If Baltimoreans perceive the Baltimore Police Department’s now infamous Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) as simply a bunch of bad apples skimming money and drugs, Baynard Woods and Brandon Soderberg set the record straight in their book, I Got a Monster (St. Martin’s Press), which is slated for a release on July 21. The crimes committed by the plainclothes unit, reconstructed here in stunning narrative detail, were part of an organized conspiracy of thievery, thuggery, and drug dealing.

The book’s title comes from sergeant Wayne Jenkins’ nickname for a big-time target—not to arrest, but as a potentially lucrative score for him and his crew. In the end, “monster” becomes an apt description of Jenkins, in particular, and the other six members of the Gun Trace Task Force, whom readers see prowling the city they have sworn to protect. Based on painstaking reporting culled from wiretapped conversations, jailhouse calls, body-camera and surveillance footage, court transcripts, and hundreds of interviews, it’s not just a must-read—it’s a page turner.

You both do an incredible job reconstructing the crimes of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF). Why was it important to get the details down in print?

Baynard Woods: A lot of the details of GTTF corruption came out in the federal trial of the two former detectives who didn’t plead guilty—but those details came out piecemeal in testimony. We saw an immediate value in placing the events in chronological order so readers could [learn] something not only about their crimes but also about the context in which they took place—and [about] the human condition.

Do you think Baltimoreans realize this wasn’t just a group of corrupt cops, but a gang of violent criminals operating with impunity?

BW: One of the things we’ve learned over the past few years is that, yes, a lot of Baltimoreans knew this. They have been claiming that “BPD is a gang” for years. It’s mainly that white and middle-class Baltimore hasn’t taken those claims seriously. But I think everyone will be surprised at the details of their depravity.

Brandon Soderberg: The concept of “cops are a gang” is understood by plenty of people in the city, but the GTTF story really bears that out. It is not hyperbole with these guys. Actually, early on in the writing process I rewatched The Sopranos series because it helped me to think of the GTTF story as a gang/gangster story, not a police story. And these cops juggled domestic life, criminal life, and “straight” cop life so it was even more complicated for them than Tony Soprano.

How did Sgt. Wayne Jenkins and the others get away with robbing, planting evidence, and lying on affidavits for half a decade?
BW: It can’t be just a simple lack of supervision. During that time, the City was effectively waging war on its citizens. Politicians and police brass needed stats to show they were doing something about crime. Jenkins brought the stats and so, as in war, they looked the other way when he crossed the line.

BS: Jenkins and his squad gave command and other leaders in the city what they wanted: arrests, statistics. I think seizing guns and other things command could highlight and turn into good PR just made it easier to look the other way when these cops lied or stole. It’s like the locking them up was for the city, the robbing was for them. They also messed with people no one would believe: working people involved in the aboveground or underground economy. In Baltimore, those people are mostly Black and have been systematically ignored already.

In fact, the GTTF was not brought down by the Baltimore Police Department, but the DEA, correct?
BW: The U.S. Attorney’s would not have known about GTTF if the DEA had not been investigating a Black drug dealer in Northeast Baltimore. When he called Detective Momodu Gondo on a tapped phone, the feds realized there was something else happening. But it was finally the anti-corruption unit of the FBI that brought them down.

What was behind the behavior of the GTTF members? Simple greed? Power? A darker impulse?
BW: As always, people are complicated and I think everyone had their own reasons—but greed was the common denominator. For someone like Momodu Gondo, who was trying to protect his drug-dealing friends, I think loyalty was mixed with that. And for Wayne Jenkins, I think it was greed.

How does someone who didn’t grow up in, or doesn’t live in, one of the city’s chronically overpoliced neighborhoods begin to comprehend the GTTF’s calamitous impact—and general BPD behavior as documented in the DOJ investigation—on community trust of the police department?
BS: I think the easiest way to put it is that they created crime. By committing crimes themselves, but also because robbing drug dealers leads to violence (people get shot when the count isn’t right) and dealing drugs disrupts the underground economy. But also consider this: Tactics considered aggressive but still generally accepted in American policing foment chaos in communities, too. The GTTF were exceptionally bad, but we should make sure to see the GTTF as the not-that-surprising end result of decades of overpolicing.

Are you optimistic that the six-member Commission to Restore Trust in Policing, made up of lawyers, judges, and former cops, will put their finger on why and how the GTTF criminal enterprise flourished—and what can be done to make sure it never happens again?
BS: I was encouraged by the creation of the commission and it seemed to me like Senator Bill Ferguson had the right attitude. There were clear reasons why this happened and why it needs to never happen again. But the commission repeats some of the mistakes that enabled GTTF. The commission has not been transparent. It is headed by a judge, and includes three former cops, so it’s still cops investigating cops, and we know that doesn’t work. I hope that at the least we might get some public testimony out of this, which could be cathartic for the community.

The GTTF was disbanded after the federal criminal charges were brought, but plainclothes teams remain. Historically, plainclothes units have been problematic, but they have always been reconstituted, as you note in the book. Is there a better way?
BS: If we consider policing the answer to public safety at all, then plainclothes cops who are given a long leash and incentives to arrest anybody and everybody are not successful because they make the city less safe. So doing away with plainclothes policing is the beginning of a better way. Increase transparency because police understand how protected they are for sure. And divesting from law enforcement and giving more money to groups such as Safe Streets and other community-facing efforts would go a long way.

There’s also a documentary coming.
BW: As we were writing the book, we were simultaneously working with Alpine Labs, a production company, to film a documentary version, which is also called I Got a Monster. We really wouldn’t have had the time or resources to do the book right without them, and it also gave us a chance to tell the story in a different way. It was set to premiere at the Maryland Film Festival, which was postponed. We can’t wait for people to see it.

