Jo Gun is a true crime documentary series that will evoke the grit, the concrete and the gun metal gray of life on the streets in the toughest cities on the East Coast.
You’re inside Jo Sue’s 1976 Camaro on the dark streets of Asbury Park. She’s playing pool inside a smoky union bar in Atlantic City and surrounded by outlaw bikers in Jersey. Agents are running down a hallway in a tenement on Sugar Hill. They’re kicking in doors at a dilapidated row house in North Philly.
It's Jo Sue’s point of view.
Scenes flash by. It's jagged. Handheld. Chaotic. Traumatic. The audience must feel the up-close drama, feel the tension she felt living undercover, hear the footsteps pounding, the jangle of the handcuffs– see the sweaty looks on the faces of the suspects.
Over the years – from 1977 to 1995, Jo Sue worked in grimy police offices, ate at greasy diners, worked in the night, tangled with crappy equipment, drove beat up government cars. There were no cell phones, no desktop computers. It was a washed out, raggedy world. Ugly, but full of cinematic vistas.
Picture the Naples depicted in the series Gomorrah, transposed to the sprawling urban wastelands of the East Coast. See vintage Wire episodes. Think of the period lenses used in a series like Winning Time. Take a look at films like Clockers and Kids and Hustle & Flow.
The storytelling is taut.
Scenes are tightly-plotted. Pacing is critical. Action scenes are character-driven. It’s immersive. You’re part of an unfolding investigation. You experience the high of a bust and your stomach tightens when Jo Sue’s boss is calling her out. We unspool her story with care. But the moment when she holds that gun to her head will be as real as it can get.
And it's important to give viewers context – after all this was 40 years ago. Many viewers will not be aware of the pervasive corruption and violence that took place from 1970 through the 1990’s. They may not know about the power of mafia and union bosses. To make that real, we have collected a great deal of archival images -- many from Jo Sue’s personal archive.
As for the music – it’s simply the best of urban blues to rock, R&B, rap and hip hop.
