Officer Michael Slagger shooting Walter Scott is shocking enough, but it is this moment, says Los Angeles defense attorney Darren Kavanai, that is something he’s never seen. >> April 4th, 2015, eight bullets ripped through Walter Scott’s back as he ran. Officer Slagger didn’t flinch, just strolled over and dropped his taser beside Scott, setting the stage for a lie that would later haunt them behind prison walls.
Here’s what happens to dirty cops in prison. >> Any of you cops out there think that I am involved in any crime in your jurisdiction? Come to me. I will take a polygraph. I will take the test. You can take my fingerprints. Whatever you want to do, I’ll cooperate. July 21st, 1972. Bound to a tree on Hutchinson Island, two teenage girls sobbed as Officer Gerard Schaefer smiled with a rifle in his hand. He said it was just a lesson.
But hours later, both are dead, buried by the very man who swore to protect him. However, these were just two of the 26 murders he was suspected of, which led him to a place of no return. Schaefer started out like any average cop in the early 70s, but there was something off. This guy wasn’t keeping any women safe. He was luring them in.
Young girls, hitchhikers, runaways. He’d stop them, cuff them, and take them deep into the woods under some kind of lie of protecting them. Then came the torture, the humiliation, and in too many cases, the murder. Now, authorities could only prove two murders, but journals found at his home hinted at dozens more.
Pages and pages of gruesome, twisted [ __ ] blurring the lines between fantasy and confession. Now, he claimed it was fiction. Investigators weren’t buying it. But when the case finally cracked open, they weren’t just looking at a bad cop anymore. They were looking at one of the most sadistic serial killers in Florida’s history.
In 1973, Schaefer was given two life terms. And just like that, the man who once wore a badge was now an inmate. Oh, he went in smug, calling himself the next Bundy, writing creepy stories from his cell, trying to play the intellectual killer card. But here’s the thing about prison, especially for guys like him. Nobody cares how clever you think you are.
You mess with kids, torture women, abuse some kind of power, you’re on the bottom of that food chain. And these inmates knew exactly who he was. So on December 3rd, 1995, Gerard Schaefer was found stabbed to death in his cell at a Florida state prison. Brutally attacked by a fellow inmate named Vincent Rivera, who left Schaefer lying in a pool of his blood with over 40 stab wounds and a homemade shank jammed in his eye socket.
Rivera showed no mercy, no hesitation. Some say it was personal. Others say it was just prison justice catching up. Either way, it was kind of messy and nobody shed any tear. And the wild part, prison officials reportedly found Schaefer bragging just days earlier about beating the system. Turns out he didn’t beat anything.
In the end, the guy who once hunted people for sport became prey himself. Schaefer may have been a cop once, but in prison he died the way he lived. Full of delusions, drowning in blood. Let’s go to February 27th, 2001. The gavvel dropped like a coffin lid. Joseph Mijinowski, once feared on the streets, respected in the ranks, was sentenced to life, not for failing the badge, but for turning it into a weapon of pure corruption.
And when he finally got locked up, let’s just say the street wasn’t the only place ready to get even. Joseph Mijinowski wasn’t your average crooked cop. He was a full-blown double agent. On paper, he’d be one of Chicago’s most respected narcotics officers. Now, behind the scenes, he was running his own drug empire, dealing cocaine, shaking down rival dealers, and using his badge like a license to do whatever he wanted.
He didn’t just break the rules. He kind of rewrote them for himself. For years, nobody touched him. He knew those streets and the system like the back of his hand. and he played both. But in 1998, the feds finally caught on. What followed would be a massive takedown that exposed just how deep the corruption went.
He’s convicted in 2001 on more than a dozen charges, including racketeering, drug trafficking, extortion, and conspiracy, after which his conviction led to the breakup of the department’s anti-gang crimes unit. His sentence, life in federal prison, no parole, no deals. And here’s where it gets ugly. Once Mijinowski was stripped of that badge and tossed right into the system, the reality hit hard.
