Nobody Should Believe Me - INTRODUCING: The Burden | Bad Cops

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

Baltimore, Maryland likes to call itself Charm City. But you have to wonder: Is the nickname ironic? Consider one of the city's star cops, a sergeant so accomplished that he earned his own nickname, the Golden Boy. But Golden Boy led a double life. Said one of those who encountered him in the street. "I was robbed by the Baltimore City Police….with a gun … armed robbery." No one believed the allegation. Then a GPS tracker was discovered where it shouldn't have been; next, a wiretap went up on a cop's phone. An FBI agent couldn't believe what she was hearing. Are these guys  gangsters? And then … an insider turned witness. "Like Rambo said, burn it down. And that's what I did." Welcome to Charm City, where it was sometimes difficult to tell the protectors from the predators. A podcast from Orbit Media reported and produced by the BBC and hosted by Jessica Lussenhop. ** Listen to Bad Cops: https://podcasts.apple.com/am/podcast/the-burden/id1734312219 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

True Story Media. Welcome to Baltimore, Maryland, a city where you can't always tell the protectors from the predators. I shook my head, like, I must be looking at, like, did I mix the files up? Like, this can't possibly be right. Seems to put my car in reverse. They start ramming my car back with them. These guys did this. They had to have. I was robbed by Baltimore City police. I'm a robber.

I was the cop from 14 years and I was the best. The best in the city, the Golden Boy. Golden Boy, he was the best at a lot of things. Delivering pharmacies, I mean, there's not too many people that can do that, but he could. They're 1930-style gangsters, as far as I'm concerned. He's dangerous, you know what I mean? And I know that. None of it's true.

None of it. This is the story of Golden Boy and the childhood friend who helped take him down. As Rambo says, you drew first blood and here we go. Now we're going to burn it down. And that's what I did. Orbit Media presents The Burden, Bad Cops, a podcast by BBC that asks, how do good cops turn bad? Listen on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

And follow us on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube at Orbit Media FM. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca.