Gene Hackman’s Friend And Legendary NYPD mentor, Randy Jurgensen, 91 — The Last Living ‘French Connection’ Detective

Philip Messing at the New York Post offers a piece on the last French Connection detective, Randy Jurgensen (seen in the above photo). 

The death of Hollywood icon Gene Hackman saddened millions — and a legendary ex-NYPD detective who tutored him in his most famous screen role in “The French Connection”: is feeling his loss more than most.

“We were friends for more than 50 years,” retired NYPD detective Randy Jurgensen, 91, said.

Jurgensen met the actor at a warehouse on East 125th Street with a mandate: to turn him and his similarly little-known co-star, Roy Schieder, into believable undercover narcotics cops.

The tutorial resulted in a 1971 Hollywood blockbuster that would win five Academy Awards, including “Best Actor” for Hackman, “Best Picture” and “Best Director” for William Friedkin. 

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

Exclusive | Gene Hackman's NYPD mentor is last living 'French Connection' detective

Note: I've interviewed Randy Jurgensen several times over the years. You can read my Washington Times On Crime column on Randy Jurgensen via the link below:  

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

Below are two photos of Randy Jurgensen from the film The French Connection:

Retired NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen Honored For 1968 Heroism

FOX 5 in New York City offers a piece on Randy Jurgensen, the legendary former NYPD detective who finally received the Police Combat Cross. 

NEW YORK - Retired NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen received a decades overdue round of applause at NYPD headquarters on Thursday as he received the Police Combat Cross.

 

In 1968, Jurgensen was at Arthur’s Nightclub in Midtown Manhattan when he heard screams from a nearby street. A patrolman had been shot multiple times by two suspects who were fleeing the scene. 

 

Despite being off duty, dressed in plain clothes, and without backup, Jurgensen sprang into action. He chased down the suspects and helped the officer suffering from gunshot wounds, all while under gunfire himself.

 

Despite being shot at, Jurgensen was able to subdue one of the suspects by striking him with his off-duty firearm.

"56 years ago you did what we ask every single officer to do every single day," said Police Commissioner Edward Caban at Thursday's ceremony.

Though Jurgensen was the day’s honoree, he chose to share the spotlight with the fallen officer from that night, Patrolman John Vereca.

"On that night, now, I’m thinking of Patrolman John Vereca who lost his life while doing what he swore to do, his duty," Jurgensen said during the ceremony.

You can watch the news video via the below link:

Retired NYPD Detective Randy Jurgensen honored for 1968 heroism | FOX 5 New York (fox5ny.com)

Note: I interviewed Randy Jurgensen, (seen third from the left in The French Connection film) the famed detective who became an author, actor, film consultant and film producer, on numerous occasions.

You can read my Washington Times On Crime column on Randy Jurgensen 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

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.

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

The Washington Times published my On Crime column about the real French Connection cops Sonny Grosso and Randy Jurgensen.

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 Hollywood to Harlem

 On Crime column by Paul Davis - - Wednesday, February 12, 2020. 

Legendary NYPD detective and film and TV producer Salvatore “Sonny” Grosso 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.

Note: The top photo shows from left to right Randy Jurgensen, Sonny Grosso, Eddie Egan and actor Gene Hackman in the film, The French Connection. 

The below photos show Randy Jurgensen, Sonny Grosso and Eddie Egan in the films The French Connection,  Cruising, and The Godfather.

Former NYPD Detective Sonny Grosso, Whose Work Inspired ‘The French Connection,’ Dead At 89

The New York Post reports that former NYPD detective and TV and film producer Sonny Grosso has died.

Former NYPD detective Sonny Grosso, whose police work with partner Eddie Egan was used as the plot for the classic 1971 cop flick “The French Connection,” died Wednesday. He was 89.

Grosso’s death was confirmed by his longtime friend, and former NYPD captain, Ernie Naspretto.

Grosso died in Manhattan after battling a long illness, Naspretto said.

“He had a good run,” Naspretto said of his friend.

Grosso’s foray into Hollywood began with “The French Connection”, as he and Egan consulted on the film and served as the real-life inspiration for fictional detectives Popeye Doyle and Buddy Russo.

He went on to become a prolific producer and consultant for television and movies, working on shows such as “Kojak,” “Night Heat” and “Baretta.” 

