Breathe

How's it going, John?

I'm okay, Tom.

How is it, being detailed to the F.B.I.?

It's been interesting.

-Yeah, I'll bet. -(DOOR OPENING)

He's all yours.

-How are you holding up? -I'm having the time of my life.

It's fucking jail, what do you think?

I'm so fucked.

I can't believe this shit is happening.

You're going to have to feed them.

It's your only hole-card left.

-Yeah, well I can't. Can't or you won't?

Look, you aren't just a city cop in cuffs,

you're a cop detailed to the federal drug task force,

and this is a federal case.

And you aren't just lone cop among others,

you were the supervisor of a unit that went bad.

They're going to make an example of you.

You gotta cooperate.

Shit, man.

I just can't.

They're gonna blame you, Tom.

You built that unit, man by man.

-(INDISTINCT CHATTER) -(TELEPHONE RINGING)

You can go in now, Detective.

Close the door, Danny, have a seat.

-Is this is about that rap song? -(PALMERE SCOFFS)

Look I don't give a shit

that some gangster rapper doesn't like you.

The fact is we've gotten a lot of complaints

about you stacking up over in the Eastern District.

And we're not going to hold it against you that you do

the kind of police work that brings complaints.

We just need to lower the temperature a bit.

Cool things off.

So we're pulling you out of the Eastern for a while.

Pulling me out?

You're being reassigned.

You're going citywide, Danny.

I'm not putting you on the shelf,

I'm sending you to the Gun Trace Task Force.

Welcome to the squad, Danny.

-(ALL LAUGHING) -Congratulations.

All right. Yeah. -We're gonna do big things.

(EXHALES) All right. -(GERMAN LAUGHING)

-Back up! -Back up!

Baltimore is a poster child

for the basic failure to stop lawlessness.

No justice, no peace!

I have heard your calls for no justice, no peace...

No justice, no peace!

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

These officers, they're 1930s-style gangsters.

Again, this is the federal system.

No parole...

only good time.

If you get 15 or 20 years, you're gonna do 13 or 18 of it.

As your attorney, I'm advising you to...

...racketeering, conspiracy.

Tom, they got you on a ten-thousand-dollar robbery.

What can you tell me about that?

The Kitmore Road stop.

Gondo put us up on that one.

Davon Robinson.

-(INDISTINCT RADIO TRANSMISSION) -Street name, "Wooda."

Why are you so sold on this shitbird?

I came up around here, and people I know be sayin'

that the boy Wooda be getting it,

-that Wooda jamming so-- -Wooda, huh?

I 'wooda' took a big shit

if I knew we'd be out here this long.

(CHUCKLES) Yeah,

You do take some nasty motherfuckers, too.

-(LAUGHS) -And I was thinking

if you stop consuming so much food,

then maybe less will come out.

Hey, check this out, after lunch yesterday?

Hersl went into the can at The Barn and made a captain.

-(GONDO CHUCKLING) -Aw, hell no.

I had so much of that pit beef,

I went in there and made a colonel.

-(JEMELL RAYAM CHUCKLES) Yeah.

Aye, that's the nigga right there.

Game time, baby.

-(CAR ENGINE STARTING) There he go.

Let's roll.

A wiretap on a police officer's phone.

I didn't want to believe it either,

Your Honor, but here we are.

And what we've already heard from Gondo

on the Shropshire wiretap

justifies going up on his mobile phone.

We've got him on numerous calls.

More than justifies it. Your Honor, if I may.

You two are opening up a two-gallon can

-of shit with this. -(JENSEN CHUCKLES)

-Uh-huh. -Let me ask you this

on this speculation,

how far up the chain of command do you think this goes?

We don't know.

Well if you need anything further, I'm here.

-(TELEPHONE RINGING) -Thank you.

-Thank you. Good luck.

What the fuck was that, Davon?

Led us on a motherfuckin' car chase, man.

It's 'cause your shit dirty, right?

You do know your license is suspended, right?

-What? -Look, man,

what the fuck are we gonna find in that car? Just tell me.

What's in there?

Look, I don't know what you're talking about?

Man, my license is good.

-I pulled right over-- -No you did not pull right over,

all right? You made us go on a fuckin' car chase, Davon.

And I fuckin hate car chases, man.

Soon as I saw your lights, I pulled over.

-Man, y'all on some bullshit. -We on some bullshit?

Get the fuck out of here.

You know what, you're going to have plenty of time

to think about this shit down in booking, all right?

And watch who the fuck you talking to like that.

-You know who the fuck we are? -All right, relax. Relax.

You know who the fuck you talking to?

Relax, man.

Where you working at?

They hirin'? Can you give them my resume?

No seriously-- -You seem like a good guy.

I tell you what,

-just give us that gun... -(OFFICERS CHATTING INDISTINCTLY)

-...and we'll take care of you. -Take care of me?

What gun? Man, I don't know what you talking about.

Look, my tags are good,

just let my girl come grab the car.

All our baby stuff in there, man.

She's gonna need it.

You're right, your tags are good.

All right.

I'm really trying my best here to look out for you.

So...

since you don't have a gun, your words, not mine,

don't mind if we go back to your place,

and have a little look-see, right?

But are you getting cooperation?

Cooperation?

All right.

Are people in town talking to you?

-Depends on who I'm talking to. Uh-huh.

I tried to talk Daniel Hersl

about the complaints he's received over the years.

-What did he have to say? -Not much.

Just that he was doing his job.

That the complaints are proof of that.

Well, problematic to say, but

to some extent that happens to be true.

-(SCOFFS) -A cop who goes on the street,

and uses his cuffs will get some complaints.

A housecat behind some desk?

-No complaints. Uh, for Hersl alone,

the Board of Estimates has paid out in settlements over--

Hersl is a mess.

If I get another sustained case from IAD, he's gone.

Just like Laronde. Believe me.

I'm not defending Hersl here, or anyone for that matter, and--

Look DOJ has a job to do here, and I've told you,

I'm not adverse to the idea of a consent decree.

The more you understand the situation,

the better for everyone.

Well thank you,

but having done what I do for as long as I have,

I'm not expecting people in your department

to volunteer what I need to know.

-(CHOMPS) Everyone you command

is on the defensive when they talk to me.

Understood.

And the presumption is that I couldn't possibly understand

their job, or what they're facing,

or what is possible, or what's not.

Well, Baltimore is an extraordinarily violent

and drug-involved city.

Do you think that's entirely unfair?

If the job requires some of the things

that I've already seen, and already heard,

then I think it is fair to question

what these people think the job is.

I took this position in a department

that has fundamental problems

that haven't been addressed in years.

And now, the mayor who gave me the job

is leaving office in November,

and I don't know who I'm working for.

Meanwhile, I've got a State's Attorney

who is showboating the Freddie Gray case,

and has lost the support of my rank-and-file.

I have a police union that fights every change,

and I got a job-- (SCOFFS)

I have a job that changes hands every year...

So...

anyone I try to charge, or discipline can say,

"Screw him, he'll be gone in six months."