I Went Undercover Against My Own NYPD Officers — Then They Sent Me to Rikers | Steven Lee

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 745 Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2026

⏱️ 269 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Steven Lee rose to the rank of sergeant in the NYPD before everything collapsed. In this episode of Locked In with Ian Bick, Steven breaks down one of the most dangerous things a cop can do — go undercover against his own department for Internal Affairs — and what the system did to him afterward. Years later an off duty incident at a nightclub ended his career and landed him on Rikers Island. He opens up about what it's really like being a former cop behind bars, the corruption he witnessed and exposed, and the true cost of speaking out against your own brothers in blue. _____________________________________________ #NYPD #PoliceCOrruption #rikersisland _____________________________________________ Thank you to RAYCON for sponsoring this episode: The Everyday Earbuds Classic are the perfect addition to your everyday routine. Go to Bhttps://buyraycon.com/IANBICK to get 15% off! _____________________________________________ Connect with Steven Lee: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevefornewyork?igsh=YThycTFiMzhhemZz YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/@SystemUnfiltered Website: https://www.stevefornewyork.com/ _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 From Brooklyn Streets to the NYPD — Steven's Story 04:00 Growing Up Around Gang Life and Learning Street Smarts 07:00 Asian Gangs, Chinatown and the World Nobody Talks About 14:00 The Values and Influences That Shaped Who He Became 23:00 Joining the NYPD — And Immediately Questioning Everything 33:00 The Quota System Nobody in the NYPD Wants to Admit Exists 44:00 The Harsh Realities of Police Work They Never Teach You 53:00 What It's Really Like Policing Different New York Boroughs 01:00:00 Life as a Sergeant in Flushing Queens — Where It All Changed 01:11:00 Bar Checks, Karaoke Bars and the Hidden Corruption He Discovered 01:26:00 The Moment He Agreed to Go Undercover Against His Own 01:41:00 What He Found — Corruption Spreading Across Multiple Precincts 01:55:00 Someone on the Inside Was Sabotaging the Operation 02:08:00 18 Months Undercover — Bribes, Payoffs and Living a Double Life 02:20:00 The Operation Collapsed — And Everything Fell Apart 02:40:00 Retaliation, Political Pressure and What It Really Means to Blow the Whistle 02:55:00 Depression, Mental Health and the NYPD Culture Nobody Talks About 03:07:00 The Arrest They Used to Target Him — Losing Everything 03:21:00 Fired, Fighting Criminal Charges and Navigating the Legal System Alone 03:35:00 Trial, Sentencing and the Day He Was Sent to Rikers Island 03:55:00 What It's Really Like Surviving Jail as a Former Cop 04:05:00 Transferred to Westchester — A Different Jail, Same Harsh Reality 04:14:00 Release, Recovery and What Life Looks Like on the Other Side 04:24:00 Final Thoughts — Can the NYPD Ever Really Reform? _____________________________________________ To advertise on the show, contact sales@advertisecast.com or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/LockedInWithIanBicka Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	My guest today was an NYPD sergeant who went undercover against his own officers to expose corruption.
0:06.1	And when it was all over, the same system he protected sent him to Rikers Island.
0:10.7	His name is Stephen Lee.
0:12.0	And this is his story.
0:18.2	I was born and raised in Brooklyn.
0:20.4	You know, I joined Decepticons when I was a fucking kid and stuff like that, you know, and
0:23.6	then I, you know, I decided like the gang like wasn't for me.
0:27.6	So then, you know, I became a cop.
0:30.4	And when I became a cop, I worked in East Flatbush because I used to live in Flatbush.
0:35.5	So I was like, I wanted to work in a familiar area neighborhood and stuff like that. So I worked in East Flatbush for eight years, and then I got promoted to Sergeant, and then that's when I got transferred to Flushing. And Flushing is like a Chinatown of Queens. So you have like three kind of like Chinatown. You have the official Chinatown in Manhattan. And then you have, you know, flushing Queens.
0:56.5	And then you have Sunset Park, which is like 8th Avenue in Brooklyn.
1:00.6	And it's very like, I guess like territorial, like with gangs. Because, Brooklyn don't get along with Queens, Manhattan
1:15.3	is its own thing, you know, like, and with cops that are corrupt in the precinct, they're
1:22.3	also very territorial.
1:24.5	That is kind of like, why you're in my precinct, why you're in my neighborhood, you know,
1:29.0	stay in Brooklyn, whatever and stuff like that. It's really like, I feel like it's really
1:37.6	like Hollywood like, you know what I'm saying? Like it mirrors Hollywood like corruption and stuff.
1:43.0	It mirrors it a lot. And a lot of people like, oh, it's stuff, it mirrors it a lot.
2:01.1	And a lot of people like, oh, it's conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theory. It's just like a movie, you know, whatever. But it's actual real life is like that. You know what I'm saying? Like a lot of stuff that you saw in the movie is like, oh shit. Like that shit really happens. You know? So it's crazy. Why do you think you avoided gangs as a kid? Huh?
2:03.0	Why did you avoid gangs as a kid?
2:01.8	Why did I avoid gangs as a kid? Yeah. I didn't avoid them. Um, I was actually in Decepticons
2:10.0	and it was just a black gang, right? And it was just most of us like, at that time I think it was like
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 3 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ian Bick, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ian Bick and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.