Incoming NYC Mayor Eric Adams Vows To Properly Honor Hero Whistleblower Cop Frank Serpico

The Daily Mail reports that the incoming New York City mayor will honor former NYPD detective Frank Serpico. 

Incoming New York City Mayor Eric Adams has pledged to ensure that whistleblower cop Frank Serpico gets the proper ceremony and medal the NYPD denied him 50 years ago.

 

Adams, who will take office in January, promised the whistleblower cop via Twitter that he would get a Police Department Medal of Honor certificate.

 

'@SerpicoDet’s bravery inspired my law enforcement career. Frank — we’re going to make sure you get your medal,' Adams wrote on Saturday.  

 Adams, a former cop himself, was responding to a prior Tweet from Serpico, 85, referencing a news article that he said failed to mention Serpico's 50-year wait for a properly inscribed medal and a Medal of Honor Certificate from the NYPD. 

Serpico exposed the rampant corruption within the New York Police Department to the press and testified before the Knapp Commission in 1970.

In 1971, he was shot below the eye during a drug raid in Williamsburg, and he maintained fellow officers soured with Serpico's commitment to exposing bribery within the department failed to make an 'officer down' call. 

Serpico received a medal for his heroism over a countertop, but the NYPD bitterly refused to give him the certificate and the ceremony that usually come with it. But Adams has vowed to make up for the snub and finally honor Serpico. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

Eric Adams vows to properly honor hero cop Frank Serpico | Daily Mail Online

In my Washington Times On Crime column on Frank Serpico, I noted that although I don’t agree with him on some broader issues, I believe that he had and has the courage of his convictions.

You can read my column on Serpico via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: Serpico: My Washington Times 'On Crime' Column: A Look Back At Former NYPD Detective Frank Serpico

A Cinematic Portrayal Of Cop Humor, Pride, Struggles And Vulnerabilites: My Washington Times 'On Crime' Column On Sidney Lumet's Great Cop Films

The Washington Times published my On Crime column that covers Sidney Lumet’s four great cop films.

I’ve enjoyed many of director Sidney Lumet’s films over the years, so I looked forward to reading Maura Spiegel’s “Sidney Lumet: A Life” (St. Martin’s).

The biography covers the late director’s early life in New York City’s Lower East Side as the son of Polish immigrants, his life as a child star in the Yiddish theater and his later youthful performances on Broadway. The book also covers Lumet’s time as an innovative television director during TV’s early years. Ms. Spiegel utilized Lumet’s unfinished memoir and performed interviews with his family members, friends and show business professionals to capture the life of an interesting man and filmmaker.

Lumet directed some truly fine films in his lengthy career, from “12 Angry Men” to “Network,” but as a crime aficionado, I was particularly interested in Lumet’s four great cop films: “Serpico,” “Prince of the City,” “Q&A,” and “Night Falls in Manhattan.”

The cop film quartet covered corrupt cops in New York City, and although I felt the films gave the unfair impression that all New York cops were corrupt, I enjoyed the gritty and otherwise realistic films, two of which — “Serpico” and “Prince of the City” — were based on true stories.

Certainly, there were and are corrupt cops, just as there are corrupt lawyers, accountants, doctors and politicians, but the films’ dramatic focus was on the bad apples. Having covered the cops for many years and spent time on the street with patrol officers, detectives and narcotic officers, and having interviewed the two former cops who were the subjects of “Serpico” and “Prince of the City,” I felt that Lumet captured the cops’ dark sense of humor, their pride and struggles, as well as their vulnerabilities.

You can read the rest of the column below or via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/mar/11/a-look-back-at-sidney-lumets-great-cop-films/

You can also read my Q&A with former NYPD detective Robert Leuci and my column on Frank Serpico via the below links:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/05/once-prince-of-city-interview-with.html

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2020/01/serpico-my-washington-times-on-crime.html

Serpico: My Washington Times 'On Crime' Column: A Look Back At Former NYPD Detective Frank Serpico

The Washington Times ran my On Crime column on Frank Serpico.

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

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jan/6/a-look-back-at-former-nypd-detective-frank-serpico/

Monday, January 6, 2020 - For many, the patron saint of whistleblowers is Frank Serpico, the former NYPD detective who reported police corruption in the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

Frank Serpico was profiled in a documentary film in 2017 and he was made world-famous as the subject of Sidney Lumet’s film, “Serpico,” which starred Al Pacino as the whistleblowing cop. The film was based on Peter Maas’ 1973 true crime book, “Serpico.”

 

“Serpico — this apparent hippie, womanizer, hedonist — had dared to do the unheard-of, the unpardonable, in police circles,” Maas wrote in his book. “Having solemnly sworn to uphold the law, he elected to do just that, to enforce it against everybody — and not, in the grand tradition of even the personally honest policeman, against everybody except other cops. He would not go along with the graft, the bribes, the shakedowns, and he refused to look the other way.

 

“With that decision, Serpico became unique. He was the first officer in the history of the Police Department who not only reported corruption in its ranks, but voluntarily, on his own, stepped forward to testify about it in court.”

 

Because of his reports and testimony, the New York mayor set up the Knapp Commission, which investigated police corruption. Frank Serpico was then ostracized by many of his fellow officers and his life was threatened. He was later shot in the face by a drug dealer during a raid and he retired from the NYPD due to his injuries.

