Michael F. Dowd (born January 10, 1961) is a former

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

(NYPD) officer, drug distributor, and criminal associate of the Diaz organization who was arrested in 1992 for running a drug ring out of Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He is the subject of the 2014 documentary film ''

The Seven Five ''The Seven Five'', also known as ''Seven Five Precinct'', is a 2014 documentary directed by Tiller Russell, and produced by Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, and Sheldon Yellen. The film looks at police corruption in the 75th precinct of the New York ...

'' directed by Tiller Russell and produced by

Eli Holzman Eli Holzman (born March 30, 1974) is an American creator–developer, writer, producer and television executive known for creating or serving as executive producer on a number of reality-based television series and documentaries, such as ''Pr ...

. The Tiller Russell TV documentary version, ''Precinct Seven Five'' (2015), aired on Film4 on June 19, 2020, and featured Dowd's co-conspirator and "dirty cop" friend Kenneth "Kenny" Eurell, who turned States Evidence and agreed to be

wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

, in order to entrap Dowd and corroborate Eurell's testimony in exchange for a lenient sentence at trial.

Early life and education

Dowd was born on January 10, 1961, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, the third of seven children in an

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...

family. He grew up in Brentwood, Long Island, on a block mostly populated by the families of police officers and firefighters. According to Dowd, he was a good student in high school.

Career

Dowd graduated from the

New York City Police Academy The New York City Police Academy is the police academy of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Within the organization of the New York City Police Department, the Chief of Training oversees the Training Bureau, which includes the Police Aca ...

in 1982 and was originally assigned to a precinct in Queens, NY, for a year and a half, after which he was reassigned to the 75th Precinct in East New York, Brooklyn.

Prison sentence

In the course of his career, Dowd committed a host of crimes, including conspiring with drug traffickers to distribute cocaine, warning drug dealers about upcoming raids, providing them with guns and badges, allegedly planning to abduct a woman in Queens, and stealing food meant for the needy at a church. Dowd located a man who robbed the Diaz drug cartel and instead of arresting him turned him over to Diaz. He pocketed several thousand dollars a week as a result of corrupt arrangements. Dowd was arrested in 1992. After investigations by the Suffolk County Police, the DEA, and NYPD's internal affairs, Dowd was convicted of racketeering and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and sent to prison for his crimes. He cooperated with the Mollen Commission, which investigated allegations of corruption in the NYPD. Sentenced to 16 years in prison, Dowd served 12 years and 5 months. While he was in prison, Dowd claimed he worked as a peer counselor, worked out, read, and ran the addiction and suicide prevention programs.

Recent career

Dowd has been featured on podcasts, periodicals, broadcast radio and television programs, and was the subject of the documentary film ''

''. A narrative feature adaptation by Sony Pictures is being produced by John Lesher and

Megan Ellison Margaret Elizabeth Ellison (born January 31, 1986) is an American film producer and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Annapurna Pictures, established in 2011. She produced the films ''Zero Dark Thirty'' (2012), '' Her'' (2013), '' American Hu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowd, Michael 1961 births Living people American consultants American drug traffickers American mechanical engineers American people convicted of drug offenses American people of Irish descent American police officers convicted of crimes Engineers from New York (state) New York City Police Department corruption and misconduct New York City Police Department officers People from Brooklyn People convicted of racketeering People from Brentwood, New York Catholics from New York (state)