HBO is set to begin production, written and produced by the same David Simon-led team that created “The Wire,” on a new series based on the notorious Gun Trace Task Force, a corrupt Baltimore City unit that undertook a years-long crime spree in the city.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the series will star Baltimore native and “The Good Wife” actor Josh Charles; “The Wire” and “Bosch” actor Jamie Hector; and “The Walking Dead” alum Jon Bernthal.  David Simon and his long-time collaborator George Pelecanos will serve as writers and executive producers.  Nina K. Noble, Kary Antholis and Ed Burns are also executive producers.

The Gun Trace Task Force was a special unit of the Baltimore Police formed in 2007 to get unlicensed guns and guns used in crimes off the street, but the group soon became a renegade crime syndicate that operated on the streets of Baltimore with near impunity thanks to the badges they carried.

SPOILER ALERT

By 2017, when all eight members of the GTTF were arrested, the unit was running drugs throughout the city, managing a protection racket for other criminal groups, and terrorizing citizens primarily in Black neighborhoods through shake-downs.

The GTTF is linked directly to at least one death and was suspected in having a hand in others.  The uncontrolled activities of the GTTF led to increasing distrust of the police in the city of Baltimore and ultimately to the city being put under a federal consent decree after the investigation into the death of the Freddie Gray in police custody.

All eight members of the GTTF are in prison.  Six pleaded guilty to various charges, while two others were convicted in federal court.  Three other police officers who were not officially part of the unit were also convicted of assisting in their criminal activities.  After the GTTF members were arrested, scores of other Baltimore Police Department officers resigned or retired, rumored to be fearful of the ongoing investigation.

Mystery still surrounds some of the activities of the Gun Trace Task Force, including its possible role in the death of a detective who was scheduled to testify in a police corruption investigation the day after his death.  In November 2017, Detective Sean Suiter was found dead in a vacant lot of a gunshot wound to the head, reportedly while he was investigating a homicide.  Police stated he commited suicide, believing his own corruption would be exposed by an FBI investigation.