AllMovie

Frontline: LAPD Blues unfolds like a murder mystery, uncovering massive corruption at the Los Angeles Police Department. When undercover detective Frank Lyga killed African-American Kevin Gaines in a road rage incident, the situation was ripe for controversy. Unknown to Lyga, Gaines also worked for the LAPD. It was soon discovered, however, that Gaines had provoked other drivers and that he was involved with Death Row Records. Many within the LAPD associated Death Row with criminal activity, and another incident would eventually reveal that 30-40 LAPD officers were on the record company's payroll. When David Mack, another police officer, was incriminated in a bank robbery, it was discovered that he also had ties to Gaines and Death Row. More mysterious still was the black '96 Chevy Impala SS found in Mack's garage, the same make identified in the drive-by shooting of rapper Biggie Smalls in 1998. While many loose ends remain at the end of Frontline: LAPD Blues, the program offers a devastating portrait of a police department embroiled in controversy.