Police Corruption, New York City Style (A Taste of Corruption)

The New York City Knapp Commission formed to investigate corruption within the ranks of the Police Department during the early 1970’s, referred to ‘dirty cops’ as either “meat eaters” or “grass eaters”…

Meat eaters were cops who "aggressively misuse their police powers for personal gain." Grass eaters were cops who just accepted payoffs through "happenstance", when thrown their way.

Here’s how “Hippie Cop” Frank Serpico described the NYPD in 1970: “Ten percent of the cops in New York City are absolutely corrupt, 10 percent are absolutely honest, and the other 80 percent — they wish they were honest.”

From NY Post Article

Instead of playing along, Serpico went public about the corruption he witnessed. He and the Knapp Commission caught a break when Bill Phillips, a former Manhattan patrolman, was caught accepting payoffs from Xaviera Hollander, a Dutch-born madam running an Upper East Side brothel.

Phillips starting talking immediately, giving firsthand accounts of how other cops and detectives in nearly every precinct set up monthly “pads,” or systemized payoffs, to protect gamblers, pimps and other members of organized crime.

Many movie buffs have probably seen the award winning movie ‘Serpico’ about a 1960’s – 1970’s New York City cop, played by the actor Al Pacino. This true story depicts a period in time, when a young police officer, Frank Serpico became preyed upon by fellow NYPD cops because of his refusal to join their corrupt little club within the department.

Serpico became such a threat to the crooked officers he served with, that they hatched a plan to kill him through proxy. The shooting of Frank Serpico failed to kill him, but did leave him badly wounded with a bullet to the face.

Ultimately, this action, along with Serpico breaking the “Blue Wall of Silence” code and his perseverance, lead to the creation of a special NYC commission tasked with investigating police corruption within the city.

The Knapp Commission purportedly uncovered numerous instances of police corruption having taken place, along with ‘then’ present corruption infecting almost every Police Precinct, in the City of New York.

Some indictments of corrupt individuals resulted from this investigation, along with some police officers being fired, resigning, and in a few cases…going to jail.

At the time, I used to follow the news very closely, especially because I was in the process of becoming a cop. I knew about the “Pad’ and knew quite a few cops myself; some of who were slightly ‘un-cop-like’ or, crooked to the core…

Oddly, even though the Knapp Commission’s activities were “secret” along with the location of their Special Investigation Units, I happened to know of one such office in the Long Island City, N.Y. area of Queens.

A buddy of mine had a brother who worked as a Police Dispatcher, assigned to the L.I.C. Knapp Commission Unit, and of course secrets between two brothers are relatively scarce…so, over a couple of beers, I too learned of the location…

One afternoon, Lou decided that we should go and visit his brother at work; the ‘secret’ location…I had to swear not to tell anybody where it was, so of course I raised my right hand saying, “I swear”…

Looking back, it was sort of comical…The Knapp Commission investigators had offices above a City Police vehicle, service and repair garage. Lou and I entered through a garage bay door, then turned right to a stairwell leading up to the second floor.

Not far inside the office door, Lou’s brother greeted us with a big hello and smile, as numerous guys in shirt and tie, with guns, moved about or sat at desks pecking away on typewriters…

A few heads turned our way, and Lou’s brother announced us as his brother and friend, after which we heard, “Hey…how ya doiń…?” After spending a little time chatting, Lou and I decided it was time to leave.

We paused downstairs in the garage looking at the unmarked detective vehicles being worked on by mechanics, and the spare parts scattered around. Lou turned to me and said, “Maybe they got a muffler for your car?” My old Chevy was getting a little loud from a hole in the muffler.

Ambling up to a guy with his head under the hood of a Plymouth, Lou asked if he had a spare muffler for “my buddy” pointing to me…The mechanic asked what kind of car I had, and when I told him, he said the muffler’s collar might be a hair too small. He told me to take a hack saw and put a few cuts in it to make it fit.

Before leaving with the police anti-corruption muffler, I slipped the City mechanic a five spot and a thank you. He palmed the money saying, “no problem…”

The muffler fit my car fine after splitting it crosswise twice.

I owe the N.Y.C. taxpayers a big thank you for the bargain priced muffler, and of course…the Knapp Commission’s, Police Anti-Corruption Task Force for being of service to me in my time of need…

I'm outta here...

Ciao

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Another 'True' Crime Story by @AngryMan on Steemit Oct. 9, 2018

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