Oh, he wasn’t just any ex- cop here. This was a narco cop who had been burning dealers, crossing gangs, and betraying fellow officers. Well, this made him public enemy number one on both sides of that wall. He was immediately placed in protective custody. No yard time with the others, no blending in, none of the usual prison routine.
because if he even dared to step into the general population, he’d be lucky to survive the day, let alone a week. Word was that some of the same people he’d helped lock up or even steal from were waiting on the inside. And they weren’t looking for a chat. So, he stayed in lockdown, moving from prison to prison, always one step ahead of the next threat.
No power, no respect, just endless silence and paranoia. Inmates didn’t trust him. Guards didn’t want to deal with him. He went from top cop to complete outcast. This guy was controlling the streets of Chicago and now he can’t even control his own lunch schedule. He would request a reduction in his sentence under the First Step Act in 2020. But that request was denied.
In the end, Mijinowski didn’t die a brutal death or even get jumped in the shower. But prison still crushed him in the slowest, most soul draining way possible. He became a ghost in the system. forgotten, isolated, and stripped of the power he once abused. And for guys like this, that might be the harshest sentence of them all.
We take you to June 18th, 2014. Janney Ligins sat trembling in the interrogation room, recounting how Officer Daniel Holtzclaw forced her into the back of his patrol car and made her choose between jail or him. Now, she was just one of the many women he had sexually molested, leading him to a fate worse than he imagined.
Born back on December 10th, 1986 in the US territory of Guam, Holtzclaw was a former college football player turned Oklahoma City police officer. Tall, cleancut, he kind of looked like the kind of guy you’d want on your side. But behind that badge, he was a predator. Targeting vulnerable black women during traffic stops or even routine checks.
Women with records. Women that society’s probably going to ignore. He knew exactly who he could manipulate and how to silence them. But that wouldn’t stay hidden for long. In 2014, one brave woman came forward. Then another, then another. Eventually, over a dozen women accused him of everything from groping to full-on sexual assault.
The trial was explosive. The jury heard story after story about how Holtzclaw used his authority to trap, intimidate, and violate these poor women who thought they had no voice. The verdict? Guilty on 18 counts. You know what? They gave them 263 years in prison. That’s right, buddy. They weren’t playing around.
Now, here’s where things kind of take a turn. Because in prison, being a cop is already a death sentence waiting to happen. But to being a cop who assaulted women, oh, that’s when you realize that you’re nothing more than just prey. And like the others, they would put him in protective custody, locked away from the general population, strictly for survival.
Inmates would taunt him constantly, shouting through vents, banging on the walls, calling him every name under the sun. Some would even try to get near his cell just for a chance to chat. No cafeteria meals, no yard time, no walk in the halls alone. Every move he made had to be protected or it could have been his last.
This guy was locked down 23 hours a day, surrounded by concrete and steel, haunted by the very justice system he once served. And get this, he still claims he’s innocent. No remorse on this guy. No apology, just legal appeals and interviews where he plays the victim. But you know the truth, Holtzclaw built his prison a long time ago, brick by brick, assault by assault.
And now he’s living in it, trapped in a cell, stripped of his power, forgotten by the very department that once trusted him with his badge. He wore that uniform and prayed on the powerless. Now he wears a number and no one’s afraid of him anymore. Drew Peterson, like you’ve not seen him before, the former Bowling Brook cop is behind bars with little hope of ever regaining his freedom.
>> But he is still unrepentant for the crime he’s been convicted of, murdering his third wife, Kathleen Savio, and denies any involvement in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy. >> October 28th, 2007. The bed was cold. The car was in the driveway. But 23-year-old Stacy Peterson had vanished. Her family was panicking and her husband, Drew Peterson, a seasoned cop, calmly joked with reporters, hiding a secret buried deeper than her body.
Little did he know that his horrible crimes would take him to that place of no return. Born back January 5th, 1954 in Ballenbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Drew Peterson, a former Ballenbrook sergeant, carried himself like the rules didn’t apply because in his mind, they didn’t. Married four times with a trail of suspicion right behind him.
This guy thought he was invincible. But the vanishing act to his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, in 2007, well, that finally cracked open a case that was going to ruin him. Now, Stacy was gone without a trace. And Drew, well, he grinned into the cameras like he knew exactly where she was and wasn’t planning to tell.
