NYPD whistleblower Frank Serpico, more than a half century after taking a bullet to the face in a Brooklyn drug raid gone bad, wants prosecutors to take a fresh look at the shooting.
The 87-year-old ex-cop told the Daily News he was still seeking definitive answers about exactly what happened in a narrow apartment building hallway on the night of Feb. 3, 1971.
“For years, I didn’t want to believe I was set up,” said Serpico, who feels differently now. “That’s one. And two, I thought, ‘How are you going to prove it?’ I want to clear the record for history, what Frank Serpico did and the price he had to pay.”
His attorney Peter Gleason sent an email and fax last month to Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez asking the prosecutor to reinvestigate Serpico’s onduty shooting.
“Many works of fiction have attempted to memorialize that evening in February 1971, yet the reality of Serpico being set up by his NYPD colleagues to permanently silence him has never been investigated,” he wrote.
“The public narrative on this tragedy is filled with fantasy.”
A spokesman for the prosecutor said his office had “received the letter and are reviewing the request.”
A Gleason fax was also sent directly to departing NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, requesting Serpico’s police employment file — including all medical and personnel records.
A department spokesman responded only that the NYPD “will review the letter once we receive it.”
Gleason, in his message to the DA, cited “NYPD internal documents that defy logic and appear to be concocted in furtherance of discrediting Serpico” without providing details.
Serpico remains particularly outraged by assorted books written across the decades about his career and the case, complaining of inaccuracies and outright lies.
And a particularly aggravating factor remains the lack of a 10-13 call for an officer needing assistance from fellow officers after the shooting, he said.
“I’m bothered by other people…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply