He is a legendary figure. At the age of 84, Frank Serpico is still the man of integrity, always siding with the underdog, who in 1971 unleashed an earthquake inside the New York Police Department by unmasking their endemic corruption before the Knapp Commission. His bosses and colleagues never forgave him: his colleagues left him to die after he was shot in the face during a drug bust. His integrity and courage were immortalised in Serpico, a movie by Sidney Lumet starring Al Pacino, now a classic. But he doesn’t want to go down in history as Sidney Lumet depicted him. “No one can even begin to imagine what I went through before and after the movie”, Serpico tells Il Fatto Quotidiano. We sat down for an interview with Frank Serpico.
You were far from the law and order guys who usually join the police and just obey orders uncritically. You were independent-minded and anti-authoritarian. Why did you join an institution like the police?
It is one thing to see Hollywood movies, hear radio, and comic book versions of police. It is another to experience it. As a boy my favorite comic strip in the Sunday paper was Dick Tracy. I would buy a copy on my way to work after church, to shine shoes in my father’s shop. I was so impressed by Tracy and his partner Sam Ketchum’s behavior, they were police detectives. They communicated with each other at separate locations via their wrist radios: today’s cell phones. I wanted to be a detective. I went to college and earned a degree majoring in Police Science. My goal was to be a detective in the Youth Squad – since defunct – working with street gangs. I had previous experience as a social worker working with street gangs and was a gang member myself in my early years. Upon becoming a Police officer, I was soon to realize my schooling and experience would be little more than worthless in a department rife with nepotism and corruption. As a police officer I thought I could make a difference. I made exceptional arrests for robbery, rape, kidnapping and murder. I further continued my studies and became a forensics expert, again I would be assigned to the Detective Division doing detective work while still receiving patrolman pay and carrying a patrolman’s badge. What was required for promotion in reality was having the right connections – referred to as a Rabbi – or paying the appropriate party $500 at the time. From my parents I learned to confront injustice by authority whatever the source. I witnessed my father confront a New York City police officer face to face. I had shined the cop’s shoes the week before. He left without paying, not even a tip, as a young boy I was stunned and heartbroken. In this one act, he shattered my image of the police. Now the cop was back for another shine. My father working in the shop window saw him approaching and said: “Ecco che arriva quel pezzo di stronzo” [The asshole is coming]. I was mortified, my father met him at the door calmly saying: ‘“you want a shine? 10 cents”. Then putting out his hand continued: “Pay first!”. The cop made a u-turn and left. I was impressed and elated.
You are an Italian citizen, and Italy is not exactly famous for a culture of integrity: it’s infamous for mafia and its code of silence. What made you become a whistleblower?
Unfortunately, while that may be true Italy is also known for its great art, culture and music. All of which are a source of great interest and inspiration. One of my favorites is Dante’s classic ‘La Divina Commedia’, one of the world’s greatest pieces of literature. The contributions of Galileo, the father of modern science. His imprisonment for defying the Catholic Church with his scientific truth. Most people only know pizza and the mafia. The police code of silence or blue wall is tantamount to the mafia’s omertà. I never thought of the word ‘whistleblower’, in fact I find the word demeaning for such a noble cause. I prefer the word ‘lamplighter’, shedding light on the corruption that can only exist in darkness and secrecy. I simply followed my inner moral compass.
How did you protect yourself and your loved ones from threats after blowing the whistle?
I let it be known to one and all that when it came to the safety of my family there were no rules for me to follow. My biggest concern was the corrupt police. In fact, it was a member of the mafia who first advised me to “be careful, they are going to do a number on you”, indicating with his finger like it was a gun. I asked: “who?”. He said: “your own kind”. I asked “the Italians?” He answered: “No, the cops”. The mafia told me they respected me because I wasn’t a two-face like the other cops. I have been misquoted by cops for what I said about the mafia. What I did say was I had more respect for the mafia than a crooked cop because you know the mafia is doing what they do, but a crooked cop is worse than the mafia because he is supposed to represent and uphold the law.
You left the police in 1972, how did you survive after leaving?
