Markets in Everything: Police Lineup Casting

For $10, A Bronx "Casting Director for Police Lineups" Will Find the Guys Who Didn’t Do It

New York Times -- "He is one of New York’s busiest casting directors, yet very few know of his work. For some 15 years, Robert Weston has been providing the New York Police Department with “fillers” — the five decoys who accompany the suspect in police lineups."

"Detectives often find fillers on their own, combing homeless shelters and street corners for willing participants. In a pinch, police officers can shed their uniforms and fill in. But in the Bronx, detectives often pay Mr. Weston $10 to find fillers for them." 

"Mr. Weston says he is always on call; his Bluetooth earpiece comes off in public only when he goes to the barber for his weekly $16 trim. His cellphone, he says, holds the numbers of some 100 potential lineup fillers, mostly friends and acquaintances from the Mill Brook Houses, the public housing project in the South Bronx where he has lived most of his life."

"Fillers are paid $10 for a local lineup in the Bronx. For each lineup that Mr. Weston fills in the Bronx, he receives $10; he gets more if he sits in as a filler or if his services are required in another borough. This is Mr. Weston’s primary source of income. Some days he organizes as many as four lineups; on other days, none at all."

HT: Dan Greller