Serpico by Peter Maas [1973 HARDCOVER] BCE • The Viking Press

Serpico by Peter Maas 

FIRST BOOK CLUB EDITION [1973] THE VIKING PRESS

Vintage hardcover with dust jacket in good reading condition.  Dust jacket has a few sealed edge tears; but is overall in very good shape.  Now housed in a new archival quality jacket protector.  

Book itself looks and reads nicely; a few tiny stains to top of text block.  

THE CLASSIC TRUE STORY OF THE COP WHO COULDN'T BE BOUGHT

"I don't think anyone can come away from Serpico without admiration for one man's lonely integrity." — New York Times

The 1960s was a time of social and generational upheaval felt with particular intensity in the melting pot of New York City. A culture of corruption pervaded the New York Police Department, where 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. Into this maelstrom came a working class, Brooklyn-born, Italian cop with long hair, a beard, and a taste for opera and ballet. Frank Serpico was a man who couldn't be silenced—or bought—and he refused to go along with the system. He had sworn an oath to uphold the law, even if the perpetrators happened to be other cops. For this unwavering commitment to justice, Serpico nearly paid with his life.