Dope (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Is It Dangerous? Absolutely It's Dangerous - full transcript
As Memorial Day weekend approaches in Chicago, cops strive to get weapons off the street while drug dealers prepare for an influx of buyers.
Y'all niggas ain't no shit!
MKT, bitch!
- Stay with us!
- Come on!
Come on, please!
The shooter is still at large.
My motherfuckin' brother
is shot in the face.
This shit killing and robbing
motherfuckers is an addiction.
These are each individual kilograms
of cocaine.
This would run you
20 to $25,000 on the street.
But drug dealers can almost
quadruple the value
to...
upwards of $100,000,
when they make it crack cocaine.
So you're upwards of a million dollars
in that cardboard box.
That is what is driving the violence.
Memorial Day would be
an increase in sales.
That presents an opportunity
for rival drug dealers
to target their competitors.
There's probably close to 600 handguns
in this room here.
For every gun we get off the street,
there's 100 more
that we're still looking for.
This represents
the violence that we're confronting
on a daily basis.
And it represents the drug game
because firearms and narcotics
are one in the same.
It does scare me that
the bad guys can get their hands
on this,
but to work the street
and to move around the area
with this in the back your mind,
is counterproductive.
Somebody has to be in the middle.
We're tasked with that.
We took that oath. We understand what
we're getting ourselves into every day.
Is it dangerous? Absolutely.
I leave the house every day
knowing I may not come home.
But the drug game doesn't take a holiday
and we're doing everything we can
to stay ahead of it.
There's one area of Chicago
that's notorious for poverty,
drugs and violence.
Where even the cops fear to tread.
It's known as the Westside.
The dealers here are already preparing
for the Memorial Day rush.
That's good cocaine.
You see how it’s shiny, like fish scales.
When I see that,
that makes me happy.
Slim runs a local drug gang.
I'm a boss. My team is full of CEOs.
I answer to no one.
I'm not kicking it with the middle man
or the low man,
I’m kicking it with niggas
that’s doing this shit.
I'm mixing it with baking soda,
because it creates a chemical reaction
and that's why it turns into crack.
I got this little pot right here,
I'm not doing it no big Pyrex.
Put in a little water.
Then I'm gonna get it hot.
And we're gonna melt it down.
I want all the cocaine rocks
to buzz down and it slowly mixes in
with the baking soda.
The coldness of this popsicle
is going to make this easy for me
to whip, and we just going to stir
until it cools down.
See how it's changing?
They call that "lock up".
I'm gonna put this out.
It's going to be the best crack
in Chicago.
That'll be $10 right there.
No doubt about it.
You're gonna get high off that.
Okay?
When they hit that shit, man,
it's euphoria.
The cleaner it is, the better it is,
they come right back.
By the end of the night,
depending on how much money they got
and how thirsty they are,
this can give me $1,000.
We’re damn near more
expensive than gold right now.
This is better than US currency!
Once the crack is cooked up,
the street dealers take over.
This is like...
9 grams right here. Costs like 500.
We're going to try to make
8 to 900 off of it.
JD and Low have just picked up
more product.
I wouldn’t say I was born into this,
it just happened from
the environment you live in.
We ain't grew up in Beverly Hills.
That's what we do.
You adapt to what's around you every day.
That's my nephew right here.
He’s putting together
a little 50 right here.
Everybody trying to get money
and opportunity, I’m sure you know.
I gotta bring food to the table
somewhere, man.
You feel me?
That’s the way I gotta get it out here.
I’m trying to double up for Memorial Day,
so I’ll get the money
to get out the neighborhood
and create better jobs,
you know, legitimate jobs.
Both want to make enough money over
Memorial weekend to get out of the game.
So we definitely need
to make like 8 to 9 G.
You know what I mean?
Then after that, we gonna be gone.
My homie just got killed a few days ago,
we gotta bury him Saturday.
It’s a death 2, 3 times
a month now, you know what I mean?
It’s painful, that you're not even over
the first death and another one happens,
and it’s consistent.
I feel horrible
when I go to the funerals, man.
People up I see in the caskets,
some people I’ve been with all my life.
It’ll take a toll on you, man.
But we gotta let it go,
but man, it’s hard
to let that hurt go sometimes.
It’s terrible outside,
everybody’s hurting everybody.
We live in it, every morning,
it’s just a swamp, it’s a zoo.
Every day you come outside
and you worry about,
is this your last day coming home?
But for the time being, I’m hustling.
I appreciate you man.
We got 14 grams, man.
That shit's hitting hard.
CI yesterday gave us information,
supposedly they deal in this alley here.
The main thing is, he did say
the one guy did have a gun.
Joe and his team are preparing
to bust two crack dealers.
When we decide to move,
it's going to be all timing.
They do run,
what’s huge is for containment.
It’s a box operation,
you know how this goes.
We don’t want
a friendly fire scenario, okay?
So if it is a flush,
call it on the air.
They’re running west, or south.
Be deliberate with your directions,
where they’re running.
Call out those descriptions.
If you see a firearm
like a couple of weeks ago,
weapon displayed,
box in the property.
- You guys good?
- Yeah.
Let's saddle up.
This is the Westside of Chicago,
Austin Harrison District.
Heavy gang activity, heavy drug activity.
A lot of open air drug markets,
every walk of life.
Our informant has made
several buys at this location.
The individual selling narcotics
may be gang-related.
If we apprehend the subject,
we talk to them
and see who the next big fish is.
Who’s a little bit higher than him.
And who’s a little bit higher than them.
Try to get to where the true problem is,
where they're getting their drugs.
We got people here,
who don’t have good jobs,
don’t have jobs at all, don't work.
And they could come out here
and make 500, $1,000 a day or more.
So they choose the easy route.
There’s about one, two, three…
Three gentlemen.
They are selling narcotics.
Yeah, we'll move in.
He's going westbound.
Westbound, westbound!
Go, go, go!
One went this way, one, that way,
which one?
Okay. We’ll do...
Stand by, stand by.
Oh no, go. Wait.
Where they go?
- See them?
- No.
Here! They're down there!
They ran that way.
They're inside.
Here, scoot down. You got it?
Right there. Going in.
Put your hands behind your back.
Put your hands behind your back!
Let's see.
I smell a little marijuana on you,
so if you’ve got it,
- I suggest you give it to me.
- I ain't doin' no hustling.
I promise to God. I rumble by, bro…
I ain’t doing no hustling, bro.
Guys, guys. Enough.
Be quiet right now.
You’re on video tape,
be quiet, stop talking.
Not gonna tell you again.
One’s gonna go to jail
for an active warrant.
He has an arrest warrant in another county
for obstructing a peace officer.
Ain’t the first time
he ran from the police.
Relax, dude.
Right now we’re just doing
a canvas looking for...
if they threw a firearm,
we don’t want no kids picking up the gun.
Today, we made 250.
If I could just make $500 today,
I’d be happy.
You just gotta be careful.
We take a risk coming outside every day.
Being out on these streets
is very dangerous, man.
Every day you gotta watch out
for the rival gangs trying to shoot.
They catch your ass out that late,
they gonna fire your ass up.
When you got crack, we’re the ones
that you need to be worried about.
GDs, that’s us, man.
Know what I’m saying?
Gangster Disciples. Most hated.
Every jail, every block,
everybody scared of us.
