It’s not too often that we would have a modicum of sympathy for a perp. However, after watching the documentary White Boy (2017), we did feel that the subject of the film got a raw deal. For this installment of Weekend Buff, we are going to take a look at this tale of corruption, FBI malfeasance, and drug dealing in the City of Detroit.
Rick Wershe Jr was a drug dealer. Of that there is no doubt. He came from a family of perps. His father was a gun dealer and sometimes informant for the FBI. Coming from a broken family, Rick took to working with his father and hustling on the side. He was selling drugs by the age of 14.
The FBI used Rick’s father as a confidential informant for gun cases, but quickly realized the younger Rick was a wealth of information about the street and the drug scene. Despite being only 14, they began to use him as a confidential informant. They even encouraged Rick to get deeper into the drug game to learn more about police and political corruption inside of Detroit.
With little concern for Rick’s life, the FBI put the youth into a complicated case of corruption, drugs, and murder. Rick wasn’t on a moral crusade. He went along willingly and sold drugs to furnish a lavish lifestyle for a juvenile. Eventually, and under suspicious circumstances Rick got busted with 8 kilos of cocaine at the age of 17. What happened next would make a criminal justice reform advocate’s head explode.
Rick was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The FBI sat on their hands as he went to prison.
This documentary shows the ins and outs of the case with interviews of FBI agents, drug dealers, and hitmen who were involved in the case. It sheds the light on the wild corruption of the Detroit Police Department and City Hall. What they show would make the Eric Adams Administration look like a pillar of moral fortitude. It gives a look at the reasons for Detroit’s disastrous fall from manufacturing center of the world to burnt out wasteland.
As with most documentaries, White Boy certainly takes sides in this story. There is certainly some delving into conspiracy theories. They portray Rick Wershe Jr. as a victim of a corrupt system. There is some truth to that, but Rick is no saint. He sold drugs for a living and ran a car theft ring from prison and was later convicted for that crime. But the malfeasance of the FBI in pushing Rick to get deeper into the drug world certainly didn’t help keep him out of trouble. Sentencing a kid to life seems like a stretch for even the most strident law and order advocates.
White Boy runs about an hour and twenty minutes. It was a solid enough story that it inspired a feature film based on the story. That film White Boy Rick starred Matthew McConaughey and was released in 2018. You can catch this documentary on YouTube for free or on Netflix if you have a subscription. Take a look at this complex case and realize that the line between right and wrong is not always as clear as we would like.
Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe!