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Oct. 13, 2015 - The Joe Rogan Experience
03:00:00
Joe Rogan Experience #707 - Michael Dowd
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joe rogan
42:06
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michael dowd
02:13:00
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Speaker Time Text
joe rogan
Alright, here we go.
Boom.
There we go.
So, first of all, welcome.
michael dowd
Thank you.
joe rogan
Thanks for doing this.
Appreciate it.
michael dowd
Thanks for having me, John.
joe rogan
Your fucking documentary...
That might have been one of the craziest documentaries I've ever seen in my life.
The 7-5, if people haven't seen it.
Right.
Dude, what a fucking crazy life you lived.
Jesus Christ.
Do you feel lucky to be alive?
You're embarrassed?
michael dowd
I'm embarrassed because I'm looking at people that are supposed to respect law enforcement and it's almost glorifying some of the crazy shit we did.
joe rogan
I don't think it's glorifying.
michael dowd
I hope not.
joe rogan
No, it's definitely not.
I don't think it is.
I think it's an honest portrayal of People going off the rails because they didn't have...
I mean, you had the ability to do so, you know?
I mean, that's what it was.
michael dowd
Debauchery, right?
I mean, it's just...
Untamed and just the ability to get away with things that no one else could.
joe rogan
Well, I think we're seeing today with law enforcement, with all the stuff that's going on with all these kids getting shot and all these videos that get taped of police abuse, we're seeing that for the longest time this stuff just wasn't filmed, that there was a lot going on.
We've all witnessed, I'm sure you more than anybody, but we've all witnessed some cops that were out of control.
And I think that's just what happens when people have power, and you just kind of, they get a little crazy.
You know, when you don't have anybody checking that power, and then on top of it, in your situation, there was cocaine, and there was crime, and there was all sorts of craziness.
I mean, I learned about your documentary from Nick DiPaolo.
He was on my buddy Ari Shaffir's show, and he was raving about this documentary, and it wasn't even out yet.
You had to pre-order it on iTunes.
I fucking hate that when you want to watch something right away.
michael dowd
How do you think I feel when people are calling me in the middle of the night?
Where is this documentary?
I can't get it.
I'm like, let me call the people at all three media.
They don't give a fuck.
They're just like, oh, we're sleeping right now.
We're in California time.
I said, okay.
Well, they're not awake yet.
Whatever.
It's just ruinous.
joe rogan
Did Nick see a pre-screening or something like that?
Did he see it in the movies?
michael dowd
I don't know.
I hate to say this on the air, but I think he pirated it.
Oh, yeah!
unidentified
How dare he?
joe rogan
That's illegal.
michael dowd
I think he did.
joe rogan
That's illegal.
michael dowd
Because he had heard about it from somebody and he couldn't get it.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And I was like kicking the ground saying, you know, who's promoting this goddamn thing?
You know, it's about my life and people asking me a lot of questions about it.
And I'm like, why don't you just go see the documentary?
Well, after like a week of trying to get it, they throw their hands in the air and they're like, we can't get it.
So I had a lot of frustration over the way it was distributed.
But I wasn't involved in it, so...
In that part.
joe rogan
I white-knuckled my way through that whole thing.
I didn't shut that off once.
michael dowd
I'm gonna tell you, you and your audience, how.
I mean, I'm a nut.
I love adrenaline shit, but I really can't sit through most things.
And when the movie was premiered the first time it was seen ever by myself as well, I sat by the door.
Thinking that, one, I'm going to be bored, or two, I'm not going to like the content in the movie and just leave the theater.
And my family and some friends were there.
You know, not everybody, but, you know, select people showed.
And I sat by the door, and like in a minute and a half, I just turned around in the seat and didn't fucking move.
And that's hard for me to do.
I mean, you'll see throughout this conversation here, I'm all over the map.
joe rogan
Have you always been all over the map?
michael dowd
Um...
You know, I think it's the Brooklyn, the expressiveness with the body.
You know, we speak more with our body than our mouth for some reason.
I don't know, maybe we're short-tongued on the English language, but just the way we, I don't know, be a cop, we always watch your back, you know, so...
There's a lot of, you know, I don't know how to explain it.
It's just, that's the way we speak.
joe rogan
Now, this, it's a very well done movie, but the subject matter itself, the actual story itself, the facts involved in the story are fucking completely insane.
I mean, you guys, you were involved in so much craziness.
michael dowd
It was out of control.
joe rogan
But here you are.
You're out on the street.
You're doing podcasts.
You're doing press for the movie.
It's got to feel weird for you to have gone through that.
michael dowd
It's different lives.
In the way I see it, I was a young boy, young man, police officer, convict, inmate.
I'm a parolee, and now I'm somebody else.
It's just weird how, you know, like a chameleon, you just change with the environment, and that's how you adapt and overcome anything, is you just have to learn how to live with the environment you're in.
And it seems like that doesn't seem the same.
First of all, you know, let's be real.
I was 23, 24 years old when most of these incidents took place, and then they carried on.
The more...
Detailed the criminality took place later on as I got closer to my 30 year number But you're talking I'm 54 today So my perspective on everything I did and my perspective on the world today is way different than it was back then Yeah, whenever I try to watch a documentary about people doing crazy shit I always imagine myself like what would I do if I was in that situation like how how would I have reacted if I was a young man and I probably would have been right there with you.
Yeah, you know, it's sad, but you know what's sad about that?
Is it's people giving the opportunity to do wrong and they can get away with it.
You have to ask yourself this question.
If I could take that 200,000 large right now, just, you know, plain out question, and never have any negative consequences happen to me.
Now, I'm not saying because you broke the moral code of policing and all that shit.
I'm just saying, just be a normal human being.
Walk up, find 200 large.
No one's going to miss it.
It's not yours.
And you're never going to have any bad karma or anything happen to you.
Would you take it?
joe rogan
It's a good question.
And you don't know until you're right there.
michael dowd
No one even knows except for one person that it's theirs.
joe rogan
And it depends on where you are in your life.
unidentified
In your life.
michael dowd
You're broke.
You got kids.
You got a mortgage.
You have rent to pay.
Your car's broken down.
You got no gas money.
joe rogan
If you're a 55-year-old man and you have a happy family and you have a good career.
michael dowd
You make a phone call.
joe rogan
You probably do something nice and you get on the news.
Look at this.
Michael Dowd gave away $200,000 he found in a bag.
Well, I didn't know what to do with it.
michael dowd
Yeah, and I'm good.
My life is good.
You know, I got a house on the hills.
joe rogan
But when you're 22 and you're on blow.
michael dowd
Yeah, 24, I started popping that.
joe rogan
Yeah, and also, it's interesting because you're constantly around people that are making insane amounts of money, and they're doing it by breaking the law.
michael dowd
Yeah, let's focus a little bit here.
This is 1980s, crack epidemic, East New York.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So no action I do is justified, okay?
I did wrong, and I paid the fucking price, I hope.
Some people want me for life, some people want me dead, but you know what?
Fuck you two, alright?
I'm here, I'm out, I did my time, I served it straight up, I walked the track by myself for 12 fucking years, kissed my ass goodbye, okay?
So now I am here to talk about the stories that made the story of the 7-5 what it is.
I didn't bring this upon myself.
I mean, the actions and all that, yes.
But somebody approached me from Hollywood, wanted to do a documentary about this commission called the Marlin Commission.
I told them it's a piece of shit deal.
Do a story about the boys from the 75, and I think you'll have a good movie.
joe rogan
So what was the original thing they wanted to come to you about?
michael dowd
I was the main focus, which is a thread throughout the documentary, is that there was these hearings called the Mullen Commission, which if people know history, they can go back to the Knapp Commission when Persico, Persico, Serpico.
Persico is a guy that did time with, from the Colombo family.
So Serpico was a cop who got shot in the face in the movie Serpico.
And in fact, he actually commented on this documentary to Tila Russell, the director.
I don't know, it's 2 in the morning, because you guys out here don't know a fucking time.
It's 2 in the morning, my text message goes off, because it's 10.30 at night or 11 o'clock at night for him.
I just got a phone call from Serpico saying it's the best movie he's ever seen in his fucking life.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
You know, and I'm like, fuck Serpico, because I really don't like Serpico, to be honest with you, because he said some nasty things about me, one.
And two, he was a rat.
So, but...
You know, he says, well, Mike, he's Americana, he's history, you know, and so I got to give him his props.
I said, fine, but I really don't want to hear he liked my movie.
unidentified
So, fuck him.
michael dowd
But he's, I'm not against him, really, but, you know, certain people keep at a distance, and he's one of them that I would choose to.
I'm going to shake his hand and say you're a good guy.
joe rogan
The Serpico thing, he ratted out other corrupt cops, is that what it was?
michael dowd
Yeah, he did the right thing.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So fuck him.
michael dowd
And no one liked him.
I mean, that's the way it is, right?
joe rogan
Was that movie accurate?
That Al Pacino movie?
michael dowd
I can't.
Look, I must have him on.
joe rogan
What is the word?
Is the word that it was accurate?
michael dowd
The word is that the shooting was not quite the way they said in the movie itself.
But he turned in his partners.
They wanted him to take the money, and he wouldn't take the money.
He was intransigent about it, and someone shot him in the face.
And I've been in the building half a dozen times in 9-0 Precinct.
They actually shot another movie there by one of the other actors I can't think of.
joe rogan
Well, what's interesting is your partner, when you were your partner in this film, turned you in, but he was involved in a lot of it with you, and he never wound up doing any time.
michael dowd
Yeah.
I mean, this story can go in many different directions here, Joe.
Yeah.
Kenny was, let's consider it a good cop.
You know, he was there for the money.
joe rogan
What was his last name?
michael dowd
Urell.
Kenny Urell.
He was there for the money.
He would make calls.
He'd lock everybody's husband up.
Like, you would have a fight with your wife in the ghetto, and this was like a daily thing, you know?
And he would go there and lock you up and take you out.
That was his gig.
He did that for years.
That was his overtime money.
And I told him, I don't really like to do those things, and we got together.
joe rogan
He had like a specialty?
michael dowd
That was a specialty.
joe rogan
Domestic violence?
michael dowd
Ironically.
Ironically.
joe rogan
Oh, deep in terms.
This story goes deep.
michael dowd
Ironically.
joe rogan
Okay, so I understand what you're saying.
Yeah.
michael dowd
Isn't that something?
joe rogan
It always is.
So he would arrest these guys, and how would he make money doing that?
michael dowd
Well, you'd get overtime.
Every arrest would land you at least eight, sometimes 16 hours of overtime, depending upon what time you made the arrest.
joe rogan
Oh.
michael dowd
So he'd be able to make the arrest and go to sleep for fucking 12 hours and make $600, $700 on someone's misfortune.
And, you know, they may have been legitimately arrested.
I'm not saying they weren't.
joe rogan
So how would he make money off of going to sleep?
I don't understand that.
michael dowd
Well, when you're waiting to book a prisoner slash potential inmate, you have to wait for hours and hours and hours.
So you can sleep on newspaper racks, boxes in a hallway, central booking.
Central booking is like a mass unit.
joe rogan
Really?
So you arrest a guy and then you go take a nap somewhere?
michael dowd
That's how it was.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
Yeah, so you would get paid to lock somebody up.
So that's why the city was against arresting drug dealers, okay?
This whole thing turns into a whole conundrum here.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
Like that word?
Anyway, the crack epidemic caused the city to go broke in many ways because you'd have police officers arresting people for minor drug offenses that were, you know, it was crime, you know, and cops are supposed to arrest people for crime.
So what happened was it would cost so much to process an arrest That they would sort of discourage you.
And by that, they wouldn't say, don't do that.
It was never in policy.
But you would find yourself on a footpost somewhere.
Like I would get the post down in Vandalia by the weeds.
Well, there was drag racing there at night, and that was it.
So I would get eye allergies from standing in the weeds if I made arrests for drugs.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
Yeah.
So that's how they would discourage you from making arrests.
joe rogan
And just to save money.
michael dowd
Well, what do bureaucracies exist for?
Profit and loss.
They don't exist for the people.
We, as police officers, are supposed to serve the people.
And then you become part of a system that's not there for them.
They're there for themselves.
joe rogan
So were you there before the crack epidemic and during?
michael dowd
I was there just before the crack epidemic started.
In fact, we didn't know what it was.
We used to toss people just because we'd get drug calls.
So you toss someone.
What the fuck is this?
We'd be throwing it out.
We didn't know what it was.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
And then one day, one of my partners brought it home, and he came back with like $500 and said, that's what that shit was last night.
I go, what is it?
He goes, it's cocaine.
I go, you've got to be fucking kidding me.
You've been throwing this out.
joe rogan
Wow.
And that was 84.5, slash 5. Yeah, I remember hearing about it, because I was in high school at the time, and people started talking about crack.
Like, you would hear it in the news, crack epidemic, and then this violence and crime epidemic.
michael dowd
Well, you heard about it because Len Bias...
joe rogan
That's right, yeah.
michael dowd
He was in Boston at the time?
unidentified
Yeah.
michael dowd
He was the basketball player that was drafted by the Celtics, and he never played a day.
Because after he got drafted, they gave him this big signing contract and everything, he went out and partied, did some crack, had a bad heart on top of it, and killed himself.
So Ted Kennedy put these laws in place which put half the urban kids in federal prison for fucking life sentences, which now Obama's rightfully, in many cases, rightfully undoing, and that's a big political issue that we might not want to get into.
unidentified
Yes, it is.
joe rogan
Well, it was a crazy...
michael dowd
One of the only things I agree with him on is that.
joe rogan
Ted Kennedy?
No.
Oh, Obama.
unidentified
Obama.
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, that's a big one.
The war on drugs is one of the most ridiculous ones.
michael dowd
Well, it's ridiculous.
They should just get rid of all drug laws and let people go to rehabs.
joe rogan
Yes.
michael dowd
And there'll be no money in it.
joe rogan
I agree.
michael dowd
I mean, simple.
joe rogan
Yeah, exactly.
Well, I mean, they've known that since the organized crime epidemic of the prohibition.
Make it simple.
unidentified
Right, yeah.
joe rogan
It's the same shit.
That's what empowered organized crime, the ability to make shit-tons of money.
That's what's going on down in Mexico right now.
They're making money off the fact that drugs are illegal in America.
When this is all going down, for people on the outside like me, I had heard about it, but I didn't know how much of it was real.
You hear things about the news, and the news being, they blow things out of proportion.
michael dowd
It turned people into criminals.
And look at us.
We were good guys.
Most of us were good guys from hardworking families, cops, firemen, blue-collar people, sanitation workers, bus drivers, plumbers, electricians, and you became a cop.
You thought you were still in the same You were the ones that equated to Beirut.
It was like going to fucking Beirut.
And supervisors were just happy that you were there.
And that we can all go home today.
So you took an odd 10, 20 grand.
No one really gave a fuck.
The problem was when people start complaining and make noise, then it brings attention.
joe rogan
So when you're there, before this is happening, how much different was the environment that you were policing before crack and after crack?
michael dowd
It was like a storm.
It was like a fucking tornado came in and ripped the fucking community right apart.
Now, don't get me wrong, it was, you know, urban ghetto that survived the 60s and the turmoil and all that stuff, and you had your racial breakdowns within communities, but...
I got there in, I want to say 83, I'm old now, so I got there in 83, 84, so I was there about a year and a half, and it was getting crazy because Coke was expensive.
Coke was $50,000 a key, so it was tough for the inner city community to have it, but it was around.
And then when it dropped down to like $15,000, $20,000, $14,000 a kilo because of crack and the volume of, I guess, whoever was bringing it in, you know, there's many theories on who was helping bring it in back then.
It's just everybody can now get it.
And everybody now experienced the, you know, the Studio 54 high.
Now the kid in the inner city was experiencing it for five seconds.
Bang!
Goodbye!
Ooh, I loved it!
Now they're looking for their next hit.
And it was just...
So it just radically changed.
There was blood on the streets everywhere.
It was fucking ridiculous.
joe rogan
Wow.
Now, when you got- Every day.
Every day.
michael dowd
Every day.
joe rogan
You just saw gunshots, knives.
michael dowd
Death.
Stabbings and shootings.
Every day.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
It was exciting.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm sure.
michael dowd
It was fucking great.
joe rogan
Well, that seems like part of it to me.
Like, when I was watching this, I was like, geez, it seems like, in a way, you're kind of having some fun.
michael dowd
Oh, I had fun every day.
I didn't want to miss work.
unidentified
I believe you!
michael dowd
I hated fucking three-day swings.
And the cops who listen to this, a lot of cops hate me, but they sort of respect me in a way, because they understand.
Not respect for what I did.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
My honesty.
I hope that's what they take from this.
Because you got a lot of cop fans and shit like that, and they respect you and the martial arts guys, you know.
Most of them are really good guys, but they get it.
It's the ones who get what I'm talking about that will appreciate this conversation you and I have.
joe rogan
Well, I think if you're a cop in Orange County and you're a police officer in Irvine, you're dealing with a little bullshit here and there, you gotta kinda know there's a big fucking difference between that and East New York in the 1980s during the crack epidemic.
michael dowd
You've got to know.
joe rogan
And you've got to know what's the difference between...
I mean, it seems like it wasn't just you.
It seems like your entire precinct was kind of full of shenanigans.
michael dowd
Well, let's put it like this, and this is to take nothing away from the...
At that time, let's say 90% were legit.
Guys going to work with their lunch pail and going home and waiting for the next paycheck.
I mean, I used to forget my paychecks because I was making so much money.
That's the truth.
And that caught me in trouble, by the way.
I started this whole investigation on me.
joe rogan
Because you forgot your paychecks.
michael dowd
I kept forgetting to pick them up.
joe rogan
And you pulled up your Corvette.
michael dowd
Yeah, well, that was the lieutenant spot I pulled it in.
That sort of pissed him off.
joe rogan
Anyway.
michael dowd
You know, sometimes you want to make a point, like, fuck you.
He's trying to take my girlfriend away.
Fuck you.
I'm parking in your spot.
You're not getting her or the spot now.
joe rogan
Oh, that's hilarious.
So it was just, it seemed like it was a lot of fun.
Like, there was this one case where you guys were talking about where you kept circling the block.
michael dowd
Listen, let's not get a better story.
That was fun.
That was fun.
But I brought a cheat sheet with me because, you know, I got like 600 stories here.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And I'm working with a guy named Rob Sear right now.
Him and I are starting to collaborate on...
We're going to do maybe the book again.
You know, we got to...
joe rogan
Please do.
michael dowd
Well, this is a process here.
You know how things...
You know, you've been probably through this yourself personally.
We got some people in, but...
We're dealing with Sony a little bit.
We're trying to get this thing right.
I think Rob Sia, who's an ex-New York City cop, who's done a couple bestsellers, he might be the right one to put the whole thing together with me.
I can speak.
He can write.
He knows the color in the middle.
We're a writer and could make it happen.
joe rogan
Especially since he was a cop.
michael dowd
He was a cop, and he's got some credibility.
He does the Gotham comedy show in Manhattan.
I don't know.
They run some live shows sometimes.
joe rogan
Oh, live from Gotham?
michael dowd
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
On AXS TV? Yeah, he does a lot of that stuff.
So he's involved in that.
So he's got some credibility.
joe rogan
He does it as a comic?
Does he do stand-up?
michael dowd
No.
He's in the productions part of it and stuff like that.
But he's a writer, and he wrote two bestsellers.
So I think we're going to have him talk with, what's his name?
Lesher.
Lesher from the...
John Lesher, I think his name is.
Who's that?
He's got the Academy Award list, yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
michael dowd
So we're going to have a little discussion, him and I. About doing a movie or something?
About the 75 movie.
Sony owns the rights.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
We're just trying to make it work right now, you know?
So there's a lot of discussion going on on making it come together properly.
joe rogan
So Sony owns the rights to do a dramatic recreation?
michael dowd
Recreation of the 75, yeah.
joe rogan
Wow, okay.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think you've got to do a book, though, because I've got to imagine there's no way they're going to jam that into...
michael dowd
I'm going to tell you a funny story.
So I'm on patrol in Brooklyn, and I'm working with...
I can't remember.
It could have been Kenny.
I don't fucking know.
I don't care, because I'm just telling you from my perspective.
And down the block comes this guy Chickie.
Chickie's in the movie.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
He's pissed.
And in the back of his trunk of his car, the trunk is wide open in the back, and he's got this joker poker machine in the back of his car, the patrol car.
joe rogan
What's a joker poker machine?
michael dowd
A gambling machine?
It's a gambling machine, yeah.
You put your money in, and they don't pay out, but they do pay out if you know the right people behind the counter there.
So it's a gambling device that you can get away with gambling or not.
We hand out candy.
Instead, they hand out money, depending upon who the patron is.
joe rogan
Oh, I see.
Okay.
michael dowd
So back in the 80s, that was the gig.
So we're driving down the block, and here comes the sergeant.
He's driving this way.
I'm driving this way.
I helped him load the machine into the back of the...
Patrol car, because it's heavy, you know?
It's about a thousand pounds, this machine.
So he loads this into the back of his patrol car, and up pulls the sergeant.
You know, the sergeant has no idea what's going on.
It's like, what's going on?
Oh, this guy pissed me off, Chicky.
He starts saying, this guy pissed me off.
You know, the guy behind the counter, you know, he made me pay for soda or something.
Meanwhile, he's got illegal joker poker machines in his store.
So Chicky says, um...
That's it.
These your machines?
He goes, yeah, the owner, the patron of the store.
He goes, yeah, that's my machine.
So he says, okay.
He takes the machine, blows them in the back of his car.
He's going to take them home and empty them out because there's $4,000 and quarters in the machine, right?
So he's pissed.
The guy made him buy a soda for a dollar.
Now he's going to take all the quarters out of the machine.
So here comes a sergeant.
Sergeant is driving by.
He's on probation.
Cops go on probation, and they pass.
Then they move state patrolman steady.
A sergeant goes from patrolman to sergeant, and then he's on probationary period.
So here comes a sergeant on probation.
He sees this four or five year veteran cop with a joker poker machine in the back of the trunk of his car.
And he goes, what's going on?
He says, oh, the guy pissed me off, Sergeant.
I'm not letting him do this illegal gambling shit.
There's everywhere.
Every fucking store has one, right?
Right.
So there's 600 stores.
There's 6,000 machines in the precinct, but this one's got to go, you know?
So Sergeant says, what are you doing?
He says, I'm taking it.
He goes, why?
Well, the guy pissed me off.
unidentified
He was rude.
michael dowd
He's disrespectful.
And this is illegal.
It's a crime.
And we got guys getting shot, murdered, stabbed, selling crack on every corner.
He's taking this guy's joke, a poker machine.
So that's how insignificant these things normally are.
So the sergeant's like, Chicky, he may have disrespected you, and you may be pissed off, but you got to put it back, please.
The sergeant's like, he's like, why, sergeant?
He goes, oh, I'm on probation.
I don't need any problems.
So, P.S. We go, okay, sergeant, no problem.
Bring it back.
So Chicky turns around, looks at me, he goes...
All right, Sarge, we're putting it back.
We drove back to the store.
Sarge left.
Went right from the store to Chickie's apartment.
Like you said, you wanted two apartments before?
Anyway, he had an apartment local in the precinct.
We went to the apartment, dropped the Joker poker machine off at his apartment.
I mean, these are the things we would do, you know, just because you could.
joe rogan
Just because you could?
michael dowd
Because you could.
joe rogan
Well, it seems like it was just, there was a lot of excitement.
Like, doing all that, like, the driving around the block store was my favorite because you were driving around the block for like an hour and a half.
michael dowd
Yeah.
Well, because Chickie didn't get there in time.
He didn't have a car.
Chickie had left the job because of all the investigations.
Right.
You got that from the documentary.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
So I needed someone.
Kenny wasn't available.
So I don't even know if I was working with him yet.
He'll say he probably was, but whatever.
Anyway, so Chickie had his car in the shop being repaired.
So I'm like, you've got to be fucking kidding me.
I need someone now with a car and a badge.
That's all I need.
So I didn't want to lose sight of the house in case...
joe rogan
Well, for people who haven't seen the documentary, what was going on?
michael dowd
Well, there was a burglary call at the house, so we responded as patrol people, and we checked out the place, and inside there was two young girls who were sitting there on the floor in this home with the door knob broken off.
And they said that they were given permission by the owner of the home to spend the afternoon or day here in her home.