The Gangster Disciples are
the biggest street gang in Chicago.
With their original leaders
dead or in prison,
the gang is fragmented
into small violent cliques.
We’re a stick up crew, we don’t
give a fuck about selling drugs,
we’re gonna let a nigga sell his drugs
and rob him when he done.
And if we gotta kill to get it,
that’s what’s gonna happen.
This is not a movie.
You can’t shoot a gun like this.
Just like when you aim,
it line up all the way to your shoulder,
you can’t miss, you got you a clean shot.
When I shoot, I’m in a pure action mode.
I’m in pure kill mode.
I ain’t got no feelings, no remorse
for none who get hit, none of that shit.
They’ve been gathering intel
on local dealers.
You gotta know how to stalk your prey.
You can’t just run up
on somebody in broad daylight
and kill ‘em unless you want 100 years.
You gotta find out how he move,
how much shit he got,
where he be at.
You got one of these,
you can do whatever you want.
Get whatever you want.
Whatever you desire.
Attracted by the lure of the streets,
gangbangers on the Westside start young.
I’ve been in the streets
since I was about 11. I was in Juvenile
when I was in sixth grade. Armed robbery.
I was brought up with good parents,
I ain’t gonna never lie
and say I wasn’t.
But when I got to these streets
and I got that fast money,
the love of that fast money,
it draws you to this.
People wanna have fancy cars
and a lot of bitches and drugs
and money and flash guns. It’s adrenaline.
This street shit killing motherfuckers and
robbing motherfuckers is an addiction.
I'm going to get over there.
Yeah, we're available. Heading over there.
Going on the outside.
- Get over there.
- Ten-four.
Shootings,
...crashes, fires.
I cover everything.
Pauley Lapointe is cruising the Westside
hoping to catch a story
he can sell to local news.
I've got these different radios going
providing different information,
potential leads on a story.
I just have to wrangle it all in
and make it work.
Like orchestrating a symphony.
I’ve been born and raised
in the Chicago area my whole life.
I love the city. From a news perspective,
as a news person,
since I’ve been a child,
I’ve always wanted to be a part of news,
to tell the story of my community.
Whatever the story is.
I believe that
there’s a story to every shooting.
Some people will...
try to say, it’s no big deal,
it’s just a gang banger.
And it’s not true.
It’s a real human being, it’s a real life.
This part of the Westside, drugs are
a multi-billion dollar business.
You better a car over there.
Any available in the area.
Another person shot.
A person shot.
He intercepts his first call.
This is going to be a gang-related.
And it's right in the heart
of the Westside.
You have to be hyper aware
when you’re at the scene,
there’s still bad guys running around
with guns, who wanna shoot people.
They don’t care about shooting you, me
and the cops and everybody in-between.
And for your Saturday night, you have
crime scene tape right next to a school.
That's how Chicago sets itself apart.
Doesn’t matter where it is, or who it is,
it just happens.
They emptied the entire gun out
right over here.
So you can see all the markers.
See all those? Those are all markers.
Those are all markers
for shell casings, spread from...
30 feet, going on 30, 40 feet.
So it’s not just one little spot,
these bullets went across this whole area,
so the gunman came here
and started to pop, pop, pop.
Four houses that potentially people could
have been shot inside the home
with a bullet flying into the house
or hitting someone. Two people were shot.
They were over here on the front lawn.
You can see how quickly
this situation could change
for the people that are just trying
to live their life here.
They pulled over 8,000 weapons
off the streets of Chicago last year.
They've already confiscated
thousands of guns again this year.
But the bad guys seem
to find a way to always get a gun
in the city of Chicago.
A lot of fucking murders on the street.
That’s why dealers is buying guns.
I really don’t deal
with too many type of cheap guns,
'cause you know,
people really don’t want ‘em.
Some people talking about how they need
something to protect their self.
They might get a little nine or something.
This is a little 13 shot nine.
This could take a 30 round clip,
and they sell for probably like 150.
And this one,
this is a beautiful gun.
This is a Colt .45.
This going for $1,000 easy.
Real easy.
This is one of the best three guns,
this is a Glock 19.
This a custom top on it right here,
it’s a sharp metal.
It's nice.
This going for probably like $1,000.
This is a Mac 90, fully auto.
It’s like a new version of a Uzi gun.
This the unexpected. You come in a house
and take everybody out,
nobody ain’t gonna hear shit.
This one… I pay 1700 for this one.
It’s like a pet.
You fall in love with your pet.
There’s a young boy
from Indiana, man,
he keep me right,
all the latest and hottest shit.
G Money sources his guns from Indiana
because the gun laws there
are less strict.
He smuggles them across state lines
into Illinois,
eventually to Chicago
where he can double or even triple
his investment.
People want real guns
that do real damage.
This the AK right here.
This an AK-47 right here.
This go for about 1500.
They really don’t jam. It keep going.
I got some more shit for you.
I just thought about it.
I got something that you like.
This right here,
This...
This right here,
this is the Tommy gun.
These have been around Chicago for years.
That’s the gun they used to hang off
the side of old ass cars with.
It’s beautiful.
This one right here going for probably
about like 2500 on the street.
You ain’t gonna find too many of these.
G Money's stash of guns could net him
over $10,000 on the black market.
This going for about like 2500.
This the best fucking handgun you can get
on the streets right now.
Fucking F&N.
This is the gun of all guns.
Outshoot all them fuckers with this.
Look at shells in there,
these hollow tips, wood tips.
Fucking cop killers.
Given the nature
and the environment that we're working in,
we carry guns to protect ourselves,
the gang members carry guns
to protect themselves,
themselves and their product.
Joe Scofield and his unit
are patrolling Cicero Avenue
on the city’s Westside.
With Memorial Day approaching,
they’re on high alert
for cars carrying firearms.
We’re trying to put as many
bad guys away as possible
and get as many guns
off the street as we can.
We kind of have a running saying
in the unit:
"Each gun recovered is a life saved."
All right, so he’s got
a cracked windshield.
He crossed two lanes, he’s seen us,
we call that the guilty right,
they wanna get out of our view
as soon as possible.
We’re gonna stop this car.
He might run.
What’s up, buddy, how you doing?
Everything good tonight?
You have a driver’s license
and insurance?
Joe smells marijuana.
All right, step out,
I’ll explain in just a minute, okay?
We’ll talk. Cannabis.
You either just got done smoking
or you’re still holding it.
Ain't nobody got hurt,
no reason to make this
worse than it’s gotta be.
You guys smoking earlier today?
- I don't smoke.
- How about your buddy?
I don't know, man.
So he got a bag of weed on him?
All right. That’s why you’re out the car.
Now we’re on the same page, right?
Routine traffic stops allow the police
to check for more serious offenses.
We approach every vehicle as if
there’s a firearm insidethe vehicle.
We’ll find firearms
in the speaker compartment here.
This is loose. There’s no other reason
for that to be loose.
Marissa runs the passenger's ID
and finds a warrant for his arrest.
Joe's unit is working over a wide area.
- How many people in this car?
- Four.
Can you come talk to me out here?
Keep your hands up.
Hey, cuff this guy. Turn around.
They find an illegal firearm.
Turn around, I’m gonna cuff you real fast.
I’m gonna put two cuffs on you.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used
against you in a court of law.
