We Own This City

“Fenton populates his narrative with a network of officers, informants and street dealers, all with different motivations and interests… . The overall effect is to capture the disorienting, churning quality of a city where the good guys and bad guys aren’t easily distinguished… . [Fenton] shows how, in our zeal to combat crime, we have allowed institutions to produce it.”—The New York Times Book Review “Baltimore’s grim realities have been mined by talented writers like D. Watkins, Wes Moore and, most famously, celebrated author and TV producer David Simon, whose books and television series—Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood and The Wire—deftly illuminated Charm City’s complex web of problems. One could be excused for wondering whether there is any more to say about Baltimore and crime. But the gripping new book We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption puts that concern to rest.”—The Washington Post“Fenton tells a story of bad people and bad attitudes… . His book reveals the way systemic discrimination operates, whom it affects and how it is sustained. His narrative is brisk and engaging.”—London Review of Books“A standout examination of the failures of policing, laid out in context with greater systemic failures … We Own This City is a sobering and necessary account of one dramatic way that trust was destroyed, but it is as much a damning indictment of how that destruction grew out of a mixture of negligence, incompetence and hubris.”—The Wall Street Journal“A remarkable story about the real-life collision of corruption, criminality, and racial profiling. Justin Fenton tells a well-written, wrenching narrative about a dark chapter in not only Baltimore’s history but in the legacy of disconnect between American citizens and those who are sworn to protect and serve them. This book is a must-read.”—Wes Moore, author of The Other Wes Moore and Five Days“A masterful account of how police corruption takes root in a Baltimore plagued by crooked cops, oblivious leaders, and beleaguered citizens. The scandal at its heart is shocking in the sheer scope of its venality, and Fenton’s years of reporting lays it bare in novelistic, riveting detail. Here is a writer with a singular command of his story, spinning a dark tale so deftly that it’s impossible to look away.”—Evan Ratliff, author of The Mastermind“A tale of chaos and corruption, We Own This City is a meticulously researched account in which one of our foremost criminal justice reporters unwinds one of the biggest scandals in the history of American policing.”—Wesley Lowery, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement

A longtime investigative reporter based in Baltimore, Justin Fenton was part of the Baltimore Sun’s Pulitzer Prize finalist staff recognized for their coverage of the Baltimore riots that followed the death of Freddie Gray. He is now a reporter at the Baltimore Banner, and We Own This City is his first book.