I asked her, well, where did the owner happen to be since you broke the door knob to get in?
Oh, she's in prison right now.
I said, oh, and for what?
And she goes, well, I think for drugs.
I said, okay.
Very good.
Thank you.
So I turned left hard and there's a box of fucking shoes, piles of box of shoes.
If anyone knows anything about the drug business, they spend a lot of money on their personal shoes because what else are you going to spend money on, you know?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
You can't build a new house in the ghetto.
You're just wasting your money.
But you could have a lot of shoes.
So I saw all these boxes of shoes, nice, high heels, pumps, all this stuff.
So I said, okay, there's a girl in here spending a lot of money on shoes.
And the furniture looked pretty good for the location.
So I open the closet, and there's a fucking duffel bag filled with cash.
I pick up...
Actually, that's really not exactly what happened.
Some anti-crime guy went in there, picked up the bag.
He looks at me.
I look at him.
I go, what are you going to do, voucher this?
Come on, we'll spend all day vouchering the money.
Leave it there.
He looks at me.
He looks at me.
He goes, all right.
He puts it down.
I put my hand in the bag and start stuffing the money in my pockets.
But...
I didn't have enough room.
I was wearing summer clothes.
I didn't have my winter uniform on with the jacket where you can stuff everything.
So anyway, I said, this is not going to work.
It's too much money here.
You can't run out of a building with a bag filled with money and have the cops see you because they're going to say, where'd the bag go, right?
So my enemy was the cops at this point.
So I found a way to circle a house for an hour and a half in every possible direction you could.
And then Chickie finally pulled up with another guy that was retired from the job.
They walked in with their dupe badges on and the landlord lets them in and Yeah, up there.
They just left that apartment right up there.
When he went in, he'd come out with a bag, and about a minute later, I pulled him over.
Boop, boop, pulled him over.
I go, what are you going to do?
He goes, let's go to Atlantic City.
I go, great.
I go back to the cell phone.
I go back to the pay phone on the corner.
Back then we had the original car phone.
You would drive the patrol car up on a curb and just reach out to the fucking AT&T phone booth.
So you'd sit in the patrol car and dial the precinct.
So I dialed the precinct.
It was a free call, by the way.
You'd have to pay for it.
And...
And, hey boss, yeah, my wife needs me at home right now, you know, one of the kids broke a toe, whatever, whatever excuse you can come up with.
Okay, no problem, come in, you can take lost time, it's called lost time.
So I told a girl in the car I was working with, who was an IED plant, by the way.
She was an internal affairs plant sitting with me the whole time.
I said, okay.
I said, you know, I got to go home.
My wife just paged me because we had beepers back then.
My wife just paged me if the kid's sick or something.
And so I went back to the precinct, signed out, went to Atlantic City in a limousine.
And so I cleaned the money.
joe rogan
The girl who was driving around with you as you were going around for an hour and a half was a plant?
michael dowd
Yeah, she was an internal affairs cop.
I don't know if I ever told anybody that.
But yeah, she was an internal affairs cop.
joe rogan
So did she get suspicious?
Did she ask questions while you were driving around in a circle for an hour and a half?
unidentified
Well, I told her.
michael dowd
I told her.
I said, just in case someone comes back and breaks in the house, you don't want to see this people's house get ransacked or anything.
Right, right, right.
She didn't know there was money in there, otherwise she would probably vouch for it, you know?
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
We didn't let her know that.
joe rogan
Right.
But did you know she was a plant?
Yes.
So you knew?
michael dowd
Yes.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
Very good job they did of hiding the plant.
In fact, I had a beer with her two days before.
joe rogan
But it seemed like all this stuff that you were doing, all these criminals that you were dealing with, like the heightened sort of environment that you were in must have been very addictive because there was just so much going on.
There was so much action.
michael dowd
It was...
Listen, when you're 28 years old and you're driving to work...
And you got the nerves on one side of your body freezing up on the other side from your head to your arms going numb.
Yeah, there was a lot of shit going on.
Why was it going numb?
I don't know if it was from the coke or from the nerves.
Just because you didn't know it was going to happen from one day to the next, but you just couldn't get out of it.
joe rogan
The stress must have been insane.
michael dowd
Yeah, it was insane.
I'd pull over on the side of the road and say, okay, if I die over here, it's okay.
They'll find me.
Like, that's how crazy it is.
joe rogan
So if you die from a heart attack, you die from coke?
michael dowd
Yeah, I didn't know what it was going to be.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
Driving to work, I'm not sure.
So I feel my body starting to go out.
So I pull over to the right so I didn't hurt anybody.
I'm very conscientious here, right?
That's weird.
joe rogan
Wow.
So there was so much going.
I mean, how much coke were you doing?
michael dowd
Not that much.
I was a steady bumper.
I wouldn't do a lot.
joe rogan
Just doing it all the time?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So it wasn't like giant Scarface-like quantities?
michael dowd
No, if I did lines like that, I'd be dead.
Yeah.
I don't know how they did it.
I tried that once.
It almost killed me.
joe rogan
When you were testifying in that film, that was one of the more intense parts of that movie because you were just 100% open, 100% honest about it.
michael dowd
To my own fault, yeah.
joe rogan
To your own fault?
Yeah.
Do you think you shouldn't have?
michael dowd
Some things I just should never fucking mention.
unidentified
Like what?
michael dowd
Like with the girl and the money under the fucking Bible.
Excuse me, Lord.
I'm still scared of God.
He'd come and get me.
I ask forgiveness every day.
That was the most horrific thing I ever did, I think.
Of the thousands of things I did, I took someone's $340, whatever it was.
I don't know.
He counted better than me.
joe rogan
But it just seemed like...
It seemed almost for you at the time, like when I was watching it, like you were just so overwhelmed with the pressure of everything that it was almost a relief to get everything off your back.
michael dowd
When they locked me up, if I tell you how the arrest went down, it's insane.
But anyway, when they finally put me in the car and tell me I'm under arrest, it was like, now I can go to sleep.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
I can actually sleep.
And the funny thing of it all was, you know, this is a little touching maybe, but we're not, but I try to be light-hearted here.
I call my wife from the county jail, and she goes to me, Mike, please don't take this the wrong way.
She says, but I had the best night's sleep of my life last night because I knew where you were.
unidentified
I said, you've got to be fucking kidding me.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
michael dowd
I don't know.
joe rogan
Because I knew where you were.
michael dowd
I knew where you were.
She slept like a baby, and I had roaches crawling in my ears, but yeah, that's okay.
joe rogan
How much of what was going on did she know about?
michael dowd
She only knew that I was doing wrong for the most part, and she knew there were drugs involved, but she never touched it, got involved in it.
She just begged me every day, stop.
joe rogan
But it seems like you kind of can't.
michael dowd
It's hard.
joe rogan
Does anybody ever go corrupt and then just go cold turkey like a heroin addict?
michael dowd
Good story.
joe rogan
Yeah?
michael dowd
I tried.
joe rogan
Did you?
michael dowd
I called Internal Affairs.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
Yeah.
When?
joe rogan
How old were you?
michael dowd
I was a cop.
I was in the middle of my heyday.
I said, I'm going to have to stop and turn over a new leaf.
My son was born, and I had to become a responsible father, I said.
And this is not going to work out doing what I'm doing.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So I was in Coney Island, which is where I think the movie's going to start, if they do it the way I suggest.
I'm in Coney Island in front of Nathan's.
Right by Nathan's is the bumper car station where everybody goes and drives the bumper cars and they bang into each other.
And it was a rainy summer.
There must have been 30 good days and the rest were lousy for the whole summer.
And this is one of the days that it was.
And up pulls this Mercedes Benz, a guy in the car with the gold rope chains and the whole drug package going on.
I just turned my head to my partner.
I said to him, look at the fucking gold on this guy's neck.
Now, he's got boombox going, those big woofers and everything, convertible Mercedes.
That's all I said.
All of a sudden, I hear, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo.
And I don't turn for yo, yo, yo, yo for nobody.
But I hear the footsteps, feel the weight of it, and I just glance back, and I see a shield in the guy's hand, a big black dude monster.
I go, what's up?
What do you want?
unidentified
You?
michael dowd
I said, whoa, whoa, what's going on?
He goes, you said, I asked you, can I park here, and you said, can't you read?
I said, where'd that happen, that conversation?
All I did was turn to my- And he was a cop?
Yeah.
joe rogan
So he was undercover?
michael dowd
No.
joe rogan
No?
No.
So he was a corrupt cop, too?
michael dowd
He was a corrupt cop, yeah.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
I didn't know this, I didn't know him.
joe rogan
So you thought he was a drug dealer?
michael dowd
I thought he was a drug dealer.
All I was doing was commenting the package he had.
joe rogan
Giant gold and Mercedes.
michael dowd
The girls had the hoops with the dollar signs.
It was the package.
joe rogan
The girl had hoops with dollar signs?
michael dowd
Yeah, you know how that was.
That was the 80s.
joe rogan
Oh, those are the best.
Any girl with a hoop dollar sign, that's my kind of girl.
michael dowd
Yeah, I mean, you know.
joe rogan
I just like it when they wear it on their sleeve.
michael dowd
It's clear.
It's pretty clear where this is going, right?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So anyway.
joe rogan
So he doesn't know you're a cop.
michael dowd
I'm in uniform walking to Coney Island.
I was sent to Coney Island Detail because I was in trouble in East New York.
joe rogan
So he's giving you a hard time and he knows you're a cop.
michael dowd
Yeah, I'm in uniform and he's giving me a hard time.
A very embarrassing moment because you don't do that.
You don't punk each other out like that because now you create a scene where something has to be, you know, mediated.
joe rogan
So he's probably coked up.
At the very least.
michael dowd
I'm not going to answer for him.
joe rogan
Who knows?
michael dowd
But he's whacked out, let's put it that way.
joe rogan
Something's going on.
michael dowd
Something's going on.
Yeah, he's full of himself.
He's full of self-importance.
Who the fuck does he think he is when he's talking to me?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
Talk about self-importance, right?
So anyway, he makes this big scene, and I can't squelch the scene.
The sergeant comes, and it's over with.
Okay.
About a week.
I could tell the story different ways, but the fact is, a couple days, a couple weeks later, I go by.
I'm out sick, which I should be home in my house, but I'm out.
I just left the beach with my wife.
I'm driving home from the beach, and I see this car parked on 111 right across from the cleaners, which is known for having a crack spot above it.
Anyway.
And it's his car.
And it's his fucking name on the license plate.
That's how I know it.
Well, the car stands out, but it has his name on the license plate.
You can't fucking, you can't miss that.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And I asked my wife, I said, what does he look like?
Get a good look at him.
Because I don't want to stop, turn around, make it obvious, but I could see him, you know, I've seen him a few times.
I had an argument with him for 20 minutes.
Anyway, long story short, I go home.
I call Internal Affairs.
They rush to my house.
Joe Tromboli, the guy in the movie that says the hair on the back of his neck stood up, he comes in my house with Lieutenant Maher.
They start grilling me about my fucking life.
I'm like, I called up on a guy selling drugs.
No wonder why no one talks to you people.
Anyway, Lieutenant Moss sends Joe Tromboli out of the house.
And I go, Lieutenant, is this about me?
Because I'll just get a fucking lawyer.
I don't know what's going on.
I called you because some guy was selling crack around the neighborhood.
He goes, well, how do you know he's selling crack?
I said, look, I don't know.
But he's in a crack spot.
And he's a cop.
That's all I'm telling you.
All right?
So I want to turn off a new leaf.
Start my new life.
I got a new baby.
Everything's going to be good now.
I'm going to be a good cop.
Four weeks later, three weeks later, I'm getting calls at midnight.
Not midnight.
It's two in the morning.
I'm getting calls at three.
I work six or two shifts at Coney Island.
Three o'clock in the morning, my phone rings.
Nothing.
This went on for about...
If I say three weeks, it could have been two, whatever.
It went on for an extended period of time.
Finally, I get the guy to talk one day.
I go, bro, what the fuck, man?
Why don't you just come out with it?
He goes, I'm banging your wife every day when she gets off the train in Brentwood.
I said, really?
That's nice.
Yeah, when she comes home from work, come on, she don't work.
Yeah, okay, so she's, so he goes to train from work, you're picking her up in Bretwood and you're banging her.
He goes, yeah.
I said, okay.
So what else can you tell me?
I says, well, why don't you come to my house, I tell him, and we just do this, since you seem to know where I am.
He goes, why don't I put a bullet in your fucking head right now, he tells me.
And I'm standing in front of a plate glass window.
So I'm like, ah!
Meanwhile, my wife's screaming, and they're like, who the fuck is this?
I'm like, shut the fuck up!
unidentified
The guy's finally talking!
michael dowd
You're fucking this whole thing up!
So now I'm sucking sand out of the bottom of my rug and trying to stay alive and crawling into the back room where my son and my wife are sleeping.
They're not anymore.
And I'm like, I can't believe this.
This guy's fucking...
He knows where I live and he's got to be a cop.
I don't know that until that moment, I realized, because no one has my number, and cops can get each other's number by calling the precinct.
I want to get in touch with so-and-so.
I want to get in touch with so-and-so.
And we have private numbers in a log at the precinct that you can get my number at if you need to speak to me.
Turns out that he was already arrested.
He was out on bail when he's doing this to me.
joe rogan
So it was the same guy, the gold chain guy.
michael dowd
Yeah, same guy.
So here I am trying to turn over a new leaf.
You asked a question.
I didn't pose this.
You said, so what if I went cold turkey like a heroin junkie and tried to start from there?
Well, I did.
And look what happened to me.
They threatened to kill me.
They threatened to kill me.
That's the beginning of it.
Then I leave the Coney Island Detail.
I go back to the 7-5, and no one wants to work with me.
So if you go to the documentary, you hear, Mike's no good.
Stay away from him.
Mike's no good.
They didn't want to work with me because they heard I was a rat.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
Because I gave up a cop for corruption.
Right?
He wears a wire.
I never did, by the way.
Kenny's good with them.
I never wore a wire.
I never really gave up a good cop or a cop that did...
That guy was selling drugs on fucking Long Island, trying to do the right thing.
Turn him in.
I know they're looking at me for drugs.
We're not no more.
I'm no more involved with drugs.
I gave up the game.
I wanted to be straight.
So you can't go straight is what I'm trying to tell you.
Once you get labeled in the police department, you're done.
Because no one would work with me because I was straight.
joe rogan
Well, no one wanted to work with you because they thought that you were untrustworthy because you were turning this cop in.
michael dowd
Well, that's what I'm telling you.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
But they would never admit to that.
They go, anybody you talk to now says, no, he was rogue, he was corrupt.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
But the fact is, they wouldn't work with me because they were afraid I was going to turn them in.
And if you hear in the documentary, he says, well, Kenny says, the only thing you turn me in for is having a beer.
He mentions that Mike and I had a bee together and I could just walk away from this partnership and they put us on the farm together, which I went to the farm three times, so I'm pretty good with the farm too.
joe rogan
What's the farm?
michael dowd
The farm is where you go when you go for a rehab.
You know, like if you need help.
unidentified
Yeah?
michael dowd
Intervention.
Like, they do interventions today.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
Well, they did farms back then.
joe rogan
Farms?
michael dowd
Yeah, you went to the farm.
joe rogan
Like an actual farm?
michael dowd
Yeah, you would go to the farm.
joe rogan
Like where cows are and shit?
michael dowd
Yeah, where cows are.
They had a fish pond.
They had hay fields and shit.
joe rogan
And what would you do there?
Just relax?
michael dowd
You'd dry out, you know?
joe rogan
Okay.
michael dowd
It was a place for mostly alcoholics, but, you know.
joe rogan
And they called it the farm?
michael dowd
It was called the farm.
joe rogan
Okay.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And cops would go there, too?
michael dowd
Or just anybody would go there?
You'd be in rehabilitation.
joe rogan
Okay.
michael dowd
But it was known as the farm.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
Yeah.
It's renowned in the police department lingo.
joe rogan
Okay.
Yeah.
unidentified
So...
michael dowd
So I went to the farm three times in like nine months.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
I needed to...
Well, they were after me, too.
You know, they were fucking hard on me.
And two of my friends just went to prison.
Walter, who's in the film.
They went to a prison for a robbery they committed.
joe rogan
Was Walter the big guy?
michael dowd
Yeah.
Walter's the monster guy.
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Always helps having a giant guy, huh?
michael dowd
You gotta have something.
joe rogan
The fluff.
The fluff is good, you know?
michael dowd
He was a pretty sharp guy, too.
But, you know, he was young and dumb, too.
joe rogan
So he wound up going away.
Did Chickie go away?
michael dowd
And then he did a short bit.
He did, like, two years, and he came home.
Chickie went away for nine months.
And then they came back, and they needed work.
So I helped find them work.
Different times, you know?
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
Chickie went to work for Adam as one of my point men.
When I was off, I put Chickie on the clock.
So if I wanted to go home, you know, do my...
You know, go home.
If to work, I'd have Chickie cover the next six or eight hours of shift that the bodega would be open selling their cocaine.
joe rogan
Now, that's where it gets crazy.
The bodega.
michael dowd
That's where it gets crazy.
joe rogan
Well, that was when you guys escalated.
When you got involved with the cocaine dealing.
michael dowd
Yeah.
Well, what it was was...
The handwriting was on the wall that...
Because the 7-7 precinct went down for shaking down local thugs and drug dealers.
And the rumor was that 7-5 was going down.
So we stopped doing that.
I went to Coney Island.
Half the guys left the precinct to just quit.
Quit the police department.
Chickie wanted them.
And...
When I came back to the 7-5, no one wanted to work with me.
In fact, one of my first days back, I hook up with Walter, who's a rookie kid, didn't know anything except that he liked to make arrests and get involved and shit.
And then I'm like, dude, you don't know who I am.
I just want nothing to do with this stuff.
He's like, yeah, I'll make the arrest.
I look at him, okay.
You're going to really stop crime in here.
You're going to make an arrest for a fucking drug.
Okay, good.
But I want to do it because I don't want the attention.
Meanwhile, Joe Tromboli, the guy that's following, he's across the street watching us interact.
It's a long story.
I'd call for the sergeant to give us a scratch so we can be done for the day.
Scratch means the sergeant comes by and gives you a notification that you're on where you're supposed to be.
I'm asking the sergeant to give us a scratch just by calling something over the air, not asking for the scratch, because that would be inappropriate.
But I would call in a car, license plate, and the sergeant shows up, gives us a scratch.
We're done for the day.
I get in my private car, go to the bodega, pick up four hamburgers and eight-pack of, you know, little nip Bud Lights.
No, they weren't Buds.
They were regular Buds back then.
And the sergeant is following us the whole time.
He's watching us do all this shit.
Now I'm over in the other end of the precinct because it's one of my favorite bodegas who makes a nice burger.
And we came back to the spot, ate the stuff, threw the shit out the window because it was the ghetto.
That's what you do, like an asshole.
Instead of respecting the community, you fuck the community, because you're an idiot.
You're dumb, young and dumb.
So I threw the eight-pack of beers out the window.
The sergeant sees it flying out the fucking window.
He goes and grabs the cans.
Now he's going to call me in and investigate me for drinking on the job.
But Walter stood up and said, no, we didn't have nothing.
He goes, I got the fucking cans!
He goes, they weren't ours.
Walter held his mud early on, so I got to love him.
He could have lost his job, because he was on probation.
joe rogan
When you guys started dealing with the guys who owned the bodega, that's when the documentary gets most crazy.
michael dowd
Right.
joe rogan
And that's when it seems like you guys had escalated.
You'd gone from just taking a little money here and there and having some fun and going to Atlantic City.
Now you are deep.
michael dowd
We're deep, yeah.
joe rogan
In serious drug dealing.
michael dowd
Yeah, yeah.
And that's why, you know, when I had the meeting with Diaz, I said, listen, just to talk to us, you've got to pay us money.
Because I don't know where this is going to go, but I know it's going deep.
So I came up with a number, $24,000.
Don't ask me why I didn't say $44,000.
I have no idea.
I think in my mind it broke down like this.
Three months clear pay for each of us.
If the taxes at that time, we probably would have cleared...
Do the math, you know, $3,000 a month, whatever it was at that time.
And I said, okay, so let's have three or four months of clear pay, so if we get jammed up, we can survive.
The number I came up in correlation to something like that.
joe rogan
So it was in case you got kicked off the force?
michael dowd
Yeah, right away, yeah.
unidentified
Okay.
michael dowd
Brilliant thinking, right?
Knowing that something was not going to be good at the end of this.
joe rogan
And where's that guy now?
He's in like the Dominican Republic or something like that?
michael dowd
Yeah, get him on the phone if you want.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
Oh, I get him all right.
joe rogan
He was fucking hilarious.
He's one of the best characters in the movie.
michael dowd
Speaking of him, he asked me to give you this.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
michael dowd
Yeah.
Oh, beautiful.
I don't know if you like cigars.
joe rogan
I do like cigars.
What kind is this?
michael dowd
Yeah, this is the Adam Diaz, King of Brooklyn cigar.
joe rogan
What, he's got his own cigar?
michael dowd
Yeah.
Jesus Christ.
It's in the development process right now, but if you check out the label, you really can't see it well, but there's a picture of him with the unibrow.
Did you see the movie here with him with the unibrow?
Yeah, his unibrow is tight.
joe rogan
I respect the commitment to a unibrow.
michael dowd
Yeah, he was, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
They smell good.
michael dowd
Yeah.
No, no, they're tobacco letta in Dominican.
joe rogan
Do you smoke these?
michael dowd
They're delicious.
joe rogan
Do you smoke?
michael dowd
Me and Marty had one.
joe rogan
Do you smoke one right here?
Do you want?
michael dowd
No, no, I wouldn't do that, but I would.
They're delicious.
That's okay.
joe rogan
We can smoke them.
We've got a little air machine behind us.
michael dowd
If you wanted to, we could.
joe rogan
All right, let's do it.
michael dowd
If you wanted to, yeah.
joe rogan
We've got a knife shaming?
michael dowd
Yeah, I don't know.
joe rogan
A pair of scissors?
michael dowd
These are delicious, by the way.
joe rogan
I don't have a clipper.
Yeah, but...
But he's a fucking character, that guy.
michael dowd
He's a pisser.
joe rogan
He's a pisser.
And that fucking unibrow, that's a commitment.
All these pussies today, trying to take away a couple little waxing eyebrows.
michael dowd
I know, I do it too, like a bitch, but you know.
unidentified
Do you?
michael dowd
Sometimes.
joe rogan
You pluck your eyebrows?
michael dowd
No, I don't pluck, I shave.
joe rogan
Do you really?
Shave the middle?
I used to have more hair there than now.
I don't know what happened.
I think from doing this all the time.
michael dowd
Yeah, from frowning?
You wore it off?
Or maybe from the mat?
Maybe.
Getting choked.
joe rogan
Bad defense.
michael dowd
So a funny story with Adam, and I think most people appreciate this.
I hope they do.
Adam's paying me $8,000 a week right now.
I don't see him for two weeks.
Now I'm getting a little fucking nervous, right?
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
What do we got?
Oh, a pair of scissors.
michael dowd
There you go.
joe rogan
What the fuck happened to these scissors?
What are you doing, Jamie?
Getting crazy when I'm not here?
michael dowd
So Adam Diaz and I haven't seen each other in two weeks.
I'm getting a little annoyed because I want my money.
I want it on time.
And part of the deal was whether you're making money or not, you're paying me because we've already opened the door to this.
I'm going to start living the life, you know?
And can you open that, Mike?
I'm just gonna start living.
My neck is killing me.
What's wrong?
I got two vertebrae banged up there.
Someone probably grabbed me the wrong way.
I hurt myself at work.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
Just recently.
So Adam Diaz.
So anyway, I haven't seen this guy, and he owes me now two weeks.
joe rogan
Right.
Okay.
michael dowd
And if you learn anything about me, I don't like to be owed, and I don't like to owe.
I like to pay, I like to be paid on time, and I'm always early.
So anyway.
I finally see him.
He's got the red Porsche.
I mean, 911 Targa, 22 years old, right?
joe rogan
Yeah, go ahead.
michael dowd
911 Targa, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Dominican, 22 years old, convertible.
There he goes down New Lots Avenue, where New Lots and Vermont meet in this little triangle.
And so, and Kenny's with me in the car at the time.
Probably the first time he was.
unidentified
But anyway, so...
joe rogan
These are pretty good.