You have a right to have an attorney
present while you’re being questioned.
If you cannot afford an attorney,
one will be appointed to you
before any questioning is conducted.
Do you understand these rights?
You've been Mirandized.
Yes, sir.
That's one gun that won't be around
for the holiday weekend.
We gotta do something
about the guns coming in.
I have no clue how they’re getting
these guns in that easy.
Big Will is on his way
to another shooting on the Westside.
They call it "Chiraq" because we’ve had
more people murdered
than people killed in Iraq war.
That’s why they call it "Chiraq".
And that’s not a label
we should be proud of.
I mean I’m not… I don’t know…
I’m not proud of it, you know.
Being the murder capital of the world,
I mean that’s crazy.
But we gotta stop glorifying that stuff,
you know, the lifestyle.
Gang banging, selling drugs,
that’s not a great lifestyle.
And a lot of these kids, they don’t care.
That’s all they know.
They don’t know nothing else.
18 year old got shot
and killed today in the backyard.
It’s sad, man.
I see something like this,
it's happening too much.
Fighting over the drugs, over the money
or they’re so high on the drugs,
they become violent.
- It's my nephew.
- He's dead.
And I talked to him a week ago.
I told him, I called him a bum,
that’s a nickname
between him and us
and I said:
“Baby, you need to call me.
I need to hear from you."
You want to make sure they’re okay.
- I promise you, I get it, I’m a mom.
- Are you?
I am a mom. And I have a 19 year old.
So I feel your pain.
I would never expect to say,
I’m gonna lose one of my babies.
Us standing right here now,
it’s very dangerous.
The other gang could come in,
shoot the block up. They don't care
who’s on the block,
kids, women, they don’t care no more.
Unfortunately,
in the area that we’re in, with
the Memorial season coming,
this is an every day occurrence.
JD and Low have taken
delivery of another 8 ball of crack
ready for the Memorial Day rush.
We don’t wanna get
in the middle of the wars,
but you can’t let that stop you on doing
what you’re doing to get your money.
You gotta keep striving
and pushing for what you need
and what you gotta do out here
to feed yourself and your family, man.
That’s what it is, but we’ve gotta
keep watching all the time,
24/7 'cause people break
in the house and home invade it.
So we gotta be ready.
You’ll never know
when they’re gonna come.
Across the Westside, a hush falls
in anticipation of the holiday weekend.
Crack around here,
where we’re from, that’s for suremoney.
I know it’s gonna sell every day.
I had a job before
and I felt like I was getting cheated.
I started selling crack
'cause I made that paycheck they were
giving me on one phone call sometimes.
This is about $400 worth
and I spent about 120 on it.
So that’s like a 300
something dollar profit.
Connor and AJ are pitching
a new product to partygoers.
Molly.
On Memorial Day weekend,
when the family time over with,
it’s time to shake that ass,
go to the clubs,
people gonna need them pills.
My Molly over the weekend, it sells out.
I get it in quantity and then I break it
down and put it into capsules.
It give you a good high.
You ready to turn up, to party,
you know, ready to have fun.
My left...
this would be $10.
And this one on my right will be 15 bucks.
I get it for 200 and I can make about...
650, 680 off of it,
something like that.
The profits are high,
but so are the risks.
Yeah, we Gangster Disciples,
you know what I'm saying?
But as far as unity with the gangs,
it don’t exist like that.
Other gangs want to fuck me up,
jump on me, pop me, shoot me, whatever.
But, if you from here, you’re not scared
because you’d have been through it
so much it’s like...
This shit’s not scary,
you know what’s going on, so...
No, it ain’t scary, but...
as far as the police
breaking in here,
as far as niggas running in here,
that’s what we got guns for.
You know what I’m saying, niggas?
How we got this shit set up,
we’ll be able to know if a motherfucker
coming in this bitch anyway, you know?
With rival gangs targeting them,
the Disciples are not taking any chances.
The feeling of having
a gun is like power.
Nobody can fuck with you,
nobody can say shit to you.
Nobody can disrespect you,
you know? You have control.
This is actually a 12 gauge rifle.
This for close range shit.
Buck shots come out this bitch so…
So if I shoot you and there’s a couple
of people around you,
might hit two, three people
with one bullet. Know what I'm saying?
It got a hard kick in. You gotta be
prepared when you shoot it.
Got to be real prepared
'cause it’s gonna blow real hard.
Another thing about the gun is,
you don’t wanna touch the shells.
When you enter the clip, the shell cases
are gonna be left at the crime scene,
so when the police do
come and pick ‘em up,
you don’t want your fingerprints
on the shells.
At night time is harder
to make out the cars that’s coming.
You’ve gotta have your eyes open and
they can come out a dark alley shooting.
They move with the shadows.
You gotta be on point
or else you could get got
or you could be dead.
To me making it to 25
is a blessing.
A lot of my friends
ain’t get to see 25.
a few blocks away,
there’s been another shooting.
Do not come in the crime scene.
Do you understand me?
They emptied the entire gun out,
right over here.
Inside or in the house.
What's the fucking problem?
You’re all fucking bullshit,
I promise you.
They’re all bullshit, man! I promise you,
they’re all fucking bullshit.
They don’t give no fuck!
We were standing out here
having a conversation, I was talking
with some friends and family,
some person came through shooting.
I’m tired of this shit, man.
Three people got shot.
My fucking cousin, man.
It’s Memorial Day weekend.
75 degrees, the weather is perfect.
We’re on the Westside of Chicago.
There’ll be a lot of barbecues,
a lot of dealers, gang members,
lots of street activity.
This year, in a bid to keep order,
1300 extra police have been deployed
in a show of force.
Your behavior’s gonna dictate whether
you go to jail or not, so I’d be cool.
You don’t smoke cannabis
but the car smells like cannabis.
Help me understand.
Drug crimes on the Westside
are already on the rise.
He’s selling Xanax.
They call these bars, Z-bars, Xanies.
They go anywhere from 5 to $15 a pill,
depends on where you get it from.
Those are used much like heroin,
it’s a downer,
puts ‘em in kind of a dopey state,
give you the similar high to heroin,
not as euphoric,
but gives them that real relaxed state,
without the sickness and
without the heavy addiction.
Although these are addicting.
You should probably
go to hospital.
Call an ambulance.
Take it easy, all right?
Take it easy.
Before we were able
to get him out of the car,
he swallowed
the narcotics that he was selling.
Gregory, what did you swallow?
Didn’t swallow nothing.
When caught, dealers often swallow
their drugs to get rid of the evidence.
The fact he’s getting sick.
We’re calling an ambulance right now.
We stopped ‘em and saw
what appeared to be a hand-to-hand.
Then he started...
All this shit coming out of his mouth.
- What did he take?
- I don't know.
He said he didn’t swallow anything,
he’s having anxiety,
but it looks like he swallowed
whatever he had.
- But he’s not telling us.
- Where is he?
Right there. He’s got all this crap
coming out of his mouth.
I want to see your eyes, okay?
It's very important to talk to me
and give me information.
It was noted that
you possibly took some medicine
and put it in your mouth.
I don't want you to get hurt.
You could get really sick or hurt.
- I'm okay.
- Let me check your pulse.
He could overdose and die.
It could burn up your stomach lining.
We’ll take him to hospital and give him...
It’s basically a potion, a syrup
that’ll dissolve everything in his system
and hopefully...