Now, authorities could have pinned Stacy’s case on him right away with just that, but they take a fresh look at his third wife, Kathleen Savio, who had been found dead in her bathtub back in 2004. originally ruled an accident, but after Stacy goes missing, that case is reclassified as a homicide. Then in 2012, Drew is convicted of killing Kathleen Savio, after which he was sentenced to 38 years at the Illinois Department of Corrections.
But you know what, Drew? He still ran his mouth loudly. In prison, Peterson was every guard’s worst nightmare. Manipulative, arrogant, and constantly scheming. In 2016, he gets slapped with another 40 years for trying to hire a hitman to kill the prosecutor who put him away. Can’t make this up. And because of that, they had to move him.
So, the Illinois DOC tosses him into a tighter lockdown. But he kept stirring that pot. So, they transferred him out of state altogether. And for his own safety, the DOC takes him to an undisclosed location. Now, for a while, he’s held at USP Terra Hott, a federal highsecurity prison in Indiana, home to some of the country’s most dangerous offenders.
And in here, Peterson wasn’t some cocky ex cop anymore. Now he’s another inmate with a huge target on his back. And everybody knows who he is. Other prisoners don’t forget a face from the news, and guards certainly don’t forget the murder for higher plot. This guy is kept in protective custody, again, isolated from the population, living under constant surveillance.
The same kind, ironically, he used to dish out. But now he’s not talking so loudly anymore. Once Drew Peterson played the media like a fiddle, smiling through interviews, dating women from prison, acting like the king of his little own empire. Now, oh, he’s another number in the prison system getting shuffled around with no one left to charm and nowhere left to hide.
Next, US media says the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2020 has been stabbed in prison. >> November 23rd, 2023, Derek Chovin hit the cold prison floor, blood spilling fast. Stabbed relentlessly by this other inmate. No badge, no power, just a man here gasping in terror.
abandoned by the system he once served without mercy. Now, Mr. Chovin’s name here became infamous on May 25th, 2020, the day George Floyd died, if y’all remember, under his knee. Now, before that, Derek was a Minneapolis police officer for nearly two decades. On paper, he’s just another cop. But if you dig a little deeper, the red flags were everywhere.
So, get this. Over his 19-year career, Chovin racks up at least 17 complaints of misconduct. Most are brushed under the rug. A few result in minor reprimands, but nothing ever stuck. Nothing ever slowed him down. Then came that day outside Cup Foods where a 9-minute video is going to change everything.
It shows this guy pressing on poor Floyd’s neck into the pavement while this guy is gasping, >> “I can’t breathe.” >> Sparking worldwide outrage. The image is burning into the minds of the public. And it wasn’t just police brutality on this one. Floyd became a symbol of something much deeper and darker. In 2021, Chavein was convicted of seconddegree murder, thirdderee murder, and seconddegree manslaughter.
The judge hands him a 22 and 1/2year prison sentence, and he later plead guilty to separate federal civil rights charges, picking up an additional 21 years to be served concurrently. Now, prison life hasn’t really been smooth for this dude. Being a former cop, a notorious one at that, you knew he had that target on his back.
From day one, he was kept in near total isolation. Locked away for 23 hours, no general population, no yard time, no cafeteria, just a concrete box and knowledge that stepping outside of it could mean death. Still though, even isolation couldn’t protect him forever. Because in November 2023, Chovin was stabbed multiple times by another inmate at that federal prison in Tucson, Arizona.
The attack had left him seriously injured, sparking headlines all over again. Authorities said he survived, but that should prove as a brutal reminder. In prison, a reputation like his is already a death sentence waiting to happen. Oh, and there’s the court drama that hasn’t really gone away, too. This guy tried to recently appeal his murder conviction, arguing that he never got a fair trial because of the intense media coverage and public pressure. Well, that was shut down.
No new trial, no sympathy, dude. Oh, you’re trapped in the system now like the many others you arrested today, Mr. Derek Chovvin. You’re sitting in a cell with a long stretch ahead of you and little hope of getting out early. Let’s go to March 10th, 1986. The gunfire echoes throughout a quiet Brooklyn street.
