Ep 11: Nick is arrested amid a high-profile NYC police corruption scandal

One week after erecting the tipi, cops “Frick and Frack Fury” arrest Nick for taking a roll of linoleum from the edge of a construction site and charge him with burglary and criminal possession of stolen property. It took over 36 hours for him to be arraigned and appear before a judge.

The Chinese Assistant District Attorney, under pressure to clean up Chinatown, is determined to make an example of Nick and digs in. Lawyer friends Richard and Matty argue that Nick is a solid citizen trying to help the homeless and that the linoleum had very little value, and the judge, whose church group also works to address homelessness, barely convinces the ADA to let Nick go.

Frick and Frack arrested Nick for one reason: They wanted to know who he was. Why?

Because the cops were dirty and paranoid. Beginning in the mid-80s, police officer Michael Dowd began running a drug ring and recruiting his fellow officers to shake down merchants in East New York, Brooklyn, and selling narcotics, precipitating one of NYC’s largest ever police corruption scandals. By 1992, the FBI began investigating, implicating 10 precincts, including the 5th, which The Hill was in. In 1993, Dowd was sentenced to 14 years in prison, of which he served 12 and a half.

A metaphysical side note, the night before Nick’s arrest, a photograph randomly blows up on his feet on Canal Street that shocks and confounds him and Gabriele to this day. It will figure prominently in the next episode.

You can read more about Nick's arrest in his "Arrest and Seizure" chapter of his Serialized Narrative of The Hill.

The Seven Five: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Five

Michael Dowd: https://nypost.com/2023/06/04/nypd-bans-infamously-corrupt-cop-after-april-visit-to-police-headquarters/

#conceptualart #guerrillaart #homelessencampment #homeless #outlaws #policecorruption #mollencommission #thesevenfive #thetombs #truecrime #chinatown #nychistory

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