Washington City Paper: Contents for Jan. 7

Rough Justice
How four vice officers served as judge and jury on the streets of the MPD's 6th District

Cover Story

How four vice officers served as judge and jury on the streets

of the MPD's 6th District

Illustration By Paul Moch

Nothing ever seems to leave the East Capitol Dwellings housing project willingly. Not the trash, which crowds the community's curbs and spills onto every available grassy corner. Not its low red-brick homes, which take their time falling apart, brick by brick, broken window by broken window. Not its residents, many of whom have lived there for decades. Not the officers of the 6th District Vice Unit, who have made the project their project for a decade. And not the small-time dopers who keep getting arrested, only to return the next morning, the next day, the next night.

Located at the east end of the District, just across from Prince George's County, and split in half by East Capitol Street, the neighborhood offers a portrait of economic stalemate: a landscape given over to dope dealers, police, and anybody unlucky enough to be stuck in their midst. Residents say their lives have become dominated by the bad guys and the vice unit that haunts them. Listen to them long enough, and you'd think the vice officers set their social calender and controlled their daily movements. This is a neighborhood few residents defend.

Except John Makins.... Continued

Issue of Jan. 7 - 13, 2000

News and Features

Rough Justice
How four vice officers served as judge and jury on the streets of the MPD's 6th District
Cover Story By Jason Cherkis
Oh Say, Why Can't We See?
Feature By David Carr
One Twelfth: December
The City By Michael Schaffer
Living in the Suburbs is Murder
The City
Waiting Room
The City By Judith Larsen
Shell Game
Poachers harvest a slow-moving delicacy on the Anacostia River.
The City By Annys Shin
Stare Masters
The Mail By Neal Minter
Dog Food for Thought
The Mail By Peter H. Burris
Burger King?
The Mail By David E. Moon
Plunging Into Icy Water
The Mail By AN
Charity Begins With the Homeless
The Mail By Dan Magnolia
Block Building
The Mail By Warren J. Cox
Mais Oui?
The Mail By Meredith Peruzzi
Calling Cards
The Mail By Christopher Cooney
Apriority Evidence
The Mail By Bob Jones
Hell Yeah
The Mail By Alan J. Roth

Columns

Nice Assets
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
The Norman Conquest
Demimonde By Arion Berger
The Year in Preview
Paper Trail By David Carr
Incumbent City
Loose Lips By Erik Wemple

Eats

Feast for the Senseless
Young & Hungry By Brett Anderson

Movies

War in Peace
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
Boxer in Silhouette
Film Review By Arion Berger
Broken Blossoms
Film Review By Joel E. Siegel

Music

Unredeemed, Homeless, and in Hiding
Acts Locally By John Davis
Reborn Bad
Music Review By Neil Drumming
Call 911
Music Review By Mike Kanin

Theater

Martin Grrrrrr
Theater Review By Bob Mondello
Crapped Out
Theater Review By Trey Graham

Arts and Events

This Old Wreck
The D.C. legacy of celebrated architect H.H. Richardson resides in a heap of trouble.
Arts By Bradford McKee
Gone Fishin'
Artifacts By Louis Jacobson
You Spin Me Right Round
Artifacts By Jessica Dawson
I Want You (But Not You)
Artifacts By Amanda Fazzone