people who played a big part in the book. Maps and photographs of the involved area and photographs of those involved would have enhanced the narrative. And while the Freddie Gray incident was and is an important part of Baltimore's history, it was dwelt on too much considering the subject matter. It needed to be mentioned, yes, but too much was written about it and it took away from the story of the GTTF. I would have liked to have read more about the involvement, or lack thereof, of the BPD command and the State's Attorney's Office (SAO) in what was going on with the GTTF. And while the book mentions more than once that SAO Mosby did not keep a "Do Not Call" list, she released it on 10/29/2021.
Jeffrey D. Poelml
You have to wonder how bad it really is in most police departments. I worked with local, state, and federal police for 13 years and never saw anything but professional conduct. But then I was living on the central coast of California, not Baltimore or New York. Drug trafficking has corrupted entire countries. There is just too much money involved. And in Mexico, it’s the silver or the lead. Take the money and look the other way, or die along with your family. Who can resist such an offer? The only way out is to legalize f-ing everything. A wise person once said that you cannot legislate morality. And that is true.
Pencilpressg3 fro
The facts of this story are astonishing -- far reaching corruption let Baltimore City detectives form a criminal organization, robbing innocent citizens as well as preying on drug dealers, whose money they stole, and whose drugs they confiscated and resold. Blameless citizens died due to these detectives. Men were framed and sent to jail. Pursuit of these detectives by the Feds should have made this story a nail-biter. But it is told in the colorless voice of the mid-tier newspaper where the author works. It is difficult to keep track of who is who, the depictions of characters are so interchangeably bland. Even with extensive wiretaps, the author fails to put the reader at the scene. David Simon is said to have optioned this for a series, so the material may yet get the treatment it deserves.
Bob DPencilpressg
As a lifelong Baltimore resident, I watched in both horror and fascination as details of the GTTF's crimes were reported. The author takes a deep dive into the leader of this criminal enterprise, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins psyche and insanity as he runs roughshod over citizens civil rights and police department policies while amassing a personal fortune for himself. The author did an outstanding job of capturing the nonchalant arrogant attitude these crooks possesed. Very well written, excellent details and presented in a very factual non biased way. A real page turner that completely true, try beating this one Hollywood!
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter One
Knockers
The letter arrived in the chambers of a federal judge in Baltimore in the summer of 2017. It had been sent from the McDowell Federal Correctional Institution, which was nestled in the middle of nowhere, West Virginia, more than six hours from Baltimore. On the front of the envelope, the inmate had written: "Special mail."
Umar Burley had written his letter on lined notebook paper, in neat, bouncy print, using tildes to top his T's. Burley, inmate number 43787-037, was reaching out to the judge for a second time, begging for a court-appointed lawyer. His attorney had retired, and attempts to reach another had gone unanswered.
"Could you imagine how hard it is to be here for a crime I didn't commit and struggling to find clarity and justice on my own?" Burley wrote.
Months earlier, Burley had been in the recreation hall of a federal prison in Oklahoma, awaiting transportation to McDowell, when someone called to him: "Little Baltimore! Little Baltimore! Did you see that?" News from home flashed across the television screen: A group of eight Baltimore police officers had been charged with stealing from citizens and lying about their cases. The officers had carried out their alleged crimes undeterred by the fact that the police department was at the time under a broad civil rights investigation following the death of a young Black man from injuries sustained while in police custody. The revelations were breathtaking, though not entirely unbelievable: For years, accusations of misconduct-from illegal strip searches to broken bones-had been leveled against city police. But many claims lacked hard proof and came from people with long rap sheets and every incentive to level a false accusation. Such toss-ups tended to go in favor of the cops. With the deck so stacked against them, most victims didn't even bother to speak up. Often, they did have drugs or guns, and the fact that the cops lied about the details of the encounter or took some of the seized money for themselves, well, in Baltimore, it was a dirty game in which the ends justified the means.
But now a wiretap case back home was shining a light on the culture of the force, and the federal prosecutors who brought the charges were looking for more victims. And Umar Burley had a story to tell.
Burley's story begins on the morning of April 28, 2010. Members of a plainclothes police squad had been summoned for an ad hoc roll call on the street. Their sergeant, running a little late, told them to stay put. But Detective Wayne Jenkins felt the itch. He told the others that the area around Belle Avenue, in Northwest Baltimore, was "hot" with reports of criminal activity.
"Let's go," Jenkins said.
You can tell some police officers to stand under a pole for ten hours. Check nine hours later, they'll still be there. Send them to Greenmount Avenue and order them to walk up and down the boulevard, and they'll pace until the soles of their shoes begin to wear thin. But others need to get into something. They want to sit in vacant houses peering through binoculars or chase suspects through alleys; they work ungodly amounts of overtime. These are the "10 percent" whom commanders in the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) rely on to get the job done.
These are also the officers most likely to make up the plainclothes units known around town as "knockers" or "jumpout boys," a reference to their aggressive tactics. Officers in plainclothes units often operate in the shadows of a police department. Their work is not to be confused with undercover operations, in which police officers assume a different identity and worm their way into a criminal organization. Plainclothes officers, as the description suggests, work in street clothes rather than uniforms. They drive unmarked vehicles. They are not typically tethered to specific posts or obligated to respond to 911 calls. Instead, they go out looking for illegal activity-people selling drugs or displaying bulges under clothing that could be guns-and they operate with a great deal of independence. They can let a suspect go if they think the suspect can lead them to bigger fish. Across the country, these plainclothes squads have often been where scandals are born, but police department leaders over the years have deemed them critical to the crime fight-they are the "Vikings" who go out into the field and return with a "bounty," as one Baltimore chief would later put it.
Jenkins seemed perpetually in motion, and his gung-ho attitude quickly won the white former marine early entry into the BPD's most elite units. By 2010, less than seven years into his time on the force, Jenkins had worked his way into a new "violent repeat offender" squad, a handpicked group of offic...
Knockers
The letter arrived in the chambers of a federal judge in Baltimore in the summer of 2017. It had been sent from the McDowell Federal Correctional Institution, which was nestled in the middle of nowhere, West Virginia, more than six hours from Baltimore. On the front of the envelope, the inmate had written: "Special mail."
Umar Burley had written his letter on lined notebook paper, in neat, bouncy print, using tildes to top his T's. Burley, inmate number 43787-037, was reaching out to the judge for a second time, begging for a court-appointed lawyer. His attorney had retired, and attempts to reach another had gone unanswered.
"Could you imagine how hard it is to be here for a crime I didn't commit and struggling to find clarity and justice on my own?" Burley wrote.
Months earlier, Burley had been in the recreation hall of a federal prison in Oklahoma, awaiting transportation to McDowell, when someone called to him: "Little Baltimore! Little Baltimore! Did you see that?" News from home flashed across the television screen: A group of eight Baltimore police officers had been charged with stealing from citizens and lying about their cases. The officers had carried out their alleged crimes undeterred by the fact that the police department was at the time under a broad civil rights investigation following the death of a young Black man from injuries sustained while in police custody. The revelations were breathtaking, though not entirely unbelievable: For years, accusations of misconduct-from illegal strip searches to broken bones-had been leveled against city police. But many claims lacked hard proof and came from people with long rap sheets and every incentive to level a false accusation. Such toss-ups tended to go in favor of the cops. With the deck so stacked against them, most victims didn't even bother to speak up. Often, they did have drugs or guns, and the fact that the cops lied about the details of the encounter or took some of the seized money for themselves, well, in Baltimore, it was a dirty game in which the ends justified the means.
But now a wiretap case back home was shining a light on the culture of the force, and the federal prosecutors who brought the charges were looking for more victims. And Umar Burley had a story to tell.
Burley's story begins on the morning of April 28, 2010. Members of a plainclothes police squad had been summoned for an ad hoc roll call on the street. Their sergeant, running a little late, told them to stay put. But Detective Wayne Jenkins felt the itch. He told the others that the area around Belle Avenue, in Northwest Baltimore, was "hot" with reports of criminal activity.
"Let's go," Jenkins said.
You can tell some police officers to stand under a pole for ten hours. Check nine hours later, they'll still be there. Send them to Greenmount Avenue and order them to walk up and down the boulevard, and they'll pace until the soles of their shoes begin to wear thin. But others need to get into something. They want to sit in vacant houses peering through binoculars or chase suspects through alleys; they work ungodly amounts of overtime. These are the "10 percent" whom commanders in the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) rely on to get the job done.
These are also the officers most likely to make up the plainclothes units known around town as "knockers" or "jumpout boys," a reference to their aggressive tactics. Officers in plainclothes units often operate in the shadows of a police department. Their work is not to be confused with undercover operations, in which police officers assume a different identity and worm their way into a criminal organization. Plainclothes officers, as the description suggests, work in street clothes rather than uniforms. They drive unmarked vehicles. They are not typically tethered to specific posts or obligated to respond to 911 calls. Instead, they go out looking for illegal activity-people selling drugs or displaying bulges under clothing that could be guns-and they operate with a great deal of independence. They can let a suspect go if they think the suspect can lead them to bigger fish. Across the country, these plainclothes squads have often been where scandals are born, but police department leaders over the years have deemed them critical to the crime fight-they are the "Vikings" who go out into the field and return with a "bounty," as one Baltimore chief would later put it.
Jenkins seemed perpetually in motion, and his gung-ho attitude quickly won the white former marine early entry into the BPD's most elite units. By 2010, less than seven years into his time on the force, Jenkins had worked his way into a new "violent repeat offender" squad, a handpicked group of offic...