Roy De Mayo’s protetéé, Jimmy Hidle, was never seen again. His body was erased. And the ones who did it, well, they weren’t thugs in the shadows, but cops hiding in plain sight. Detectives Steven Caracappa and Luis Epalo had just traded their badges for blood. Now, what they didn’t know was that that whole lifestyle and the actions they took were going to take them through the doors of the grim reaper.
Kakappa and Epilo weren’t just dirty cops. These guys were mob cops. And not in that vague backroom deal kind of way. These guys actually worked for the Luchese crime family, still wearing the NYPD badge. We have here sworn officers doubling as contract killers. Man, the 80s and 90s were wild. Garrick Kappa and Epalito were detectives in New York. Highranking ones, too.
Garrick Kappa even helped find the NYPD’s organized crime homicide unit, right? Meanwhile, Epileto hears a flashy guy with mob ties in his family already. His dad and uncle were both wise guys. So, when mob boss Anthony Jipe Casso needed some inside help, well, he found it in these two. And these guys aren’t just passing around info.
They’re straight up executing hits. They’re tracking down targets, handing them over to the mob. Or maybe just doing the killings themselves. One guy would be kidnapped, tortured, and executed. Another gunned down in his car with his wife screaming in the passenger seat. All while Carrick and Epilo are still collecting NYPD paychecks.
So, the whole scheme eventually unravels in 2005. The feds finally had enough to bring that hammer down. In 2006, both men are convicted on eight murders, racketeering, and conspiracy charges. They’re handed life sentences plus 180 years, respectively, just for good measure. Carapp is sent to a federal prison in North Carolina, while Epilo sent off to Arizona.
And from there, it takes a turn neither one of them could scheme their way out of. Garrett Gappa, already dealing with cancer, didn’t last long. He died back in 2017 alone behind bars at the age of 75. Great life. As for Epileo, he tried spinning his own story. He claimed he was innocent. He wrote screen plays.
Seriously, he loved Hollywood, even playing a cop before in movies before his arrest. But his health declined as well. And in 2019, he died of natural causes while still incarcerated in Tucson. Memorials? No. How about tributes? No way. Just a cold end for two men who thought they could play both sides forever. Their story is one of the darkest stains in NYPD history.
Just goes to show you what happens when power is abused and trust is sold to the highest bidder. Forget about it. After Stephanie graduated from UCLA, she joined the LAPD in the early 1980s. >> I know. She seemed to excel and do well in specialized assignments, but it’s it was always competitive. >> February 24th, 1986, Sher Rasmusen lay beaten and shot on her living room floor.
A bite mark seared into her arm. The final act of rage from someone she likely knew. Upstairs, we had shattered glass telling a story of a forced entry. But the real story, it’s buried behind a badge. Stephanie Lazarus never thought this moment, this brutal act of jealousy would ever come back to haunt her.
You see, Stephanie here wasn’t just any cop. She was LAPD through and through. Respected, smart, even part of the department’s elite art theft unit. But underneath that badge, man, she was hiding one of the darkest secrets in the force’s history. Now, back in 1986, Sher Rasmusen, a brilliant and kind-hearted nurse, was found murdered in the LA condo she shared with her new husband, John.
At first glance, it looked like a robbery gone bad. You had broken glass, signs of a struggle, but something always felt off. Sherry had been beaten brutally, and even shot three times. Yet, that case went cold. Now, here’s the twist. Stephanie had dated Jon, the husband, before he married Sherry. She didn’t take that breakup well, and co-workers at the time remembered her as being strangely obsessed, even confrontational toward Sherry.
But no one imagined she could be capable of something like this. And for over 20 years, man, she got away with it. Carrying a gun, solving crimes, and living a seemingly normal life. That is until DNA technology catches up. And in 2009, cold case investigators reopened Sherry’s file and find a bite mark on her arm that still had viable DNA.
Well, guess what? It wasn’t from a burglar. That was from Stephanie Lazarus. She was finally arrested, ironically, by her own colleagues and convicted in 2012 of first-degree murder. The courtroom was stunned, especially by her lack of emotion. Now serving a sentence of 27 years to life at the California Institution for Women, Stephanie’s gone from badge to jumpsuit, trying to keep a low profile, but her presence doesn’t really go unnoticed.
