Detroit declined from being home to the American Dream to a nightmare of crime and economic despair, culminating in bankruptcy.
Good jobs, big cars, and the world’s most profitable companies placed the city at the heart of the global economy.
But as this empire of cars began to crumble and the jobs evaporated, Detroit became the crime capital of America, and a new business, illegal drugs, took over the economy.
Now the city lies in shambles: Detroit is the poorest and most violent major city in America. The heart of the American Dream has been shattered.
From corrupt narcotics cop Henry Marzett to the infamous Young Boys Inc, White Boy Rick, and the Best Friends Murder for Hire gang: see the Kingpins and Killers that called Detroit home and became the Henry Fords and Lee Iacoccas of a new generation.
While many people remember the names of the drug dealing legends of the 1980’s, very few people understand the process by which Detroit changed from a thriving city to the disaster it has become. In 1960 metro Detroit had the highest household income of any city in the country, including New York and San Francisco. By 2010, the the city proper had seen it’s population decline from 2 million to around 700,000 and was the poorest major city in the country. How and why could this have happened? Was it due merely to the vagaries of time, or can we look back with the critical eye of analysis today and decipher the decisions that led to this point?
My documentary “Rollin: the Fall of the Auto Industry and the Rise of the Drug Economy in Detroit” weaves the darkly exciting tales of Detroit’s most infamous drug dealers in with the sad story of the city’s economic decline due to poor decision making by not only the politicians, but the people themselves.
What happens when the Ceo’s and Politicians fail in their plans? It’s called DETROIT.