this is "nightline." tonight, the female prosecutor taking a stand in st. louis, missouri, suing the city and its police union. charging that a racist system is preventing her from doing her job. while supporters say she's taking on a broken system, critics say she cares more about criminals than cops. >> people have called you the n-word. people talk about taking you out. >> they leave their address on the mail to make sure i know who they are. plus, endless summers. ♪om on our door >> three's company and there's always a crowd for this bombshell, turning her tv stardom into life-long celebrity. and at 73, baring it all on

social media, sharing her secrets on how to feel good and look good at any age. >> maybe i feel sexier because i know who i am. but first, the "nightline" five. number one in just sixty

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saint louis, missouri, she wanted to reform the city's justice system. but in a stunning turn of events, the headline maker has become the headline. what the history-making attorney is now claiming, accusations her critics are fiercely denying here is abc's steve osunsami. >> reporter: essentially, you are accusing the city government, city police, and in particular the police union of a conspiracy of racism, directed to stop you dead in your tracks. >> i had no choice but to act for the will of the people because they want me to fight for what's right. >> reporter: kim gardner, the first black prosecutor ever elected in st. louis, just dropped a bombshell. an explosive lawsuit accusing the city and the police union of a racist conspiracy aimed at stopping her from doing her job. >> this is not about kim gardner. this is about implementing the reforms that's needed in our community. >> reporter: she's brought

reforms to her office that have made her enemies all across the state. but in this room, they're calling her a hero.city and stat her. gardner and her sister prosecutors are part of a new wave who've pledged to make the justice system more fair to people of color. >> every prosecutor here has had similar experiences to kim >> reporter: her complaint says that local authorities have broken a federal law that dates back to the late 1800's and was meant to fight the ku klux klan. the lawsuit paints a pattern of racist conduct by some of the officers on the st louis police force. >> we have to make sure that the powerful few are not able to manipulate the system. >> reporter: in 2016, she won in a landslide. from the start, she says her progressive approach to criminal justice put her immediately at odds with some on the police force and in the community. >> i was stopped for having my lights off on christmas eve while i was delivering christmas cards to the post office right

down the street from my office. i was stopped and held for over 15 min. just because someone could. >> and you knew what it was about. >> we all know what it's about. i don't have to say what it's abt.ple haveenhein the mail. the naked racism is too much to read here. and some even threaten her life. for example, "time to go away forever. if you don't leave something will be done about you. even if its me." >> they leave their addresses on the mail to make sure that i know who they are. >> reporter: gardner's lawsuit names her employer, the city of icofficers association saying that the defendants worked against her to "thwart and impede her efforts to establish equal treatment under law for all st. louis citizens at every turn. to remove her from the position to which she was duly elected and perhaps to show her successor what happens to circuit attorneys who dare to stand up for the equal rights of racial minorities in st. louis." the police officers association of saint louis is not taking any

of this lightly. >> make no mistake, this is the last act of a desperate woman who is simply trying to silence her critics. we will not be silenced. >> reporter: the cries for criminal justice reform in this country are now loud and have grown more impatient since the 2014 police shooting death of michael brown in ferguson. the case, just 10 miles from stn deba ovethpocing of >> wre gunz started ferguson, that has the conversation of the reform efforts that you hear and see around this country. >> reporter: after ferguson, gardener says that inequities of the legal and justice are just no longer acceptable. >> what are some of the disparities, that unfairness you're talking about that you came to office specifically to tackle? >> one in three african-amrican men are more likely to go into the criminal justice system.

91% of african americans are stopped more than any other group. more than 80% of cases and arrests are on af-am men and women; people of color. so why is it that we are represented more than any other group in the criminal justice system? >> reporter: as soon as she took office, she dismissed some 30 thousand cases that she said were unprosecutable, which didn't go over well with police. and the relationship wasn't helped with her handling of several officer misconduct cases. in september of 2017 when a white police officer was acquitted in the shooting death of anthony lamar smith. >> that officer is free. anthony lamar smith is dead. h . >> reporter: st. louis erupted into protests, and gardner tookg r an independent investigation into police misconduct. >> we believe that the police department cannot investigate th

