"Crack Epidemic in New York," 25 min, SAT 1

Here are some excerpts from "The Crack Epidemic in New York" which we shot in 1992 at the height of the drug's popularity. This stands out as one of my most daunting shoots. I was assigned to find dealers and gain access to crack houses. I tried to set this shoot up for weeks but my big breakthrough came when I rented a stack of videos from Kim's in the East Village where I lived. A young, street savvy video guy was intrigued that a woman in a vintage fur and high heels was watching "King of New York", "New Jack City" and every other title I could get my hands on about drug dealers. Through him, I was introduced to the two sixteen year old crack dealers you will see towards the end of the clip. In another setting, they would have been the kids setting up the entrepreneurial internet site. The fate of these two haunts me to this day.