Stephen Maing’s film Crime and Punishment chronicles the struggles of a group of black and Latino whistleblower cops and the young minorities they are pressured to arrest and summons in New York City. The film will be presented by filmmaker Stephen Maing, who will be accompanied by Private Investigator Manuel Gomez, and George Weddington from Justice for Dahmeek.

Amidst a landmark class action lawsuit over illegal policing quotas, Crime + Punishment chronicles the real lives and struggles of a group of black and Latino whistle-blower cops and the young minorities they are pressured to arrest and summons in New York City. A highly intimate and cinematic experience with unprecedented access, Crime + Punishment examines the United States’ most powerful police department through the brave efforts of a group of active duty officers and one unforgettable private investigator who risk their careers and safety to bring light to harmful policing practices which have plagued the precincts and streets of New York City for decades.

Stephen Maing is an Emmy-nominated Brooklyn-based filmmaker. His feature documentary, High Tech, Low Life, chronicled the gripping story of two of China’s first dissident citizen-journalists fighting state-monitored censorship and was broadcast nationally on PBS. His short film, The Surrender, produced with Academy Award winner Laura Poitras, documented State Department intelligence analyst Stephen Kim’s harsh prosecution under the Espionage Act and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Documentary. He has directed numerous films for Time Magazine, The Nation, New York Times, The Intercept, PBS and Field of Vision including the Times Documentary Hers to Lose which was awarded a World Press Photo Award for Long Features. Stephen is a Sundance Institute Fellow and recipient of the International Documentary Association’s inaugural Enterprise Investigative Journalism grant as well as a John Jay/Harry Frank Guggenheim Reporting Fellow. His most recent film Crime + Punishment was filmed over four years and received a Special Jury Award for Social Impact Filmmaking at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

Manuel Gomez was born in Puerto Rico and served as an Air Force Reserve during the Gulf War. In 1998 he became a New York City Police Officer, working in the Bronx until 2011. Twenty days after 9/11, Gomez was called to active duty with the18th Air Borne conducting trainings and working in counter intelligence. In 2013, Gomez returned to NYC to start BlackOPS Private Investigators establishing a policy of only taking innocent clients. In the last two years his company has been responsible for proving the innocence of 87 cases of falsely accused and arrested individuals.

Check out Manuel Gomez and Frank Serpico’s DEPARTMENT OF CIVILIAN JUSTICE (DOCJ) Legistlation Initiative!

George Weddington is a scholar and activist living in Troy. His work focuses on Black Resistance in the US, especially the genesis of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Justice for Dahmeek organized after unarmed Dahmeek was shot multiple times fired by police officer Jarrod Iler (two shots hit Dahmeek on his head and arm) on August 15, 2017 (fortunately survived), and Edson Thevenin (shot eight times) and killed by police officer Sgt. Randall Frendh on April 17, 2016. Justice for Dahmeek demands a full, timely, and transparent investigation and prosecution!
• Prosecute Killer Cops
• DA Abelove: Resign
• End Racial Profiling
• Civilian Review Board
• Black Lives Matter!

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