I Was an NYC Cop During the Crack Epidemic — Then I Was Sent to Prison
November 5, 2026
AI Summary
5 min read“I Was an NYC Cop During the Crack Epidemic — Then I Was Sent to Prison”
Pete Thrawn grew up in Merrick, Long Island, the son of a doctor who became addicted to Demerol and killed himself when Pete was 11 months old. After a promising baseball career ended when he blew out his arm slamming into an outfield fence, he took the police exam, placed 1,285th out of 20,000 applicants, and became a New York City Housing Authority cop. What followed was a decade of high-volume narcotics work, hundreds of arrests, a federal investigation that dismantled a major drug organization, and then a conviction for a robbery Thrawn says he never committed. He served two to four years in state prison.
What the Streets Actually Looked Like
Thrawn’s first night in East Harlem set the tone. His field training officer, Satch Mikado, a massive Vietnam veteran, taught him tactics that the academy never covered. During their first building check, someone hurled a cinder block from a rooftop that landed eight feet from Thrawn. “That was the very first building check I ever did,” he recalls. “I could have been killed.”
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What you'll learn
- 1 Timestamped Outline
- 2 (00:00) **Sponsor Block: Calchi, Quo, Serval** - Three ad reads for prediction market platform, business phone system, and AI service management platform.
- 3 (02:38) **Introduction: Pete Thrawn, Former NYC Housing Cop** - Host Ian Bick introduces Pete, a former housing authority cop who made over 200 arrests during the crack epidemic and later went to prison for a robbery he says he didn't commit.
- 4 (03:13) **Early Life and Baseball Career Derailed** - Pete describes growing up in Merrick, Long Island after his father's suicide, and his path to a baseball scholarship.
- 5 (06:45) **Becoming a Cop and Meeting His Mentor** - Pete joins the housing police and is assigned to East Harlem for field training.
- 6 (13:08) **First Building Check: Cinder Block Attack** - Pete's first night on patrol in the projects nearly kills him.
- 7 (16:42) **First Impressions of Harlem During the Crack Epidemic** - Pete describes the ghost-town atmosphere of Harlem in the 80s.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Pete Thron was a New York City Housing Authority police officer during the height of the crack epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s, patrolling the dangerous streets of Harlem and Upper Manhattan. From making over 200 arrests to working alongside federal agents on major narcotics investigations, Pete helped take down powerful drug organizations, including one case that resulted in 30 members of a major crack cocaine operation being federally convicted. But after years of putting criminals behind bars, Pete found himself on the other side of the justice system. He reveals how alleged police corruption led to a robbery conviction he maintains was unjust, a two-to-four-year New York State prison sentence, and the shocking reality of going from police officer to inmate. Pete shares untold stories from the streets of New York City, dangerous drug investigations, federal task forces, corruption, and what really happens when the system you once served turns against you.
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Thank you to STIO for sponsoring this episode:
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Connect with Pete Thron:
Buy his books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07ZVVX3XS?ccs_id=8556d38c-a5a5-4596-b723-dd60b45c51ae Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PeteThron
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Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick:
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Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:35 Early Life and Baseball Dreams
04:10 Becoming a Housing Cop
06:00 Field Training and First Lessons
09:55 First Building Check and a Close Call
15:18 Moving to Pressure Point
18:00 EDP Call and Mace Incident
21:00 Witnessing Jumpers
22:17 Transfer to Harlem
23:48 Sponsor Message
25:35 Narcotics Work and Making Collars
27:00 Targeting East Side Drug Operations
29:00 First Shooting
35:20 Department Politics and Denied Promotion
37:30 Flipping Informants
42:00 Warrants and the Little House on the Prairie
45:50 TT and the Drug Ledger
50:00 The Case Builds
53:00 Nose Ripped Off
01:00:00 Recovery and Getting Cleared
01:01:30 The Purple Gang
01:03:40 Apartment Break-In
01:07:50 Gun Missing and Back on Patrol
01:14:00 Undercover Work and Buying Guns
01:17:00 Arresting Charmaine
01:20:50 Federal Deputization and Arrests
01:24:00 Greek Mob Investigation
01:27:50 Meeting Bazo
01:33:00 Declining Going Undercover
01:35:00 Going to Anti-Crime
01:39:30 First Anti-Crime Case
01:46:00 Pitbull Shoo
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