I had a police disability pension for being injured in the line of duty. My fellow officers neglected to call in an ‘Officer Down’ [a call made by police to alert that a police officer is seriously injured] and left me to bleed to death. I lost my hearing in my left ear, but I prefer to see it as gaining hearing in my right ear and listening to the finer sounds of nature and music while turning a deaf ear to most people’s babbling. I still carry all the fragments of a hollow point bullet that exploded in my head. My condition was ruled inoperable.
You lived in Europe for many years, why did you go back to the US? I mean, you have led a frugal life for decades, pretty different from materialistic American society…
That is a question I often ask myself, but I don’t regret it. After my mate died of cancer, I considered returning to America, then a friend, Ramsey Clark, former United States Attorney General would call me and say there was work to be done back home. I returned to do some investigative work and worked for him pro bono. He is an exceptional man of principle. Recently I was an executive producer in a documentary called Citizen Clark, A life of principle. I easily acclimate to my surroundings, though I prefer living in the countryside rather than the city. I love nature and prefer the company of animals, wild and tame to that of most people. I had hoped to publish my memoirs and move to Italy to some small village where I could walk to a cafe for coffee or for a noon or evening meal. But then the virus struck and so I decided to stay put. But wherever I am, my blood and my culture is Italian.
Fifty years after you blew the whistle, has the US police implemented any serious reform to fight such corruption and abuse?
In my opinion, not really. As I said in my closing statement at the Knapp Commission, “the atmosphere still does not exist where the crooked cop fears the honest cop and not the other way around“, nor can an honest cop report corruption without fear of reprisal. It’s like a game of chess, a few pawns are sacrificed, they move a few pieces around but it’s to protect the commissioner, the mayor who appointed him and the image of the New York Police Department at all costs. In many ways the New York Police Department is a family tradition. In one case a “schifoso” [a disgusting person] graduates from Harvard and joins the Department, writes a best-selling book in which he praises his grandfather, who was the bagman – collected the graft money – for the Commissioner and tries to belittle Serpico so he can be accepted by his fellow officers.
In retrospect, would you join the US police again?
Though I greatly enjoyed my service and miss it dearly, I most likely would not, unless the changes I tried to implement were incorporated in policing.
Let’s imagine you have been given free rein to reform the police, what would your top priorities be?
Having no fear of transparency. Treating all who cross your path with dignity even those who have succumbed to life’s evil temptations. Police should never consider themselves as judge, jury and executioner. Enforce the law with discretion, compassion and impartiality. No special treatment for cops who commit crimes that, if committed by civilians, would go to jail for the same crime. Protect and serve the community as a caretaker. It is more important how many people, especially the young, you keep from going to prison by your actions, example and service than how many you arrest for petty crimes and violations. Hold lamplighters in high esteem, by honoring, rewarding and protecting them from any possible danger, retaliation or abuse. The police should be viewed as a profession, behave in a manner that brings honor and respect to your profession.
Do you think the US police still hate you as a ‘snitch’ rather than a whistleblower?
The word snitch was not used in my time, they used rat. Let’s put it this way: they still have not forgotten or forgiven. And they want every other cop to remember as a warning. A smart commissioner would have praised my efforts and taken them as an opportunity to improve the image of the department, but they are too set in their ways and any concept of change terrifies them. Police Commissioner Patrick V. Murphy [the New York Police Department Commissioner who dealt with the serious accusations of police corruption by Serpico] himself wrote a book and tried to belittle my efforts. I confronted him at a public lecture and told him before the audience that I held him responsible for my being shot because he knew the danger I was in and could have protected me, but instead he transferred me to the most dangerous assignment. As we see what is happening today all across America with Black Lives Matter: police have too much power. Instead of negotiating, they became more belligerent and support President Trump, who has sowed discord and violence rather than peace and harmony in our society.
Has the US police ever officially acknowledged that policemen should behave with integrity like you did rather than stick to a mafia-style code of silence?
Not to my knowledge. More than one police officer has confided to me in frustration: “I’m just a tax collector with a gun”. The mayor and Commissioner want figures – summonses and arrest numbers – to produce revenue for the city. The victims are people who can least afford the fines, so they go to jail and feed the prison industry. Mostly people of color. The police do not want to be exposed, thus the blue wall is protected. As the saying goes, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Since 2015, the Washington Post has been collecting data on US citizens killed by the US police: 5,735 people. This is an enormous number: almost two 9/11s in just 5 years, yet we see little outrage. Why?
