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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.
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