A Look Back At The Real 'French Connection' Detectives

I watched The French Connection again last night. I love the classic crime film, which I've now seen a dozen or so times. The realistic, gritty, thrilling and suspenseful film still holds up.

The film is based on Robin Moore's true crime book. I read and enjoyed Robin Moore's The French Connection while I was a 19-year-old sailor serving on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in 1970.   

I saw the film in San Diego in 1971 when the Kitty Hawk returned home after serving on 'Yankee Station' off the coast of North Vietnam. As an aspiring writer who yearned to cover the cops and crime when I go out of the Navy, the great film was truly inspirational as well as thrilling.

I was pleased and thankful that I was able to interview one of the real New York City detectives who was involved in the case and later served as a technical advisor for the film. Randy Jurgensen, a legendary NYPD detective, also acted in the film alongside the two primary detectives in the case, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso. 

(The real detectives appear in the above photo to the left of actor Gene Hackman. Left to right are Randy Jurgenson, Sonny Grosso and Eddie Egan. Randy Jurgensen also appears in the below photo on the left).

After the death of Sonny Grosso in 2020, I interviewed Randy Jurgensen for my On Crime column in the Washington Times.

You can read the column via the below link or the below text:

Legendary detectives Sonny Grosso and Randy Jurgensen went from Harlem to Hollywood - Washington Times

Legendary Detectives Sonny Grosso and Randy Jurgensen Went From Harlem to Hollywood

Legendary NYPD detective and film and TV producer Salvatore “Sonny” Grosso (seen in the above photo) died last month. He was 89. He had come to fame as the detective who broke “The French Connection” case along with his partner, Eddie Egan, who died in 1995. 

In the early 1960s, the detectives uncovered a plot by American organized crime and Corsican criminals from Marseille, France, to import 112 pounds of nearly pure heroin into New York City. The heroin was worth more than $90 million on the street. 

Robin Moore, who wrote “The Green Berets,” interviewed the detectives and wrote “The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics and International Conspiracy” in 1969. The book led to the Academy Award-winning film, “The French Connection” in 1971. 

Grosso and Egan worked as technical advisers on the film, and they appeared on the screen in supporting roles. NYPD detective Randy Jurgensen, who was on the periphery of the famous case, also worked as a technical adviser and supporting actor on the film. Detective Jurgensen became Grosso’s partner after Egan retired.   

I contacted Randy Jurgensen and asked him about his former partner.    

“My childhood friend and partner Sonny Grosso passed over last month,” Mr. Jurgensen said. “He was the best man at my wedding, and he was the godfather to one of my children.” 

He said that he and Grosso grew up in West Harlem and although Grosso was five years older, they both served in the Korean War together. There were few jobs available after the war, so the two became police officers. 

“Sonny became a cop about 18 months before I did and when I graduated from the police academy, I was assigned to East Harlem. On the day I showed up at the 2-5 precinct, Sonny Grosso was there waiting for me,” Mr. Jurgensen said. “I spent about 18 months in uniform and then I worked undercover in narcotics. 

“I worked the streets buying narcotics and Sonny and Eddie worked on narcotics distributors. I worked on the outside of the French Connection case." 

After “The French Connection” film, Detectives Grosso and Jurgensen became technical advisers on “The Godfather.” Grosso portrayed the detective who advised Capt. McCloskey (Sterling Hayden) that Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) was a war hero and not a mobster. The director also used Grosso’s service revolver in the scene where Michael Corleone murdered a rival mobster and McCloskey, dropping the .38 revolver on the floor as he walked out. Mr. Jurgensen portrayed one of the gunmen who brutally murdered Sonny Corleone (James Caan). 

The two also appeared together in “The Seven-Ups,” which was based on Grosso’s career, and they appeared with Al Pacino in “Cruising,” a film based on one of Mr. Jurgensen’s cases. They also worked together on other films and TV programs.  

The two former detectives also wrote books. Grosso wrote a crime novel called “Point Blank,” and a true-crime book called “Murder at the Harlem Mosque.” Mr. Jurgensen, along with Robert Cea, wrote “Circle of Six: The True Story of New York’s Most Notorious Cop Killer and The Cop Who Risked Everything to Catch Him.” Mr. Jurgensen was the lead investigator in the controversial murder of NYPD Officer Phil Cardillo. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, a sergeant during the time of the murder, reopened the case after reading the book. 

Mr. Jurgensen recalled a defining moment when he and Sonny Grosso were assigned to Harlem Homicide at a time when NYPD officers were being assassinated by the Black Liberation Army.

 “I saw one man walking towards us and another one got up from the stoop. I knew we were set up. Before we could get the guns out, Sonny was wrestling on the stoop, and I took on the other one,” Mr. Jurgensen said. “I was banging away on him and we wound up in the hallway. Sonny had this guy in a hold and was punching away, and here came a young woman with a gun.”

As he turned toward the woman, the man pulled a gun and Mr. Jurgensen was forced to shoot him. Then Grosso went over the bannister and landed on the stairwell with the man on top of him. Mr. Jurgensen hit the man on top of Grosso. 

The suspect on top of Grosso was Twyman Meyers, a cop killer who was number one on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. Grosso’s injured his leg in the fall, and a few years later he left the force and entered the entertainment field, as did Randy Jurgensen.     

“I’m the last French Connection cop,” Mr. Jurgensen said sadly. 

• Paul Davis’ On Crime column covers true crime, crime fiction, mysteries and thrillers.

