| The Seven Five | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical film poster | |
| Directed by | Tiller Russell |
| Produced by | Eli Holzman Aaron Saidman Sheldon Yellen |
| Edited by | James Carroll |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Entertainment One |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Seven Five, also known asSeven Five Precinct, is a 2014documentary directed byTiller Russell, and produced byEli Holzman,Aaron Saidman, andSheldon Yellen. The film looks atpolice corruption in the 75th precinct of theNew York Police Department during the 1980s. The documentary focuses on Michael Dowd and Patrick Eugene McKenna, both corrupt DEA agents under cover for 10 years, who were arrested in 1987 leading to one of the largest police corruption scandals inNew York City history.[1] The documentary uses footage from theMollen Commission investigation in 1992 and also provides in-depth commentary from Dowd,Ken Eurell, and Adam Diaz, among others. The documentary premiered at DOC NYC November 14, 2014.[2]
In the 1980s,Brooklyn, New York was suffering from acrack epidemic. Michael Dowd worked in theNYPD's75th Precinct in theEast New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, which was considered to be one of the most dangerous precincts in the United States at the time. The 75th Precinct had one of the highest murder rates in the country during the late 1980s. 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 other drug dealers at gunpoint. Dowd and his then-partner Henry "Chicky" Guevara recount the first time walking into a domestic dispute in an apartment and seeing bags of marijuana, aduffle bag filled with approximately $20,000 in cash and two guns. Dowd communicated that he and his partner would take $8000 from the duffle bag and both guns. Dowd continued to rob drug dealers for thousands of dollars. Guevara 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 Dowd's new partner in June 1987. Eurell had a drinking problem and frequently drank on the job. Dowd and Eurell met a Dominican gang leader named Adam Diaz. Diaz ran The Diaz Organization, a gang that was responsible for countless murders and drug trafficking throughout New York City. He 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 and inside information about raids.
After a prolonged investigation, theSuffolk County Police Department arrested Dowd and Eurell ondrug trafficking charges (in addition to their work for Diaz in the city, the men had begun distributing cocaine through a friend who lived in the county). Dowd and Eurell were released on bail. While out on bail, Dowd was approached by a friend in a Colombian gang who wanted a woman kidnapped over an unpaid drug debt. Dowd's plan was to hand the woman over to the gang and for him and Eurell to take the hundreds of thousands of dollars at the woman's house and flee the United States. Eurell agreed to Dowd's kidnapping scheme but instead of following through with the scheme contactedInternal Affairs through his lawyer. Shortly after, in July 1991, Dowd was arrested and sent to trial. He was the main focus of the 1992 Mollen Commission that investigated police corruption in theNYPD.[3] In the wake of Dowd's arrest, MayorDavid Dinkins appointed the Mollen Commission to investigate police corruption within theNYPD. As a result, dozens of officers across the city's precincts were arrested.
Dowd was convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1994, serving 13 years.[3] Prior to trial, Dowd agreed to testify before the Commission but he refused to implicate any NYPD officers other than himself.[4] Eurell did not serve any time due to his cooperation with the investigation. Adam Diaz, after serving eight years in prison, was deported to theDominican Republic.
The film was well received and has an 83% rating onRotten Tomatoes with 24 out of 29 reviews being positive.[5]
On March 13, 2015,Sony Pictures purchased the rights ofThe Seven Five documentary withYann Demange set to direct andScott Frank writing the script.[6] On January 25, 2018,Craig Gillespie was hired to direct instead of Demange.[7] On December 16, 2020,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer took over the film adaptation documentary withBen Stiller set to direct from aTony McNamara script andAaron Taylor-Johnson in talks to portray Dowd.[8]