"The explosive true story of America's most corrupt police unit, the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), that terrorized the city of Baltimore for half a decade. When Baltimore police sergeant Wayne Jenkins said he had a monster, he meant he had found a big-time drug dealer-one that he wanted to rob. This is the story of Jenkins and the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), a super group of dirty detectives who exploited the some of America's greatest problems: guns, drugs, toxic masculinity, and hypersegregation. In the upside-down world of the GTTF, cops were robbers and drug dealers were the perfect victims, because no one believed them. When the federal government finally arrested the GTTF for robbery and racketeering in 2017, the stories of victims began to come out, revealing a vast criminal enterprise operating within the Baltimore Police Department. Cops planted heroin to cover up a fatal crash that resulted from a botched robbery. They stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, faked video evidence, and forged a letter trying to break up the marriage of one of their victims to keep his wife from paying a lawyer. And a homicide detective was killed the day before he was scheduled to testify against the crooked cops. This is the shocking history of the rise and fallof the most corrupt cops in America"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

The explosive true story of America's most corrupt police unit, the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), which terrorized the city of Baltimore for half a decade.

When Baltimore police sergeant Wayne Jenkins said he had a monster, he meant he had found a big-time drug dealer—one that he wanted to rob. This is the story of Jenkins and the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), a super group of dirty detectives who exploited some of America’s greatest problems: guns, drugs, toxic masculinity, and hypersegregation.

In the upside-down world of the GTTF, cops were robbers and drug dealers were the perfect victims, because no one believed them. When the federal government finally arrested the GTTF for robbery and racketeering in 2017, the stories of victims began to come out, revealing a vast criminal enterprise operating within the Baltimore Police Department.

Cops planted heroin to cover up a fatal crash that resulted from a botched robbery. They stole hundreds of thousands of dollars, faked video evidence, and forged a letter trying to break up the marriage of one of their victims to keep his wife from paying a lawyer. And a homicide detective was killed the day before he was scheduled to testify against the crooked cops.

I Got a Monster is the shocking history of the rise and fall of the most corrupt cops in America from Baynard Woods and Brandon Soderberg.

BAYNARD WOODS is a freelance writer living in Baltimore. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and many other publications.

BRANDON SODERBERG is a reporter living Baltimore and was previously the Editor in Chief of the Baltimore City Paper and a contributing writer to SPIN. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Vice, The Village Voice and many other publications.

Booklist Reviews

Baltimore was a city on the precipice of destruction in 2015. The death of Freddie Gray, killed in police custody, sparked fierce rioting and cast a pall on the Baltimore PD. Many city cops were reluctant to make waves amidst the chaos, but Sergeant Wayne Jenkins wasn't deterred from his brazen behavior. Jenkins and his Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) were effective in their busts and arrests, though their methods were amiss: probable cause was nonexistent, money skimmed, warrants carefully edited, weapons and drugs planted. Upper echelons of the criminal justice system viewed the GTTF as their beacon of hope, ignoring telltale signs. Defense Attorney Ivan Bates saw through this when examining the case of a client recently busted by Jenkins. Bates fights the charge as a RICO (anti-racketeering) case brews against the GTTF: a city-altering collision of forces. Baltimore journalists Woods and Soderberg cut to the heart of corruption with precision and impartiality. This is an important book about community and the police intended to protect and serve it. True crime with humanity at its core. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

Library Journal Reviews

Journalists Woods and Soderberg offer a scathing account of the corrupt Baltimore Police plainclothes unit Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF). The authors masterfully demonstrate how the opioid crisis and protests following the 2015 death of Freddie Gray while in police custody provided cover for corrupt cops. When a new Baltimore police commissioner created a "war room" to generate more gun arrests, Wayne Jenkins, head of GTTF, and his crew ran wild, robbing drug dealers, injuring bystanders, and manipulating police body and surveillance cameras to cover their tracks. Only the federal government, aided by a whistleblower, aggressive defense attorneys, and reluctant drug dealers, brought them down. Relying on federal trial transcripts, FBI surveillance tapes, and extensive interviews with major players, the authors present a meticulously researched tale of greed, public pressure, and absolute power. VERDICT Fans of The Wire, The Shield, and Training Day will devour, as will readers of true crime and students of urban affairs and public policy.—Harry Charles, St. Louis