Former cop or not, prisons don’t take kindly to those who betray their oath, especially women who kill out of jealousy. Come on now. She hasn’t spoken publicly, but that cold demeanor during trial and the way she tried to manipulate investigators during questioning left a lasting impression. Now, she wasn’t just calculating.
She was downright chilling. Some inmates reportedly just avoided her. Many others didn’t even know who she was. But those who do, they remember that face from the news. That mask of composure that hid a decad’s old murder. Stephanie Lazarus goes from decorated detective to convicted killer.
And no matter how many walls she tries to hide behind now, the truth already caught up to her and she is locked away for good. Former police officer Michael Slagger will go to prison for the killing of Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina. >> We go to April 4th, 2015. Eight shots shatter the morning air in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Walter Scott, unarmed and fleeing, collapsed face down in the grass, his back riddled with bullets. Moments later, officer Michael Slagger calmly walks over, drops his taser by the body, as if planting a lie that’s going to unravel his entire life, most especially behind bars. Now, Michael here used to wear a badge in North Charleston, South Carolina, probably never imagining that he’s going to trade it for a prison jumpsuit.
But in 2015, that all changed when a bystander with a phone camera caught him doing the unthinkable. It’s April 4th, 2015, right? And Slagger pulled over 50-year-old Walter Scott for a broken brake light. Now, what should have been a routine stop spirals out of control. You see, Scott, a black man, ran from the car, unarmed and likely scared.
Slagger gave chase and what happens next is caught on video. Eight shots fired. This poor guy is hit five times, mostly in the back, and collapses right there in a grassy lot. The footage shows Slagger walking over, dropping what appear to be his taser near Scott’s body, and tries to brush everything off and justify it somehow.
Now, the video goes viral. The public is pissed off, and Slaggers arrested and charged with murder, but his state trial ended in a mistrial. Still, the feds stepped in on this one. In 2017, he plead guilty to federal charges of deprivation of rights under color of law, a legal way of saying he violated Scott’s civil rights by using deadly force without justification.
So, he’s given 20 years in federal prison. What happens, class, when a former police officer known nationwide for one of the most infamous police shootings enters a federal prison? Well, they send him to a medium security place in Colorado, one with a reputation for housing some high-profile inmates and dirty cops alike.
Now, here he kept a low profile. Like many former officers, this guy’s a target inside here. Inmates who’ve spent their lives on the other side of the law rarely take kindly to someone who used to arrest people for a living, especially someone who kills an unarmed man. Now, Slagger’s team reportedly requested protective custody at various points, and he was often taken away from general population for his own safety.
Now, in 2018, he would try to appeal his sentence, calling it unreasonably high. The court wasn’t having that crap, and the 20-year sentence stuck. Slagger’s downfall is the kind of crash you don’t come back from. Man, it wasn’t even one shot. It was eight of them. And that badge that once gave him power became meaningless. From cop to convict, his fault was pretty brutal, fast, and broadcast for the world to see.
Behind bars, he learned the cruel truth. The system can’t really help you when you become the villain. Former officer Raphael Perez is at the center of the growing police scandal. As part of a plea bargain on cocaine charges, Perez admitted he and other officers shot unarmed gang members, planted evidence, and lied under oath to get convictions.
>> It’s 1998. An evidence locker at LAPD’s Rampart Station wasn’t just filled with drugs. It was the hunting ground for Raphael Pettz, a cop who thought he could steal 8 lbs of cocaine without anyone noticing. But he didn’t just steal from the system, he would betray it. His collapse was swift and the betrayal was exposed.
Not just a scandal, but a death sentence. Especially behind the four walls of incarceration. You ever hear about a cop so dirty he almost brought down an entire police department? That’s got to be Raphael Pettes for you. Former LAPD whose actions sparked one of the biggest scandals in American law enforcement’s history, the Rampart scandal.
And let us tell you, the way karma came back to bite this one is brutal. You see, back in the ’90s, Perez was part of the LAPD’s crash unit, an elite anti-gang squad. On paper, these guys are supposed to clean up the streets. Now, in reality, that meant that they were running their own kind of gang. Paris himself was involved in planning evidence, beating suspects, dealing drugs, stealing cocaine from the evidence room, you name it.