 

I asked Frank Serpico how accurate the book and film were.

 

“The book was very accurate, but it left out a few things for whatever reason and the film was accurate according to the corruption,” Frank Serpico told me. “But there were a couple of scenes where the director and actor took license.

 

“I was told that Al Pacino was more me than I was, but he over-acted, like the scene where he was up against the wall showing his shield and saying, I’m a cop, I’m a cop. Certain scenes I found embarrassing.”

 

Did he believe that he had been set up by other cops when he was shot in the face?

 

“No, I never intimated that, but that is a good question. Where was my 10-13? (Call for Officer Needs Assistance). I was left there bleeding to death and they never called a 10-13. When I got out of the hospital I went to Internal Affairs and demanded to see the report. The call was a signal 10-10, (Investigate Shots Fired), which came from a civilian.

 

“I had the perp covered and I had my snub-nosed pointed in his stomach and my hand and shoulder jammed in the door. I turned to the cops I was with and asked them what the hell they were waiting for? I turned back and I was hit. I returned fire, hitting the perpetrator.”

 

He said he was left bleeding to death on the tenement floor until patrol officers drive him to the hospital.

 

Frank Serpico continues to speak out against police corruption. He said many cops come up to him and say that the film inspired them to become police officers. He is gratified that his story inspires good officers and that is his legacy. The culture that permeates corruption hasn’t changed, he said, but there are good cops out there who have taken up the torch.

 

“I don’t believe in the term ‘crooked cop,’ there is no such thing,” he said. “You are either a cop or you’re a crook. They are crooks in police uniforms. Some of these guys are cowards and hide behind the police shield and they call honest cops like me oddballs. Police corruption does not occur in a vacuum. It needs to be fertile ground for criminal-minded seedlings to take root. The myth that the department corrupts these innocent, civic-minded individuals is bogus. You must have larceny in your heart to begin with.

 

“You don’t become a cop to become rich,” Frank Serpico said. “You become a cop to serve the public.”

 

Although I don’t agree with Frank Serpico on some broader issues, I believe that he had and has the courage of his convictions.

 

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

The Evolution Of The Police Procedural: 50 Years And 2 Golden Ages Of Cops On Screen

Bruce K. Riordon at CrimeReads.com looks back at how police procedurals have evolved and he highlights 12 movies and TV series.

All such lists are subjective, and I concur with Mr. Riordon’s pick of The French Connection, Bullitt, Serpico, The Wire and others. But I would knocked off a couple and added The Prince of the City, a truly great film that was based on a true story. I would have also added Fuzz, which was perhaps the best film adaptation of Ed McBain’s 87^th Precinct police procedural series.  

Once cannot talk about police procedurals, it seems to me, without mentioning the late, great crime writer Ed McBain. (And Fuzz started Burt Reynolds, who recently passed). 

Since 1968, when Bullitt first shot into theaters turning Steve McQueen and his Ford Mustang Fastback into global icons, the “police procedural” has been a staple of crime stories on screens big and small.  Bullitt’s smashing success, both commercially and artistically, ushered in the first “Golden Age” of the police procedural. The genre’s mainstream popularity has ebbed and flowed since those heady days, but for crime aficionados, it has never faded. Towards the end of the ‘Aughts, the procedural was disappearing from the big screen, as Hollywood became increasingly preoccupied with cartoon super-heroes. Movie studios had little interest in the gritty social realism and visceral excitement that a great cop story provides.

HBO resurrected the genre. When the first season of The Wire debuted on HBO in 2002, the minds of police procedural fans everywhere were blown. The Wire was every bit as compelling, and every bit as badass, as Bullitt. But it felt completely new. Thanks to the long-form television series, the police procedural is experiencing a second “Golden Age.”

Over the past five decades, the genre has evolved with the times. But certain core elements have remained constant. We watch police procedurals to get up close and personal with detectives at work. What we see is not always—not even often—pretty.  But we can’t stop watching.  The detectives at the heart of the best procedurals believe that the they are the last best hope for justice in a compromised world and they won’t stop until they take its full measure. No matter what the cost.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:  

https://crimereads.com/the-evolution-of-the-police-procedural/ 

A Prince Of The City Himself: New York Film Director Sidney Lumet Dies

Sidney Lumet, the New York director of scores of fine films, died today. He was 86.

Although I didn't always agree with his worldview, I love many of his films, such as his masterpiece, Network.

Lumet made mostly crime dramas. I love Serpico, Q & A, Night Falls on Manhattan, Dog Day Afternoon and many others. I believe Prince of the City is another of his masterpieces.

Prince of the City is based on the true story of a New York City undercover detective who testifies against his fellow detectives. Lumet's work with Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach and the other fine actors in the cast make this police drama a powerhouse of a film.

Prince of the City is a classic crime film, in my view.

(The photo above shows Treat Williams on the left with director Sidney Lumet).

I also loved his work with one of my favorite actors, Sean Connery. Lumet directed Connery in the crime dramas The Anderson Tapes, Family Business, and a little known but great film called The Offense.

Lumet also directed Connery in one of his finest performances in the military prison film, The Hill. 

Sidney Lumet left behind a fine body of work.

You can read Lumet's obituary in The Los Angeles Times via the below link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-sidney-lumet-20110410,0,5850102,full.story