This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson.

The New York City Police Department is one of the largest, most expensive, and most

chronicled in the country, from its

incidents of police brutality.

But a new podcast suggests that the department's problems around race

go back to the very beginning.

You think about the word organized crime.

Think about what kind of imagery comes to your mind.

The first person who used that term

and sort of popularize it was not talking about the mafia.

He was actually talking about the NYPD.

Empire City and the history of the NYPD coming up on a word with me Jason Johnson.

Stay with us.

Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your

host Jason Johnson. The NYPD is perhaps the most famous and notorious police department in America.

Depending on who you talk to, it's staff with thousands of dedicated civil servants who are

devoted to public safety.

Or it's a department rife with corruption, tangled in politics and power and at best,

indifferent to the racist brutality its officers visit on black citizens of the city.

Now, a new podcast aims to shed light on the complicated history of the city. Now a new podcast aims to shed light on the complicated history of the

NYPD and race. Empire City is a new narrative series from Wundry crooked media and

push black. Its creator and host is Chindraai Kumenika, whose own interest in

...