We didn’t just have a rogue cop here. This guy was a criminal with a badge. And the whole thing would unravel in 1998 when he gets caught stealing 8 lb of cocaine. That’s right, 8 lb from the department’s own evidence locker. That’s a lot. Faced with serious time now, Paris flips faster than a pancake.
He cuts a deal and starts naming names. Over 70 cops are implicated. Some are fired, others prosecuted. Several convictions tied to the unit’s corrupt practices were overturned. Innocent people had been sent to prison thanks to this planted evidence and false reporting. But here’s where it gets kind of messy for Perez. You see, snitches don’t do well in prison or in life in general.
And a cop who snitches on other cops, man, that’s calling for a death sentence. You can’t just put this guy in a regular prison yard. The system had to move him constantly. Protective custody, isolation, different facilities just to keep him alive. The threats came from all sides. gangs who wanted to destroy him, fellow inmates who just didn’t like him, and a lot of cops who felt betrayed.
At one point, it got so bad he had to be placed under federal witness protection. He changed his name, dropped off the map, and try to disappear, but the ghost of his past didn’t go away. He still remembered as that guy who shattered trust in an entire police department, leaving hundreds of cases tainted in his wake. To this day, people in LA still bring up his name when talking about police corruption.
And even though he avoided a long prison sentence by cooperating, well, he basically lives in a cage of his own making, still constantly watching his back. That’s the one thing about dirty cops like Perez. They might dodge a bullet in court, but they’ll never outrun the fallout. Not from the streets, not from the system, and definitely not from their own conscience.
Also breaking at this hour, former NOPD officer Antonet Frank, who is scheduled to be executed, was denied cle. And finally, we arrive at March 4th, 1995. Blood pulled across the restaurant floor as Kong Vu hid in a dark corner, frozen in terror. He just watched his sister, Ha, collapse.
And officer, Ronald Williams, someone they trusted, bled out beside the cash register. And then came the footsteps. Slow, inevitable. Antuinette Frank, still wearing her police uniform, raised her gun again. The badge meant nothing now. What stood before him wasn’t law, but execution in disguise, leading her to the point of no return.
Antonet Frank wasn’t your average cop. She was supposed to be one of the good guys, a uniformed symbol of protection in New Orleans. But again, behind the badge would hide something dark, something dangerous. And what she did one night in 1995 would make her name go down in infamy as one of the most brutal examples of police betrayal.
Let’s rewind to March 4th, 1995. Frank, who had only been on the New Orleans Police Department for a few years, was working a security job as well at a Vietnamese restaurant called Kim Anorked before. But this time, she wasn’t there to protect anybody. Now, she shows up with her 18-year-old boyfriend, Rogers Lease, who’s also a known drug dealer.
Together, they stormed the restaurant and unleash hell. First, they shoot officer Ronald A. Williams II, another offduty cop who was working security that night. Then, they force the owners to open the safe before killing two of their children, Ha and Kangvu. H. It was coldblooded.
And the cherry on the cake, Frank returned to the crime scene later, pretending to be shocked and ready to investigate. Now, that cover didn’t last long. One of the VU family members survived and identified her. And just like that, the officer turned executioner was arrested. Her trial swift and unforgettable. The jury heard how she used her badge to plan and carry out a triple homicide.
She was eventually sentenced to death, becoming one of the very few female officers and even fewer women in general on death row in Louisiana. So now prison life for Antwanette hasn’t exactly been a quiet one. You can find her at Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, where she’s been locked up since the late ‘9s.
And while death row is often about waiting in silence, Frank has found herself tangled in drama even behind bars. as she’s reportedly gotten into fights, made bizarre claims about her innocence, and has filed multiple appeals, none of which have gone anywhere. Over the years, her legal team has tried to spin her actions as influenced by trauma, poor judgment, or even manipulation by her younger boyfriend.
But juries and judges haven’t been buying it. And to this day, she’s still on death row. No execution date, just time and silence. But her legacy still lingers like a shadow. Again, a chilling reminder of what happens when someone sworn to serve lets that darkness take over. Antuinette Frank didn’t just cross the line. She crushed it, earning her place amongst the most infamous dirty cops in American history.
