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this: He’d become a troublemaker, and the quickest way for those troubles to end was “by me not being on this earth or being killed.” That was the way Mike Cox’s year ended—believing his life was at risk. It wasn’t the unfounded fear of an outsider. Mike was one of them. He’d been a cop for six years and knew the score. He understood completely that his lawsuit meant that he was locked in combat against the police culture, and, by taking it on, he had become the enemy.

Photographic Insert

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

Mike Cox’s boyhood home in Roxbury at 60 Winthrop Street.

Mike Cox in his 1984 high school yearbook. His classmates voted him “class flirt.”

Kenny Conley in elementary school in South Boston.

Smut Brown’s mother, Mattie, and father, Robert Brown Jr.

Smut Brown in elementary school in Roxbury.

Kenny Conley celebrates his graduation from the police academy on June 19, 1991. With him are his mother, Maureen, and his father, Ken.

Besides starring on the varsity football and basketball teams, Mike Cox (second from left) was a resident adviser in his dormitory. Pictured with Mike is one of his best friends from high school, Vincent Johnson (third from right).

Smut Brown and a friend in the mid-1990s.

The night of the beating began with a police stakeout of Hip-Hop Night at the Cortee’s, a night spot popular with the street gangs.

The shooting of Lyle Jackson at Walaikum’s at 2:00 a.m. triggered the police chase that ended in the beating of Mike Cox.

The damaged Lexus used by the shooting suspects to flee police at the dead end of Woodruff Way in Mattapan. The police vehicle next to it was occupied by officers Dave Williams and Jimmy Burgio.

District Attorney Ralph Martin, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (left), and Police Commissioner Paul Evans (right) at a press conference.

Bobby Dwan was Kenny Conley’s partner the night of the Cox beating.

Kenny Conley, suspended from the police force, appeals his 1998 federal conviction of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Dave Williams. He was Burgio’s partner the night of the Cox beating.

Jimmy Burgio.

Mike Cox in the days before his civil rights trial.

Kenny Conley back on the force.

Smut Brown today in a Maine prison.

PART III

Justice Denied, Then the Trial

CHAPTER 14

The White Guy at the Fence

By the time he appeared before Bob Peabody’s grand jury in December, Dave Williams was likely feeling more emboldened than ever. He’d come up with explanations for the incriminating utterances he’d made the night of the beating, had stuck to them during repeated questioning, and had not faced any heat. In fact, the worst that had happened was being named in Mike Cox’s civil rights lawsuit, and Williams let Mike know what he thought about that.

He called Mike after receiving notice of the lawsuit. “I got something in the mail.”

“Yeah, I assumed you would,” Mike said.

Mike was at his desk in the Internal Affairs office. Williams said he wanted to see him right away. “Well, I’m here,” Mike said.

Without hesitation, Williams marched into Internal Affairs. He asked what Mike was up to suing him and the department. He reiterated his talking points from their chance encounter in Franklin Park: You know I know you, he said.

Yeah, Mike said, he knew all that.

“I hope you don’t think I hit you,” Williams said.

“Just do the right thing,” Mike said.

Williams grew agitated. Right thing? Right thing? “Fuck everybody,” he said.

“You should fuck everybody,” Mike said. He told Williams he did not owe anyone anything. “So why cover for them?”

They talked in circles and then Williams left. It took Mike a few minutes to fathom the strangeness of the moment: a prime suspect in the beating challenging the beating victim in the offices of Internal Affairs. And it turned out Mike’s boss, Deputy Superintendent Ann Marie Doherty, had even spotted Williams. But she did not intervene and merely told Mike later that William’s presence was not appropriate.

Williams had dug in and was now on a roll.