The HBO miniseries we own the city, zeroes in on rampant corruption and abuse within Baltimore's

criminal justice system. It features drug dealers, villains, and the police officers who

recklessly target them both. And then, of course, there are politicians and federal agents

with competing interests and egos. Now, if this sounds kind of like a liar, well, they

both definitely shares in DNA. David Simon and George Policano's arts creators and

recognizable alumni from the Wireverse prop up on screen too. But is it more than just

a rewiring of Baltimore politics? I'm Aisha Harris, and today we're talking about we own

this city on pop culture hap gower from NPR.

This message comes from NPR sponsor Audible. With the memoir, it takes a woman. Hollywood

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Visit audible.com slash it takes a woman.

Here with me today is the host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast and a reporter for the

Culture Desk Andrew Limbong. Welcome back Andrew. Yeah, what's up? Not much. It's great

to be here. And also joining us is Volta TV critic Roxana Hadadi. Welcome back to you

to Roxana. Thank you. So happy to be here. I'm also happy that we have some Baltimore

natives, people who are from the area who know it. So we can.

The Baltimore Bureau of PCH. Yes, I'm excited. So yeah, we own the city is based on the

nonfiction book of the same name by Baltimore son reporter Justin Fenton. It focuses on

the federal investigation of the Baltimore police department's gun trace task force.

The team exploited its power by skimming friend drug bus and robbing innocent civilians

...