Hopefully...
he’ll have a decent recovery here.
Do you wanna go to the hospital,
get checked out?
I’m straight. I didn't take nothing.
You don’t think you need
to be checked out?
- I'm perfectly fine.
- Okay.
With no evidence,
the man was released without charge.
That’s what we do, all day, all night.
Just keep knocking ‘em down,
making those investigative stops.
With police all over the hood,
JD and Low stay off the streets...
and deal direct from their stash house.
It’s a dog eat dog world,
so we staying out of harm’s way.
We don’t have to be out
in the jungle standing on the curb,
we can sit here and answer the door.
The rest of their crack
is hidden in the basement.
You don’t wanna carry everything
that you got on you at once.
That’s just stupid, you know.
So you just wanna keep
a little bit at a time on you,
and if they need some more,
you gonna get some more.
- Hello?
- Hello?
Hey J, it’s Teresa.
Can I get a dub out of you?
All right, come to the back.
- All right, I’m there now.
- All right.
Get the door G.
What's up?
- Can I get a dud? It’s all I got.
- Yeah, come on.
- Is it okay if I take a hit here?
- Yeah, it's fine.
Teresa is a transgender prostitute.
And a crack addict.
I'm 50 years old and I've been doing
crack cocaine since I was 25.
My first time someone introduced me to it,
it knocked me off my feet.
Working the streets is scary.
And I’ve been robbed, I’ve been raped.
And crack cocaine
makes me feel good.
It’s killing you on the inside.
That’s what it’s truly doing to you.
And it’s worth every penny you pay.
What?
Having taken Teresa’s money,
the dealers want her out.
I’m letting you out the house.
I am too high right now to do all of it.
- This ain't no lounge.
- I get that.
Police come and see
that paraphernalia on the counter,
I’m off, I’m going to jail.
Hell, it’s dark out here.
I can't even see.
I appreciate it, babe.
- All right, peeps, come back.
- Bye-bye.
If something ever happen to her
and I heard that she died...
Some people choose their own fate.
I seeing what it do to other people,
you know what I mean?
I get aunties and people that’s out there
that’s on drugs bad, you know?
They deteriorate ‘em,
inside out, you know.
They rotting from the inside out.
They lose the weight,
they not eating consistently,
that’s what they chose to do.
People grown.
You can’t tell them not to do drugs.
Simple as that. Just cannot tell them
not to do drugs, you know.
And if they do it,
I wanna make sure they come to me
instead of somebody else.
It's catch 22.
To get out of the game,
JD and Low need to capitalize
on the Memorial Day rush.
But the more customers,
the higher the risk they’ll get caught.
Or killed.
We have three people shot here.
Two were transported to an area hospital.
Another person is dead.
I live right there, bro.
15-22, bro.
Would you please let me go?
I live right there, 15-22, bro.
That was my little brother
who just got shot, man.
Were you with him?
What do you mean, was I with him? No!
I just got here, I left the hospital.
I just came from a Memorial Day barbecue,
and now my fucking
little brother gets shot in the face!
Can I go to my home, Sarge?
- For real, Sarge. You know that's my home?
- Relax.
I will let you go home, just relax.
What do you mean?
Ain’t no relaxing right now, Sarge.
That shit crazy as hell,
I ain’t gonna relax.
I ain't gonna relax!
I go to work. I work, Sarge.
That’s my little brother, Sarge.
Shooting after shooting after shooting.
12.36am,
person shot.
1.10 am,
just a half an hour later,
we had another person shot.
With another half hour going by,
we had another shooting that left
a man in his 20's shot.
The list continues on and on.
But the drug trade never sleeps,
and neither can the police.
- Oh, he’s scared.
- Yes.
Something’s freaking him out.
We’re pretty well hidden, though.
Joe's unit are meeting an informant
who's just left the crack house.
Go on the other side. Other side.
He's freaked.
To calm his nerves,
the police drive him
to another location.
There’s a guy, he’s selling drugs.
He’s got a pistol in his hand.
I seen the pistol, I was like, whoa!
I just ran the fuck away.
Remember, I told you, whenever I see
a pistol, I will call you.
I just seen that motherfucker
with my own eyes.
- It’s a house or apartment?
- It's a house.
- On the corner?
- Yeah.
- What’s he wearing?
- Got a black hoodie on.
- Black hoodie?
- Yeah.
- Young kid or old kid?
- No, young kid.
- Fat or...
- Slim.
It’s this house right here,
the first house right there.
Joe's unit head back to the crack house.
This informant’s credible,
he’s been positive with just about every
bit of information he’s ever given us.
My gut tells me that there’s narcotics...
and quite possibly firearms.
JD and Low have sold
nearly all their crack.
Time keeps ticking.
Things don't stop.
Probably made more
than I ever made out there.
Joe's unit have arrived at the address
the informant gave them.
And they send the CI back in
to buy some crack as evidence.
We’re set up southbound Latrobe.
Got one walking northbound,
but he looks like a buyer.
All right, CI’s on the approach.
So he’s made it to the house.
[Joseph[ There’s activity at the house.
You got the same
three or four walking around.
He’s a lookout. He’s got his phone.
When they walk the block like that
in circles with their phone,
it’s basically their communication
with the spot.
If the spotters catch on to the cops,
they'll realize the informant's a snitch.
Blood will be spilled.
CI’s coming back down,
might have been just a quick hand off,
he’s gonna be southbound Latrobe
heading towards you.
It's good.
The car on the south end
has the eyeball,
so the informant was served two $10 bags.
All right, I’m gonna get out of here.
Based on everything we just did,
we will execute a search warrant
at that house, that target location.
By state law, we have 96 hours
to execute a search warrant,
once it’s signed by the judge.
The target is
a convicted felon selling crack cocaine.
The target is gonna be in Latrobe,
city of Chicago, Westside.
We are gonna make a front entry.
How many people are gonna be
in the house is unknown.
All right, we’re moving in.
10-4, we’re on the move.
All right, nice and easy, slice,
nice and easy.
Sheriff's police!
Search warrant!
Sheriff's police! Search warrant!
Get down on the ground!
Go, go, go!
Everybody back! Search warrant!
Turn around! Get back!
Police!
Hey! Let’s see your hands!
Coming up!
It’s all right.
Sit down, relax for a minute.
This is the window
where he serves out of.
That's why the grass is all worn there.
They walk up the gangway,
knock on the window,
get served and walk back.
Can you see anything?
] This money was rolled up
like this behind here.
- Bag of heroin.
- Yeah.
Money.
- Money.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
This dealer is selling
about three different products.
Heroin, Xanax pills,
prescription pills, and marijuana.
The drugs seized at the stash house
were added to the Memorial Day haul.
Every unit within every department
within every municipality,
city and county-wide,
has experienced
exactly what you see on this table.
This represents a lot of death,
a lot of tragedy,
a lot of...
A lot of work to do.
As long as they're out there
doing what they're doing,
we're going to be out there
doing what we're doing.
A lot of people got shot and killed
Memorial Day weekend.
But we’re still here, we’re standing.
He ain’t got no bullet wounds.
I don’t either. We straight,
so we gonna keep it like that.
I love where I’m from because it made me
who I am today, of course, but...
there’s too much killing here, I wanna
show my nephew something different.
Now we got the money
so we can get out the neighborhood,
open other doors,
take that opportunities.
Hopefully I can get
out of the drug game... forever.
MKT, bitch!
- Stay with us!
- Come on!
Come on, please!
The shooter is still at large.
My motherfuckin' brother
is shot in the face.
This shit killing and robbing
motherfuckers is an addiction.
These are each individual kilograms
of cocaine.
This would run you
20 to $25,000 on the street.
But drug dealers can almost
quadruple the value
to...
upwards of $100,000,
when they make it crack cocaine.
So you're upwards of a million dollars
in that cardboard box.
That is what is driving the violence.
Memorial Day would be
an increase in sales.
That presents an opportunity
for rival drug dealers
to target their competitors.
There's probably close to 600 handguns
in this room here.
For every gun we get off the street,
there's 100 more
that we're still looking for.
This represents
the violence that we're confronting
on a daily basis.
And it represents the drug game
because firearms and narcotics
are one in the same.
It does scare me that
the bad guys can get their hands
on this,
but to work the street
and to move around the area
with this in the back your mind,
is counterproductive.
Somebody has to be in the middle.
We're tasked with that.
We took that oath. We understand what
we're getting ourselves into every day.
Is it dangerous? Absolutely.
I leave the house every day
knowing I may not come home.
But the drug game doesn't take a holiday
and we're doing everything we can
to stay ahead of it.
There's one area of Chicago
that's notorious for poverty,
drugs and violence.
Where even the cops fear to tread.
It's known as the Westside.
The dealers here are already preparing
for the Memorial Day rush.
That's good cocaine.
You see how it’s shiny, like fish scales.
When I see that,
that makes me happy.
Slim runs a local drug gang.
I'm a boss. My team is full of CEOs.
I answer to no one.
I'm not kicking it with the middle man
or the low man,
I’m kicking it with niggas
that’s doing this shit.
I'm mixing it with baking soda,
because it creates a chemical reaction
and that's why it turns into crack.
I got this little pot right here,
I'm not doing it no big Pyrex.
Put in a little water.
Then I'm gonna get it hot.
And we're gonna melt it down.
I want all the cocaine rocks
to buzz down and it slowly mixes in
with the baking soda.
The coldness of this popsicle
is going to make this easy for me
to whip, and we just going to stir
until it cools down.
See how it's changing?
They call that "lock up".
I'm gonna put this out.
It's going to be the best crack
in Chicago.
That'll be $10 right there.
No doubt about it.
You're gonna get high off that.
Okay?
When they hit that shit, man,
it's euphoria.
The cleaner it is, the better it is,
they come right back.
By the end of the night,
depending on how much money they got
and how thirsty they are,
this can give me $1,000.
We’re damn near more
expensive than gold right now.
This is better than US currency!
Once the crack is cooked up,
the street dealers take over.
This is like...
9 grams right here. Costs like 500.
We're going to try to make
8 to 900 off of it.
JD and Low have just picked up
more product.
I wouldn’t say I was born into this,
it just happened from
the environment you live in.
We ain't grew up in Beverly Hills.
That's what we do.
You adapt to what's around you every day.
That's my nephew right here.
He’s putting together
a little 50 right here.
Everybody trying to get money
and opportunity, I’m sure you know.
I gotta bring food to the table
somewhere, man.
You feel me?
That’s the way I gotta get it out here.
I’m trying to double up for Memorial Day,
so I’ll get the money
to get out the neighborhood
and create better jobs,
you know, legitimate jobs.
Both want to make enough money over
Memorial weekend to get out of the game.
So we definitely need
to make like 8 to 9 G.
You know what I mean?
Then after that, we gonna be gone.
My homie just got killed a few days ago,
we gotta bury him Saturday.
It’s a death 2, 3 times
a month now, you know what I mean?
It’s painful, that you're not even over
the first death and another one happens,
and it’s consistent.
I feel horrible
when I go to the funerals, man.
People up I see in the caskets,
some people I’ve been with all my life.
It’ll take a toll on you, man.
But we gotta let it go,
but man, it’s hard
to let that hurt go sometimes.
It’s terrible outside,
everybody’s hurting everybody.
We live in it, every morning,
it’s just a swamp, it’s a zoo.
Every day you come outside
and you worry about,
is this your last day coming home?
But for the time being, I’m hustling.
I appreciate you man.
We got 14 grams, man.
That shit's hitting hard.
CI yesterday gave us information,
supposedly they deal in this alley here.
The main thing is, he did say
the one guy did have a gun.
Joe and his team are preparing
to bust two crack dealers.
When we decide to move,
it's going to be all timing.
They do run,
what’s huge is for containment.
It’s a box operation,
you know how this goes.
We don’t want
a friendly fire scenario, okay?
So if it is a flush,
call it on the air.
They’re running west, or south.
Be deliberate with your directions,
where they’re running.
Call out those descriptions.
If you see a firearm
like a couple of weeks ago,
weapon displayed,
box in the property.
- You guys good?
- Yeah.
Let's saddle up.
This is the Westside of Chicago,
Austin Harrison District.
Heavy gang activity, heavy drug activity.
A lot of open air drug markets,
every walk of life.
Our informant has made
several buys at this location.
The individual selling narcotics
may be gang-related.
If we apprehend the subject,
we talk to them
and see who the next big fish is.
Who’s a little bit higher than him.
And who’s a little bit higher than them.
Try to get to where the true problem is,
where they're getting their drugs.
We got people here,
who don’t have good jobs,
don’t have jobs at all, don't work.
And they could come out here
and make 500, $1,000 a day or more.
So they choose the easy route.
There’s about one, two, three…
Three gentlemen.
They are selling narcotics.
Yeah, we'll move in.
He's going westbound.
Westbound, westbound!
Go, go, go!
One went this way, one, that way,
which one?
Okay. We’ll do...
Stand by, stand by.
Oh no, go. Wait.
Where they go?
- See them?
- No.
Here! They're down there!
They ran that way.
They're inside.
Here, scoot down. You got it?
Right there. Going in.
Put your hands behind your back.
Put your hands behind your back!
Let's see.
I smell a little marijuana on you,
so if you’ve got it,
- I suggest you give it to me.
- I ain't doin' no hustling.
I promise to God. I rumble by, bro…
I ain’t doing no hustling, bro.
Guys, guys. Enough.
Be quiet right now.
You’re on video tape,
be quiet, stop talking.
Not gonna tell you again.
One’s gonna go to jail
for an active warrant.
He has an arrest warrant in another county
for obstructing a peace officer.
Ain’t the first time
he ran from the police.
Relax, dude.
Right now we’re just doing
a canvas looking for...
if they threw a firearm,
we don’t want no kids picking up the gun.
Today, we made 250.
If I could just make $500 today,
I’d be happy.
You just gotta be careful.
We take a risk coming outside every day.
Being out on these streets
is very dangerous, man.
Every day you gotta watch out
for the rival gangs trying to shoot.
They catch your ass out that late,
they gonna fire your ass up.
When you got crack, we’re the ones
that you need to be worried about.
GDs, that’s us, man.
Know what I’m saying?
Gangster Disciples. Most hated.
Every jail, every block,
everybody scared of us.
The Gangster Disciples are
the biggest street gang in Chicago.
With their original leaders
dead or in prison,
the gang is fragmented
into small violent cliques.