There are a number of reasons. The public has become numb to the evening news and violence. In part because it does not concern them: it is a racial issue involving mostly the poor and disenfranchised, who are the victims. The majority who haven’t been victims are in denial, they cannot or do not want to believe their police, who they have been led to believe represent law and order, are capable of such criminal behavior. The thought would terrify them. That is part of the reason why politicians neglect or refuse to expose it because “it would undermine public trust and confidence in the police”, and meanwhile they themselves benefit. It is not simply the police but the judges and prosecutors who are part of the same system, many of them former police officers. The media is also not interested because it’s old hat. They just want new sensationalism handed to them: investigative journalism is a thing of the past. Again Hollywood and TV do not help, night after night police series showing what great work the police do, all enacted by glamorous sexy actors in your face with picture-perfect police station environments the likes of which I have never seen nor do I believe exist.
What would you suggest to a young person who wants to expose state criminality from the inside as you did?
To proceed with caution and be perfectly sure they have documented evidence. Even with that, good luck. To be careful whom they trust and confide in, be prepared to undergo scrutiny and become the object of the investigation itself and suffer the consequences of his/her well intended actions.
Back in the ‘70s, the New York Times and the Washington Post greatly supported you and another amazing whistleblower: Daniel Ellsberg, who revealed the Pentagon Papers. Today, the US media are very very timid in their support of high-profile whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. Have the US media lost their way?
Dan is a friend and I respect and admire what he did. As I said earlier there is a lack of enthusiasm in journalism today. The system has made it so by casting great doubt and scrutiny on lamplighters. It is deemed unpatriotic, even Dan’s own father-in-law disowned him, such is the power of programming and political propaganda equivalent to brainwashing.
Few cases are a benchmark of how the United States has changed as much as the Julian Assange case is. For the first time in US history a journalist, who has empowered whistleblowers to reveal war crimes and torture, risks ending up in prison for life. Do you side with Julian Assange?
Very much so. Conditions have become even more extreme under Donald Trump. Not only with the lack of accountability in the Government, but the exploitation of the highest office in the land for self-gain at the taxpayers’ expense.
Do you believe that our societies do too little to create a culture of integrity and insist too much on building prisons rather than encouraging and protecting whistleblowers?
The “Hue and Cry” process in former English Law was a loud cry and clamour by inhabitants calling for the pursuit and capture of a criminal committing a robbery, if they were not themselves to become liable for the damages suffered by the victim. Perhaps this law should be reinstated. Lamplighters in the least should be honoured as pillars of the community, for without them we would have a further deterioration of our democracy and rule of law under the cover of secrecy, deception and darkness. But this behavior would not enable the rich and powerful to fill their pockets at the expense of the poor and powerless like the prison industry does.
Are you happy to go down in history as Sidney Lumet and Al Pacino depicted you, or fifty years afterward is Serpico now a different man?
Most certainly not as depicted by Lumet. No one can even begin to imagine what I went through before and after the movie. In my opinion, Lumet may be heralded as a great director, but that does not mean he was a moral or honest man. He was making a movie about an honest cop and he lied and distorted the story?! You have no idea the pain and suffering to this day. He took control of my life and manipulated it. Just to give you some examples: a burglar I apprehended and got shot at by police in the process, was white. Lumet made him black: Hollywood’s racial profiling. I had my whole right shoulder in the door and shot the drug dealer. Police promoted Lumet’s version and say they shot him, thus distorting the facts and history. Hollywood is as corrupt as the police. I consider myself a renaissance man. I have overcome childhood difficulties, I was dyslexic, my Christian teachers deemed me stupid because Italian was my first language, which they lacked any knowledge of. I wore my brother’s hand-me-down clothes with patches, for which fools pay extra today as a fashion statement. True, I was always mostly a C-average student in college and university, but I have a linguistic ability with Italian, English, Spanish, French and Japanese as a cop. I have since added Dutch and German and studying Russian and Arabic. I’ve acted in community theatre, I am an accomplished ballroom dancer, poet, sculptor, cook and I bake my own bread. I was a human being before, during and after the New York Police Department and the movie, and that is a responsibility I have taken very seriously all my life, period.