it is changing the minds of individuals who have held on to the status quo. >> reporter: during the unrest that followed smith's death, four st. louis police officers allegedly attacked and beat a black police officer who was working undercover in the middle of the protesters, the officers seen here in this "usa today" video, were indicted on criminal charges. one of the officers has since pled guilty. her lawsuit also points to the findings of the plainview project, a report by the non-profit injustice watch which investigated public facebook posts from police officers across the country. several of the posts by st. louis officers suggested they looked forward to harming protesters. one read "black lives splatter," another depicted a soldier dragging a civilian with the caption "how to handle protesters." and many posts were racist in nature. one, written by an officer who was later fired over his social media use referred to muslims as "turd goat humpers." while another suggested that march is "stop blaming white

people month." several of thers involved were reprimanded or fired. >> two officers were fired two were suspended for 16 days or more and four received written reprimands it's not like this went uninvestigated, it's not like it was ignored. >> reporter: gardner didn't stop there. she put many of the officers on an exclusion list, barring them from bringing cases to her office. >> we decided that that affected their credibility that affected our job. >> reporter: of all her moves, one of her most controversial was her decision to investigate former missouri governor eric greitens. >> missouri's governor, and a bombshell report alleging he had an extramarital affair and that he threatened the woman into silence. >> reporter: greitens resigned, and the charges against him were dismissed. but an investigator she hired for the case is now charged with perjury and evidence tampering and that's led to the appointment of a special prosecutor who's now investigating her office. >> it's all just a grand distraction is to distract from

the trouble she's in and the trouble is coming. >> reporter: jeffrey roorda, named in gardner's suit, underlined today how a judge dismissed a case that gardner brought against two police officers, citing several hundred instances of prosecutorial misconduct. roorda also shares that she has to give a deposition tomorrow in that special prosecutor's investigation. >> gardner doesn't want to answer for her conduct. that's what this lawsuit is about. >> you can believe that there are real problems with saint louis police on race related issues at the same time that you can believe this is a lawsuit that should be dismissed immediately. >> what do you say to the prosecutors who came down to support to them today? what do you say to those prosecutors who are all black women? >> i say go home. your -- your own cities are a disaster because you're conducting yourselves the way kim gardner is. go home. we don't need kim gardner, we

don't need you, >> reporter: gardner's supporters strongly disagree. including boston district attorney rachael rollins who joined her today. >> do you relate to what she's going through at all? >> absolutely. nobody questioned the discretion of years we were speeding towards mass incarceration. now that people that are actually from the communities that are over-policed and over-prosecuted are taking these leadership roles and are elected to do so, miraculously people have problems with our prosecutorial discretion. >> reporter: this is a fight they say is worth having. >> and we have good people on the police department but they're stopped by a divisive racial undertone, undercurrent that has taken place in our city, in our police department, the people are tired, want change and are not backing down. >> reporter: our thanks to steve for that report. up next, "a new way to age" with suzanne somers, because the best is yet to come.

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as long as i can still wear my high heels and my short skirts. ♪ come and knock on our door >> reporter: it's been over 40 years since she burst onto the scene as the blond bombshell from "three's company." >> that. >> reporter: somers turned that star-making role as chrissy snow decades go into a woman empire, becoming an infomercial queen, vegas headliner, and self-proclaimed expert on alternative medicine. she has written dozens of books on healthy living and aging. her latest, "a new way to age," is about getting older and feeling better than ever. >> when i first started writing these books, i could only find 30 doctors in the entire country who were open to and versed in. now, there are millions. >> do you feel -- do you feel that other people, or anybody, can achieve a high quality life as they get older? >> and i think we get a better version of us.

no longer do we have to be the old grandma that they shove us in the corner. >> reporter: somers, known for her short skirts and high heels, posted this topless picture on instagram to mark her birthday. i want women to know it's not over. and when you think it's over, i just want them to know there are more chapters. >> i always say, it's the little homey touches that make a home homier. >> reporter: somers was virtually unknown when she landed her character on "three's company." >> and i was always really proud of that character because she had a moral code. she wouldn't take your husband or boyfriend. she'd never lie to you. >> reporter: the abc show became a smash hit. she spoke to barbara walters in 1979. >> do you think of yourself sexy? >> yes, my husband tells me all the time and i believe him. >> reporter: but somers left the show on bad terms after five seasons. she says she demanded to be paid the same as co-star john ritter and was rebuffed. >> i was the first female who asked to be paid parity with men and i got shot down.

