Francesco Vincent "Frank" Serpico ( SUR-pik-oh; born April 14, 1936) is an American retired detective with the New York City Police Department (NYPD), best known for whistleblowing on police corruption. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Serpico was a plainclothes officer working in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan to expose vice racketeering. In 1967, he reported credible evidence of widespread corruption in the NYPD, to no effect. In 1970, he contributed to a front-page story in The New York Times on the department's corruption, which drew national attention to the problem. Mayor John Lindsay appointed a five-member panel to investigate accusations of corruption, which became the Knapp Commission.
On February 3, 1971, Serpico was shot in the face during an arrest attempt at 778 Driggs Avenue in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. The bullet severed an auditory nerve, and left fragments lodged near his brain. The circumstances surrounding Serpico's shooting were quickly called into question, raising the possibility that he had been led to the apartment by his colleagues to be murdered. There was no formal investigation, but Edgar Echevarria, who had shot Serpico, was subsequently convicted of attempted murder.
Much of Serpico's fame came after the release of the film Serpico (1973), in which he was portrayed by Al Pacino, based on the book of the same name by Peter Maas. Serpico moved to Europe subsequent to his recovery and testimony before the Knapp Commission. On June 27, 2013, the USA Section of ANPS (National Association of Italian State Police) awarded him the "Saint Michael Archangel Prize". During the ceremony, he gained Italian citizenship and received an Italian passport.
Frank Serpico was born on April 14, 1936, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, the youngest child of Vincenzo and Maria Giovanna Serpico, Italian immigrants from Marigliano, Naples, Campania. His older siblings, Pasquale, Salvatore and Tina, were also born in Brooklyn. Serpico attended high school at the prestigious St. Francis Preparatory School and graduated in 1954, according to their online alumni data. In 1954, at the age of 17, he enlisted in the United States Army and was stationed for two years in South Korea as an infantryman. Following his military service, from about 1954 to 1956, he worked as a part-time private investigator and as a youth counselor while attending Brooklyn College. Serpico later received a Bachelor of Science degree from City College of New York.
On September 11, 1959, Serpico joined the New York City Police Department (NYPD) as a probationary patrolman, and became a full patrolman on March 5, 1960. He was assigned to the 81st precinct, then worked for the Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI) for two years. He was then assigned to plainclothes undercover work, working in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx.
In 1967, Serpico reported credible evidence of systemic police corruption within the NYPD, and saw no effect until he met another police officer, David Durk, who helped him. He believed his partners in the BCI knew about his secret meetings with internal affairs investigators. Finally, Serpico contributed to an April 25, 1970, front-page story in The New York Times on widespread corruption in the NYPD, which drew national attention. Mayor John V. Lindsay appointed a five-member panel to investigate accusations of corruption; the panel became the Knapp Commission, named after its chairman, Whitman Knapp.
On February 3, 1971, Serpico was shot during an arrest attempt at 778 Driggs Avenue, in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Four officers from the Brooklyn North police command had received a tip that a drug deal was about to take place. Two policemen, Gary Roteman and Arthur Cesare, stayed outside while the third, Paul Halley, stood in front of the apartment building. Serpico climbed up a fire escape, entered by the fire escape door, went downstairs, listened for the password, then followed two suspects outside.
Police arrested the young suspects, and found one had two bags of heroin. Halley stayed with the suspects, and Roteman told Serpico, who spoke Spanish, to make a fake purchase in an attempt to get the drug dealers to open the door. The party went to the third-floor landing. Serpico knocked on the door, keeping his hand on his revolver. The door opened a few inches, just far enough to wedge his body in. Serpico called for help, but Roteman and Cesare ignored him. The apartment's occupant, Edgar Echevarria, then shot Serpico in the face with a .22 LR pistol. The bullet struck just below his eye, lodging into the top of his jaw. Serpico fired back, striking Echevarria. He then fell to the floor and began to bleed profusely. Roteman and Cesare refused to make a "10-13" dispatch to police headquarters, indicating that an officer had been shot. An elderly man who lived in an adjacent apartment called emergency services, reporting that a man had been shot, and stayed with Serpico. When a police car arrived, aware that Serpico was a fellow officer, they transported him in the patrol car to Greenpoint Hospital.
The bullet had severed an auditory nerve, leaving Serpico deaf in one ear, and he has since suffered from chronic pain from bullet fragments lodged near his brain. He was visited the day after the shooting by Mayor Lindsay and New York City Police Commissioner Patrick V. Murphy, and police officers harassed him with hourly bed checks. Serpico later testified before the Knapp Commission.
The circumstances surrounding Serpico's shooting were quickly called into question. Serpico, who was armed during the raid, had been shot only after briefly turning away from Echevarria, when he realized that Roteman and Cesare were not following him into the apartment, raising the question whether he had actually been taken to the apartment by his colleagues to be murdered. There was no formal investigation. Echevarria was subsequently convicted of attempted murder. On May 3, 1971, New York Metro Magazine published an article about Serpico, "Portrait of an Honest Cop," a week before he testified before the Knapp Commission of an NYPD lieutenant accused of taking bribes from gamblers.
Testimony before the Knapp Commission
In October and December of 1971, Serpico testified before the Knapp Commission:
Through my appearance here today ... I hope that police officers in the future will not experience ... the same frustration and anxiety that I was subjected to ... for the past five years at the hands of my superiors ... because of my attempt to report corruption. I was made to feel that I had burdened them with an unwanted task. The problem is that the atmosphere does not yet exist, in which an honest police officer can act ... without fear of ridicule or reprisal from fellow officers. Police corruption cannot exist unless it is at least tolerated ... at higher levels in the department. Therefore, the most important result that can come from these hearings ... is a conviction by police officers that the department will change. In order to ensure this ... an independent, permanent investigative body ... dealing with police corruption, like this commission, is essential ...
Serpico was the first police officer in the history of the NYPD to step forward to report and subsequently testify openly about widespread payoffs to corrupt officers amounting to millions of dollars.
Serpico retired on June 15, 1972, one month after receiving the NYPD's highest commendation, the Medal of Honor. There was no ceremony; according to Serpico, it was simply handed to him over the desk "like a pack of cigarettes." In 2014, Serpico stated that the department still had not issued him the certificate that normally would accompany the medal.
In December 2021, Eric Adams, then mayor-elect of New York City and a former NYPD officer, said "[Serpico's] bravery inspired my law enforcement career" and said that he would ensure that the omission was corrected. On February 3, 2022, exactly fifty-one years after the shooting, Serpico received the certificate, which he greeted with an improvised "21-gun salute" made with the sound of popping bubble wrap.