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Prince of the City: The True Story of a Cop Who Knew Too Much
In the early 1970s, the federal government undertook the investigation of the corruption penetrating the entire criminal justice system in New York City, particularly the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of the Narcotics division of the NYPD. Young and enthusiastic, Detective Robert Leuci was chosen by federal prosecutors Rudolf Giuliani, Maurice Nadjari, and Tom Puccio to probe this world of corruption as an undercover agent.
Operating in deep cover, with only the prosecutors and the police commissioner aware of his dual role, Leuci walked a tightrope that made his life a nightmare. He was in mortal danger from both sides.
In a world where conflicting pressures are excruciating, who should bear the burden of being right when so much of the system is wrong?
Operating in deep cover, with only the prosecutors and the police commissioner aware of his dual role, Leuci walked a tightrope that made his life a nightmare. He was in mortal danger from both sides.
In a world where conflicting pressures are excruciating, who should bear the burden of being right when so much of the system is wrong?
311 pages, Hardcover
First published January 15, 1978
41 people are currently reading
518 people want to read
About the author
Robert Daley
83 books21 followersRobert Daley is the author of seventeen novels and eleven non-fiction books. Born and brought up in New York, he graduated from Fordham University, did his military service in the Air Force and began writing stories, articles and books immediately afterward. He was a New York Times foreign correspondents for six years based in France but covering stories from Russia to Ireland to Tunisia, fifteen or more countries in all. Much later he served as an NYPD deputy commissioner, which explains why many of his books have played out against a police background. His work has been translated into fourteen languages, and six of his books have been filmed. He is married with three daughters. He and his French born wife divide their time between a house in Connecticut and an apartment in Nice. France.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 20, 2017
The film Prince of the City has been one of my favorite films for many years. I could not tell someone how many times I have watched that movie.
The book has also been a keen interest of mine. The book mostly details the career of vice detective of NYPD Robert Leuci and the slow encroachment of corruption when it comes to policing and the enforcement of the law and the later need for one to seek redemption for past wrong doings.
Robert Leuci has also written his own memoir, All the Centurions, detailing his policing career. Not only this, a search of his name in many non-fiction books recounting of policing in New York during his tenure, will find his name sprinkled here and there.
If one wants to read a book detailing the conflicts, ambiguities and murky world of urban policing, then books like Daley's are a good place to start.
The book has also been a keen interest of mine. The book mostly details the career of vice detective of NYPD Robert Leuci and the slow encroachment of corruption when it comes to policing and the enforcement of the law and the later need for one to seek redemption for past wrong doings.
Robert Leuci has also written his own memoir, All the Centurions, detailing his policing career. Not only this, a search of his name in many non-fiction books recounting of policing in New York during his tenure, will find his name sprinkled here and there.
If one wants to read a book detailing the conflicts, ambiguities and murky world of urban policing, then books like Daley's are a good place to start.
July 11, 2014
My favorite book in quite a few years...
Such an incredible story that not only is it hard to believe, but it has the power to make you hopeful, optimistic, encouraged, astounded and also shameful, cowardly, dejected and confused. This book takes you through one NYC Detective's journey and sacrifice.
I'd seen the Treat Williams movie years ago and although I liked it, I could never quite figure the whole thing out. I look forward to seeing it again, but I know it will always pale next to reading this material.
5 Stars
★ = Horrid waste of time
★★ = May be enjoyable to some, but not me
★★★ = I am glad I read it
★★★★ = Very enjoyable and something I'd recommend
★★★★★ = A rare find, simply incredible
Such an incredible story that not only is it hard to believe, but it has the power to make you hopeful, optimistic, encouraged, astounded and also shameful, cowardly, dejected and confused. This book takes you through one NYC Detective's journey and sacrifice.
I'd seen the Treat Williams movie years ago and although I liked it, I could never quite figure the whole thing out. I look forward to seeing it again, but I know it will always pale next to reading this material.