I just love the fact that I'm smoking that dude's cigar.
michael dowd
Yeah, I just hit the fucking mic.
So I pull him over, and he goes, he doesn't know who it is.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So Diaz is getting pulled over by the police in East New York, and I'm his hook.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
But he doesn't know that it's me, because he only sees his blue.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
This tall guy, and he's sitting down low in the Porsche.
So...
License registration, insurance card.
He's fumbling around looking for his shit.
He probably doesn't have anything, but anyway.
So, he's got his Dominican pants on, his nice loafers.
He's a sharp-looking kid.
He's always dressed to the nines.
He looked good.
And finally he goes, I look at him, I go, Adam, it's me!
He goes, oh, not on a mic!
He jumps up out of the car.
Hey, give me a hug.
What the fuck?
Where you been?
Like, I'm annoyed.
I'm annoyed, but I'm being nice.
Where you been?
I was in Yale.
joe rogan
Yale?
michael dowd
Yale.
joe rogan
Jail?
michael dowd
I go, wait, hold on.
This is the only thing I can coin in my life that I know of.
So I go, Yale.
You're in Yale.
He goes, yeah.
I go, how long were you in Yale?
He goes, three, four days.
You're up in Yale three or four days.
I said, who do you know in Connecticut?
I swear to Christ.
Who do you know in Connecticut?
He goes, Connecticut.
I go, yeah, Yale's in Connecticut, the college.
He goes, no, no, no.
Not college.
I was in Yale, Rikers Island.
He says that perfectly.
I go, you mean jail, not Yale?
He goes, yes, Yale!
I go, son of a bitch.
So I think I coined this fucking term.
Jail, not Yale.
Or Yale, not jail.
Agreed?
This is 1987. Okay.
How long have you been hearing that term?
joe rogan
Yale, not jail?
michael dowd
Yeah.
unidentified
Never.
michael dowd
Were you in jail, not Yale?
joe rogan
No.
I heard it 34 seconds ago.
michael dowd
So here's...
Thank you.
So here's this guy saying...
I wasn't in Yale.
I was in Yale.
I'm like, you mean jail, not Yale!
There you go.
joe rogan
You just can't say jail?
michael dowd
He couldn't say it, yeah.
Well, he texts me all the time, and he goes, instead of going, ha, ha, ha, he goes, J-I, J-I, J-I. J-A, J-A, yeah, they do that all the time.
joe rogan
What is that?
unidentified
That's ha, ha, ha?
michael dowd
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
That's so strange.
Yeah, that's how you know if Spanish people are making fun of you.
unidentified
Yeah, J-A, J-A, J-A. Okay.
Okay.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
So anyway, you can't make that up.
Where were you?
I'm thinking he's in college, because he's a sharp kid.
joe rogan
But why didn't you automatically assume, like I did, that he meant jail?
michael dowd
I'm not as sharp as you know.
joe rogan
But you're around Spanish people all the time.
michael dowd
Because he's out in the fucking street.
He's out in the street driving a Porsche.
If he was in jail, who the fuck let him go?
The guy sells kilos about a second.
joe rogan
Well, how did he get out?
michael dowd
I don't know.
I didn't want to ask too many questions.
I just wanted my money.
You want anything to learn about me?
I don't ask a lot of questions because if I don't like the answer, I'm going to get really fucking mad.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
michael dowd
I just want the money.
joe rogan
But dealing with a guy like that and dealing with an organization like that, you had to know that, okay, now I've taken this giant step.
I'm involved with a serious murderer, cocaine-dealing motherfucker.
Like, this is...
michael dowd
It's horrible.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
It's horrible.
It's horrible.
You sell your soul.
And, you know, what's to say other than this?
I got a little annoyed with them, right?
So I get in a...
I'm not living at home anymore.
My life is a disaster.
A complete disaster.
So I call my wife up.
I says, listen, things aren't going too good, hon. You want to get back together.
I want some stability in my life.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So she goes to me.
I'm okay from here.
unidentified
You know?
joe rogan
How can you blame her?
michael dowd
She goes, I'm okay from here.
And so she goes, I go, listen, I'm going to the Dominican Republic, and I'm going with this woman I'm seeing at the time, who was a police officer, a sweetheart girl, anyway.
And I go, would you go with me instead?
She goes, take her, have a good time.
unidentified
This is my...
michael dowd
My fucking wife telling me, take her!
joe rogan
Have a good time!
michael dowd
And when you get back, we'll talk.
joe rogan
Wow, what a good kid.
That's what I'm saying!
That's a good woman right there.
michael dowd
I ruin everything I touch.
Anyway, so...
Wow.
joe rogan
You know, sometimes, like, I think adversity makes some women better.
There's some women that like dealing with a, no offense, asshole husband.
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
Sometimes it just makes them a better person.
They learn how to roll with the blows better.
michael dowd
They learn a lot.
Because they're sitting back observing this whole disaster take place.
Because they're trying to stop you and you ain't listening.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
So I go to the Dominican Republic.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And I'm on the plane and there's this guy with a beard, well-groomed.
He's making small talk with us, me and the girl.
And he's got some woman with him.
Look, I'm on vacation.
I'm not going here to fucking rob anybody or make any deals.
I'm going here to see my Dominican drug kingpin and see if we can get the money pipe flowing again.
I'm a little distraught here now.
My income's cut way down.
I'm only making about $2,000, $3,000 a week.
I was getting $6,000, $7,000 a week between his payoffs and all my other shakedowns going on.
I was doing good.
Now I'm getting a little tight.
I got fucking four homes.
I got a kid I want to put away for his college.
Sorry I never made that.
But anyway...
So there's a lot of things I got planned here, and he's fucking it up right now because he's hiding in Dominica.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So I'm going to see him.
So I get off the plane, and they're speaking Dominican to me, these people, and I can speak a little Spanish.
So I said, I'm talking to a cop in uniform with a sergeant stripes on, right?
Right.
The cab drivers start beating them up.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Start beating the copper?
michael dowd
Yeah, they're grabbing and pushing them, trying to knock them out of the way, because they want to take the ride.
And I want this guy, because he's thinking he's a cop, he's going to mediate for me and get me the right price.
Because I know they're going to look to take advantage of the gringo from America.
Anyway, I end up fucking paying hand and fist for this ride.
But in the interim, some guy steps over to me, the guy that was on the plane with me, and says, hey, how you doing?
What are you guys doing?
Where you going?
And I'm like, what, you here on vacation too?
And we're talking back and forth.
I'm going to see this buddy of mine, Diaz, he's a bodega owner in East New York.
And the guy's like, oh really?
Where's he live?
I go, I don't know, someplace in Laurel Mount or whatever I said.
Turns out it was the DEA. They fucking followed me on the plane.
joe rogan
How did you not automatically assume that?
michael dowd
Because I'm a sociable guy.
joe rogan
As soon as you said, I'm talking to this guy, I'm like, oh, Christ.
michael dowd
You saw the movie.
joe rogan
I guess that's what the problem is.
I'm looking at it.
michael dowd
Hindsight is 20, 20. And I'm fucking 27, 28 years old.
joe rogan
Maybe I'm more paranoid than you.
Well, I'm 48. If I was 28, I probably would have told him everything, too.
michael dowd
That's what I'm saying.
I'm down there.
I'm on vacation.
I'm there to have a good time.
And I'm just looking for a friendly face.
And he speaks Dominican.
And don't worry, I'll take care of you.
He says, I'll get you where you gotta go.
I said, great.
joe rogan
The DEIA guy says, I'll get you where you wanna go?
michael dowd
No, it was fucking DEA. Oh, fucking Christ.
So anyway, we end up in the car.
We get all the way to El Casa de Campo.
I think he took three different ways to get there.
So we finally get there.
And they put us in his house with four different couples.
unidentified
What?
michael dowd
Like we're sharing a fucking house with somebody now.
joe rogan
Okay.
michael dowd
No one's there.
joe rogan
Who are these other people?
michael dowd
I don't know them.
joe rogan
Okay.
michael dowd
I want a lover's retreat for the weekend.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
And they got me in a house.
Like for people who want to go camping and hang out together and sweat or something.
I don't know.
So I look around and I go, there's four other couples in this fucking house.
Like, I'm sharing a kitchen.
I'm sharing this.
I'm like, I'm not here for this.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So they drive us back to...
I said, no, get me out of here.
So now they drive us back to this little retreat right by the beach.
Get in there.
Everything's good.
Have a nice time.
And I'm calling at them every night.
I'm in your country, bro.
Do you see how I'm here, Joe?
I'm in LA, Joe.
I live in Long Island.
I'm here.
I don't fuck around.
I'm coming, I'm coming, right?
So I tell Diaz, I'm here.
He goes, his wife, he won't answer the phone.
His wife says, he's playing basketball.
Now, if you saw Diaz in the film, he's 5'3".
I know maybe he's shorter than 5'3", but he's cute.
He's 5'3 and cute.
So I go, okay.
That's 1030 at night.
joe rogan
I heard Prince is really good at basketball.
michael dowd
What?
Does he use his lips?
joe rogan
Charlie Murphy talked about it.
michael dowd
So I'm calling him every day and every night.
Now I'm a little annoyed.
I'm in your country.
I'm here.
Show respect.
Show up.
Right?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
Plus the fact that you owe me fucking like $14,000 right now.
I'm getting a little nervous.
Maybe more.
Three weeks, four weeks pay.
I'm talking about myself, you know?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So I'm a little annoyed.
But I'm spending $1,000, $1,500 to come see you for a reason.
Actually $4,000 by the time I figured the trip out.
Fuck it.
Anyway, so...
He's playing basketball.
It's midnight.
I call his fucking house.
Now I'm mad.
Midnight, I'm bringing this fucking phone.
His wife answers the phone at midnight.
Mike, he's playing basketball.
I said, you gotta be fucking kidding me.
It's midnight!
He's 5'3".
How much basketball could he possibly be playing?
I'm in his country.
I said, this is fucking disrespectful.
Tell him I said that.
I don't know if you're going to have someone hit me, kill me.
I don't fucking know.
I'm pissed.
At this point, who cares, right?
Anyway, we turn around, we leave.
We're getting ready to get on the plane.
About an hour before the plane, I'm staying in El Emperador Hotel in the center of Santo Domingo, and there's a casino downstairs.
I love to fucking gamble, right?
Atlantic City, every time we hit a big load, we hit Atlantic City.
So I'm in the casino.
The lights go out in the casino.
I got like 20 minutes.
I put American money and Dominican money.
I use American.
I hit them for like six, eight hundred large, right?
In like 10 minutes.
They want to stab me.
They don't want to let me leave.
They're trying to hold me feet there.
I got to catch a fucking plane like...
I don't know.
It's a 40 minute ride from where I am, so I gotta get going now.
They're like, you're cashing in?
I go, yeah, let me go.
They got flashlights on the table because the lights go out like every hour or two.
They go out for like 15 minutes.
The casino's not, yeah, back then they did.
So they stand here with flashlights making sure everybody's money's not getting stolen or robbed from them.
I cash out and I leave, get on the plane and come back home.
So I get home.
On the way home, I get strip searched in the airport.
Now, you gotta be kidding me.
Coming from the Dominican Republic, there's nothing but packages with people with ropes and cardboard boxes.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
I got luggage, like real luggage, you know?
These people have stamps on the side, yayo, on the fucking side of their boxes coming in, right?
Women have their thighs cut open so they can stuff packages of fucking coke in their thighs, right?
But I'm coming in with my little bag and my little guinea tea, whatever the fuck I'm wearing, coming from Dominica, and I'm getting strip searched in the airport.
So I'm looking around and I'm saying, this is fucking some setup.
Anyway, it's a setup.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
Now Mike Dowd is finally waking up, you know?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And I go, it's that fucking Tromboli.
I didn't know his name.
I thought it said Trattbaum.
His name is fucking Tromboli.
I go, it's that fucking Trattbaum.
I know it is.
Anyway.
Gets strip-searched.
She gets cavity-searched.
I broke up with her on the plane.
joe rogan
On the plane?
michael dowd
Yeah, on the way back.
My wife said, okay, go have fun, come back, we'll talk.
unidentified
Right.
So on the way back, you're like, look, this ain't gonna work out.
michael dowd
Yeah, but, you know.
joe rogan
I'm going back to my wife.
michael dowd
I'm going home where I belong.
joe rogan
Right.
unidentified
Anyway, so, yeah, she's distraught.
michael dowd
Now she's getting bent off.
I just fucked up, and now these people are fucking her, you know?
So it's horrible.
I mean, we're laughing because, you know, life is, you know, horrible, you know?
joe rogan
Well, after the fact.
michael dowd
After the fact.
Right, exactly.
Anyway, so we get home, and whatever, we do our last deeds, and outside the fucking sub.
I didn't want to tell her.
Someone was outside fucking taking our license plate numbers down.
They had flashlights on the inspection stickers for our cars.
Eternal Affairs was outside, you know, marking the locations and the times and everything else that I was at the house.
I didn't want to tell her.
I'm a spooker.
So anyway, a week goes by, two weeks go by, whatever it was.
Finally, I'm at Barron's shop, Autosound City, where this whole thing basically centers around.
unidentified
And Adam's there.
michael dowd
And I want to fucking, I don't know if I'm going to bite him, kick him, hug him, or stab him.
I'm fucking, I want to kill him.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
Mike, what the fuck?
I was in your country.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
He goes, the DEA had your phones while you were in Dominican Republic.
He said, they tapped you, they followed you.
He said, I was warned by the Dominican Police Department to stay the fuck away from you.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
You think he would have sent a pigeon or something?
Send me a message?
joe rogan
Well, he probably couldn't.
Probably couldn't trust anybody.
It's probably one of those situations where what can you do?
If you know that you're being tapped and you know that they're watching, it's probably best to just play basketball.
michael dowd
That's what he was doing!
Playing basketball all the time.
joe rogan
That's what you gotta do sometimes.
Just lay low and hope that he sees you.
It makes sense.
michael dowd
Yeah, well, he's a smart guy.
joe rogan
How did you avoid getting killed?
That's what is most shocking, that you were involved with, I mean...
michael dowd
Listen, you go into a ring, you think you're coming out, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
That's it.
joe rogan
Do you realize now, like, we're looking back on it, like, Jesus fucking Christ, like, I came really close.
michael dowd
Well, the more serious affront that I faced was that guy Cello that's mentioned in the documentary.
And why I say that is not because at any moment something could have gone wrong in any deal, you know?
Because at some point I began purchasing the coke from these guys because they couldn't constantly front your fucking kilos because they loved you, you know?
And I could no longer provide them protection because they took my guns and badge away.
Actually, I surrendered it.
I surrendered my gun and badge.
joe rogan
Why did you surrender it?
michael dowd
Because I was trying to get up the job on a psycho disability.
joe rogan
Psycho disability?
unidentified
Yeah.
michael dowd
You know, I mean, it makes sense.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
But they gave me my guns back.
This was what's ruinous.
joe rogan
They gave it to you back.
They go, no, we did an investigation.
We decided you're A-OK. You're good.
unidentified
You're good.
michael dowd
And I'm reading the fucking papers.
You don't even know.
This is surreal.
I'm reading.
See this piece of paper I have here?
On this piece of paper.
There's a guy, he's about 90 years old.
This is no joke.
Not written on here, but there's a 90-year-old guy.
He's a head shrink in the whole New York City Police Department.
He's got this dossier in front of him.
He leaves it out, and I'm in there to get my gun and badge back.
He's 90, so he turns around.
He's got to go about, I don't know, 50 feet this way, open a locker, put a lock on it, take my gun and my badge and give it back to me.
So I'm sort of like doing a neck twist and curl, and it says...
Four or five separate allegations for selling narcotics out of a red Corvette.
And this guy's giving me back my gun and badge.
I'm like, this is fucking unbelievable.
This is the first time I ever saw officially in writing what they had me under investigation for.
There's 19 different fucking listed investigations, but four specifically at one period of time from, like, 86, 87, 88, specifically laid out week after week what they were looking for me for.
I'm like, and it's from a red Corvette, so I knew exactly what time that was.
I only had the red Corvette for a short period as well.
So I'm like, I can't believe they're giving my shit back.
I mean, this is, this is, now I know, I'm scared.
I don't, now, you know, what do you do?
joe rogan
Do you think that they were giving you shit back so that you could keep doing what you were doing to catch you on more shit?
Was that the idea behind it?
michael dowd
They don't ever want to catch you.
unidentified
Really?
michael dowd
They don't ever want to catch you.
They want you to stop at that point.
joe rogan
So they don't want to catch you because if they catch you, it fucks with the whole department.
michael dowd
It's a black eye for everybody.
Which is true.
Listen, what I did was not good.
We know that.
We're just talking about it right now.
joe rogan
Do you know that, what was it, Tamir Rice, is that the kid's name, the 12-year-old kid that got shot?
They decided that it was okay, that there was nothing wrong, the investigation showed there was nothing wrong with the way the officer acted.
Got out of his car within two seconds, shot this 12-year-old kid who had a gun, fake gun, toy gun.
michael dowd
Joe, a lot of these things that you mentioned, I don't know all the facts on.
I'm not here to bash what cops do, because what they do is an impossible job, right?
The problem is that everybody makes mistakes, and when you're a cop and you make a mistake, it can cost somebody their life.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
And that's the reality, you know?
And, you know, if you ask me, is there other solutions and other alternatives, I say absolutely.
You know, give the cop the body cameras.
Give him more body cameras.
Why not?
I mean, you know, everybody else is filming.
You might as well be the one filming it.
joe rogan
Yeah, the problem is this story is a totally unrelated story, but this story was on camera.
michael dowd
You know, I caught a little glimpse of some stuff, Joe.
I try not to pass judgment because I'm not the one there.
I've been in hundreds of...
Listen, in East New York, I pull my gun out every day.
I probably pull my gun out 15 times a day.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
And I never shot anybody.
joe rogan
So you pulled your gun out to warn people?
You pulled your gun out to be careful?
michael dowd
Let them know that this is serious and that I need to know where your hands are right now.
Your hands are my threat.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And if I don't see your hands and you don't comply with me with your hands, then I may have to kill you.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
May have to.
I don't want to.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
But I'm letting you know.
joe rogan
It's amazing that you never shot anybody.
unidentified
Yeah.
Close.
michael dowd
A couple of times.
I actually almost shot a cop once.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
Undercover?
michael dowd
Yeah, undercover.
unidentified
Jesus.
michael dowd
He was beating up some kids.
He had a gun on a kid.
And I told him to drop his gun.
He wouldn't drop his gun.
I was with Kenny that time.
He could probably tell the story as well because he remembers everything perfectly.
joe rogan
Do you talk to that guy anymore, Kenny?
michael dowd
Not really.
We don't have a good relationship.
Let's put it that way.
joe rogan
I would imagine that would be a strain on the friendship when a guy puts you away for 12 years.
michael dowd
It's not even that anymore.
It's more the way he's handled things since then.
He's just...
Listen, I don't begrudge him for what happened to his life.
He made decisions in his life based on more than just his own freedom, okay?
His wife's freedom was at stake as well, okay?
His children's...
Being put into a foster home possibility was there because, you know.
joe rogan
Right.
I understand.
michael dowd
Dory was directly involved in certain things, his wife.
joe rogan
You two together on a podcast would be fucking epic.
michael dowd
Well, we tried.
A lot of these we couldn't do together.
Why?
We worked on a lot of these.
We wouldn't sit in the same room.
Listen, because I really don't want to give him the credibility that he does not deserve because he continually...
We're at odds over certain things.
joe rogan
Aspects of the story?
michael dowd
Certain aspects of the story.
And when I confront him and he just says, well, you're a liar.
What do I have to lie about?
What do I have to fucking lie about?
I'm the guy who did the fucking time.
I have nothing to lie about.
If you remember things differently than I, that's fine.
But the reality is, I'm just going to touch on it briefly.
This kidnapping slash murder slash whatever, execution slash bullshit.
The thing at the end.
We weren't going to the woman's house to do that, okay?
We were going to the woman's house to survey her house.
He insisted that we walk up to the front door.
I said, what are you out of your fucking mind?
That's not even in the plan.
That doesn't make the tapes.
That's not even in the plan, Kenny.
Yeah, well, I'm not driving all the way here and not going up to the front door.
First of all, that shouldn't even be a discussion because we're not going up to the front door.
There's other people involved in this that are going to go in and come out.
joe rogan
But didn't they get you on recording saying that you had to get rid of this woman?
michael dowd
He said that.
What you don't hear is what he's saying for 20 minutes, 30 minutes.
Saying, they're going to execute him, Mike.
You know they're going to execute him.
I'm like, who?
Who's going to execute him?
The Colombians, he keeps saying.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
First of all, where are the Colombians?
Second of all, they're not here.
And third of all, whatever.
We throw, whatever.
I want to get past the conversation.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
Because I sense he's fucking taping it.
joe rogan
You sensed that?
michael dowd
I've asked him numerous times, Kenny, you're wearing a wire.
Come on, just tell me the truth.
joe rogan
Was this before he was wearing a wire?
You thought he was wearing a wire?
michael dowd
No, while he was wearing a wire.
joe rogan
So you knew when shit was going down.
michael dowd
It wasn't making sense, so I kept saying him, you're wearing a wire.
No, no, Mike, I would never do that to you.
I'm like, I want to believe this guy.
I want to believe him.
joe rogan
It should be one of those things, remember in those old stupid TV shows where you'd have to say, you'd ask a cop, are you a cop?
And then he would have to tell you.
michael dowd
Remember that?
joe rogan
People fucking believe that, which is goddamn hilarious.
unidentified
You know, if a cop, if you just ask him if he's a cop, they're going to tell you.
joe rogan
What kind of fucking fantasy land are you living in?
michael dowd
Good luck with that one.
joe rogan
That's goddamn hilarious.
michael dowd
Actually, a cop is allowed to do a bump if he has to stay alive.
joe rogan
Well, they're allowed in Hawaii to fuck prostitutes.
michael dowd
Well, that's good.
I'm on a job there.
joe rogan
Did you hear that?
That's true.
It's a recent thing.
They made a recent decision that police officers in Hawaii are allowed to have sex with prostitutes on the job as a part of an ongoing investigation.
michael dowd
Well, because they can't get enough on their own?
I mean, come on.
joe rogan
Well, because they have to find out things and the prostitutes won't trust them unless they fuck them.
michael dowd
You gotta fuck me.
And then we can talk.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's how they work.
michael dowd
It's intimacy.
Like I said, let's go there.
We'll open up our own private detective agency.
joe rogan
Well, undercover women wind up fucking drug dealers and stuff all the time, right?
It's a dark secret, isn't it?
Or at least it is in the movies.
michael dowd
Well, they could have gotten me pretty easily that way then, couldn't they?
Why didn't they do that?
joe rogan
Yeah, why did they send Kenny in there?
michael dowd
They could have sent any hot Latino broad in there.
joe rogan
Yeah, with a tape recorder in her pussy.
unidentified
She just had to have it in the neighborhood, I would have been done.
michael dowd
Just send in one of those little dime packages.
joe rogan
Well, the tape recorders back then, though, were fucking giant, monstrous, VCR-looking things.
michael dowd
Could you imagine?
And I didn't check them because I was too proud.
Like, you wouldn't do that to me.
And my brother says to me, Mike, did you toss them?
I go, yeah.
I didn't.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
And thank God I didn't that day, because, well, thank God.
I mean, what's the difference?
I'm doing my time either way, you know?
joe rogan
Right, but what if you'd killed him or something, or what if you guys had gotten...
unidentified
That would have been messy.
michael dowd
That would have been messy.
In other words, thank God I didn't find out.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, anything could have happened, and it would have been assault and violence involved.
unidentified
Right, right.
michael dowd
Now it would have been another level to something else, and you threatened a witness.
How the fuck did I know he was a witness until a minute ago?
joe rogan
Right, exactly.
That's the sneaky thing about it.
Now, you went away for 12 years?
michael dowd
Well, I was sentenced to 14 years.
I took a plea agreement that was 10th to life.
Okay?
joe rogan
That's the plea?
michael dowd
That was the plea.
joe rogan
So how does that work when they say 10th to life?
michael dowd
They offered me 24 to 30. That was my first offer.
I called my lawyer.
unidentified
What the fuck?
michael dowd
Did I kill somebody?
He goes, that's just the way the federal government is.
I said, that's nice.
So, 24 to 30 was my first offer.
