Serpico by Peter Maas

VINTAGE PAPERBACK [1974] BANTAM BOOKS

Book is excellent;  mild shelf wear to cover & tanning to pages. 

It is the late sixties, a time of intense social and generational upheaval. Into this maelstrom came a man who broke the mold. A working class, Brooklyn-born,Italian cop with long hair, a beard, and a taste for opera and ballet. Most of all, Frank Serpico was a man who couldn't be silenced — or bought.

For years a culture of corruption had pervaded the New York City Police Department. Police payoffs,protection, and shakedowns of gambling rackets and drug dealers were common practice. The so-called blue-code of silence protected the minority of crooked cops from the sanction of the majority.