We’re a stick up crew, we don’t
give a fuck about selling drugs,
we’re gonna let a nigga sell his drugs
and rob him when he done.
And if we gotta kill to get it,
that’s what’s gonna happen.
This is not a movie.
You can’t shoot a gun like this.
Just like when you aim,
it line up all the way to your shoulder,
you can’t miss, you got you a clean shot.
When I shoot, I’m in a pure action mode.
I’m in pure kill mode.
I ain’t got no feelings, no remorse
for none who get hit, none of that shit.
They’ve been gathering intel
on local dealers.
You gotta know how to stalk your prey.
You can’t just run up
on somebody in broad daylight
and kill ‘em unless you want 100 years.
You gotta find out how he move,
how much shit he got,
where he be at.
You got one of these,
you can do whatever you want.
Get whatever you want.
Whatever you desire.
Attracted by the lure of the streets,
gangbangers on the Westside start young.
I’ve been in the streets
since I was about 11. I was in Juvenile
when I was in sixth grade. Armed robbery.
I was brought up with good parents,
I ain’t gonna never lie
and say I wasn’t.
But when I got to these streets
and I got that fast money,
the love of that fast money,
it draws you to this.
People wanna have fancy cars
and a lot of bitches and drugs
and money and flash guns. It’s adrenaline.
This street shit killing motherfuckers and
robbing motherfuckers is an addiction.
I'm going to get over there.
Yeah, we're available. Heading over there.
Going on the outside.
- Get over there.
- Ten-four.
Shootings,
...crashes, fires.
I cover everything.
Pauley Lapointe is cruising the Westside
hoping to catch a story
he can sell to local news.
I've got these different radios going
providing different information,
potential leads on a story.
I just have to wrangle it all in
and make it work.
Like orchestrating a symphony.
I’ve been born and raised
in the Chicago area my whole life.
I love the city. From a news perspective,
as a news person,
since I’ve been a child,
I’ve always wanted to be a part of news,
to tell the story of my community.
Whatever the story is.
I believe that
there’s a story to every shooting.
Some people will...
try to say, it’s no big deal,
it’s just a gang banger.
And it’s not true.
It’s a real human being, it’s a real life.
This part of the Westside, drugs are
a multi-billion dollar business.
You better a car over there.
Any available in the area.
Another person shot.
A person shot.
He intercepts his first call.
This is going to be a gang-related.
And it's right in the heart
of the Westside.
You have to be hyper aware
when you’re at the scene,
there’s still bad guys running around
with guns, who wanna shoot people.
They don’t care about shooting you, me
and the cops and everybody in-between.
And for your Saturday night, you have
crime scene tape right next to a school.
That's how Chicago sets itself apart.
Doesn’t matter where it is, or who it is,
it just happens.
They emptied the entire gun out
right over here.
So you can see all the markers.
See all those? Those are all markers.
Those are all markers
for shell casings, spread from...
30 feet, going on 30, 40 feet.
So it’s not just one little spot,
these bullets went across this whole area,
so the gunman came here
and started to pop, pop, pop.
Four houses that potentially people could
have been shot inside the home
with a bullet flying into the house
or hitting someone. Two people were shot.
They were over here on the front lawn.
You can see how quickly
this situation could change
for the people that are just trying
to live their life here.
They pulled over 8,000 weapons
off the streets of Chicago last year.
They've already confiscated
thousands of guns again this year.
But the bad guys seem
to find a way to always get a gun
in the city of Chicago.
A lot of fucking murders on the street.
That’s why dealers is buying guns.
I really don’t deal
with too many type of cheap guns,
'cause you know,
people really don’t want ‘em.
Some people talking about how they need
something to protect their self.
They might get a little nine or something.
This is a little 13 shot nine.
This could take a 30 round clip,
and they sell for probably like 150.
And this one,
this is a beautiful gun.
This is a Colt .45.
This going for $1,000 easy.
Real easy.
This is one of the best three guns,
this is a Glock 19.
This a custom top on it right here,
it’s a sharp metal.
It's nice.
This going for probably like $1,000.
This is a Mac 90, fully auto.
It’s like a new version of a Uzi gun.
This the unexpected. You come in a house
and take everybody out,
nobody ain’t gonna hear shit.
This one… I pay 1700 for this one.
It’s like a pet.
You fall in love with your pet.
There’s a young boy
from Indiana, man,
he keep me right,
all the latest and hottest shit.
G Money sources his guns from Indiana
because the gun laws there
are less strict.
He smuggles them across state lines
into Illinois,
eventually to Chicago
where he can double or even triple
his investment.
People want real guns
that do real damage.
This the AK right here.
This an AK-47 right here.
This go for about 1500.
They really don’t jam. It keep going.
I got some more shit for you.
I just thought about it.
I got something that you like.
This right here,
This...
This right here,
this is the Tommy gun.
These have been around Chicago for years.
That’s the gun they used to hang off
the side of old ass cars with.
It’s beautiful.
This one right here going for probably
about like 2500 on the street.
You ain’t gonna find too many of these.
G Money's stash of guns could net him
over $10,000 on the black market.
This going for about like 2500.
This the best fucking handgun you can get
on the streets right now.
Fucking F&N.
This is the gun of all guns.
Outshoot all them fuckers with this.
Look at shells in there,
these hollow tips, wood tips.
Fucking cop killers.
Given the nature
and the environment that we're working in,
we carry guns to protect ourselves,
the gang members carry guns
to protect themselves,
themselves and their product.
Joe Scofield and his unit
are patrolling Cicero Avenue
on the city’s Westside.
With Memorial Day approaching,
they’re on high alert
for cars carrying firearms.
We’re trying to put as many
bad guys away as possible
and get as many guns
off the street as we can.
We kind of have a running saying
in the unit:
"Each gun recovered is a life saved."
All right, so he’s got
a cracked windshield.
He crossed two lanes, he’s seen us,
we call that the guilty right,
they wanna get out of our view
as soon as possible.
We’re gonna stop this car.
He might run.
What’s up, buddy, how you doing?
Everything good tonight?
You have a driver’s license
and insurance?
Joe smells marijuana.
All right, step out,
I’ll explain in just a minute, okay?
We’ll talk. Cannabis.
You either just got done smoking
or you’re still holding it.
Ain't nobody got hurt,
no reason to make this
worse than it’s gotta be.
You guys smoking earlier today?
- I don't smoke.
- How about your buddy?
I don't know, man.
So he got a bag of weed on him?
All right. That’s why you’re out the car.
Now we’re on the same page, right?
Routine traffic stops allow the police
to check for more serious offenses.
We approach every vehicle as if
there’s a firearm insidethe vehicle.
We’ll find firearms
in the speaker compartment here.
This is loose. There’s no other reason
for that to be loose.
Marissa runs the passenger's ID
and finds a warrant for his arrest.
Joe's unit is working over a wide area.
- How many people in this car?
- Four.
Can you come talk to me out here?
Keep your hands up.
Hey, cuff this guy. Turn around.
They find an illegal firearm.
Turn around, I’m gonna cuff you real fast.
I’m gonna put two cuffs on you.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used
against you in a court of law.
You have a right to have an attorney
present while you’re being questioned.
If you cannot afford an attorney,
one will be appointed to you
before any questioning is conducted.