Now, what pisses me off is, here's a guy, he doesn't realize what he just did to a guy who was eating in my house a couple weeks ago.
And now he doesn't realize that instead of just doing our time together, like just take the...
Let me backtrack a little bit, and we'll try to remember that, where we were.
When we were out on bail, Kenny had some options, as I did, to either Cooperate with the government and give everything up and just go on and do your married little bid in your life, whatever.
It might have not been too little.
It might have been more.
So I get off a shrimp boat trip, a job in Nicaragua.
To run a shrimp boat.
joe rogan
Who the fuck is offering you a shrimp boat?
michael dowd
The owner of the Astoria Hotel, Astoria Manor in Astoria, Queens, he's got a catering hall with a bunch of weddings.
And most weddings, they love to have shrimp at every wedding.
He has 11 rooms in the catering hall.
So he's got 11 people, sometimes twice a day, Filtering shrimp through his business.
So he says, Mike, you're going away for a long period of time.
He said, so I got an option for you.
I need a shrimp boat captain in Nicaragua.
You want to go?
I went, I'm in!
So, you know, I'm looking for anything to grab onto at that point in my life.
And I go home and I'm like, I give Kenny a call.
I said, Kenny, listen, I want to talk to you.
Mike, I don't know if we should talk.
I said, Kent, let's meet and talk.
So we have a conversation.
And he says, Mike, I got a pension.
I got a wife and a kid.
He says, I'm not giving that shit up to go shrimp.
If I have to do a little bid, I have to do it.
Fine.
He says, but I'm not giving it all up to go shrimp boat fishing in Nicaragua.
I said, okay.
Done.
Story done.
Case closed.
Done.
Never happened.
joe rogan
Okay.
michael dowd
Three, four days later, maybe less, two days later, the phone rings.
Mike, I'm interested in going fishing.
I go, what are you talking about, fishing?
So he comes to see me.
He says, uh, now, I see the fucking DEA over here.
I see something over here.
I see everybody.
I'm being followed.
I go, what are you talking about?
He goes, I want to go fishing.
Remember the fishing trip you were talking about last week?
I go, what fishing trip?
Fucking, you know, the Marlin fishing trip?
What fishing trip?
He won't say the word.
Shrimp boat in Nicaragua.
joe rogan
Why?
michael dowd
It has to come from me.
joe rogan
Why does it have to come from you?
michael dowd
Because if you're working for the government at this point, you can't be the one that entraps the person.
unidentified
Oh.
michael dowd
It has to come out of my mouth.
joe rogan
So him saying the fishing trip.
michael dowd
Let's go fishing.
Let's go fishing.
Yeah.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
So he wants you to say, because he wants you to say, I'm going to skip the country.
michael dowd
Correct.
He wants me to say, you mean, like I do.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
The shrimp boat job in Nicaragua?
joe rogan
Right.
unidentified
Yes!
He goes, yes!
michael dowd
He jumps up out of his fucking chair.
I'm like, look, what the fuck are you so excited about?
Now I know something's wrong.
What a shitty actor.
Yeah, he's ridiculous.
So now I go, okay, something's not right.
And I start finding the fucking setup everywhere around me.
And he's opening the window in his car.
His hair's perfectly quaffed.
I said, Kenny, what are you opening the window for?
The fucking air conditioner's on.
It's 95 degrees out.
Your hair's going to get messed.
Oh, no, no.
Anyway, he disputes that.
Why would he dispute that?
Anyway, so...
unidentified
So now...
michael dowd
Think of what just happened.
He's now come back to me and says he wants to go on the shrimp boat trip.
He goes home.
I go home.
I said, listen, it's a good idea.
We need a half a million plus because I can't leave my family broke.
All their houses are up for fucking bail.
Two days go by and some Colombian calls me up and says, I need a half a million dollars of this.
I need a half a million dollars recovered and 10 kilos from this woman's house in Jamaica.
joe rogan
Same number.
michael dowd
Just what I need.
Exactly what I needed.
Right.
joe rogan
It's suspicious.
unidentified
I'm a little suspicious as well, but I can't believe God is good, I'm saying.
michael dowd
He's great.
unidentified
Look what he's doing for me.
joe rogan
So you really believed it?
michael dowd
They played it off well.
So, and I'm looking for anything.
unidentified
I don't know.
michael dowd
I'm desperate.
joe rogan
Are you doing coke at the time?
No.
unidentified
Okay.
michael dowd
Six weeks clean.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
I was in jail.
So, I was out on bail.
And no one would sell anything to me.
So I tried to pick up a package.
My own dealer wouldn't sell it to me.
joe rogan
Wow.
That's when times are tough.
michael dowd
Yeah.
When a coke dealer won't sell you blow.
unidentified
When my own guy.
michael dowd
My own guy.
joe rogan
Too hot, man.
I'm not gonna go to Yale.
michael dowd
Yeah, I'm not going to Yale.
So I end up in a discussion with him, and this thing presents itself, and he's all over it now.
Yeah, I want to go.
I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, Kenny, you didn't want to go before.
He says, yeah, but now I want to go.
Like, he's, like, fucking screaming it.
I'm like, okay, you know, it sounds a little odd.
Are you wearing a wire?
No!
Okay, you know, just checking.
unidentified
Casual.
michael dowd
Just checking.
Anyway, so on and on and on we went, and eventually this thing was sad, and this thing turned into what it turned into.
And, you know, it is what it is.
joe rogan
Well, you dispute it in the film.
You say that you...
michael dowd
Yeah, but I dispute the premise of the beginning of the whole process.
With the woman, there's a controversy back and forth.
I never saw her.
Never met her.
Never intended to touch her.
Myself, personally, ever.
Now, how she was going to get in my car, bagged and gagged and whatever, I don't fucking know.
Okay?
But the fact is that we weren't supposed to do anything to her.
joe rogan
So, for people who listen to this that haven't seen the documentary, there was...
It was sort of like a last thing that you guys could do to make a shitload of money.
And it involved kidnapping a woman who would eventually be murdered.
Well, this is in the film, right?
michael dowd
It's horrible.
Yeah.
All these eventuals are nothing that I never had anything to do with the eventuals.
I never knew them.
He knew them.
And they spoke Spanish, so how the fuck did Kenny know what they were saying?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
I don't know.
Maybe the government translated it for him.
joe rogan
But what part, if any, were you playing in or anticipating playing?
michael dowd
I was going to take the money from a woman's house.
Come on.
You can do that in your sleep.
Take the money from a woman's house and the drugs and go home.
Split it up with the Colombians and go.
Somehow along the way, whether it be the government fishing, Kenny fishing, someone pushing, this woman was going to go from being...
Money that wasn't hers.
It was a drug dealer's money that was killed.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
Her husband was a Dominican drug dealer who was killed.
joe rogan
By whom?
michael dowd
I can't answer that question.
But the fact is that he had a half a million in cash in that home, according to the setup people, and 10 kilos.
And we can take it all and split it down the middle, and you'll have your money, you can leave the country.
I mean, very convenient.
joe rogan
Very.
Yeah, very convenient.
michael dowd
What an asshole I was, right?
joe rogan
Wow, what a crazy scenario though.
michael dowd
So it went from shaking down street drug dealers for a couple hundred a day to, you know.
joe rogan
But see, that's like an attempted murder.
That's a whole conspiracy.
michael dowd
Were you trying to get me a new charge?
No, no, no, I'm not.
joe rogan
But I'm saying they obviously couldn't pin that on you.
Otherwise, you would have went away for a lot longer than 12 years.
michael dowd
So you answered the question.
joe rogan
But it seems like that was something they were trying to concoct to make everything a lot more severe.
michael dowd
Correct.
joe rogan
Okay.
Now, when you go away, think about how many years you were involved in actual crime.
How many years do you think you were involved as a cop committing crime?
michael dowd
Well, every time you put the uniform on and you don't do the right thing, you're pretty much committing a crime.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
And you have a gun on you.
joe rogan
So how many years is that about?
michael dowd
I'd say a solid five.
joe rogan
A solid five years.
So it's not that bad to go away for 12 for a solid five years.
unidentified
No, no.
michael dowd
I mean, you want to minimize my sentence now?
I mean, every day is a long fucking day.
Come on.
joe rogan
I'm sure, but I was going to bring that up, too.
But what is it like when you go in there?
I mean, first of all, you're a cop.
They know you're a cop.
michael dowd
Yeah.
Everywhere I went, they knew.
joe rogan
What is that like?
michael dowd
I was the first person they knew on the compound when I hit the compound.
joe rogan
And what is that?
michael dowd
It's like having 1,800 men times two, because they each got two eyes, most of them, not all.
So you have 3,600 eyes on you, never mind the 600 staff in there watching you 24-7.
joe rogan
Watching you, threatening you?
michael dowd
You know, you eyeball someone that could be a threat, right?
You're in a fight game.
Eyes can mean either compliance, you know, or fuck you, and then it's up to you.
How do you want to handle this?
joe rogan
But did they think of you as almost one of them because you were also involved in crime?
michael dowd
There was a strange relationship.
Many of them wished that they were me because they would love to have had that power.
I mean, dozens, if not hundreds, have said, I wish I was a fucking cop.
All right?
I mean, really?
Do you really?
joe rogan
It's like having superpowers if you were a criminal.
michael dowd
Well, if you've seen a film, it felt like you were God.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
You could do anything you wanted.
It was horrible.
joe rogan
Well, that's what was my point about having that kind of power.
michael dowd
In prison, you have none.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
You're the least one they want.
You and the child, Melissa.
joe rogan
So is that how they lump you in?
michael dowd
Right in the same category.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
So basically, when they say, I walked the yard by myself for 12, other than Mickey Monday, who came up to me and said hello to me.
joe rogan
Who is Mickey Monday?
michael dowd
He's that blonde-haired guy from the Cocaine Cowboys.
You ever see that?
joe rogan
Fuck yeah.
michael dowd
Yeah, he's my buddy.
joe rogan
That's my friend Billy Corbin's documentary.
Both of them.
Cooking Cowboys 1 and 2. That guy's your buddy?
You went to jail with him?
michael dowd
I got a picture of him.
joe rogan
The two of you together must have had some fucking great stories.
michael dowd
We were together last week in Miami.
unidentified
Jesus Christ.
michael dowd
I was in Miami in his favorite fucking greasy spoon spot down there.
joe rogan
Oh, he's out too?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
Beautiful.
unidentified
Yeah.
michael dowd
I was sitting there with this guy, John Cardillo, who does a radio show on iHeartRadio down there out of Fort Lauderdale.
He and I, he's a retired cop, and he's a great host on the show, and we're talking about maybe doing something together, too, as well.
Wow.
The Good Cop Bed Cop show.
joe rogan
That sounds like a great idea.
michael dowd
I'll be fucking pissing.
joe rogan
First of all, if you don't have a podcast, there's a fucking crime being committed right now.
michael dowd
I don't know how to do one.
joe rogan
It's fucking easy as shit.
Jamie will tell you.
It's easy.
michael dowd
I don't know.
He's sweating over there.
joe rogan
Well, this is a way more complex setup than anybody really needs.
I mean, we only do it this way because it's kind of fun to have video of it.
michael dowd
Are we live streaming?
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
michael dowd
Oh, we're live right now?
joe rogan
Yeah, we're live right now.
Yeah.
michael dowd
How's my hair look?
joe rogan
You look great.
How's mine look?
michael dowd
Wonderful.
unidentified
It's easy.
joe rogan
I wish I'd done this when I was 20. But the point is, like, all you need is a little mp3 recorder.
If we had a little recorder that's, like, the size of a cell phone, like this, like, I've done a bunch of them.
michael dowd
Almost the size of Kenny's recorder!
joe rogan
Well, no, he wishes he had something this small back then.
But I've done a few of them just with my iPhone.
We just...
Set it down on a table, and the microphones in these things are really good.
You could do it, and then you upload it.
It's fucking easy as shit.
michael dowd
Yeah, but I need someone like you to feed off of.
joe rogan
Yeah, but you just find somebody.
michael dowd
Just find somebody in the street.
I should get one of the guys that I shook down.
joe rogan
You could do that.
michael dowd
Funny story, I'm at one of the premieres.
I did a lot of those.
joe rogan
That's a great idea, actually.
michael dowd
I'm at a premiere, and I see these guys come walking up, and they look fucking, they look a little haggard, you know?
And they're looking at me with that, like, cheapest, like, look, and like, you know, I'm like a semi-star of the thing, so I gotta look all proper and everything, and looking, you know, all ever-dite.
And up comes these guys, they look like they're from the street, you know?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So they got their hats on sideways, half their teeth are missing, and the guy sticks his hand out and he goes, Mike, I go, yeah, who are you?
He goes, I used to hang out on Picking in fucking, Picking in Norwood or Picking in, not Norwood because Norwood doesn't mean it, but Picking in Crescent and Picking in Chestnut.
I'm like, okay.
He goes, yeah, you used to shake me down.
I'm like, oh, really?
Oh, Jesus.
But we both made it like it was like almost a fucking initial bond that you could you couldn't imagine like right like those I did my bid whatever he did You know 30 fucking years later.
He's shaking my hand at a movie premiere thing.
It was I said he was like We're proud of you?
I don't know if that makes sense.
We're proud of you.
You lived through it.
Look at us.
Only like 10 people lived through it.
Those three and me and a couple other people.
joe rogan
So, in a sense, well, you're both survivors, in a sense.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
And there was respect.
unidentified
Yeah.
michael dowd
There was respect.
It was nice to see.
joe rogan
That's bizarre, right?
michael dowd
I tell you, a couple cops came up to me.
They really didn't like it, but they didn't like it.
But they came up and hugged me and said, hey, man, you made it.
Go on with your life.
Which really, to me, I have to be honest with you.
You're still a cop in your heart.
You're a fighter.
You're a fighter in your heart.
You know that.
It's respect.
joe rogan
What a strained relationship between you and the other cops.
michael dowd
Well, you give up your whole community.
You fuck up like I did.
And my whole family is involved in it.
The police department, the fire department.
So you destroyed your relationship with that whole community.
And that's how you grew up.
So I basically destroyed every fabric of who I am.
joe rogan
But then again, they have to watch that documentary and be fucking entertained.
michael dowd
They loved it.
I've had people come to me.
No, listen.
It was back then.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
So now they know.
And they know who I am as a human being.
I really mean good.
I don't always do good, but I do mean well.
joe rogan
Right.
Well, like I said, if I was 23 years old and I was living where you're living and doing that job, I probably would have been right there with you.
I probably would have.
michael dowd
You're one in a thousand that said the same exact words.
So is it some comfort?
Maybe it is.
joe rogan
There's some comfort in that.
I used to have this different look about people.
I used to say, well, you're responsible for your own actions, which in a sense you absolutely are.
But there's also this concept that All of your own actions and whoever you are in a lot of ways are determined by your environment, by how you grew up, by what situation you find yourself in, by the circumstances you find yourself in in that situation.
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
And there's a lot going on there.
And then there's the fun.
michael dowd
There was a lot of fun.
joe rogan
That's a fucking problem!
michael dowd
I have to say.
joe rogan
When I was watching that documentary, I was like, this guy looks like he's having a great fucking time.
michael dowd
I don't know if that's a good thing.
joe rogan
It's not a good thing.
michael dowd
It's not, but I did.
joe rogan
But here's the thing, right?
One of the things you alluded to is, like, who's bringing the fucking drugs into that community?
You know, who's bringing the drugs into the country?
And I hate to go all crazy conspiracy theory, but the reality is there were a bunch of rogue...
unidentified
CIA, CIA agents were bringing it in.
michael dowd
A bunch of rogue agents.
With Ollie North's crew.
Yeah, I know.
joe rogan
Yeah, Ollie North's crew, the fucking...
michael dowd
The Mena Airport out of Arkansas, where Bill Clinton's family was involved.
I was in jail with his cousin.
joe rogan
Yeah, what was the guy that got killed?
Barry Seals.
Barry Seals was the pilot.
There's all these photographs of him with all these Colombian drug lords.
And this guy, he was murdered on his way to testify.
He had George Bush's phone number in his fucking pocket when he was killed.
There's a lot of fucking shit going on with this.
There's so much money involved in drugs.
michael dowd
That's why I'm for total...
Legalization.
Decriminalization of all narcotics.
Everything.
Because you make criminals out of people that are generally not criminals.
joe rogan
Yes.
michael dowd
It was just a lot of money.
I mean, a guy goes to school, becomes a stockbroker.
He finds out that the real money is in being a criminal.
Instead of making his 60, 70, or 100,000, he wants to make 6 million.
So he has to be a criminal.
That's a choice he made, though.
He made that choice.
Yes.
Or we, you know, I like to say you're not what you've done.
It's what you've become afterwards, though.
Like someone hurt somebody, you know, in a moment of rage or something or inadvertently does something or they go out of their way to do something.
Because for whatever the driving reasons are.
So they're forever defined by that act.
joe rogan
Yes.
michael dowd
But that's not necessarily who someone is.
joe rogan
Well, people love to forever define people by that act, because they, in some way, Are very happy it's not them.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
And so they want to say, you're a piece of shit forever.
michael dowd
I'll write you off forever.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
How many people did what I did, got away with it, and are throwing fucking stones at me?
joe rogan
A lot.
michael dowd
Okay.
joe rogan
I'm sure.
michael dowd
Listen, go back into the histories from between, let's go 85 to 95. Uh-huh.
Call it ghetto precinct, because that's what it's called in the police world.
Every single ghetto precinct had a scandal very similar to mine, except maybe not to the depth, like you had initially said, like when I really got into the paying and straight out dealing with the guys.
joe rogan
Well, let's be honest.
You're an all-star.
You're an all-star in the world of corruption.
unidentified
Thank you so much.
joe rogan
I appreciate that.
It's what it's like.
It's like, you know, there's guys that take it to the next level.
I mean, not everybody can be Ronda Rousey.
You know what I'm saying?
Not everybody can be John Jones.
You had her last night on TV. Guys take it to the next level, and you took it to the next level in the world of police corruption.
michael dowd
My mother and my children are quite proud of that.
joe rogan
But you know what I'm saying?
I mean, whenever you have any sort of an act, whether it's a guy who's a marijuana dealer or a guy who's a fucking bow hunter, you're going to have people that just take it to the ultimate.
They take it to the furthest extreme.
And that's what you did as a corrupt cop.
michael dowd
Yeah, I just found ways to continually get...
joe rogan
So when you say a guy like Serpico, you think he's a piece of shit or you think he's a...
michael dowd
Well, you know what, I have nothing personal against him.
joe rogan
I know, but you understand that...
michael dowd
I wouldn't hang out with him for any period of time.
joe rogan
But you kind of dabbled in that when you turned on the guy with the gold fans.
I found out that it wasn't good.
michael dowd
Quickly went back to being a criminal.
unidentified
One, it paid better, and two, it was a lot more fun.
joe rogan
Now, when you go away, okay, and you're in that, what prison did you go to?
michael dowd
I was in several.
I started out in MCC, New York.
I did two years there waiting to be sentenced.
joe rogan
So that's a state?
michael dowd
It's all federal.
joe rogan
All federal.
michael dowd
I was federal.
And it's not the camp that you think it is, by the way.
And then I was sent out to Mariana, Florida.
joe rogan
That's nice weather.
michael dowd
Well, it was 105 in the summer.
joe rogan
Did you get to go outside?
michael dowd
Oh, yeah.
No, what happened was I was in isolation for nine months.
joe rogan
Nine months?
michael dowd
In total isolation in MCC, New York.
joe rogan
What is that like?
michael dowd
It's the worst thing in the world.
It's total deprivation, sensory deprivation, everything.
joe rogan
Is the lights on all the time?
michael dowd
Not always, but depending upon the location you're at, sometimes they keep a light on so that they can see you.
What does it feel like?
The worst thing about being in isolation is your loss of interpersonal skills, which I don't know if I have any anyway.
Just when you pass people in a physical manner, you don't know whether they're going to stab you or you should stab them, you should hug them, you should shake their hand.
It's hard to explain, but it's like that physical presence of another person next to you in your space.
I mean, you're a fighter.
You're a cop.
If someone gets in a certain space, you need to protect yourself.
Well, being a convict slash inmate slash prisoner, when someone steps in your personal space, of course, you need to check them.
But when you're in isolation, you don't know what it is.
Your personal space becomes whatever you can grasp.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
Whatever you can control.
So when I was first, an example was when I first passed somebody, we had a room, let's say, the size of your studio here, and he was out on the floor and I was out on the floor.
At the same time, which is very odd in my situation because I wasn't around anybody, I didn't know what to do.
I didn't know how to respond to his presence in my world.
joe rogan
And he was another guy that was also in solitary?
michael dowd
For a short period of time.
He just got in trouble for something.
But at that point I was probably in, at that moment, probably five or six months.
joe rogan
So five or six months with no contact except when they feed you?
michael dowd
Right.
joe rogan
And when they feed you, they talk to you?
michael dowd
No, they throw the food through a slot and you go.
joe rogan
No one says anything to you?
michael dowd
Very little.
Very little interaction.
How are you today?
Yeah, good.
I'm good.
Great!
I just finished another book!
Right.
joe rogan
So that's the entire extent of your human interaction for nine months?
michael dowd
Essentially, yes.
You do get visits once a week or something like that for an hour.
With your family members.
Wow.
You know, and that's, you know, it's a little different because, you know, it's a warm thing, you know, but people that are criminals and convicts and the same, you're not really touchy, lovey-feely type thing, you know, so you don't know how to respond.
joe rogan
Yeah, I would imagine, like, didn't Bradley Manning, I think he was in for like two years plus before he became Chelsea Manning, right?
Two years plus solitary, no interaction with anyone, and I believe no clothes, because they were worried about him killing himself.
michael dowd
Hanging himself, yeah.
joe rogan
Or herself?
I don't know.
When does it transition?
When do you officially say him or her?
I don't know.
Either way.
But, like, I've heard it argued that, like, you go insane.
Like, if you leave someone alone for two or three years and there's no interaction at all with other people, you might as well just fucking shoot.
michael dowd
Yeah, I saw guys used to sleep underneath their bed, put the mattress on top of their bed and sleep underneath it.
Underneath the bed we hang up the wall or something.
I don't know.
I didn't want to ask him.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
It was just like that's what their life became.
joe rogan
You become insane.
michael dowd
Pappy Mason is one of the guys that he killed a cop and was responsible for the killing of Eddie Burns, I think.
One of the officers that was executed.
And he used to sleep under his bed.
It was part of the fact that he wanted to be known to be psycho rather than be responsible for what he did.
joe rogan
Oh, so he was doing things like...
michael dowd
Yeah, but then it became him.
joe rogan
Ooh.
Yeah.
michael dowd
Horrible.
And his dreads were fucking like 12 feet long.
unidentified
Ugh.
Yeah.
michael dowd
His life became whatever, you know.
I have no sympathy for what he did.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
But just people, human beings in general, that's what happens when they start to go on the other side of that.
joe rogan
Well, the thing about the Bradley Manning case is even more fucked up because all he did was expose crime.
I mean, that was the guy who gave away the WikiLeaks documents.
michael dowd
Oh, okay.
joe rogan
And he gave it to Julian Assange.
Now they're both fucked.
Julian Assange is stuck in a fucking embassy in London.
He can't move.
They just recently, I think in the last couple days, they got rid of his 24-hour guards.
He had guards outside the gate, making sure he didn't bolt.
And now they're like, yeah, fuck it.
michael dowd
He stays.
joe rogan
He's stuck in this, I think, the Ecuador embassy.
And so he's fucked there.
And then Chelsea Manning is fucked in jail forever.
And they're never gonna let her out now, and that's it.
And it's all exposing crime, which is even more fucked up, because Julian Assange is not a criminal, Bradley Manning is not a crime, other than, you know, the crime of exposing government corruption and documents.
michael dowd
So I'll give you an interesting detail on one of the hundreds of stories.
My boys, they do a shakedown.
They robbed this bodega, which is why Chicky and Walter become my buddy.
I mentioned it briefly before.
So...
They're out on bail.
Walter's living in my house, and Tromboli, one of the internal affairs detectives, is constantly at my house, like, surveilling my house and shit, right?
And Walter...
Chickie's out on bail, getting ready to do a little nine-month bid.
Walter's getting ready to go upstate for two and a half years because he's like...
He was on duty.
He was the police officer that was still on the job.
And so...
I find out that they're getting ready to go to trial now.
They're all putting themselves...
This is prior to their pleas.
They're getting ready to go to trial.
So I get in touch with Barron.
And I tell Barron, tell the owner of the bodega that he needs to leave the country right away.
Because trial's coming up in a week.
So...
Barron reaches out and tells the guy that, you know, the cops stopped by my office today and said, you guys gotta leave the country.
You gotta leave the country.
And he says, and You know, you gotta leave.
Because things can get bad if you don't leave the country.
So, the guy leaves the country immediately.
I get a phone call from one of the guys, whether it was Walter or Chick, he says, the fucking trial's been postponed.
I said, okay, good.
I don't know the details, but I know he's gone.
I had him leave the country.
So, about eight or ten months later, the case is ready to fall apart.
Internal Affairs goes and arrests this guy's wife or sister.
She's working in some bookie spot, one of those bodegas that sells numbers and they don't really sell food.
And they arrest his wife and tell him they're going to deport her and keep her kids and put them in BCW, one of those Bureau of Child Welfare.
Or call your brother and tell her to get back here.
I can't come back.
They're going to have me killed.
So he comes back under protection.
And the child goes forward.
But the fact is that what I'm getting at, what I'm telling you is that's what you can actually do when you're a cop.
If you really don't want something to happen.
You can actually have that kind of control over a situation.
Well, because, I mean, it wasn't them who did it.
It was us who did it.
We had this guy leave the country.
So these are the stories that The book layout, or even if the movie takes a spin in that direction.
I mean, there's really some intense shit that we were able to do.
I mean, if a guy put a complaint in against us, we'd go to his house.
You know, if you wanted to complain that the cops treated me unfairly or something like that.
Really?
You know, you've got to realize what you were dealing with.
joe rogan
Well, that kind of shit goes on to this day.
That kind of shit.
michael dowd
I'm not on the job.
joe rogan
Subtle versions of that.
michael dowd
Yeah, I... I'm not going to disparage anybody here.
I'm just telling you what we were able to do back then in order to keep moving the ball forward.
That's the way you could do things.
If a guy put up what they call a civilian complaint against, let's say, yourself, and you were either my buddy, one of my co-workers, you're not going to go to the guy's house and say anything, but you might have your friend sit in front of his house for a week.
joe rogan
And just freak him out.
michael dowd
You don't have to do anything.
Right.
joe rogan
It's enough.
michael dowd
It's pretty clear.
And we did that to Cello, the Kingpin drug dealer.
And that's when he tried to threaten to kill me.
Remember for the movie, he put a hit on me.
Because I sat in front of his bodega.
Because he shorted us $700.
I sat in front of his bodega for a week, probably.
And then he notified Baron that he put a hit out on me.
I don't know if that was part of the fluff or...
The reality is, so Baron called me and he says, there's a hit on you.
So that's when I went and I found him the next day, and day one, whatever it was, and pulled him over and confronted him in the street.
And he called a hit off and got my 700 bucks, too, which was a nice day.
Kenny says I never gave him the 350. He's got to be full of shit.
I mean, what?
He wasn't there, like I said.
I don't remember.
joe rogan
Wow.
Now, when you go away, okay, you do your nine months in solitary.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Why did they put you in solitary initially?
michael dowd
Cop.
joe rogan
Because you're a cop.
Just to protect you?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
So once you get out of solitary.
michael dowd
Yeah, now you're in with everybody else.
joe rogan
And what is that like?
unidentified
That's a little, you know, should I go back?
michael dowd
Solitary or not?
joe rogan
Is this maximum security, minimum, maximum?
michael dowd
High security.
joe rogan
So you're dealing with?
michael dowd
Everybody.
I was in there with the guys.
You named their names.
I was there with them.
You know, Gotti's crew was on the 11th floor.
I was on the 9th floor, the 7th floor, you know, in MCC. And so, I mean, God, he's for whatever.
But all the gangbangers were in there that were around that time, you know.
In fact, some of my good buddies were cop impersonators, you know.
They were one of those gangs that was going out, you know, basically executing.
I wasn't executing anybody, but they were, you know.
They were going in as cops and executing the drug dealers and taking their money.
joe rogan
So they were going in with lights, the whole deal?
michael dowd
Yeah, badges, coats, bulletproof vests, 38 Smith& Wessons and...
joe rogan
Killing people.
michael dowd
Yeah, killing people and taking their drugs.
I mean, that was the 80s, and it's Brooklyn and Manhattan and the Bronx.
joe rogan
And when you're in there and you go from solitary to...
michael dowd
Just general population.
unidentified
General population.
michael dowd
You know, you gotta watch your back every step of the way.
joe rogan
What is that like?
michael dowd
You know, it's like how when I was driving to work wondering if I was getting arrested every day.
joe rogan
What was the first day like?
The first day like they let you out and now all of a sudden, do you have to share a cell with somebody?
michael dowd
Yeah.
Who's the guy?
I can't recall.
joe rogan
You don't know who you share the cell with?
michael dowd
That was hundreds.
joe rogan
Hundreds of guys?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
Just different guys all the time?
michael dowd
Different guys all the time.
You're in transition.
In MCC New York, you're in transition.
I ended up sharing a cell with Patsy Conti one time, who was one of the wise guys.
They try to keep the white guys with the white guys, because prison's very racially divisive.
Black guys with black guys, white guys with white guys.
That's how it was.
Spanish guys with Spanish guys.
That's just the way prison is.
joe rogan
Now, do you have to align yourself with particular groups or anything while you're in there?
michael dowd
Listen, no one's going to align themselves with me.
But the happenstance is that when you're in MCC New York, it's like 60% black guys, 35% Hispanic guys, 2% Asian, and 1% white.
joe rogan
I think you're missing some numbers.
michael dowd
Let me get my pen out.
So even if you were a wise guy in the street, you saw a white face, you talked, whether you liked each other or not.
joe rogan
I understand.
michael dowd
And being I was young and still a little, I was in pretty good shape at this point.
Now we're down about a year or so and doing Probably, you know, 600, 800 push-ups, 1,000 push-ups a day, chin-ups, dips, backbends, you know, the whole bit.
joe rogan
Right, right.
michael dowd
You know, now I'm in great shape.
I'm doing the bar.
I'm doing 160 pull-ups, you know, frontwards, backwards.
And people see you moving around.
They're like, okay, you know, this isn't an easy trip.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
michael dowd
No matter what you think of me, I was a cop or not.
It wasn't an easy ride.
And then all the older wise guys, they're feeble guys, most of them.
When they finally get arrested, most of them are banged up anyway.
They're 65, 70, you know.
joe rogan
What happens to those guys when they get in?
michael dowd
Well, they align themselves with a young guy who does most of their bidding, and hopefully you don't have to take a knife for one of them or something like that.
Look, they got money.
When you got money in prison, it's like money in the street, you know.
joe rogan
And when you're in, okay, so when you go from being in solitary to general population, like, what are your days like?
michael dowd
Well, there's different worlds.
You know, MCC New York, you're in a jail, so you're really just inside a building and...
And some people have jobs, some people don't.
Jobs meaning they go to the kitchen, they cook, and they provide meals for the rest of the prison.
I was in like an orderly.
I'd have to clean a floor, something like that.
And basically sat there and waited to get sentenced.
It was horrible.
You know, you sat inside a building, you know, you come in, you look like a piece of paper.
You're so white, you got no sun, you got no vitamin C or D or B or E or G, whatever the fuck the vitamins are from the sun.
You got none of them.
And the food's horrible.
And you can't wait to get sentenced.
Because you want to go out and live a life.
Now, being a sentenced prisoner opposed to a prisoner in waiting, like a bride in waiting, you finally get out.
joe rogan
So how long is this waiting period?
michael dowd
It was two years.
joe rogan
So for two years.
So nine months, solitary, and then another year, 15 months, you're just in this jail waiting to be sentenced.
michael dowd
Waiting to be sentenced.
joe rogan
So finally you get sentenced, and then what happens?
michael dowd
Sentenced, I get sent to, I get put on a Learjet, it was like first class.
Really?
Yeah, I get taken from MCC New York in a limousine, a prison limousine, over to Teterboro Airport, where the federal jet is, the Learjet.
Me and like two other people get on this jet, and they whisk us off to...
joe rogan
Two people?
michael dowd
Yeah, they whisk us off to Florida.
We land in Jacksonville, we pick up some girl, I don't know, and then they whisk us west.
joe rogan
So this is how they transport prisoners?
They put them in a federal jet?
michael dowd
In my case.
Because I was leaving the region.
They have a big bus normally.
They'll deposit you along the way.
And then some people get moved around on different sized jets.
This happened to be a Lear, which is like a four or five passenger jet, which was nice.
Like a VIP. This is wonderful.
This is great.
I love this.
joe rogan
Do they have peanuts?
michael dowd
No, just nuts.
Lots of nuts, if you like.
But no peanuts.
joe rogan
And so, then...
michael dowd
Actually, there was a cute girl on the fucking plane with me.
joe rogan
A prisoner?
A girl prisoner?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
How'd that work out?
michael dowd
I don't remember her name.
But anyway, she was cute.
I got to look at something.
unidentified
Where's she going?
michael dowd
She just elbowed me a little bit, you know?
joe rogan
Where's she going?
michael dowd
I don't know.
To a woman's prison in Tallahassee.
joe rogan
What did she do?
michael dowd
I don't know.
We don't talk.
joe rogan
You didn't ask her questions?
unidentified
Fuck!
michael dowd
No, I'm not an interviewer.
unidentified
You seem like a talkative guy.
michael dowd
I am, but I'm fucking trying to keep my world small.
When you're a guy like me in prison, you don't open your mouth, you don't talk to anybody, you don't elicit a conversation with anybody.
joe rogan
That had to be really difficult for you.
michael dowd
Very.
joe rogan
I would imagine.
michael dowd
Horrible.
It was like pulling my tongue out and throwing it on the ground for fucking 12 years.
joe rogan
So you're just doing this for survival purposes?
michael dowd
Yeah, you just stay in your own little world.
Because you open yourself up, people want either in or to use things against you.
Like in the free world, but in this case, it's a microcosm.
It'll come back to you real quick, the way people use information against you.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
So I go from there, and then I end up in some small county jail, which I end up with one of the guys from Cocaine Cowboy who ends up dying.
A couple of them did, but this fellow here is telling me, I got to get the fuck out of here.
And I'm in the county jail, and there's like a piece of barbed wire around this fence.
And he's telling me, there's a guy in a tree.
Treehouse.
There's a guy in a treehouse with a shotgun.
That's it.
joe rogan
A shotgun?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's it?
michael dowd
Well, it's security for this little county jail.
joe rogan
But only a shotgun?
michael dowd
Yeah.
He's sitting up there with a shotgun.
joe rogan
How far away is he?
michael dowd
60-80 feet from the barbed wire fence.
joe rogan
Oh.
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
They can kill you for 60-80 feet.
michael dowd
Yeah, he'll get you.
If he's not sleeping.
joe rogan
I'm like a shotgun.
michael dowd
But they're only making $10,000, $12,000 a year.
unidentified
Oh.
michael dowd
So he's saying, hmm.
And he's big money, cocaine cowboy guys.
He's thinking he could have some money sent to this guy's fucking, I don't know, his mother.
Who the fuck knows?
joe rogan
All you have to do is give the guy something that puts him out.
michael dowd
Some chew.
Some tobacco.
What are these cigars?
joe rogan
You just give him a pill that knocks him out.
Like, tell him.
You're going to give you a lot of money.
michael dowd
He's not responsible.
joe rogan
I'm going to dummy up your drink.
michael dowd
And I'm going to jump.
joe rogan
And no one's going to know how it happened.
You're going to wake up in a puddle of your own spit.
michael dowd
We should have done time together.
joe rogan
That's what I would have done.
This is real simple here.
michael dowd
Yeah, but you're 48, you know?
These guys are...
I mean, they weren't that young, but these guys, you know, they were already fighting for their lives.
joe rogan
When El Chapo, when that guy got out and he dug that hole a mile long underneath the...
michael dowd
They gave him a pill?
joe rogan
No, but didn't you respect that?
I respected that.
I'm not even a criminal.
michael dowd
What part?
joe rogan
The fact that they had the fucking, the thought process involved in digging a hole.
This is what they do every day!
I know, but I mean, still, I was like, I gotta respect that.
michael dowd
Well, you had to know.
joe rogan
The guy made a fucking mile-long tunnel with electricity and an electric bike.
unidentified
When you got that kind of money, you're getting out.
michael dowd
When you got that kind of money, you're getting out, okay?
And there's a lot of people getting paid, too, along the way there.
joe rogan
Apparently he's got a hundred million dollar bounty on Donald Trump.
michael dowd
Oh, really?
joe rogan
Does Donald Trump talk shit about Mexicans too much?
michael dowd
Yeah, whatever.
Let's not talk politics here, because...
joe rogan
It's not even political.
michael dowd
Well, assassinations are political, too.
joe rogan
But when guys want to get out, you know, all day, that's all you're thinking about, how the fuck do I get out?
michael dowd
They were digging out where I was, too.
Did they?
They caught them, yeah.
joe rogan
Did they?
michael dowd
Yeah, well, someone gives you up.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
Because they want to go to a better place.
Right.
Let's say, I mean, I end up in Mariana.
Well, let me tell you this.
joe rogan
Okay.
michael dowd
So I get off the bus, and I'm like, this is going to be fucking horrible.
I've got to do another, now at this point, another ten and a half years like this.
I walk in a fucking place like this, and it's hot.
It's fucking the middle of the summer.
Like, let's say July, whatever it was.
And Panhandle, Florida, it's fucking hot.
It's 100. I get off the bus, and I see this fence and gate and shit, and it looks okay.
And they bring you into R&D. It's like you're a package.
They bring you into R&D. They process you.
If you ever see them on TV, they got the fucking bags.
They got their bedroll.
They got their bedroll in their hand.
It has some of their clothes and shit.
And you're walking through this compound.
And this guard opens up.
Guard, whatever the heck.
He opens up the port to this compound.
And I say to myself, strike me dead.
Now, I just came from a fucking hole in the wall for years, like two years.
I've been looking at nothing but cement and polish on the floor.
And he opens it up, and I see a luscious fucking place.
Other than my vacations in the Cayman Islands, this was the most picturesque place I've ever seen.
Like, up close and in person.
Now, it doesn't matter.
It's two years I've been seeing cement, so.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
I mean, lush.
Flowers, colors, beautiful.
Grass, beautiful.
Cement, gorgeous.
A big, beautiful chow-ho with my name saying, come and eat.
You know, I haven't had a good meal in fucking forever.
joe rogan
And the food was good?
michael dowd
I was eating fucking hash.
The food's gonna be good no matter what.
So I go like this.
I go to myself.
This is fucking paradise.
I swear to God.
I just finished saying it and the guard goes, welcome to paradise.
joe rogan
Whoa.
michael dowd
Like the thing we had this morning with the new coke and the old coke.
joe rogan
Oh, that's hilarious.
michael dowd
I'm going, I don't want to let him know that I agree.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
I fucking agree!
joe rogan
So when he's saying welcome to paradise, is he fucking with you?
michael dowd
No, because he knows where I just came from.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
You understand?
And he knows that this is nice.
It's a college campus with fences around it.
Right.
But the inhabitants are not quite college people.
You know, the average sentence was, I think, 18 years when I worked in that place.
And it was 300, and I want to say 40-some-odd men that were never going home, that I was now going to bunk with.
joe rogan
Those are the dangerous ones.
michael dowd
You know what?
They're the least dangerous.
joe rogan
There were nothing to lose, guys?
michael dowd
Yeah.
Not the ones that are doing their time.
joe rogan
Why are they the least dangerous?
michael dowd
Well, because they just want to live their lives out.
It's the young bucks that just want to make a name for themselves.
They don't see the 10 years, 15 years from now they're going home.
They just see the same immediate gratification that got them there.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
So, right now I like your sneakers or I like your fucking soup.
I don't have any soup because I don't even know my parents.
I don't get the extras.
Prison's about extras.
If you get extras in prison, you'll survive.
joe rogan
So explain that to me.
michael dowd
Commissary.
People live on a commissary in prison because it's like it's part of rebellion.
No one wants to be beholden to the government for what they're going to give them.
So, when you go into prison, yeah, you get a good square meal, you know, food's okay, you know, it's cooked for fucking 1800 men.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
There's plenty of...
It's a control mechanism.
Food is a control mechanism, exercise is a control mechanism, and all the frills are control mechanisms.
How do you control a population?
Water, food, sex that they can't have.
So, certain things are a control mechanism.
Food and exercise in prison is a control mechanism.
So, the way to control guys is to provide them with a good meal.
And you don't want to lose that good fucking meal.
So, you got to be good.
Because I just came from a place where I was eating shit out of a plastic container all day long.
Now I got a plate with a knife and a fork.
I can eat like a gentleman.
You know, you start to feel like a human being again.
But the problem is the guy next to you is, you know, you don't want to take him home, necessarily.
Unless it's me.
joe rogan
The guy next to you is not getting the same food?
michael dowd
No, he's getting the same, and he wants that.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So he wants to maintain the status quo.
So if he's down there doing a life sentence, he's okay with it because he's accepted it.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
It's the young guys that, you know, think that they want your food or they, you know, they want to get over.
The get over mentality.
You have to let go of the get over mentality, otherwise you're going to live that fucking happy life in prison.
joe rogan
The get over mentality meaning you're always looking to get ahead a little bit.
michael dowd
Right.
joe rogan
A little scam, a little this.
michael dowd
Yeah, scam a little, steal some eggs, sell them to this guy.
A lot of people send money home from prison.
So it turns into another rat race.
joe rogan
Now, when you say the commissary, like, what can you get at a commissary?
michael dowd
Well, one of the big things are stamps, so you can use that to barter.
Stamps is like currency.
Stamps and tuna fish are currency in prison.
joe rogan
So you can send letters.
michael dowd
You can send letters.
joe rogan
So you have to have stamps to send a letter home.
michael dowd
You can gamble.
joe rogan
You can gamble.
michael dowd
Yeah.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
What kind of gambling?
michael dowd
Well, sports.
Usually it's sports gambling.
And then there's cards, you know, and there's cards or checkers or chess, you know, people gamble on anything.
joe rogan
So can you watch games and stuff like that?
michael dowd
Well, the unit I stayed in had five or six TVs.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
In a common area, yeah.
One had the rap station on, one had the basketball all the time, and the other one had Spanish TV. So then you had CNN once in a while, which we saw the 9-11 attack, and they all come out looking at me, Mike, did you see what happened?
I'm like, yeah, okay, you know.
joe rogan
They looked at you because you were a cop?
michael dowd
Of course I was from New York and I was a cop.
All the staff and everybody came over.
It was a difficult fucking moment to say the least.
So I went through a lot of that stuff in prison.
joe rogan
So in the commissary you can get extra things?
michael dowd
Extra food?
Extra food.
joe rogan
What kind of food?
michael dowd
Like I said, tuna fish, octopus.
unidentified
Octopus?
michael dowd
Oh yeah!
But you gotta buy it!
joe rogan
How much does it cost?
michael dowd
Well, if you paid a dollar for a can of tuna in the street, it was $2.50 in there, that type of thing.
Whatever the current rate is, you paid a little bit more in prison.
joe rogan
Right.
And then if you're working in prison, you get very little money, right?
michael dowd
You get very little money, so the money from the outside is what you maintain.
So guys that go to prison and have outside connections with family that would still help them support themselves become a commodity in prison.
Ah.
You're a hustler in prison, so you like to take extra eggs and make some egg salad, let's say.
Because guys work out all day long.
That's what they do.
They want to increase their protein.
They want to stay in shape because they want to go home one day.
And so you learn to adjust your life in order that you have an end game.
Some kids only care about today.
And some of them don't go home because they end up getting in a fight, a stabbing, killed, whatever.
joe rogan
And then they get another bid because of that.
michael dowd
They get another bid because of that.
And there you go.
joe rogan
Whew.
So is that what you did most of your time down there in Florida?
michael dowd
I did five years plus in Mariana, Florida.
And then I wanted to get closer to family because I was getting ready to be released.
I'm talking seven years.
I'm anticipating a release in about three or four years, which didn't turn out.
And I lost a year when I got on a plane, which is a legal argument that I made for the next five years and lost.
But I wanted a year off down in Mariana, Florida for my drug program participation.
But I had to go to court to get it.
So when I got on the plane to come back to Devens, Massachusetts, where I served in Ayer, Mass.
Are you familiar with that area of Massachusetts at all?
joe rogan
Where's Ayer?
michael dowd
What's Ayer?
It's near the W, Fort Devens.
It's west of Boston, about 45 miles.
Okay.
Worcester?
joe rogan
Worcester, yeah.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
It's near Worcester, Mass.
Okay.
Anyway, so they had to open a new federal prison there.
I wanted to get closer to my family, so I ended up getting on a plane.
You know, you request.
You make a request.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
Got on a plane.
They've fulfilled my request.
I ended up in Devon, Massachusetts, and when I got off the plane, I lost a year off my sentence because I'm now in a different legal situation.
Jurisdiction than the legal jurisdiction that I was in in Florida.
joe rogan
So you have to do an extra year because of that?
michael dowd
So I got the year put back onto my sentence that I earned off and I just wanted to fucking...
I was on fucking medication.
It's like...
I said, can you just send me back?
They went, no.
Oh...
unidentified
So you had an extra year just to come to New York.
michael dowd
Yeah, because I wanted to get closer to my family so they would get to know me as I get released.
You know, you want to get a closer bond with your family.
joe rogan
Make it easier for them to visit.
michael dowd
Make it easier for everybody.
Visiting, exactly.
And then, so of course, another year.
So I ended up in a fight over that.
Fist fight, whatever.
I lost my fucking mind and I ended up...
Causing a hunger strike.
joe rogan
You went on a hunger strike?
michael dowd
I organized one.
I couldn't do it.
I can't go six hours without eating.
In fact, I'm getting hungry right now.
I helped organize a hunger strike.
unidentified
So you organized a hunger strike but you didn't participate?
michael dowd
Yeah, I participated for an hour.
We're fucked up in an hour!
You don't know, the stories are crazy.
So I ended up in MCC New York again, the place where I had just...
Oh, no.
Back in the fucking hole over there, in isolation.
joe rogan
Oh, no.
michael dowd
So I caused another hunger strike there.
joe rogan
Oh, God.
michael dowd
And that time they listened to us, and they shipped me out to McKeon, Pennsylvania.
And I did like three years there.
I mean, it just gets tired just going through this shit.
And you live the life out there.
I don't need any sympathy, by the way.
It is what it is.
joe rogan
Yeah, no, I'm not giving you any sympathy.
I'm just trying to think about what it was like.
michael dowd
To add a year to someone's sentence, they actually called for an ambulance.
After they told me, you want an ambulance?
I'm like, I'm not sure.
I was going down.
joe rogan
Right, right.
michael dowd
I don't know what happened.
I fought for five years to get this fucking sentence.
Actually, four years to get this sentence.
Reduced a year.
And now you gave it back to me in one day because I got off a plane in your fucking state.
I hate this fucking state.
Send me back to Florida.
Here's the good news, she says to me.
Hot bitch.
She goes, here's the good news.
The good news is you got four years to fight us.
unidentified
Oof.
michael dowd
I just got finished fighting them for four years.
It costs so much to fight these cocksuckers.
You have no idea.
I'm living on stamps and the goodwill of people sending me money and some of the money that I earned in prison.
It's fucking horrible.
joe rogan
Now, are you allowed to make money off of your case now?
michael dowd
I did a lot of research, the people I'm involved with, and unless there's a specific victim that was specifically out there, unless a guy says I stole his kilo, I don't know.
joe rogan
What's he going to do?
michael dowd
What's he going to do?
You have to prove how many kilos you sold.
joe rogan
So it's not like a violent crime.
Like O.J. Simpson can't make money off the...
michael dowd
Yes, yes.
But the details are slightly different because, you know, I was a...
I don't know what the fuck you would call it, but the people that researched it for me said that the law, that the Son of Sam law does not directly affect you.
joe rogan
Yeah, it would make sense.
michael dowd
You'd have to have a specific victim that you victimized.
joe rogan
Right.
And then you profit off of that.
michael dowd
Or for their misfortune.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
That you caused.
michael dowd
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah, so this is not that.
michael dowd
Right.
I mean, the son of Sam executed people on Long Island, you know?
