PBS - frontline: l.a.p.d. blues: video excerpt


			Watch (cable/dsl) 3:58 / realplayer g2

			Watch (56k/ISDN) 3:58 / realplayer g2

Buy the VHS

What came to be known as "the Rampart scandal"--reportedly the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the L.A. Police Department--started with the arrest of Officer Rafael Perez in 1998 on a cocaine theft charge.

Facing a lengthy prison term, Perez cut a deal with the L. A. district attorney and started talking about wrongdoing among his fellow, mostly-white, officers in the elite anti-gang unit known as CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums). CRASH policed the dangerous Rampart district of Los Angeles.

This video excerpt from FRONTLINE's "L.A.P.D. Blues" chronicles Perez's charges of false arrests, frame-ups and police brutality. In the end, he implicated approximately 70 fellow officers.

home · rampart scandal · "bad cops" · race & policing · aftermath · connecting the dots
discussion · interviews · video · synopsis · tapes & transcripts · press · credits
FRONTLINE · pbs online · wgbh