Do you understand these rights?
You've been Mirandized.
Yes, sir.
That's one gun that won't be around
for the holiday weekend.
We gotta do something
about the guns coming in.
I have no clue how they’re getting
these guns in that easy.
Big Will is on his way
to another shooting on the Westside.
They call it "Chiraq" because we’ve had
more people murdered
than people killed in Iraq war.
That’s why they call it "Chiraq".
And that’s not a label
we should be proud of.
I mean I’m not… I don’t know…
I’m not proud of it, you know.
Being the murder capital of the world,
I mean that’s crazy.
But we gotta stop glorifying that stuff,
you know, the lifestyle.
Gang banging, selling drugs,
that’s not a great lifestyle.
And a lot of these kids, they don’t care.
That’s all they know.
They don’t know nothing else.
18 year old got shot
and killed today in the backyard.
It’s sad, man.
I see something like this,
it's happening too much.
Fighting over the drugs, over the money
or they’re so high on the drugs,
they become violent.
- It's my nephew.
- He's dead.
And I talked to him a week ago.
I told him, I called him a bum,
that’s a nickname
between him and us
and I said:
“Baby, you need to call me.
I need to hear from you."
You want to make sure they’re okay.
- I promise you, I get it, I’m a mom.
- Are you?
I am a mom. And I have a 19 year old.
So I feel your pain.
I would never expect to say,
I’m gonna lose one of my babies.
Us standing right here now,
it’s very dangerous.
The other gang could come in,
shoot the block up. They don't care
who’s on the block,
kids, women, they don’t care no more.
Unfortunately,
in the area that we’re in, with
the Memorial season coming,
this is an every day occurrence.
JD and Low have taken
delivery of another 8 ball of crack
ready for the Memorial Day rush.
We don’t wanna get
in the middle of the wars,
but you can’t let that stop you on doing
what you’re doing to get your money.
You gotta keep striving
and pushing for what you need
and what you gotta do out here
to feed yourself and your family, man.
That’s what it is, but we’ve gotta
keep watching all the time,
24/7 'cause people break
in the house and home invade it.
So we gotta be ready.
You’ll never know
when they’re gonna come.
Across the Westside, a hush falls
in anticipation of the holiday weekend.
Crack around here,
where we’re from, that’s for suremoney.
I know it’s gonna sell every day.
I had a job before
and I felt like I was getting cheated.
I started selling crack
'cause I made that paycheck they were
giving me on one phone call sometimes.
This is about $400 worth
and I spent about 120 on it.
So that’s like a 300
something dollar profit.
Connor and AJ are pitching
a new product to partygoers.
Molly.
On Memorial Day weekend,
when the family time over with,
it’s time to shake that ass,
go to the clubs,
people gonna need them pills.
My Molly over the weekend, it sells out.
I get it in quantity and then I break it
down and put it into capsules.
It give you a good high.
You ready to turn up, to party,
you know, ready to have fun.
My left...
this would be $10.
And this one on my right will be 15 bucks.
I get it for 200 and I can make about...
650, 680 off of it,
something like that.
The profits are high,
but so are the risks.
Yeah, we Gangster Disciples,
you know what I'm saying?
But as far as unity with the gangs,
it don’t exist like that.
Other gangs want to fuck me up,
jump on me, pop me, shoot me, whatever.
But, if you from here, you’re not scared
because you’d have been through it
so much it’s like...
This shit’s not scary,
you know what’s going on, so...
No, it ain’t scary, but...
as far as the police
breaking in here,
as far as niggas running in here,
that’s what we got guns for.
You know what I’m saying, niggas?
How we got this shit set up,
we’ll be able to know if a motherfucker
coming in this bitch anyway, you know?
With rival gangs targeting them,
the Disciples are not taking any chances.
The feeling of having
a gun is like power.
Nobody can fuck with you,
nobody can say shit to you.
Nobody can disrespect you,
you know? You have control.
This is actually a 12 gauge rifle.
This for close range shit.
Buck shots come out this bitch so…
So if I shoot you and there’s a couple
of people around you,
might hit two, three people
with one bullet. Know what I'm saying?
It got a hard kick in. You gotta be
prepared when you shoot it.
Got to be real prepared
'cause it’s gonna blow real hard.
Another thing about the gun is,
you don’t wanna touch the shells.
When you enter the clip, the shell cases
are gonna be left at the crime scene,
so when the police do
come and pick ‘em up,
you don’t want your fingerprints
on the shells.
At night time is harder
to make out the cars that’s coming.
You’ve gotta have your eyes open and
they can come out a dark alley shooting.
They move with the shadows.
You gotta be on point
or else you could get got
or you could be dead.
To me making it to 25
is a blessing.
A lot of my friends
ain’t get to see 25.
a few blocks away,
there’s been another shooting.
Do not come in the crime scene.
Do you understand me?
They emptied the entire gun out,
right over here.
Inside or in the house.
What's the fucking problem?
You’re all fucking bullshit,
I promise you.
They’re all bullshit, man! I promise you,
they’re all fucking bullshit.
They don’t give no fuck!
We were standing out here
having a conversation, I was talking
with some friends and family,
some person came through shooting.
I’m tired of this shit, man.
Three people got shot.
My fucking cousin, man.
It’s Memorial Day weekend.
75 degrees, the weather is perfect.
We’re on the Westside of Chicago.
There’ll be a lot of barbecues,
a lot of dealers, gang members,
lots of street activity.
This year, in a bid to keep order,
1300 extra police have been deployed
in a show of force.
Your behavior’s gonna dictate whether
you go to jail or not, so I’d be cool.
You don’t smoke cannabis
but the car smells like cannabis.
Help me understand.
Drug crimes on the Westside
are already on the rise.
He’s selling Xanax.
They call these bars, Z-bars, Xanies.
They go anywhere from 5 to $15 a pill,
depends on where you get it from.
Those are used much like heroin,
it’s a downer,
puts ‘em in kind of a dopey state,
give you the similar high to heroin,
not as euphoric,
but gives them that real relaxed state,
without the sickness and
without the heavy addiction.
Although these are addicting.
You should probably
go to hospital.
Call an ambulance.
Take it easy, all right?
Take it easy.
Before we were able
to get him out of the car,
he swallowed
the narcotics that he was selling.
Gregory, what did you swallow?
Didn’t swallow nothing.
When caught, dealers often swallow
their drugs to get rid of the evidence.
The fact he’s getting sick.
We’re calling an ambulance right now.
We stopped ‘em and saw
what appeared to be a hand-to-hand.
Then he started...
All this shit coming out of his mouth.
- What did he take?
- I don't know.
He said he didn’t swallow anything,
he’s having anxiety,
but it looks like he swallowed
whatever he had.
- But he’s not telling us.
- Where is he?
Right there. He’s got all this crap
coming out of his mouth.
I want to see your eyes, okay?
It's very important to talk to me
and give me information.
It was noted that
you possibly took some medicine
and put it in your mouth.
I don't want you to get hurt.
You could get really sick or hurt.
- I'm okay.
- Let me check your pulse.
He could overdose and die.
It could burn up your stomach lining.
We’ll take him to hospital and give him...
It’s basically a potion, a syrup
that’ll dissolve everything in his system
and hopefully...
Hopefully...
he’ll have a decent recovery here.
Do you wanna go to the hospital,
get checked out?