In fact, the guy, the detective's name is a distant cousin of mine, Timothy Dowd, who arrested him.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
They called the son of Sam?
michael dowd
Yeah.
Yeah, so, you know, my family's got the legacy on both sides, I guess.
joe rogan
Pro-con.
Yeah.
Now, what is it like the first day you got out?
michael dowd
You know, I thought you might ask that question.
joe rogan
How could I not?
michael dowd
Yeah.
Well, the first day I got out...
There's different outs, okay?
You get released to a halfway house.
So I was in McKeon, Pennsylvania now.
I was finishing my bid, and my parents wanted to send a limousine to pick me up and welcome me home like a big shot, you know?
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
But not in a boisterous way, just to show me love.
Show me love, right?
So I said, you know what?
No.
I want to take the bus home, the Greyhound.
So I got on a Greyhound bus and I drove the Greyhound bus.
I didn't drive it.
I was a passenger on a Greyhound bus to MCC, not MCC, the bus terminal in Manhattan.
And my family was there waiting for me, you know, about 10, 15 of them were there.
It was a nice welcoming, but all I can do is say, I need a quarter.
And they're like, what do you need a quarter for?
I said, I need to fucking make a phone call.
I said, anyone got a quarter?
I need it right now.
I'm panicking because I'm running late and the halfway house, and I'm a rules follower sometimes, so I don't want to go back.
Right.
I need to notify the halfway house I'm going to be running late because the bus was late.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So, all of a sudden, people start handing me these things to talk on.
What the fuck is that?
joe rogan
Cell phones.
michael dowd
What the fuck is that?
They go, it's a phone.
We'll dial it for me.
I never dial, I don't know what I'm doing.
joe rogan
So you'd never seen a cell phone before?
michael dowd
Never saw a cell phone before.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
Oh, that's not true.
I saw the original cell phones.
joe rogan
The brick?
michael dowd
Yeah, the bricks.
I was the original handler of the bricks.
But now I had no idea what he used to do.
joe rogan
Did you have one of those things?
michael dowd
No, but my drug dealers did.
joe rogan
Oh, they had those like the ones from Gordon Gekko and Wall Street?
michael dowd
Yeah, they looked like this.
They were squared.
And then they had the ones with the long cords.
They could take them out and talk on them.
joe rogan
They had a suitcase and carried around.
michael dowd
They were my heroes back then.
Can you imagine?
I'm calling my house.
My wife's going, what are you calling from?
I go, you don't want the drug dealer's cell phones right now.
The guy's like, I said, do me a favor, erase that number when I finish talking to you.
joe rogan
So you call the halfway house and now you have to live there for a while?
michael dowd
Now I got to live there, which is back in the ghetto.
I'm back in the ghetto living in a halfway house and I'm out about, I don't know, two or three days and the newspaper are out front circling like fucking bees around honey or flies on shit.
They're all over the place.
And if someone snaps a picture of a guy, puts it on the front page of the Daily News and says, Doud still walks like a cop.
It wasn't me.
joe rogan
You walk like a cop?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
What the fuck does that mean?
michael dowd
Well, you know, we know.
They know what they're saying.
joe rogan
Twirling a baton?
michael dowd
Nah!
How does one walk like a cop?
I'm a white guy in the ghetto walking like I owned it.
unidentified
Oh.
michael dowd
Yeah, so this guy was...
joe rogan
Oh, interesting.
But it wasn't even you.
michael dowd
It wasn't me.
It was somebody else.
So the guy sues and gets a half a million.
I'm still broke.
joe rogan
Really?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That guy sued and got a half a million dollars because he was walking like a cop?
michael dowd
Yeah, well, they put his picture on the front page of the...
Oh, that's hilarious.
And they tarnished his criminal image that said he was a rogue cop.
unidentified
Shh!
michael dowd
He was only there for something else.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
michael dowd
That's hilarious.
So he had to deal with that.
joe rogan
This is the Daily News or the Post?
What was it?
unidentified
Which one?
michael dowd
It was the Daily News.
joe rogan
Yeah, well.
michael dowd
There you go.
unidentified
There you go.
michael dowd
Well, how's it?
Nuff said?
joe rogan
Well, people, yeah, people who don't know those tabloid newspapers in New York, those are hilarious newspapers.
The fucking covers are always very funny.
michael dowd
Yeah, right.
Not when your face is on it for fucking, like, six months.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, I would imagine.
Do you save any of those?
unidentified
Yeah.
michael dowd
No, but yes.
Me, no.
I mean, I didn't want to have it in my property when I landed in a different institution.
Like, oh, this is you.
joe rogan
Let me just put these up on the wall.
michael dowd
Yeah, some family members have like every one, I guess.
joe rogan
Now, when you get out and you're in the halfway house, how long do you have to stay there?
michael dowd
I want to go back to prison.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because the halfway house is that bad.
michael dowd
No, because I don't know what to do.
joe rogan
So you're institutionalized?
michael dowd
I'm done, yeah.
unidentified
I'm cooked.
michael dowd
I'm cooked.
joe rogan
That's what they always say.
michael dowd
I'm cooked.
I don't know what to do or how to do.
I don't know how to walk across the street.
And I'm afraid, because if I walk across a don't walk sign, I'm standing there.
Imagine standing in Brooklyn in front of a don't walk sign for like five minutes.
And there's no fucking cars.
I'm standing there waiting for the don't walk sign to turn so they have their hand or the people.
joe rogan
Because you just don't want to do anything stupid.
michael dowd
I don't want to do anything wrong.
Because they're following me everywhere I go.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
I don't want the news people snapping a picture of me walking across against the don't walk sign.
So the post guy comes up to me and says, Mike, I don't want to acknowledge him, but when I look at him, he goes, can you just sign this affidavit for me that this is you that I'm about to take you a picture of?
I go, do your fucking job and leave me alone, please.
joe rogan
Oh, sign an affidavit.
unidentified
Yeah, sign an affidavit, because the other guy just sued the fucking Daily News.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
michael dowd
Hilarious.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
michael dowd
So I'm taking a shower.
This is my epic moment.
My first shower in freedom.
I talk about this often because it's epic.
And I'm looking out the window and there's my brother's two kids.
I don't know these kids.
I never met them.
I'm in my mother's apartment upstairs, my mother's house upstairs, looking out.
The shower has a window.
I'm looking out and I see these two little kids running across my brother's lawn next door.
My brother was a cop, retired because of me.
But he got a pension, thank God.
Anyway, that's another story.
He played good hockey player, so that's why he got his pension.
I see these two kids and I realize the loss that, you know...
I mean, the whole world took place while I walked that track by myself, you know?
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
And my brother, who idolized me to no end, now has two kids, and I don't even know mine.
And I'm like, oh my god, this is fucking horrible.
And now I've got to make a living.
And the first thing I want to do is help those that I left behind, you know?
Yours truly included.
And I'm like, I don't think I can do this.
And I'm in the fucking shower crying so hard that I don't know if I'm getting wet from the shower or my tears.
And, like, I don't know if you've ever cried in your life.
I'm a man.
I can say it.
Never.
joe rogan
I don't cry.
michael dowd
Okay.
I've wept so hard.
I wept so hard that I wanted to take a nap when I was done.
It was just like shit just kept pouring out of my body.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
My first shower in freedom was like I was getting all the poison of life.
You know, because, you know, you've got to realize...
At this time, at 44 years old, I have nothing.
Zero!
My whole life is a fucking zero at 44 years old.
joe rogan
But you still have kids and you have your freedom now.
michael dowd
I don't have anything.
joe rogan
But you're out.
michael dowd
I have nothing.
I don't have kids.
Someone else has kids.
I happen to be a guy that they heard about.
I have nothing.
It'd be easier for me to turn around and go back.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
So you really wanted to go back?
michael dowd
Of course I didn't want to.
joe rogan
You didn't want to.
michael dowd
It just seemed like the easiest thing to do was to go back.
And thank God, at that moment, I had good parents and solid family support and a couple of young kids that wanted to get to know me, you know?
I don't know what else to say.
I didn't know what to do.
I had to go earn a living.
I never had a fucking job in my life.
I was a cop!
joe rogan
So what did you do for a job after that?
Because it's gotta be hard to get a job.
michael dowd
I still can't get a job.
joe rogan
Do you want one?
michael dowd
Well, you got one for me?
If I had one, I'd give it to you.
Listen, I'm a good worker.
joe rogan
I need a real podcast network.
That's what I need.
I need to actually have a network.
Start giving guys like you shows.
michael dowd
Yeah, I couldn't get a fucking job, but my brother was doing some construction, and I mixed up with the construction industry for about four or five years, and I did pretty well.
And that was in the boom time, so anybody who could hold a brush in their hand or a hammer in their hand got a job, and they made a decent salary.
And I turned down some union office, because I have family that runs one of the unions, and I turned it down because I needed money now.
I wanted to try to help now.
And so I did what I could, and, you know, listen, they put an ankle bracelet on me when I got home, because I was banging one of the chicks from the halfway house.
You're not supposed to do that, by the way.
joe rogan
You're not supposed to?
michael dowd
No.
joe rogan
Why not?
michael dowd
I don't...
I don't...
joe rogan
They own you?
Are you free or you're not free?
michael dowd
No, well, because she's a convict, too.
joe rogan
So?
You can't associate with convicts?
michael dowd
Right.
joe rogan
But you're sleeping in the house with them?
michael dowd
Right.
joe rogan
But you can't fuck them?
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Can you hug them?
michael dowd
No.
No patronizing or matronizing or sexualizing any of them.
So it was very difficult.
I broke the rule from the day.
I broke the first rule.
joe rogan
So did you get in trouble for that?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Breaking that rule?
michael dowd
Eventually.
joe rogan
What do they do?
unidentified
What do they say?
michael dowd
I tried to get rid of her because she was a psycho.
I found out.
joe rogan
Oh, gee, how weird.
Psycho ex-con?
That didn't even make sense.
michael dowd
Didn't make sense.
And I want to talk disparagingly about the dead, by the way.
She pissed.
joe rogan
Oh, what happened?
michael dowd
Yeah, I think on her liver or something.
Anyway, but horrible.
Horrible death.
But I had to get away from her, so I made a decision to go back to prison just to get away from her.
unidentified
Really?
michael dowd
Yeah.
And she threatened to call, and she did.
She called my probation officer, and he came and put an ankle bracelet on me.
He spared me prison.
He put an ankle bracelet on me.
And then I got jammed up again with the ankle bracelet on because I... I said I was going to church, but I didn't.
joe rogan
Where'd you go?
michael dowd
I don't want to put it out there.
joe rogan
Okay.
michael dowd
But it wasn't bad.
It was at someone's house.
Right.
I was getting laid.
joe rogan
I understand.
michael dowd
They wouldn't let me leave my house.
Finally, I got out.
joe rogan
So you were under house arrest.
Is that what the...
michael dowd
Yes, yes.
The ankle bracelet does.
It keeps you within a beacon of the machine.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
So I was willing to go back to prison to get rid of this relationship.
And...
I almost did, yeah.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
michael dowd
So that was my re-entry into society.
joe rogan
So how much time do you have to spend doing this halfway house thing before you're free?
michael dowd
Well, that's like, but what it is, you go from halfway house to home confinement, and then after home confinement, you go on to supervised release.
joe rogan
Home confinement, so you can find your home for during the...
michael dowd
During the hours of the, like, if you're not working, you're locked in your house, you know, and that's, yeah, yeah, so they can call at any minute and So you can't go to the movies?
No, but you can ask for permission to go shopping and things of that nature, you know, and then come back in.
It's all...
You're clocked.
You're checked constantly on your time.
joe rogan
I don't understand that.
Like, why is that if you're free?
If you're free, and if you can go to the movies...
michael dowd
Well, you're not free.
joe rogan
You're not free.
michael dowd
You're not free yet.
You're still part of your sentence, which is why I said 12 and a half years, not 11 years, nine months, because the last six months of my prison sentence was in the street.
Wow.
And then from there, you do five years of supervised release...
Which is when she called up on me when I broke up with her, you know, and he was fucking pissed.
I mean, how could you blame the guy?
I've been lying to him for like two, three years now at this point when she fucking drops a dime on me.
joe rogan
That's pussy.
michael dowd
It's pussy.
That's what I said.
He says, well, I'm going to tell you.
I said, look, you're going to tell the judge that I fell in love?
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
She was the love judge.
Judge Kimba Wood, the one who was all over the news.
joe rogan
What happened to her?
I don't know that story.
michael dowd
I don't want to talk bad about judges.
I may see them again.
joe rogan
Well, you don't have to talk bad.
michael dowd
No, she got jammed up with a relationship she was in.
And it was all over the news.
They disparaged her.
joe rogan
She didn't understand.
michael dowd
That's what I thought.
unidentified
Nope.
michael dowd
She's not quite as understanding as you think.
joe rogan
Hypocrites.
How dare they.
So then, what do you eventually wind up doing for work?
michael dowd
So I continue on in the construction field, and I can't remember.
No, I can continue on.
Oh, limousine driving.
I ended up being a limousine driver.
The job that Kenny actually got me fired from before I went to prison, because I got a job driving a limousine for one hour, but never drove a limo.
Because, I don't want to tell you this story.
I'm about to get a job driving a limousine.
So Kenny goes, where you working?
Where you working?
Well, he's wearing a wire.
I go, I'm starting driving a limo tomorrow.
I'll have some decent pay.
All the plans about leaving the country are off.
Well, no one even fucking really knows the depth of this.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
This is why we're out on bail.
So I go, I'm good.
If I get a job driving a limbo, make, you know, six, eight hundred a week for now.
I got a lot of money coming in, rental incomes, I'm good.
I had four homes and a condo on the ocean.
And so he turns around and he says, where, where, where?
I go, where?
What do you fucking care where?
He goes, well, in case I want a job.
So I go, I tell him, I don't know, it's in the fucking newspaper.
It's in Deer Park somewhere.
Boom.
Next day, I go to start the job.
I'm on my way in.
I just bought the last $300.
I bought a suit, black suit.
Guy goes, I go, I'm on my way.
I says, I haven't heard from you.
You're supposed to call me and tell me what time to be at the shop.
He goes, we got a problem.
I go, what's the problem?
He says, I got a visit.
I go, what?
He goes, I got a visit.
They're going to open my books and my taxes and leave me a new asshole if I give you a job here.
I said, you gotta be kidding me, motherfucker.
I just spent my last 300 cash because the government takes everything when they get you.
So now I can't even get a job fucking doing that while I'm out on bail, and I wouldn't have had the desperado to leave the fucking country.
joe rogan
So can he set that up?
michael dowd
I don't know.
joe rogan
Allegedly.
michael dowd
I don't know.
joe rogan
Possibly.
Probably.
unidentified
Probably.
michael dowd
I'm sure.
unidentified
Yeah.
Wow.
joe rogan
So it wasn't just wearing a wire.
unidentified
Come on.
joe rogan
It was conspiring.
michael dowd
It was just fucking ongoing.
You know, when he fucking walks around, he saves someone's life.
Yeah, you fucking ruined mine.
joe rogan
Wow.
Probably saved it in a way, too.
michael dowd
Yeah, I'm not mad.
Just keep it real.
He saved my life in a way.
Nah, you know what?
The cops saved my life.
They locked me up.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
I couldn't get a fucking package after that!
joe rogan
You're sitting on a goldmine, though.
You are sitting on a goldmine.
These fucking stories.
michael dowd
Oh, the stories are fucking ridiculous.
joe rogan
If you just write it, can you write?
Can you type?
michael dowd
I can do a lot of things.
My shoulder hurts, though.
joe rogan
Well, yeah, you keep doing this.
You keep doing this twist thing.
What's going on with it?
michael dowd
It's numb.
I got a fucking two-pinch.
joe rogan
A stinger in your neck?
michael dowd
I got two-pinched.
Two vertebrae.
What do you call this?
joe rogan
Have you ever...
michael dowd
Do you know what spinal decompression is?
I'm in treatment right now.
joe rogan
What are they doing for you?
michael dowd
I'm doing the physical therapy act.
joe rogan
I've had some serious spinal shit.
Bulging discs and stuff.
michael dowd
That's what I got.
joe rogan
Working out.
Yeah.
You can get rid of that.
I've got rid of it 100%.
michael dowd
I'm working on it right now.
I'm working on it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
It's a process.
joe rogan
You just got to do it slow.
And spinal decompression is a big thing too, stretching.
michael dowd
Like hanging by your neck and shit?
joe rogan
Well, they have these things that you can actually set up.
They're fairly cheap.
You just set them up on a door.
They hang off the back of the door like a little chain.
Actually, my friend Denny has one that he likes even better than that.
It's inflated, actually.
And you put it on your neck, and he's got some spinal issues too.
And it actually just lifts...
You inflate it.
You pump it up and it kind of like lifts up on your neck and stretches.
Because a lot of it is either injury or bad posture and everything gets compressed and it stays compressed and the discs pop out.
And what you got to do is relieve some of that compression.
And one of the ways is these...
I have this one.
It's like a harness.
I strap it under my chin.
I Velcro it in place.
And then I crank on it.
Click, click.
It pulls my neck.
Click, click.
It pulls my neck.
michael dowd
You're not nervous or afraid.
You might overdo something.
joe rogan
No, no, no.
It's not painful.
michael dowd
Listen, to change the subject for a second, you're right, but I appreciate the medical advice, you know, because I'm in pain.
But themikedow.com, people can get my, they can download the 75 from my website.
And after that, I might get 25 cents if they do that.
joe rogan
Oh, do you get a cut of that?
michael dowd
A little something.
So it would be nice.
joe rogan
I'll definitely send people.
michael dowd
It would be nice.
I mean, I lost my job due to the documentary.
joe rogan
What job was that?
michael dowd
I was doing mechanical services in a location that I'm still in flux with them, right?
joe rogan
Even when you're fucking describing a legit job, everything is...
michael dowd
Well, the problem is...
Well, you've got to understand something.
I lost...
The position because of my past.
So if I put their specific location...
Oh, I understand.
I'm still trying to work something out with them right now.
joe rogan
So they found out about your past?
michael dowd
They knew about it when they hired me, but the documentary became so compelling and riveting, so interesting and so detailed that probably some cop called up and said, I don't want my wife working with this guy around.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And the fucking CEO said, find a way to get rid of him.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well...
Listen, they're doing you a favor.
I swear to God, you're sitting on a fucking goldmine.
These stories you have, and you have, I guarantee you, you probably have a fucking thousand of them.
All your years on a job?
michael dowd
Easily.
Ten years.
Ten years, five months I did in the street.
joe rogan
Yeah, you just need to sit down with somebody and write these out and then edit them and make the most compelling ones.
You could probably have a fucking 500-page book.
michael dowd
Oh, 500. I'm trying to cut it down.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
michael dowd
I'm trying to cut it down.
joe rogan
But if you cut it down to the gems and just, you know, honest about all the fucking craziness and all the weird shit that's going on in your head and the family and the pussy and the drugs and...
God damn, it's a goldmine.
I'll fucking buy it.
I'll buy it in a goddamn heart rate.
You know, my friend Joey Diaz is a nut for crime books.
He's turning me on like a fucking hundred crime books.
He's always like, Joe Rogan, you gotta read this fucking book.
michael dowd
Do you have the kind of time to read?
Because today a lot of people don't.
That's good.
Well, you get on planes too.
joe rogan
Yeah, planes help.
michael dowd
That's a good time.
joe rogan
I just force myself a couple days a week to force myself to go to bed right before I go to bed to sit down and read something.
michael dowd
That's good.
And that's what I used to do in a joint.
I've read probably 400 or 500 books while I was away.
So I try to expand my vocabulary.
However, when you start talking police terms, your vocabulary narrows back to the vocabulary you use while you're doing your job.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
Like, fuck you, motherfucker.
Get over here and get down.
Right now, let me see your fucking hands.
And don't fucking move.
Meanwhile, I want you to raise your hands.
joe rogan
Well, the audio books are great, too.
I love that, because I'm always stuck in traffic.
michael dowd
How do you like to sit across so far?
joe rogan
They're very good.
michael dowd
They're really not bad, right?
joe rogan
I put it down.
We're talking.
It's hard to keep it lit.
michael dowd
It's rude.
joe rogan
No, it was great.
It was good, though.
It's a good cigar.
It's a very solid cigar.
michael dowd
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
And it's funny.
It's got that guy's fucking face on it.
The little unibrow and everything.
michael dowd
The detail is really, really cool because it has the street.
In there.
You don't see it.
It has the location of his drug spot in the fucking van on the cigar.
joe rogan
Where can you buy these?
michael dowd
Well, we're working on them right now.
We're putting them together.
There's a big tobacco letter, they call it, in Dominican Republic, who saw the documentary.
joe rogan
Oh, that's hilarious.
michael dowd
And Adam didn't know.
I said, Adam, do you have a relationship with this company?
He says, yeah.
I said, well, go tell them who the fuck you are.
So he went and saw them.
And they saw the documentary.
And I think they listened to Artie's podcast with me or something.
And they went, holy fuck, yes, we got a cigar for you.
So he put his face on this fucking cigar.
I think I'm going to get mine to say the 7.5 on it.
joe rogan
Oh, that's a good move.
michael dowd
And Dowd, maybe.
joe rogan
That's not bad.
Even just Dowd.
Dowd cigars.
Now, this guy, Adam, is he stuck in...
michael dowd
He can't come here.
We can call him if you want to call him.
I mean, he's dying to say hello.
But you know who's really more interesting?
joe rogan
Who?
michael dowd
Walter.
joe rogan
Yeah?
Well, Walter seemed interesting.
michael dowd
Walt is pretty fucking...
You want me to give him a call?
Can we do that or no?
joe rogan
There's no need to do it now, but listen, this ain't the first podcast you and I are going to do.
I'm sure we've got many more things to talk about.
As more things come out and you start doing things, I'll be happy to help you promote it.
michael dowd
Oh, that'd be nice.
You'll have me back when the book comes out?
joe rogan
Fuck yeah.
When do you think that's going to...
Have you started?
michael dowd
It's in flux right now.
Because the thing is...
We've got to see a couple of publishers.
Right now, they're a little nervous.
joe rogan
What the fuck is wrong with them?
michael dowd
I don't know what to say.
joe rogan
Listen, you pussies.
I don't know what to say.
He's done the time.
michael dowd
Shut the fuck up and write the book.
People can't get behind a bad guy.
I did bad things.
I don't think I'm that bad of a guy.
You know what I mean?
I hope not anyway.
joe rogan
I've known a lot of bad guys.
I don't think you're a bad guy.
michael dowd
No, thank you.
joe rogan
I think you did bad shit.
But like I said, I could have done that same shit.
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think people being honest, if you're honest about circumstantial situations that you find yourself into and poor decision making and being young and doing drugs and then also being involved in a heinous crime riddled situation, like your environment that you're in, you're going to these places, these ghettos, you're constantly around crime.
You're constantly around drugs.
And I got to imagine, like as you detailed in the documentary, the crime aspect of it slowly sort of started creeping in.
It gets you.
michael dowd
It gets you.
And I was young.
I was young and impressionable.
You know, when you see a 17-year-old kid in a Jaguar with a gooseneck fucking equalizer, he's the bomb, you know?
And he's got $25,000, $30,000 in his pockets, and he's got ropes and diamonds hanging on his neck.
I'm like, what the fuck?
What am I doing here?
Listen, it's wrong!
But it doesn't seem that wrong sometimes.
joe rogan
Do you remember the first piece of crime that you did while you were a cop?
You never forget your first pussy.
Pussy, like it's an object.
First woman, excuse me, pardon me, people.
First woman you've had sexual relations with.
michael dowd
Not with that one.
Who's that?
Not with that one.
Monica.
Anyway, Monica Lewinsky.
joe rogan
I did not have sexual relations.
He did one of these things with the thumb.
I did not have...
michael dowd
But his finger bent!
joe rogan
He did something.
Fucker.
michael dowd
He had cigars and everything in it.
He should have had one of these.
joe rogan
He should have.
Well, that's another story of a rat, right?
Not even her, the other chick.
The ugly one.
Remember the whole story?
michael dowd
Oh, that one.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
michael dowd
The blonde?
joe rogan
No, Monica Lewinsky was friends with some old hag that ratted him out.
michael dowd
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
No, the blonde was a different one.
Clint was on a rampant.
michael dowd
Yeah, he did good.
joe rogan
He's the last great American dick-slinging president.
michael dowd
Yeah, yeah, because now you're not allowed.
joe rogan
You're not allowed anymore.
