Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop Whose Family Was the Mob - Hardcover

Eppolito, Lou; Drury, Bob

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671742213 ISBN 13: 9780671742218

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1992

Synopsis

A man who turned his back on the mob to become the eleventh most decorated New York City cop in history describes his twenty-year career and how he was falsely accused of selling secrets to the mob. 75,000 first printing. Tour.

About this title

About the Author:

Bob Drury is the author/co-author/editor of nine books, the last two in collaboration with Tom Clavin. His last solo book, The Rescue Season, was adapted into a documentary by the History Channel. He has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Men’s Journal, and GQ. He is currently a contributing editor and foreign correspondent for Men’s Health magazine, and has reported from Iraq, Darfur, Liberia, Afghanistan, Sarajevo, and Belfast. He lives in Manasquan, New Jersey.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A Manhattan cop breaks family tradition--his uncles, cousin, father, and grandfather all were members of the Gambino crime family--and is accused of selling his shield after a highly decorated career. When his cousin Jim-Jim and his uncle Jimmy were rubbed out for a scam that embarrassed the Gambino bosses, Eppolito--a highly decorated NYPD legend who made no effort to hide his contempt for the ``three P's: perps, pussies, and pencil-pushing prigs''--felt his East Flatbush roots stir. Here, writing with the help of Drury (coauthor, Incident at Howard Beach, 1989, etc.), Eppolito dwells long on his thicker-than-blood Italian upbringing in the 50's--street festivals, marbled funeral parlors, the Grand Mark Tavern in Bensonhurst (``sit-down central'' for wiseguys), and, particularly, the beatings by his father, pounding home the Neapolitan ethos of honor and respect. After his father's death, Eppolito joined the NYPD and became a can-do cop who divided humanity into two categories: those who deserved respect, and those beneath contempt. Here, he proudly describes an attack with buddy cops on a ``group of junkies, Rastafarians'' in Prospect Park. Putting pantyhose over his face, Eppolito broke wrists, legs, and arms, and crippled a man for life. For one stick-up suspect, the author invented a new interrogation technique: After punching ``Bugs forty times in the head,'' Eppolito filled a bucket with hot, fuming ammonia and slammed the man's face in it. In 1978, Internal Affairs made a case against the cop for passing police intelligence to Rosario Gambino (nephew of Carlo, capo da tutti capi). Eppolito was acquitted but retired from the force shortly afterward when Martin Scorsese offered him a part in Goodfellas. Flat characterizations with some sharp N.Y.C. detail (``Italian tuxedo--that's the white, sleeveless T-shirt''): mostly for Mafia/NYPD buffs. (Photos--16 pages of b&w--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0671742213
• ISBN 13: 9780671742218
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 251