I’m straight. I didn't take nothing.
You don’t think you need
to be checked out?
- I'm perfectly fine.
- Okay.
With no evidence,
the man was released without charge.
That’s what we do, all day, all night.
Just keep knocking ‘em down,
making those investigative stops.
With police all over the hood,
JD and Low stay off the streets...
and deal direct from their stash house.
It’s a dog eat dog world,
so we staying out of harm’s way.
We don’t have to be out
in the jungle standing on the curb,
we can sit here and answer the door.
The rest of their crack
is hidden in the basement.
You don’t wanna carry everything
that you got on you at once.
That’s just stupid, you know.
So you just wanna keep
a little bit at a time on you,
and if they need some more,
you gonna get some more.
- Hello?
- Hello?
Hey J, it’s Teresa.
Can I get a dub out of you?
All right, come to the back.
- All right, I’m there now.
- All right.
Get the door G.
What's up?
- Can I get a dud? It’s all I got.
- Yeah, come on.
- Is it okay if I take a hit here?
- Yeah, it's fine.
Teresa is a transgender prostitute.
And a crack addict.
I'm 50 years old and I've been doing
crack cocaine since I was 25.
My first time someone introduced me to it,
it knocked me off my feet.
Working the streets is scary.
And I’ve been robbed, I’ve been raped.
And crack cocaine
makes me feel good.
It’s killing you on the inside.
That’s what it’s truly doing to you.
And it’s worth every penny you pay.
What?
Having taken Teresa’s money,
the dealers want her out.
I’m letting you out the house.
I am too high right now to do all of it.
- This ain't no lounge.
- I get that.
Police come and see
that paraphernalia on the counter,
I’m off, I’m going to jail.
Hell, it’s dark out here.
I can't even see.
I appreciate it, babe.
- All right, peeps, come back.
- Bye-bye.
If something ever happen to her
and I heard that she died...
Some people choose their own fate.
I seeing what it do to other people,
you know what I mean?
I get aunties and people that’s out there
that’s on drugs bad, you know?
They deteriorate ‘em,
inside out, you know.
They rotting from the inside out.
They lose the weight,
they not eating consistently,
that’s what they chose to do.
People grown.
You can’t tell them not to do drugs.
Simple as that. Just cannot tell them
not to do drugs, you know.
And if they do it,
I wanna make sure they come to me
instead of somebody else.
It's catch 22.
To get out of the game,
JD and Low need to capitalize
on the Memorial Day rush.
But the more customers,
the higher the risk they’ll get caught.
Or killed.
We have three people shot here.
Two were transported to an area hospital.
Another person is dead.
I live right there, bro.
15-22, bro.
Would you please let me go?
I live right there, 15-22, bro.
That was my little brother
who just got shot, man.
Were you with him?
What do you mean, was I with him? No!
I just got here, I left the hospital.
I just came from a Memorial Day barbecue,
and now my fucking
little brother gets shot in the face!
Can I go to my home, Sarge?
- For real, Sarge. You know that's my home?
- Relax.
I will let you go home, just relax.
What do you mean?
Ain’t no relaxing right now, Sarge.
That shit crazy as hell,
I ain’t gonna relax.
I ain't gonna relax!
I go to work. I work, Sarge.
That’s my little brother, Sarge.
Shooting after shooting after shooting.
12.36am,
person shot.
1.10 am,
just a half an hour later,
we had another person shot.
With another half hour going by,
we had another shooting that left
a man in his 20's shot.
The list continues on and on.
But the drug trade never sleeps,
and neither can the police.
- Oh, he’s scared.
- Yes.
Something’s freaking him out.
We’re pretty well hidden, though.
Joe's unit are meeting an informant
who's just left the crack house.
Go on the other side. Other side.
He's freaked.
To calm his nerves,
the police drive him
to another location.
There’s a guy, he’s selling drugs.
He’s got a pistol in his hand.
I seen the pistol, I was like, whoa!
I just ran the fuck away.
Remember, I told you, whenever I see
a pistol, I will call you.
I just seen that motherfucker
with my own eyes.
- It’s a house or apartment?
- It's a house.
- On the corner?
- Yeah.
- What’s he wearing?
- Got a black hoodie on.
- Black hoodie?
- Yeah.
- Young kid or old kid?
- No, young kid.
- Fat or...
- Slim.
It’s this house right here,
the first house right there.
Joe's unit head back to the crack house.
This informant’s credible,
he’s been positive with just about every
bit of information he’s ever given us.
My gut tells me that there’s narcotics...
and quite possibly firearms.
JD and Low have sold
nearly all their crack.
Time keeps ticking.
Things don't stop.
Probably made more
than I ever made out there.
Joe's unit have arrived at the address
the informant gave them.
And they send the CI back in
to buy some crack as evidence.
We’re set up southbound Latrobe.
Got one walking northbound,
but he looks like a buyer.
All right, CI’s on the approach.
So he’s made it to the house.
[Joseph[ There’s activity at the house.
You got the same
three or four walking around.
He’s a lookout. He’s got his phone.
When they walk the block like that
in circles with their phone,
it’s basically their communication
with the spot.
If the spotters catch on to the cops,
they'll realize the informant's a snitch.
Blood will be spilled.
CI’s coming back down,
might have been just a quick hand off,
he’s gonna be southbound Latrobe
heading towards you.
It's good.
The car on the south end
has the eyeball,
so the informant was served two $10 bags.
All right, I’m gonna get out of here.
Based on everything we just did,
we will execute a search warrant
at that house, that target location.
By state law, we have 96 hours
to execute a search warrant,
once it’s signed by the judge.
The target is
a convicted felon selling crack cocaine.
The target is gonna be in Latrobe,
city of Chicago, Westside.
We are gonna make a front entry.
How many people are gonna be
in the house is unknown.
All right, we’re moving in.
10-4, we’re on the move.
All right, nice and easy, slice,
nice and easy.
Sheriff's police!
Search warrant!
Sheriff's police! Search warrant!
Get down on the ground!
Go, go, go!
Everybody back! Search warrant!
Turn around! Get back!
Police!
Hey! Let’s see your hands!
Coming up!
It’s all right.
Sit down, relax for a minute.
This is the window
where he serves out of.
That's why the grass is all worn there.
They walk up the gangway,
knock on the window,
get served and walk back.
Can you see anything?
] This money was rolled up
like this behind here.
- Bag of heroin.
- Yeah.
Money.
- Money.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
This dealer is selling
about three different products.
Heroin, Xanax pills,
prescription pills, and marijuana.
The drugs seized at the stash house
were added to the Memorial Day haul.
Every unit within every department
within every municipality,
city and county-wide,
has experienced
exactly what you see on this table.
This represents a lot of death,
a lot of tragedy,
a lot of...
A lot of work to do.
As long as they're out there
doing what they're doing,
we're going to be out there
doing what we're doing.
A lot of people got shot and killed
Memorial Day weekend.
But we’re still here, we’re standing.
He ain’t got no bullet wounds.
I don’t either. We straight,
so we gonna keep it like that.
I love where I’m from because it made me
who I am today, of course, but...
there’s too much killing here, I wanna
show my nephew something different.
Now we got the money
so we can get out the neighborhood,
open other doors,
take that opportunities.
Hopefully I can get
out of the drug game... forever.