We lost what it meant to be.
Do you think Putin's laughing at these fucking idiots?
unidentified
Oh, my God.
Laughing.
michael dowd
Please, I don't want to get into it.
Laughing.
Ha, ha, ha.
Checkmate.
joe rogan
He gets head and then shoots the hooker and throws her off the top of the Kremlin.
unidentified
Perfect.
joe rogan
No witness.
It doesn't matter if it's a witness.
michael dowd
He doesn't care.
joe rogan
He doesn't even have to shoot them.
michael dowd
They got nuclear poisoning drops for these people.
joe rogan
Oh, they have all kinds of things.
But do you remember the first crime that you committed?
michael dowd
Well, the one I talk about often is...
If you're not doing what you're supposed to do by the book, you're on the edge of committing a crime every fucking day.
joe rogan
So every time you even let somebody off when they're supposed to be arrested.
michael dowd
Yeah, you basically have committed a crime, you know, because you've used this as a discretion in an area where there was no discretion.
But the thing I talk about is when I took the money from the Hispanic kid, the Puerto Rican kid.
In the movie, I talk about it.
joe rogan
Yeah, what was that situation?
michael dowd
Well, he had what we call the Puerto Rican mystery at the time.
unidentified
The Puerto Rican mystery?
michael dowd
Yeah, I mean, listen, I love Puerto Ricans.
They're my favorite people in the world.
joe rogan
They're fun people.
michael dowd
They're the best.
You know, they got the Remy.
They got everything going on, the bodegas.
I love them.
They helped me grow up.
I love them.
And they ruin me at the same time.
They love them.
And they ruin me at the same time.
So what happened was, there's this vet driving down in the ghetto.
And you see a vet in the ghetto, you're going to notice it, right?
I mean, look at me.
I put it in a lieutenant's spot because I've got to be noticed.
So this kid's got this vet, and I pull him over, and he's got nothing.
I mean, nothing.
No license plates.
No insurance.
I mean, no plates on the fucking car.
Just driving it.
So, but I noticed he had a thick wad of hundreds in his fanny pack back then, you know?
joe rogan
I still wear one.
How dare you say back then?
See that?
michael dowd
Fuck yeah.
But yours is dual.
unidentified
Respect.
michael dowd
Yours is dual.
joe rogan
You know, it's got a zipper on here, too.
michael dowd
Oh, you got the whole thing.
Let me tell you something.
joe rogan
Come on.
michael dowd
I started wearing one again not too long ago.
joe rogan
I wear one.
I don't give a fuck.
I'm married.
I'm not trying to get any pussy.
michael dowd
Yeah, you don't need to.
joe rogan
If you're not trying to get laid, you wear a fanny pack.
michael dowd
Good for you.
joe rogan
Like a man.
michael dowd
There you go.
joe rogan
Even if I was trying to get laid.
Any girl won't fuck you with a fanny pack, you don't want to fuck her.
That's what I think.
michael dowd
It's too much work.
I don't need you.
joe rogan
I don't have to dress up for you.
Get the fuck out of here.
michael dowd
So there you go.
Will I have to wear cologne next?
No, don't do any cologne.
Don't do the cologne, please.
joe rogan
Fuck that.
Never.
michael dowd
Headaches.
I get headaches.
joe rogan
I wouldn't want to do it.
michael dowd
Should I pull a guy off?
joe rogan
I respect.
michael dowd
I pull the guy over, and he goes, um...
I got nothing.
But he's got Benjamins and Franklins in his fucking bag.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So I decide that he could buy us a nice lobster lunch, because, you know, everybody eats lobster for lunch.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So he says...
I said, so, you know, Lop's the lunch kid, you know?
He goes, yeah, yeah?
I go, yeah.
I said, and leave it on the back seat.
I don't want you handing me nothing.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
Because I'm scared.
Right.
michael dowd
I don't want someone to see it.
joe rogan
So this is the first thing.
michael dowd
Yeah, it's the first thing.
joe rogan
Oh, that's right, yeah.
michael dowd
So he leaves a couple bucks on the fucking back seat.
I don't know if it was $100 or $200 or $100.
joe rogan
Well, there's no back seat in the Corvette.
michael dowd
Yeah, but this was the back seat of the police car that I had.
joe rogan
Oh, I see.
unidentified
Yeah.
Okay.
michael dowd
Okay.
joe rogan
Oh, he was in the car.
michael dowd
He was under arrest, basically.
He's in the car.
joe rogan
And so he just takes a couple of hundreds out of his pocket.
michael dowd
Leaves it on the fucking seat.
Thank you, sir.
Okay, you have a nice day.
I don't ever want to see you again, you hear me?
I'm down-patterning.
I'm scared to death.
joe rogan
How long had you been on the job at this point?
michael dowd
About two years, a year and a half.
joe rogan
Wow.
So for a year and a half, straight as an arrow.
michael dowd
Six months and eight, Adam.
joe rogan
Six months in the academy, but that doesn't really count.
michael dowd
Yeah, a year in training.
joe rogan
A year in training.
michael dowd
So now I'm in East New York, and I see money.
joe rogan
Wow.
So it's really only a couple months on the job.
michael dowd
A couple of months.
joe rogan
Free.
michael dowd
Free.
joe rogan
Actually under your own discretion.
michael dowd
Right, because you've got to realize I saw quite a bit go on in my training.
joe rogan
Now, what did you see in your training?
michael dowd
Well, I was confronted with a...
This is an odd story.
I was confronted with training officers, but by the time I get to training, they had 3,600 cops graduate the academy the same day.
Okay?
Now, just think about that.
That's the size of the sixth largest police department in the country.
And now we hit the street like a bunch of fucking cockroaches going everywhere, right?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And we don't know what the fuck we're doing.
That's the last thing a cop knows what he's doing when he's at the academy is nothing.
He has no clue.
unidentified
Okay?
michael dowd
All he knows is it's like an accountant who graduates accounting school and says, go check this guy's books.
Oh my God!
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
You know, what the fuck you're doing?
joe rogan
Actually doing it in practice.
michael dowd
Yeah, how are you doing it?
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
You're like, okay.
You know, one of the first things that happened to me, I walked out of Madison Square Garden.
It was graduation day.
My father's day.
My father's a retired fireman.
He's standing there with me.
We're walking down the street and I'm wearing the dress blues of Sharp looking, pretty young, haven't shaved yet.
And some woman comes walking up to me, officer, officer.
And I'm looking like this.
Where's the fucking officer?
My father goes, that's you.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
I go, yes, ma'am.
Yes, ma'am.
She goes, do you know where the Empire State Building is?
So I go, I'm trying to find the Empire State Building.
I'm on 34th Street in Manhattan.
Where's the Empire State Building?
34th Street in Manhattan, 5th Avenue.
It's two blocks straight in front of me, right?
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
So I go, I'm looking around.
I go, I'm going to stand it.
Go down two blocks, make a left, right?
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
Just make a left.
That's what you tell people.
So my father goes, Mike, it's straight ahead.
I go, what the?
Oh, yeah.
Go straight ahead up there.
It's on your right.
And then you look up.
You see the spire at the top of the Empire State Building right there.
So, anyway, that was my first day, you know, of being a cop.
I didn't know.
I actually am on now.
Right.
joe rogan
Now you're actually a cop.
michael dowd
Now I am on.
Now I realize the magnitude of this uniform you got on.
People come to you.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
Oh, shit.
But what did you see?
It's going to be serious.
joe rogan
What did you see in the academy?
michael dowd
No, in training.
In training.
It's past the academy.
Academy is a bunch of shit.
So, in training, now I do six months in the street by myself.
Because they're training the other rookies first.
I was in the second tier of training.
So now I'm learning the street a little bit, you know, I'm learning how to get a donut, you know, whatever.
You're learning how to get a donut?
I'm learning how to get a donut, you know.
joe rogan
Would you say hi?
Because they give cops free food, right, most places?
michael dowd
Well, they did.
joe rogan
Legitimate establishments?
michael dowd
Legitimate establishments, yeah.
You know, but sometimes, some places do, some places didn't back then.
Really?
If they didn't, you didn't go back.
joe rogan
I thought everybody did.
michael dowd
Well, you would think it's not a crime, but it is.
joe rogan
It's a crime?
michael dowd
It's a fucking crime.
joe rogan
What?
michael dowd
Yeah, so that's what I'm saying.
joe rogan
Wait a minute.
michael dowd
Wait a minute.
joe rogan
That's what I'm saying.
It's a crime to give cops a free meal?
michael dowd
It's a crime.
joe rogan
That's wrong.
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's wrong.
That's fucked up.
michael dowd
You could give your construction worker a free fucking meal.
joe rogan
What about a fireman?
Can you give a fireman a free meal?
michael dowd
Same thing.
joe rogan
That's a crime?
michael dowd
Right.
joe rogan
Whoa.
michael dowd
But they cook for themselves nice.
They cook a nice meal in their firehouse, which I end up going to them quite a bit.
But anyway, so now I'm committing crimes.
No.
joe rogan
Now you're wandering around trying to get donuts.
michael dowd
Right, I'm getting donuts, and I'm running to radio calls.
You get to see cops running in uniform.
It's a little silly.
joe rogan
Right, because you're walking the beat.
michael dowd
Because you're walking the beat, but you're a rookie.
1054, which is an aided case.
Someone's got a hernia, whatever.
Where, location, you don't know what the fuck it is.
You start running.
Four blocks later, you see the patrol car sitting there.
And they're like, kid, you don't fucking run to these things.
That's what I think a patrol car's for.
Oh, okay, we just wanted to help out.
I want to see something!
I'm standing on Queens Boulevard, 80 mile an hour wind, blowing my skirt up all day long.
I want to see something.
joe rogan
You're waiting to see some action.
michael dowd
Something, right.
So anyway, this goes on for six months.
So finally, my first tour in the car, I get with these two veteran detectives who have 22 years on the job each.
And the precinct that I was in had just finished their scandal in the newspaper.
It was called the 110 Sergeant's Club, who my neighbor actually was involved in.
He went to jail.
But anyway, so getting right to the meat of it.
So he says to me, this veteran, he goes, you know, the last guy...
Don't ask me how this conversation started.
He goes, the last guy that's connected with the scandal, he fell over a railing on the fifth floor during a Christmas party in the snow.
And he died.
I said, well, what do you mean?
They go, what it is, is he was a rat.
He told on the cops in the 110 precinct, and he fell over the top of the railing.
I said, how do you fall over the top of a fucking railing?
joe rogan
Right, you're being...
michael dowd
It's a four-foot broad-iron railing.
How do you go over the top of it?
joe rogan
Right.
He just did.
michael dowd
He just managed to.
I don't know if they considered it a suicide or accidental death, but it was not a homicide.
So they told me, that's what happens when you turn in another cop.
So I said, okay, I'm on the job now.
A little less than a year.
Six months in the academy, six months chasing people around.
I didn't know what I was doing, eating donuts.
And now I'm being told by veteran cops that that's what happens if you tell a cop.
joe rogan
That they murder people?
michael dowd
Well, that things can happen.
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
Mysterious.
You can mysteriously get injured.
joe rogan
Doesn't seem that mysterious.
michael dowd
How old are you now?
joe rogan
48. Okay.
michael dowd
Back then?
joe rogan
It was pretty mysterious.
michael dowd
Back then I was scared to ask what happened to him, okay?
I'm good.
But I think I put the dots together.
joe rogan
Yes, I bet you did.
michael dowd
Don't tell on a cop.
joe rogan
Right.
So right away you're like, okay.
unidentified
Done.
michael dowd
That's done.
And then within a week or two I see him robbing fucking cocaine from spots I wasn't allowed.
joe rogan
Same guys.
michael dowd
Same crew, not them, but same...
joe rogan
Right.
So you're seeing right away...
michael dowd
It was in Corona, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, which is called the cocaine capital of New York.
Actually, the world at the time was more than Miami because it was where they called Little Columbia.
All the major Colombian cartels were shipping their cocaine to Jackson Heights and Corona and were being shipped out around the whole metropolitan area from there.
And it was huge.
Because they had the airports.
They're fucking Kennedy and LaGuardia.
They ran them.
They ran all the fucking transportation in and out of those locations.
joe rogan
So they would get jobs or get people that would get jobs doing that?
michael dowd
Pilots.
joe rogan
Baggage handlers.
michael dowd
Baggage handlers.
It was fucking like a free-for-all.
unidentified
Wow.
michael dowd
So I'm working in this low-profile precinct, but that's what really was going on in there.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And anyway...
What else is there to say about it?
joe rogan
So you're right away you're seeing crime.
michael dowd
So I'm exposed to what's going on.
joe rogan
Right away.
michael dowd
Right away.
joe rogan
So you're being indoctrinated like almost instantaneously to all this shit.
michael dowd
I've seen a lot of things that don't add up.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And now I leave there and I go to the ghetto.
I'm like, okay, I really should have stayed in fucking school.
Because this doesn't look right.
I got tears in my eyes.
I got Elvis in the ghetto playing on my God Strike Me Dead.
I'm driving down Sutter Avenue.
I just got graduated from fucking Queens to East New York.
And there comes In the Ghetto.
It's the song In the Ghetto.
And Mama cries.
And I got fucking tears in my eyes.
Oh my God, I should have stayed in school.
joe rogan
You're just hating your choice.
You're just stuck.
michael dowd
Scared!
joe rogan
Scared.
michael dowd
Scared!
joe rogan
How long was it before you saw your first dead body?
michael dowd
I had already seen that, because that guy actually fell from a roof.
joe rogan
Oh, you saw the guy?
michael dowd
I've seen plenty of dead bodies by that point.
Probably half a dozen at that point.
joe rogan
So you actually saw the guy who fell from the roof?
michael dowd
No, no, no.
I saw a guy that fell from a roof, though.
I know what happens.
joe rogan
Oh, a different one.
michael dowd
Your head gets egg-shaped.
He committed suicide.
unidentified
Oh, okay.
michael dowd
Anyway, that was one of my first DOAs.
So now you're in the ghetto, and you're there, and you're scared, and you're saying, you've got to sink or swim, you know?
It's time.
Either you're in the sink or you've got to swim.
And I had a choice to make, so I learned to swim quick, and I was probably in the precinct a day I saw my first murder, and then...
joe rogan
A day?
michael dowd
Yeah, but it wasn't my case, so I really didn't handle it.
A couple of stabbings, and then my first midnight shift, Jesus gets shot.
Jesus gets shot in my first midnight shift.
joe rogan
Jesus.
michael dowd
Jesus.
joe rogan
What happened to him?
michael dowd
The story goes like this.
I'm working with my buddy Sal, a nice guy.
He's a little older than me, a little more mature.
He's really ready for this action, but he's not an active guy.
So he just wants to do his shift and go home.
unidentified
Great.
michael dowd
But I'm not.
I'm like, I want to be a cop.
I want to do police work.
Two guys work with a crowbar down the street or a tire iron down the street.
It's 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock in the morning.
I'm like, Sal, that looks a little suspicious.
He goes, what?
I go, the fucking guy's got a tire iron in his hand.
A little suspicious.
What do you think?
Mike, do you really want to get involved?
I go, well, that's what we're supposed to do.
We're the police.
We're supposed to ask some questions.
I mean, a guy's got a tire on.
It's 2 in the morning.
What do you think?
All right.
So I make a U-turn, go the wrong way on Fulton Street, right by Cleveland, one of those streets, Cleveland, Fulton.
We're going back to check up on these guys.
We drove past them.
Now we're going back.
And all of a sudden, we pull up and there's a fucking scene in the middle of the street.
Guy's got a hole in his head.
He's laying on the ground, obviously dead already.
And I see a tire iron sitting right here like this, right?
But he's here and the tire iron's over here about 15 feet away.
And I go, what happened?
They go, these two guys, I said, the tire iron?
They go, yeah, the tire iron's right there.
It was them, but the tire iron, they ran.
So they shot this kid Jesus.
He probably went out and confronted them and said, what are you guys doing in the neighborhood with a tire iron?
You know, stealing cars, tires and hubs, whatever they could get.
So he confronted them, they shot and killed him, and they took off in the wind.
So I go to Sal, I go, you know what?
Not for nothing.
I'm glad we didn't stop him first, but Jesus did.
So that was my first actual shooting that I was the, what they call the first responding officer on the scene up.
I was there about probably a week and a half.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
So I see my first murder in a week and a half, and this is before the crack.
This is before the crack.
joe rogan
So this is just straight violence, poverty, ghetto.
michael dowd
Let's just kill this guy because he confronted me.
joe rogan
It's crazy the idea that the poverty and the ghetto was already fucked up.
michael dowd
The amazing thing was that it probably could have been us or they would have ran.
Most people try not to shoot it out with the police.
Right.
You know, it's dark.
He just could've...
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
And then I wouldn't have all this shit to talk about.
joe rogan
Or more to talk about.
michael dowd
Or more to talk about.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Or who knows?
Yeah.
It's just amazing that the crack came along and accelerated what was already fucked up.
michael dowd
Yeah, you know, I don't know what to say.
It was just...
It was amazing.
I'll tell you the one thing that was interesting.
During the crack thing, when he took the cocaine from the Panamanian government in the...
The Panamanian Army was involved in bringing a lot of cocaine with Noriega into our country.
Back then it was the Kango hats.
I don't know if you're familiar with the Kango's.
Remember the Kango's?
Oh, the Kango hats.
They were getting robbed from people.
So there's one kid.
joe rogan
People are stealing Kango's.
michael dowd
They're fucking killing each other for the triple fat goose, right?
The triple fat goose, the Nike Airs, and the Kango hats.
So this kid robs this guy for his Kango hat.
Someone calls 911 on robbery suspect.
He runs into a home over on, I think it was Van Sicklen, one of those streets up there, right off Atlantic Avenue.
And he had been up on...
The kid came off the subway when the kid standing there waiting for him, stole his Kango at gunpoint, and ran into his own home.
So he knock on the door where the kid lives.
He won't open the fucking door.
The kid, shut up.
I ain't opening the door for you.
So he goes back upstairs and hides the kid.
That was a two-family home.
The people downstairs opened the door to a common hallway.
Because they see the police.
They don't want to fucking...
They didn't do nothing wrong.
They opened the door.
They go upstairs.
The place has the shoes.
The fucking beads separating each room.
You ever see the beads that separate the rooms?
joe rogan
Why do they do that?
So people make noise when they go through the room?
michael dowd
No, it's sort of like you're supposed to know that this is two different rooms when they hang the beads.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
michael dowd
You know, that's like, this is a door, but it's really not, you know?
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
You can see pretty good.
So this is how it was.
That's how the ghetto is, you know?
Or they hang a curtain in two different rooms.
So we get inside and we see all the shoes and all the money that's spent in this place if something's up.
So we grab the kid.
The kid downstairs says, that's him.
We can't find a gun.
So we end up going downstairs in the basement.
That's when you see me in the movie talk about the story where we found this fucking...
We call it a suitcase.
A wooden suitcase.
It was fucking like...
It was like two inch ply almost.
That's how thick this suitcase was wrapped in leather.
I couldn't get it open.
I'm like, I'm a pretty fucking strong guy.
I couldn't get it open.
I'm trying to rip this thing open.
I don't have the combination.
There's no one standing there with the key.
So finally, one of my partner comes up with a hacksaw.
And I start hacksawing this fucking thing open.
What am I worried about?
I'm worried about the police.
There's police all around.
This is an armed robbery suspect.
So there's a half a dozen cops milling in and out of the place.
I killed my buddy.
Watch the staircase, because we're down in the basement now.
I cut this thing open, and when you finally get it open, the plume of fucking cocaine comes flying out, and it smells like that bubble gum shit that's delicious.
So I'm like, holy shit, we hit pay dirt here.
I'm trying to get the shit out.
My partner goes, they're coming, they're coming.
I'm like, who?
He goes, the owner.
I go, no!
Never mind the police.
The owner of the coke is coming.
What do we do?
We can't lock him up.
We're stealing his coke, you know?
unidentified
Right.
michael dowd
It's like the worst position to be in.
Finally, I'm walking out.
I put 12 pounds on trying to get this coke out of his house.
And he's looking at me like I stole something from him.
I feel guilty.
And I go, is that your stuff?
He goes, no, no, not mine.
I go, okay.
See you later.
So I get in a patrol car.
We go to the bodega.
We weigh it.
On a fucking scale.
joe rogan
How much?
michael dowd
It was like a pound and a half, something like that.
joe rogan
A pound and a half of cocaine is a lot of money, right?
michael dowd
Well, at that point, yeah, it was like, we got $28,000 for it.
We got $28,000 for it.
So, I bought a condo.
That's when I bought the condo.
joe rogan
At least you were investing.
That's actually smart.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's very smart.
A lot of...
I mean, you said you had four houses and a condom.
Like, that's actually...
For a guy doing blow, robbing people...
michael dowd
I wasn't doing blow at this time.
joe rogan
At the time.
Just selling it.
michael dowd
Right.
No.
joe rogan
Or stealing it and then selling it.
michael dowd
Then selling it.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, you were selling it.
michael dowd
Technically.
Yeah, any time you transfer cocaine, by the way, if you give me a half of eight ball right now, you've sold it.
Really?
Whether you take money for it or not.
Just remember that.
joe rogan
Now I know.
michael dowd
What about pot?
Don't give me anything.
Same thing.
When you transfer something, you don't have to give money for it.
It's still considered a sale.
joe rogan
Wow.
Somebody tell it to Joey Diaz.
Hands out fucking pot candies everywhere he goes.
So this was like one of the first really big ones that you were involved with.
michael dowd
Well, it was an exciting one, to say the least.
I left there and went out into South Carolina and bought a condo on the ocean.
joe rogan
So you had kind of like...
michael dowd
But what happened was I went back to the location.
To get more.
Because there was a lot more in there.
But when I got there, there was a fucking limousine out front.
I swear to Christ.
There's a limousine out front with two guys, one stand on each side, with their full length trench coats on, standing there like this, and looking right at us.
Like, what are you going to do?
And I went, let's get the fuck out of here.
And I'm not, this is no, this is no yoke.
I was like, okay, I'm the police and I'm scared to death right now.
Gotta go.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
michael dowd
And then I end up in the joint with Noriega.
joe rogan
You were in the same place as Noriega?
Did you see him?
michael dowd
No.
They gave him his own house.
joe rogan
Is he still alive?
michael dowd
I think so.
joe rogan
They gave him his own house?
michael dowd
Yeah, they gave him a little warehouse.
joe rogan
They gave him a little something going on with him.
michael dowd
Who, me?
joe rogan
No, him.
Does the government have a little something going on with him?
michael dowd
Oh, I can't answer for the government.
joe rogan
They hook him up, give him some pussy, keep your mouth shut.
michael dowd
I hope so.
joe rogan
No stories.
michael dowd
I hope so.
He hasn't said anything, has he?
joe rogan
Well, you always hope that.
Or you always hear that, rather.
michael dowd
In the witness protection program, you get pussy.
I wasn't in it, but I know from guys that were that got kicked out of it.
joe rogan
And they get pussy while they're in the program?
michael dowd
They bring them to a hotel to meet their family, just for a reunion.
joe rogan
Oh, well that's your family though.
michael dowd
Whatever, we're all family.
joe rogan
They got him in a warehouse somewhere.
I would imagine he's got his own little spot.
Imagine if you go there and it's all fucking plush carpet, fucking beautiful TV. The story that everybody dreams of, wow, you had some bid, you know.
Well, that's what everybody dreams of is like that Goodfellas scenario.
unidentified
Yeah, right.
michael dowd
It's not like that.
joe rogan
Seeing the movie where they're cooking steaks and slicing the garlic with razor blades.
michael dowd
We slice garlic with razor blades.
Don't kid yourself.
unidentified
Really?
michael dowd
Yeah, absolutely.
And there is steak.
joe rogan
Do you really get steak?
michael dowd
Yeah, if you know the right people.
joe rogan
Well, what else can you get when you're in there?
Can you get girls?
michael dowd
Yeah, you have to pay the guards, you know.
Really?
Yeah, but it's rare.
But it happens.
Usually it's the guards you're banging.
Female guards.
joe rogan
They're out of here, right?
That's a shame.
That was that upstate New York.
michael dowd
Not state, but in the feds they're a little more classy.
You gotta send money to their private account.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
But you can, it all can be happening.
michael dowd
Well, anything can happen if you have the right number, right?