so who woulda thought that chrissy snow would. shes been -- be the feminist. >> reporter: somers was written off the show. >> i felt sorry for myself maybe for the first time in my life for a year. and then one day i heard a voice. i hear voices. and it said, "why are you focused on what you don't have? why don't you focus on what you do have?" and then my voice in my head said, "you have enormous visibility. everybody in this country knows your name." and i thought, "god, we can do something with that." >> reporter: so somers took her talents to las vegas. and proudly used her famous face and signature sexy looks to become a savvy marketer. >> i used to do aerobics till i dropped and then i found thigh master. >> reporter: most famously for the thigh master. the woman who once played a dumb blonde became informercial royalty. >> it became a phenomena. and we ended up selling over 10 million thigh masters

>> do you think that being cast a ditzy blonde helped or hurt your career? >> ha -- helped. >> helped. >> she was lovable. everybody could understand her. men loved her. women loved her. >> reporter: somers has used that playful persona to make millions. >> i like having a youthful hairdo. i -- i was -- you know. i was born with this hairdo. >> reporter: she insists her vitality, at her age, comes from a non-traditional approach to health and wellness. >> i was looking at one point at the present paradigm of aging. decrepit, frail. cancer, alzheimer's, heart disease. and i thought, "there's -- there's gotta be a better way." >> reporter: as she approached menopause, somers noticed she wasn't feeling like herself. >> when i reached that age as a woman, when i couldn't sleep, i -- i -- i itched. i didn't feel like having sex. i was, you know, in my middle 40s, and i was feeling terrible. >> reporter: so she turned to bioidentical hormone replacement creams, which have not been shown to be safer or more effective than more traditional

synthetic hormones. both of which have positive benefits and risks. >> my hair got shiny again. my nails got stronger. my skin felt like it was less wrinkled. and that's when i started really getting passionate about looking at other options. >> reporter: she says they keep her balanced and boost her sex drive with husband of more than 40 years alan hamel. he is also her manager. >> let tk about sex. i don't know how else politely to say two times a day, is that for real? >> often. you know, you wake up in the morning -- >> it's not always -- it's not always two times a day. >> a lotta my friends say, "eh, i'm over that." and i'm thinking, and yeah, if you're in love, and -- and it's su >> reporter: some of what somers advocates in her books is not backed up by the mainstream medical community. most controversially, somers decided to forgo chemotherapy after she was diagnosed with only for a lumpectomy, radiation, and a drug made from a mistletoe extract. >> didn't the safe choice seem

like chemotherapy at the time if you? >> yes. and it should've probably but it didn't to me. it never felt safe. it still doesn't feel safe. >> reporter: chemotherapy can be a life-saving treatment for millions of people with cancer. > chemotherapy works by killing the cancer, but it also does damage to the entire organism. that's a fact in the world of oncology. but those have to be balanced against each other. >> reporter: while somers says she is now cancer free, experts warn that the course of treatment for every patient is different. >> there are various different types of breast cancer and they all behave differently. and they can behave somewhat differently in each individual person. peri bieves she kns whathe is talking when it comes to women's bodies. >> you have so many loyal fans and followers. they say, "if it worked for you, it's gotta work for me." do you fear that sometimes they don't do their own research? >> i do a lot for them. >> but everybody is different. >> yeah.

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america's getting sicker. sick of donald trump, there are one million more uninsured americans every year under trump. and he's repeatedly tried to repeal obamacare. mike bloomberg will make sure everyone without health coverage can get it, and everyone who likes theirs, keep it. while capping fees to lower costs. as mayor, he helped expand coverage to seven hundred thousand more people. and championed women's reproductive health. as president, he'll give access to everyone. i'm mike bloomberg and i approve this message.

>> reporter: finally, the boss's son has a new boss. bruce springsteen celebrating his son, sam, sworn in today as a newly-minted jersey city firefighter. >> we're very proud. we're very proud. >> reporter: mom, patti, excited

to honor her hero. >> i don't have too much to say. >> well, you're happy. >> thank you. >> reporter: a glory day for the whole family. bravo. that's nightline. you can always catch our full episodes on hulu. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.