The last issue of City Paper was practically still warm from its final press run when it was announced on Thursday that a new alt-weekly would be launching. The Baltimore Beat will publish its first paper on November 15 with Lisa Snowden-McCray—former community coordinator at The Sun—as editor-in-chief, and City Paper’s Brandon Soderberg as managing editor.

Baltimore Beat will feature print and digital content, as well as classified and display ads. The free, weekly newspaper will share similarities to predecessor in terms of art and music coverage, but plans to highlight new voices throughout the city.

“We’re not trying to be City Paper part two,” said Snowden-McCray. “I want to make sure we are hitting the group of people and areas that are usually overlooked. I want to hand the mic to people who historically haven’t had the chance to have a say on things that are going on in the city.”

The new publication is owned by Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia (BNP), which also oversees the Washington Blade—the oldest LGBT newspaper in the country—and the Los Angeles Blade.

Soderberg and publisher Kevin Naff handpicked Snowden-McCray for the editor-in-chief position. They wanted to find a voice that was representative and passionate about the city with the experience to match.

Naff says that the fact that Snowden-McCray is one of the only African-American women in charge of a newspaper in a predominantly black city like Baltimore is something that should be celebrated. For her part, Snowden-McCray is eager to break down the barriers in a white, male-dominated industry.

“I am always talking about the need for diversity in journalism,” she said. “The fact that there aren’t enough people of color, the fact that there aren’t enough women in editorial positions—I felt like I had to take the job.” 

BNP will handle all of the back-office operations while the staff of four gains traction, including associate publisher Jennifer Marsh, who previously worked at both The Sun and City Paper. With just Snowden-McCray and Soderberg on the editorial staff, the Beat will draw a lot of its content from fellow Blade publications, freelancers, and staff of The Real News Network (the paper’s current officemate). 

In a time where alt-weeklies are dying out due to declining ad sales and revenue, Naff says that he’s not worried.

“If I didn’t think this was profitable, I wouldn’t be going into it,” he said. “We put together a really great, experienced team. I’m confident in Lisa and her abilities.”

Marsh has already begun gathering advertisers for the paper, saying this is the chance to give Baltimore “the alternative newspaper it deserves,” so she’s working hard to make sure the Beat will thrive.

“This opportunity kind of fell out of the sky and it’s a chance to do everything right,” she says. “Even though we’re just a staff of four, it’s more powerful because we’re all doing it for the love of the medium.”

The first print edition of Baltimore Beat will be available on November 15 at hundreds of local bars, restaurants, gyms, and stores. Street boxes, which will not be the same yellow ones that City Paper was available in, will be coming soon.

“We’re here to celebrate with you,” Snowden-McCray said. “There are amazing things happening in Baltimore, and we want to talk about each and every one.”

Last month, the Baltimore news world said goodbye to WEAA’s The Marc Steiner Show after 24 years. Shortly after, City Paper announced its closure at the end of the year, leaving a void for alternative news in the city.

A new nonprofit founded by two City Paper editors—Baynard Woods and Brandon Soderberg—along with Marc Steiner started a new affiliate based on the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ). Baltimore BINJ launched on August 11 with the introduction of an IndieGoGo crowd-funding page with a goal of $25,000 to fund local journalism projects. All donations will fund projects that will be published at existing media outlets.

While the Baltimore-based outfit isn’t directly connected to its Boston predecessor, the model and logo were borrowed with the permission of Boston’s founder Chris Faraone, who is a longtime friend of Woods. The nonprofit is operating under the fiscal sponsorship of Steiner’s Center for Emerging Media.

Woods, the editorial director for the local BINJ and editor-at-large for City Paper, said that the purpose of the organization is not meant to replace the alt-weekly or Steiner’s show, but will become a way for journalists to provide local news for residents without a connection to a corporate entity.

“It’s not a thing that’s directly affiliated with City Paper, but it’s definitely coming out of the world of alternative news weeklies,” he says. “The tagline we’re using is ‘A guerrilla newsroom raiding the ruins of corporate media.’ We’re fighting against the encroachment of media deserts here.”

With that goal in mind, to start, BINJ plans to fund three very specific projects, including working with local nonprofit Writers in Baltimore Schools to encourage students to write profiles.

 “We thought that being able to help fund the writing of young journalist in Baltimore would be something that we really want to do,” Woods says.

The other two projects include a feature on the culture of street basketball in Baltimore by Reginald Thomas—who recently chronicled Baltimore Polytechnic’s basketball season in a photo essay for City Paper—and an extremely timely investigative piece on white supremacy in law enforcement.

Multimedia journalism is also something extremely important to BINJ. So far, they have developed a daily news podcast called Baltimore Binge that is released Monday through Friday. The show provides news, hot topics, and politics in less than 15 minutes.

“We thought that there really needs to be a daily news show,” says Woods. “There was a need for something really short, ‘off the cuff,’ and as honest as possible, addressing Baltimore news each day.”

Although the nonprofit is less than a week old—and the founders are still juggling journalistic responsibilities of their day jobs—its founders have high ambitions for the future.

“We’re going to have several different meet-ups where we’ll have a lot of opportunities for people who want to be involved—writers, producers, web designers,” Woods said. “Ultimately, we would like to fund beats, a high school reporter, and even fund translation of existing stories into Spanish.”

Currently, the team is meeting with local independent news organizations that would be interested in publishing their content as they continue to raise money to fund future projects. So far, the group has raised $3,718 with 22 days left to reach its $25,000 goal.

“Someone asked the other day, ‘What if you don’t meet the goal?’” Woods says. “The answer is, ‘So what?’ At that point, we have already funded one story just by raising the first $1,000. Every new project that we can help exist is a better day in journalism than it was the day before.”