Classic Crime Thriller 'The French Connection' Turns 50

The classic crime film The French Connection is celebrating its 50 anniversary this year. 

I was a 19-year-old sailor serving on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk off the coast of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War in 1971 when I first read Robin Moore’s true crime book, The French Connection. 

As a South Philly street kid and aspiring writer who longed to cover crime as a reporter and write crime fiction after I left the Navy, the book truly inspired me. 

Robin Moore’s The French Connection detailed the thrilling true story of two New York City narcotics detectives who led an investigation that uncovered the largest drug bust at the time. 

I reread the book just prior to watching the film adaptation in a San Diego movie theater. The film, like the Moore book it was based on, was truly inspirational. I imagined myself shadowing detectives like those in the film on the mean streets of Philly as a reporter. I loved the gritty, realistic crime film, and over the years, I’ve watched The French Connection time and time again. 

Thankfully, I did go on to write crime short stories and I've become a crime reporter and newspaper columnist. Covering crime, I’ve gone out on drug busts and ride-alongs in Philadelphia with narcotics officers, detectives, and patrol officers. 

And I’ve also interviewed legendary NYPD detective Randy Jurgensen, who today is the last surviving “French Connection” cop. Like the two lead detectives who uncovered the case, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, Jurgensen acted in The French Connection film and served as a consultant and advisor to the director, William Friedkin. 

You can read my Washington Times On Crime column about the French Connection detectives Randy Jurgensen and Sonny Gosso via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: The Real French Connection Cops: My Washington Times 'On Crime' Column On Legendary Detectives Sonny Grosso And Randy Jurgensen   

Note The above photo shows actor Gene Hackman in the center as Popeye Doyle. To his right over his shoulder are the real cops, Eddie Egan, Sonny Grosso and Randy Jurgensen. 

You can also watch two classic scenes from The French Connection via the below links:

The French Connection(1971) - Cleaning Up The Bar - YouTube

French Connection full car chase scene - YouTube

Critic's Pick: A Look Back At The Classic Crime Film "The French Connection"

A. O. Scott, The New York Times film critic, looks back at William Friedkin's 1971 crime film The French Connection, starring Gene Hackman (seen in the above photo).

You can watch Scott discuss the classic crime film and see selected scenes from the film via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dzYV_hXdU4

The French Connection was based on Robin Moore's nonfiction book, The French Connection: The World's Most Crucial Narcotics Investigation:

The book was a true account of the largest seizure of drugs at the time, which was the early 1960s. Two tough and dedicated New York City Detectives, Edward Egan and Salvatore Grosso, initially stumbled upon, investigated and then busted a criminal ring that brought into the country 112 pounds of almost pure heroin. The heroin had a 1960s street value of almost $32,500,000. The criminal ring was headed by Jean Jehan, the director of the world’s largest heroin network at the time, and members and associates of American organized crime.

"The account that follows is a case history of what must qualify as one of the finest police investigations in the annals of United States law enforcement," Robin Moore wrote in his introduction to The French Connection in 1969. "Almost certainly it represents the most crucial single victory to date in the ceaseless, frustrating war against the import of vicious narcotics into our country. Indeed, this investigation, and the information gleaned from it, eventually has led to the progressive breakdown of Mafia investment and proprietorship in the U.S. narcotics market."

Robin Moore and his associate Ed Keys interviewed the principal New York City detectives, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso and the other New York and federal law enforcement officers involved in the major drug case and listened to wiretap recordings. They also went out with Egan, Grosso and other narcotics detectives several nights a week for several months to get a feel for the streets and to understand what it was like for detectives to pursue criminals on the mean streets of New York. The result was a first class true-crime thriller.

The 1971 film based on Moore’s book won five Academy Awards; including Best Picture of the Year, Best Actor for Gene Hackman, Best Director for William Friedkin, Best Screenplay Adaptation for Ernest Tidyman, and Best Editor for Jerry Greenberg.

The film’s gritty and dark documentary-style gave the film a sense of authenticity that matched the book. The film’s soundtrack by Don Ellis was also perfect for setting the film’s suspense, excitement and tension. The film even made surveillance look exciting; especially when the detectives initially follow a suspect driving across the city after a nightclub closes, and when Hackman follows "Frog One" on the subway.

I love the scene when Hackman is standing outside in the cold watching "Frog One" eat in a fine, and warm, restaurant. Scheider brings Hackman a slice of pizza, and holding two cups of coffee, sarcastically asked Hackman "you want the white or the red?"

I also love the scene where the two detectives barge into a bar and Hackman announces that "Popeye’s here!" I later learned that all of the black hoodlums in the bar scene were in fact New York cops.

Gene Hackman, as Detective "Popeye" Doyle, a character based on Eddie Egan, and Roy Scheider, as Detective "Buddy" Russo, a character based on Sonny Grosso, gave us a true, brutal portrayal of street cops.

My only complaint - which Hackman shared, I’ve read - is that Doyle was portrayed a bit over the top, and he was certifiable at the end of the film. Egan, by all accounts, was an aggressive, blunt cop, but he never killed a federal agent and I don’t think he was quite that racist, vulgar or slovenly.

Egan himself is in the film, playing Doyle and Russo’s boss. I suppose he got a kick out of chewing himself out when he lashes into Hackman’s character. Grosso also has a small part in the film and both Egan and Grosso were hired as technical advisors.

If you are a fan of crime films and have not seen The French Connection, I highly recommend that you get hold of a copy and watch it. I also receommend Robin Moore's true crime book The French Connection.