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
How much you got to pay a guard to get some pussy?
michael dowd
I think the going rate was $500, but I'm not sure.
joe rogan
$500?
So you pay them $500 and you can get laid?
michael dowd
Yeah, you don't hand it to them.
You have it sent.
joe rogan
Right.
That seems like it would be worth it.
michael dowd
I mean, I'm just saying.
unidentified
Of course it was.
michael dowd
I would have doubled that after a certain amount of time.
joe rogan
It seems like a really good deal, actually.
500 bucks seems like a bargain.
michael dowd
These girls, you know, they were out in the country.
They weren't like city girls.
joe rogan
But female guards would oftentimes mix it up with prisoners?
michael dowd
Listen, if I ever go back and fuck in prison, okay, this is not a good thing for me to say.
Well, you're not going to go back in prison.
I'm just saying it happens.
unidentified
You're not going to go back in prison.
michael dowd
No, but you never know!
The government can find ways.
joe rogan
But why would they find ways?
michael dowd
We have ways.
joe rogan
Listen, it's not going to happen.
unidentified
I know.
joe rogan
Just keep your...
michael dowd
Keep your nose clean.
joe rogan
Yeah, keep your nose clean.
You'll be fine.
But that was what happened in upstate New York, right?
Those guys that got out, and a girl was supposed to wait for them.
michael dowd
From what I understand, she was in a relationship with one of them, and it happens.
It happens quite often.
It's a difficult position to be in.
You're a woman getting attention by men who, most of them, are in pretty good shape.
They work out all day long.
They got nothing but to do with sweet talk you.
And, you know, you're having a fight with your husband that day.
And now, you know, you're vulnerable like anything else.
joe rogan
Mm-hmm.
I think Tupac's got a song about that, doesn't he?
michael dowd
Vulnerable?
joe rogan
When I get free.
Yeah, let's just hand you a little piece of paper there.
What's going on?
Your son's giving you notes.
What's he saying?
michael dowd
I don't know if I should talk about that.
joe rogan
What?
michael dowd
That I made $38,000 with phone sex in prison.
joe rogan
Did you really?
Why would you not talk about that?
Is it illegal?
michael dowd
No, it's just I'm over it.
joe rogan
Wait a minute, did you make phone sex for, like, calling out, like gay guys would call you out?
michael dowd
Is that what you mean?
No, no, no, no.
They don't call you.
You call out, all right?
I didn't have a hotline in prison.
No, I had a following of people that, you know.
joe rogan
So you had a business.
michael dowd
I had a woman that sent me books on dominatrix stuff.
You know, she wanted me to dominate her.
Master Slave books, Story of O. Right.
I don't know if you guys might be too old for that, but not old enough.
Story of O was, like, an incredible book about a woman that liked to be...
Sort of manipulated and whatnot in some kind of ways.
joe rogan
So women would contact you in prison?
michael dowd
So this woman sent me a bunch of books related to that.
And then I would have phone checks with her on the phone, of course, you know.
joe rogan
And she would give you money?
michael dowd
Yeah, I mean...
joe rogan
Wow.
So a girl would pay you for phone sex?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's pretty goddamn...
michael dowd
You can say that.
joe rogan
That's pretty special.
michael dowd
Yeah, they called it cell phones.
I was in a cell on a phone.
joe rogan
But back then, like, that's pretty rare, though, isn't it?
That, like, a woman would pay a guy for that?
Like, they always say that men who are in jail for, like, murder and stuff like that, a lot of women would send them...
michael dowd
Yeah, I had a lot of bands.
Mostly women.
People are lonely.
People are lonely.
Even people in the free world are lonely.
They need attention and affection from anybody.
And it wasn't really done in a manipulative way because I needed attention and affection too.
And it just so happened that she wanted me to do this.
So I got good at it.
The guards would fight to get my...
Because they won't be listening.
Because every conversation in prisons...
I'd walk down the compound, they'd be looking at me like, okay, when are you going on tonight?
joe rogan
So you were going on like it was a performance.
michael dowd
Yeah, like us now.
They couldn't wait till I got on the phone.
I was sweating on the other end.
I don't know.
joe rogan
And they were listening?
The guards were listening?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's fucking hilarious.
michael dowd
So they got mad at me.
They used to make me send the money home.
You know, you got too much money in your account, you got to send it home.
joe rogan
The guards would make you send the money home?
michael dowd
Yeah, because you can't have too much money in your account while you're incarcerated, because then you could control people in the prison.
unidentified
Ah.
joe rogan
Well, how much can you keep in your account?
michael dowd
I don't know.
I had 16,000 in there.
They said, whoa, whoa, you got to fucking send some home.
joe rogan
And it's all from this one lady?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
Did you have other people that you were doing this phone sex thing with?
michael dowd
No, she was my main...
Well...
joe rogan
A couple?
michael dowd
She was the main...
She was the payee.
joe rogan
How much did you make her pay?
michael dowd
I didn't make her.
There was no salary.
You know, it wasn't a...
joe rogan
She just was sending you donations?
michael dowd
She had an escort business.
joe rogan
She had an escort business?
michael dowd
Yeah, I didn't want to talk about this.
joe rogan
Why would she not want to talk about this?
michael dowd
She had an escort business in Orlando.
She ends up getting arrested for it.
While I'm on the phone with her having sex, she gets arrested.
joe rogan
Like they broke into her house?
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, why?
Why?
Officers?
Why?
So what?
Is there other shit to arrest people for?
michael dowd
Well, the fact is that she ends up going to trial.
She ends up going to trial and winning.
joe rogan
Oh, that's nice.
michael dowd
So it's a great story for her, you know?
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
But my fucking donation stopped because she was going through hell, you know?
Wow.
joe rogan
That's crazy, though.
michael dowd
It was interesting.
joe rogan
I would say so.
Yeah.
I would say at least interesting.
michael dowd
You know, you have a life.
We all live a life.
We all do things.
And as it turns out, you know, you can write books and movies about everybody's life.
Everybody has...
joe rogan
Listen to me.
Right now, your life is way more fucked up than most people's lives.
michael dowd
Fucked up?
I thought it was interesting.
joe rogan
It's very interesting, but a lot of fucked up things are interesting.
michael dowd
Yeah.
joe rogan
But your story, I mean, like you're saying, oh, everybody's got an interesting life.
You write a book about everybody.
No, no.
Listen, you wrote a book about, you know, Jamie's life.
It'd be boring as fuck compared to yours.
unidentified
Oh, come on.
michael dowd
Look, he's got a beautiful shirt on.
joe rogan
Well, he's a great guy.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm just saying, no coke.
No phone sex business.
unidentified
Forget it.
michael dowd
Forget it.
joe rogan
No murders.
He's never seen a dead body, I don't think.
No.
See?
Everybody's got...
You know what I'm saying?
unidentified
For real?
joe rogan
Yeah.
See?
michael dowd
Oh, shit.
joe rogan
You've seen some shit.
You just don't think you've seen some shit.
michael dowd
You know what it is?
You take things for granted.
Sure.
When you lived the life I lived.
And even though, like, I'm lucky to be alive, you know, in many ways.
You just...
You know, we haven't even discussed police work here.
Barely.
Well, the reason is because, to me, it was a normal day.
You know, I handled 28-day jobs average a day.
And I backed up on another 28. So the reality is, you know, fucked up things I was involved in.
I mean, I don't tell you the story.
I've got to tell you the story.
I hope you guys enjoy this one.
This is entertaining.
I laugh about it myself.
And you know what?
When I laugh, don't take it the wrong way because it's just crazy.
You know, I don't mean to demean anything or anyone.
So I'm getting ready to go to the Bahamas.
And so what I do is I change my shift from a 4 to 12 to a day shift so that after the day shift, I can go on my merry vacation instead of ending at 4 to 12 at night.
So I get assigned a prisoner in King County Hospital.
And there's so many fucking stories in my head, it just spins.
So now you realize I'm going on vacation at the end of this shift.
I'm going to the Bahamas or the Cayman Islands, I don't know, someplace.
I think the Bahamas.
I don't know.
I have three days growth on my face.
This is how a cop thinks.
I have three days growth on my face because I'm going away.
You can't have growth on your face.
As a cop, you're supposed to be clean-shaven.
You can have a mustache, but you've got to be clean-shaven otherwise.
So when you turn out, you've got to look tight.
So now I'm in this hospital, three days growth on my face, and I'm drunk because I just did an all-nighter.
Because I did a 4 to 12. Instead of going home, I stayed at the precinct, tapped down half a dozen or a dozen, whatever, and now I'm back at the hospital guarding this prisoner.
I walk in the hospital and I take the handcuffs.
I said to the kid, where's the fucking handcuffs?
He goes, he's a rookie.
He goes, what do you mean?
I go, he's a fucking prisoner.
He's got to be handcuffed.
Well, he wasn't handcuffed when I got here.
So I take the handcuffs.
I said, have a nice day.
I put the cuffs on the guy and cuff him to his bed.
Officer, what are you doing?
I said, for Christ's sake, you're a fucking prisoner.
I got to sleep.
I got things to do here.
I got to sleep, catch up because I'm going to the Bahamas tonight, tomorrow.
Long story short.
I'm trying to shorten it.
He goes, um, look, I gotta take a piss.
I gotta go to the bathroom.
He's waking me up now.
I'm sleeping already.
He wakes me up.
So I uncuff him.
He goes to the bathroom.
I fall back to sleep.
I fall back to sleep.
He's in the bathroom.
Comes back.
Wakes me up.
Officer, I'm back from the bathroom.
I said, okay, I go to the bathroom.
He goes, I just woke you up.
What are you putting the fucking handcuffs on me for?
So I go, listen, anyway, he goes, now he wants to take a shower.
So I go, all right, go take your fucking shower.
I'm sleeping.
I said, wake me up when you come back.
All of a sudden about, I don't know, 10, 15, 20 minutes later, officer, yeah, it's a nurse.
Your prison is gone.
I go, oh, no.
Now, I didn't shave for three days.
I'm drunk, hungover, and I'm going to the Bahamas tomorrow.
If you're making an arrest right now, you've got a problem.
Because you've got to process the arrest all the way through.
I've got 17 hours overtime stuck in front of me.
I'm not making this Bahamas trip.
Oh, fuck.
So I tried to put a description over the air of an escaped prisoner.
Possibly escaped prisoner because I don't want to admit that the prisoners escaped yet because I don't know if he is, but he's just not here.
I don't see him.
He's gone.
So if I put over the air and escape prisoner, I'm already, I just cost myself 10 days vacation.
Okay, that's mandatory minimum by law in the police department.
If you lose a prisoner, you lose 10 days vacation.
Whoa.
So now I'm not shaven.
I'm running around fucking King County Hospital.
I left my gun.
The only thing I have on is my gun.
You know, cops have a jacket with their badge on it.
I took the jacket off.
So all I have is a radio and a gun.
I'm running around looking for a fucking prisoner.
Cops pull up.
They see a guy with a radio and a gun.
They don't see a cop in uniform.
They don't know who the fuck I am.
I'm putting over the impossible escape prison.
Oh, no.
Yeah, this communication...
I don't get shot.
But the communications officer on the phone goes, says, can you call me?
So I call her off, what they call, we call it Central.
So I call Central.
Central, what's your number?
So I call her.
She goes to me, officer, what is a possible escaped prisoner?
It's either he's escaped or he's not.
I go, Central.
It's not something I want to put over the air that the fucking guy's gone.
I said, he may be gone.
He may be down the block.
He may be sleeping.
I can't find him.
She goes, okay.
She says, what's he wearing?
He says, hospital garb.
Green hospital garb.
unidentified
Okay.
michael dowd
She puts over the air.
A possible escaped prisoner from Kings County Hospital wearing green hospital garb.
Fifteen minutes later...
7-5 hospital post on the air.
6-7 sergeant.
Yeah, what's up, Sarge?
We have a guy here.
Could you come meet us at the front lobby?
Now, Kings County Hospital, people don't know, is the size of a fucking whole neighborhood.
It's huge.
It's probably a mile this way, a mile that way, with 50 buildings in it.
And it's like a guarded fence, but, you know, there's no guards and there's no real fence.
It's just brick walls all over the place.
So...
All of a sudden he comes walking in with the guy.
The sergeant and his driver come walking in with the guy.
And all I can do is want to kill this fucking guy because I'm done.
Now the duty captain has to come down.
The duty captain's going to see that I haven't shaved.
And so now I'm upstairs trying to shave and I'm bleeding now because they give you these safety razors.
They don't cut anything but you.
So I'm shaving my face with this safety razor.
I got blood all over me.
I'm trying to wipe it up because as soon as he escaped, that's the first thing I did after I called for the back.
I started shaving his beard on my face off because I know I'm done.
I'm getting interviewed by a duty captain.
He's going to smell the fucking booze on my breath and my face is not quaffed.
So I'm done.
Not because this is going to bring attention to my drunkenness.
So I'm shaving and bleeding.
In comes a sergeant with this fucking inmate, convict, whatever he is, and perp.
And I look at him.
He looks at me.
I go, what the fuck did you do?
He goes, there was voices telling me I had to go.
They were telling me I had to run.
I go, I pick him up.
You know, you get superhuman things.
I pick him up with one hand like this.
I got him against the glass in Kings County Hospital.
And I go to him, I want to fucking knock him out, but the sergeant's right there, right?
The sergeant goes, take it easy, take it easy, take it easy.
I go, he just cost me fucking ten days.
I can't go on my vacation now.
So I let him down, and I go, drag him back to his appointed bed.
Now I want to fucking, I want to put the cuffs around his neck, right?
I know I shouldn't have fucking...
I don't know.
unidentified
I don't know.
michael dowd
The voices are telling me.
I look up on his bed.
It says, HIV. Now, back then, HIV was like, you know...
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
You're done.
I'm done.
joe rogan
Right.
michael dowd
I think I got AIDS now.
joe rogan
From touching him.
michael dowd
From touching him.
I think I got fucking AIDS. Right.
So, here I am.
I just touched this AIDS patient.
I'm dying.
He's dying.
And I'm going on vacation.
And I'm not...
What am I going to do now?
How do you respond to this?
So, I don't know what to do.
So I'm waiting for the duty captain to come by.
unidentified
I'm bleeding.
michael dowd
I'm bleeding still.
I got holes in my face, right?
Now, I can't even touch myself.
I just touched him with my hands.
Now I got AIDS on my hands.
I'm bleeding.
I'm done.
I might as well just sign my death warrant right now.
Not to mention, you know, I'm not making this vacation.
So anyway, they come to relieve me, and how the story turns out is I end up on vacation in a timely manner.
I'm supposed to process this arrest.
The arrest took me about 15 minutes to process, so I walk back into the precinct, and the lieutenant on the desk goes, Daud, you've got to go back down to central booking and process the arrest of that inmate that escaped.
I go, I do?
He goes, yeah, I go, I hand him a piece of paper.
Here's the arrest report to 61, the aided card, and my overtime slip.
He goes, you done?
This is the guy who's trying to bang my girlfriend.
He goes, you done?
The guy whose spot I parked in with the red Corvette.
He goes, you done?
I go, there's my arrest number.
We hated each other.
I go, there's my arrest number, there's the fucking complaint number, and there's the aided card, and there's my overtime slip.
He knew I was going on vacation.
He goes, you fucking fuming.
So, P.S., I lost the perp, I got him back, and I still made the vacation.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
And I end up not losing the 10 days.
They forgot to interview me.
joe rogan
They forgot to interview you?
michael dowd
Yeah, I ended up getting interviewed about a year later on that, and they took something from me.
But it was like, it was happenchance then.
They took something from you?
We have this old thing sitting around on our desk.
I go, whatever.
It's over with now.
So the sting wasn't there, and I was not going to lose my job.
I'm drunk, on duty, losing a prisoner.
Come on.
How could you not lose your job?
joe rogan
You got lucky.
michael dowd
Maybe.
Did I? Definitely.
I would have lost my job and I was safe, right?
joe rogan
I don't know.
I don't know.
I mean, I hate to say everything happens for a reason.
I fucking hate that saying.
Sometimes it applies.
michael dowd
It's scary.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
But you got to feel lucky that you went through all this and you're still alive and you're still healthy.
michael dowd
I am very lucky and blessed.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I am.
joe rogan
I mean, you've lived a...
I mean, to say you've lived a colorful life...
michael dowd
I'm fucking tired.
joe rogan
You'd have to be.
michael dowd
I'm fucking tired.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ, you've been running up hills...
michael dowd
Look at me, I'm sweating like a fuck just telling you these stories.
joe rogan
Carrying weights your whole life.
On coke.
michael dowd
On these sticks, these spindles of a leg.
joe rogan
Jesus fucking Christ.
It's a crazy story.
And I'm sure you have a million crazy stories like that.
michael dowd
That's...
That's an easy one.
That was an easy one to tell.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's a four-minute one.
I just couldn't imagine.
I really do hope that this does become a book.
michael dowd
Well, I'd like to share the stories because they're interesting and funny.
And you know what?
A lot of people don't want to give recognition that this is what life is.
People live a life, and you have to share your stories with people.
You really do.
I like to talk.
joe rogan
Well, in the time, it's like you were alive during the perfect time where all this happened.
michael dowd
The crack era, right?
The crack era.
joe rogan
Well, not just that.
Like, you started out before the crack era.
The crack era happened while you were in...
michael dowd
It destroyed a large community of people, and...
People that weren't even part of the community got destroyed because of it.
joe rogan
And think about how much of it would be different today because of cell phones, because of the internet.
michael dowd
You know, we could bring this conversation in that direction.
It wouldn't be the way it was, that's for sure.
joe rogan
No, there's no way.
michael dowd
And that's why I talk about this often.
I think that you have to get with it.
You have to move along.
The police society has to move along.
I tell a story in the movie.
A cop gets shot.
I end up taking him to the hospital.
And I didn't deserve to feel his pain.
And that's a really hard thing for a guy who was a cop.
I didn't deserve to feel what happened to him and his family.
Really, when you're a cop, you don't want to ever feel that way.
joe rogan
Did you feel like you were a cop?
When you were in the middle of it all?
michael dowd
You know what, Joe?
I always felt like a cop.
I just always thought I could come back and be a cop.
joe rogan
See, you always thought, like, eventually I'm going to let this stuff go.
michael dowd
Right, I'm going to grow up.
joe rogan
Wow.
michael dowd
Just never got a chance.
I'm going to grow up, you know?
joe rogan
You piled up so much, you know?
You know, it's a fucking crazy life, man.
michael dowd
It's really crazy.
It's not a good life, you know, and the fact that we're saying that, you know, I could sit on a pile of gold or whatever, and I love to hear that, you know, it's just the fact that you turn something bad into something good is a good thing, but it was fucking hell, and still, you know, I mean, sometimes I can't even go up to a cop today and say, hey, you're doing, I'm mic'd out.
You could do that to any cop.
And they say, hey, Joe, nice to meet you.
I love you.
I do that.
I'm like, you know, do they really want to say hello to me?
Or do they want to just clean their fucking hand?
I had a guy come up to me at one of those previews I did or screenings and said, you're a fucking lowlife piece of shit.
Go fuck yourself.
joe rogan
It was a cop?
michael dowd
Yeah.
Yeah.
I probably could have squashed him like a bug, but that's not the point.
You know, it's true.
I looked at him and I fucking squashed you.
You couldn't even be half the cop I was.
When I did my job well, you couldn't be half what I was.
But, you know, the problem was I dabbled on both sides at the same time.
That's why in the movie they said, what were you, a cop or a gangster?
Both.
You know?
joe rogan
Yeah.
There's that scene where the one cop sees you coming out, and he says he looks at you, and he goes, I don't see cop, I see perp.
michael dowd
Right, right.
Well, he's a douchebag.
joe rogan
Is he a douchebag?
michael dowd
Yeah, he's a douchebag.
They don't like him.
joe rogan
Why is that?
michael dowd
No one likes him.
Internal Affairs doesn't like him.
joe rogan
Really?
michael dowd
Yeah, I'm working with Internal Affairs right now, by the way.
joe rogan
You're working with them?
michael dowd
Yeah, I didn't tell you that.
joe rogan
How so?
No.
michael dowd
No, no, I'm training them.
I'm training.
We're in the midst of finishing a training video for bosses, cops, and recruits.
Three different videos.
joe rogan
Wow.
Well, that makes sense.
That seems like something that you would really be able to help with.
michael dowd
Yeah, I think I could.
And you know what?
I put a little...
A lot of these films are so dry and boring.
And I give a little character to the fucking training session, you know?
unidentified
A little flavor.
michael dowd
Listen, I met two beautiful women.
And I'm being honest, sincere.
I spoke on one of...
One was the chief of internal affairs...
And one was a lieutenant in internal affairs, both smoking hot.
joe rogan
Yeah.
michael dowd
And for real.
Right.
And they would have had me in a minute.
If they just sent them in, I would have been caught in 1987. But anyway, these two girls, women, and they fucking just, they knew.
They knew that their internal affairs division needed something that was poignant or riveting.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
michael dowd
And they said, we need you.
Can you help us?
joe rogan
They need some character.
michael dowd
They need some character.
joe rogan
Yeah, people don't pay attention to information unless it's distributed in an entertaining way.
There's a big difference between just flat, boring, dry information and information that's got some flavor to it.
michael dowd
So I did something with them.
In fact, I spoke to them last week briefly.
I told them some of the things I was doing.
They were sort of acting jealous.
I said, jealous, you got a fucking pension.
Don't be jealous.
Okay, I'm selling my soul right now just to make ends meet, you know, and they got a pension and retirement system, they're going to be fine, you know, but interesting conversation with them, and so they're looking to do something with that and have me back and speak before academy class or, you know, I don't know about the precincts, the guys might not open their arms to me the way the rookies are forced to, you know.
And then I'm doing some colleges right now.
joe rogan
I'm speaking at colleges.
That's great too.
That sounds great.
michael dowd
Humanities classes, some ethical classes for the law students and criminal justice departments.
One of the police departments has actually reached out to me in the South.
I don't want to put their name out there just in case they decide not to.
But they have like 750 officers.
They want me to come and actually speak.
joe rogan
It's a great idea.
It makes a lot of sense.
It's a very smart idea.
michael dowd
What I did was horrific.
I used a position to trust.
I did my time.
Now I hope I can help people avoid guys that can do what I did.
Or pick up on it.
Maybe I had to stop him before.
Like this maybe guy has the characteristics of a guy that could go that way.
You know, this is not an innocent happening.
This thing just didn't happen because I was like greedy, which is definitely part of the reason it happened.
It happened because of a bunch of political things that were put in place back in the 80s.
We started promoting people based on the color of their skin or their ethnicity rather than on their promotional ratings, passing tests.
And it was very, very divisive.
The police department became divided, and we all became our own actors.
And it was a difficult time for the police department.
And what you got from it was a lot of internal strife.
We hated the job, but we loved being cops.
So it was very difficult.
And the guys that loved being cops, that were true to the job, they became good cops and got their pensions.
The guys like myself, who turned into me, They began to rebel.
They're telling you not to make arrests.
They're telling you not to do this.
And your boss failed three tests, and you didn't pass him either.
So you both should be in the same ground.
Now he's your boss or she's your boss.
So it was a very, very political upheaval within the police department itself when this rife time in the crack era hit, all at the same time.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's like a perfect storm.
michael dowd
It was a perfect storm.
joe rogan
The whole thing is a perfect storm.
unidentified
It was a perfect storm.
michael dowd
And they didn't want another fucking scandal like they had in the 7-7 precinct.
unidentified
Right.
Wow.
michael dowd
Which people aren't aware of unless they know the police department history.
joe rogan
Mike, we just did three hours.
michael dowd
Oh, fuck.
joe rogan
That was it.
Three hours just fucking flew by.
michael dowd
Make sure we talk about themikedown.com.
joe rogan
Yes, themikedow.com, and that's where people should buy the documentary, The 7-5, and do buy the documentary because it is fucking five stars.
michael dowd
Thank you.
joe rogan
It's outstanding.
michael dowd
It was well done.
joe rogan
It's very, very well done, and it's compelling, and so are you, man.
Thank you very much, brother.
michael dowd
I really appreciate it.
unidentified
Thanks, Joe.
michael dowd
I'm very happy to be here.
unidentified
Thanks for having me on.
joe rogan
We're going to do this again.
michael dowd
Great.
Great love to.
Thanks.
joe rogan
All right, fuckers.
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