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

https://nypost.com/2020/01/23/former-nypd-detective-sonny-grosso-whose-work-inspired-the-french-connection-dead-at-89/

John Cuddy, Long-Time NYPD Detective Credited With 'French Connection' Case Dies At 92

Ben Feuerherd at the New York Post offers a piece on the death of a retired NYPD detective who worked on the “French Connection” case, which was covered in a true crime book by Robin Moore and an award-wining, classic crime film.

Retired detective John Cuddy, a longtime police investigator whose career in the NYPD helped bring down the “French Connection” heroin operation and Harlem gangster Nicky Barnes, died early Sunday morning in Suffolk County. He was 92.

“He was an honest guy,” said his son John, also a retired NYPD detective. “Those who worked with him knew him as Gentleman Jack.”

On the narcotics squad, Cuddy spent years rooting out heroin from opium dens in Chinatown in the late 1950s — and worked with other noted detectives, including Kitty Barry and John Kai.

But his largest case came after he had been promoted to sergeant and was supervising narcotics detectives.

In 1961, under Cuddy’s supervision, detectives Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso broke up an international heroin ring and seized more than a hundred kilos of the drug. The case went on to be immortalized in the “French Connection” movie and book, with Egan being portrayed by Gene Hackman.

In 1971, Cuddy retired from the NYPD and took a job as an investigator with the Nassau County district attorney’s office — but his penchant for landing big cases didn’t stop.

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

https://nypost.com/2018/10/28/long-time-detective-credited-with-french-connection-case-dies/ 

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/ 

Former Member of 'French Connection' Heroin Ring Awaits Sentencing For 2012 Bust

Foxnews.com offers a piece on a drug dealer who has ties back to the 'French Connection' case covered in Robin Moore's true crime book and the film with Gene Hackman.

HARTFORD, Conn. –  Alfred Catino's criminal record is a colorful history of drug dealing and prison sentences dating back to the 1960s, when federal authorities say he was part of the French Connection heroin smuggling ring that spawned an Oscar-winning movie of the same name.

Catino's illicit career took him from the streets of the Bronx in New York City to France to Connecticut's Gold Coast, where he soon will be sentenced for his role in yet another drug operation.

Catino, 73, was one of 16 people busted in Connecticut in 2012 in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana, cocaine and oxycodone in Fairfield County. He pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge and is set to be sentenced Dec. 16 in federal court in Bridgeport. He remains detained without bail.

 

Law enforcement officials had no idea about Catino's history when they arrested him, said Brian Boyle, an assistant special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"Once we ran some checks on him, it was surprising," Boyle said. "He had some connections a while back to the French Connection case, and then he surfaces here."

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

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/30/member-french-connection-heroin-ring-awaits-sentencing-for-2012-bust/?intcmp=latestnews

Famed Detective Randy Jurgensen Coming Back To The Big Screen

Ian Mohr at the New York Post offers a piece on former NYPD detective and filmmaker Randy Jurgensen returning to the big screen.

Legendary New York detective Randy Jurgensen — who was a consultant on “The French Connection” and “Donnie Brasco,” as well as the inspiration for Al Pacino’s character in the 1980 film “Cruising” — is coming back to the big screen, Page Six has learned.

Jurgensen’s 2006 book, “Circle of Six: The True Story of New York’s Most Notorious Cop Killer and the Cop Who Risked Everything to Catch Him,” about his investigation of the infamous Harlem mosque incident in 1972, has been adapted as a feature by veteran “Law & Order: SVU” writer Jonathan Greene.

Tod “Kip” Williams, whose credits include “Paranormal Activity 2,” will direct.

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

http://pagesix.com/2014/07/19/famed-detective-randy-jurgensen-coming-back-to-the-big-screen/

Note: I read Circle of Six and interviewed Randy Jurgensen a while back, but to my regret I put the Q & A on the back burner. I hope to post the interesting interview here in the near future.

Happy 84th Birthday To Gene Hackman

As Biography.com notes, today is the birthday of one of my favorite actors, Gene Hackman.

Gene Hackman was born on January 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, California. He dropped out of high school to join the Marines, and then studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse Theatre. Hackman's breakout film was Bonnie and Clyde. His famous performances include Popeye Doyle in The French Connection and Lex Luther in Superman. Hackman has received two Oscars. He has since retired from acting.

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a video clip via the below link:

http://www.biography.com/people/gene-hackman-9324559?page=1

You can also read an earlier post on Gene Hackman in The French Connection via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/04/critics-pick-look-back-at-classic-crime.html

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.