5 Stars
★ = Horrid waste of time
★★ = May be enjoyable to some, but not me
★★★ = I am glad I read it
★★★★ = Very enjoyable and something I'd recommend
★★★★★ = A rare find, simply incredible
February 16, 2022
New York, the early 1970's. The elite Special Investigative Unit (SIU), charged with fighting drug crimes, fresh off their public relations success of "The French Connection", is starting to have a few problems. It seems the detectives are using illegal wiretaps to find dope dealers and, when they cannot make a righteous bust, have a nasty habit of taking the money and splitting it amongst the various partners and upper brass.
The Knapp Commission on police corruption, formed after patrolman Frank Serpico made public the run-of-the-mill graft in the lower ranks of the New York Police Department, is still holding hearing. There is unease in the department.
That is when SIU detective Bob Leuci begins having second thoughts, and agrees to wear a wire to meetings with corrupt lawyers and Mafia types in hopes of arresting them.
But all the members of the SIU are all compromised, and so the unit begins to fall like a house built of cards.
Price of the City is a non-fiction book which details the angst of a cop turned informant. He feels guilty about turning on his partners. But everybody has done something crooked, including this cop.
There is a lot of angst in this book. Partner versus partner. Departmental brass versus lesser members of the force. An officer's will to do what's morally right versus his loyalty to his former partners. There is mucho, beaucop angst.
The book is a bit of a slog. The transitions between narrative and flashback scenes are not always smooth, and those flashback scenes sometime grow into other flashback scenes or more explanatory exposition.
But there are numerous amusing anecdotes, such as the narcotics stakeout devolved into the narcotics officers watching as stolen goods of a hijacked truck were hidden inside the location of interest, only for the hijackers to be caught by patrolmen who then proceed to let the rest of the department know there are 450 stolen TVs there for the taking. The narcotics boys are not amused as their bust is compromised by a line of police officer-owned station wagons removing over 100 TVs from the scene.
The book is OK. It's more interesting if read in conjunction with Serpico by Peter Maas
December 31, 2019
Stunning. Fans of The Shield will love it, but so will anyone who reads it. I haven’t read something that so well dramatized a person’s agony of conscience since Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Every sentence is pitch-perfect in its artlessness: Daley tells the story—which is often messy and complicated—without trying to tell the reader what it means. Detective Leuci is a fascinating figure. One of the characters explains why cops testify against other cops with, “People will sometimes be made to do things they never thought they’d do,” but the trick of the book is that Leuci does what he does by his own provocation and for reasons he never fully understands. He’s in some no-man’s land between Elliot Ness and Vic Mackey.
I had this sitting on my shelf for years and can’t believe I waited this long to read it. I love it when that happens.
I had this sitting on my shelf for years and can’t believe I waited this long to read it. I love it when that happens.
January 21, 2017
Damning Condemnation of the Justice System
How can anyone feel any sympathy for Leuci, the protagonist in this book? If you or I committed the crimes he committed we would never see the light of day. Prosecutorial discretion is the poison pill of the American Justice system. Nevertheless this is real literature by a good author and interesting thought provoking material.
How can anyone feel any sympathy for Leuci, the protagonist in this book? If you or I committed the crimes he committed we would never see the light of day. Prosecutorial discretion is the poison pill of the American Justice system. Nevertheless this is real literature by a good author and interesting thought provoking material.
January 18, 2012
Amazing story. Here's what happens when the good guys are badder than the bad guys - and the ones out to stop them are even worse. True story. My hat's off to this guy.
July 30, 2025
The true story of Narcotics Detective Bob Leuci and how he was recruited to take down NYPD corruption in the early 70s. The first half of this book drags, while Leuci is gathering evidence for the prosecution. The second half definitely picked up as Daley weaves together a courtroom narrative with Leuci's experience as a detective, showing him use questionable tactics like giving drugs to informants, taking cash, and setting up illegal wiretaps. I would have enjoyed this book more had the first half hadn't moved so slow and been repetitive.
February 1, 2025
I've wanted to read this since watching Sidney Lumet's very good film adaptation last year. This is an interesting true story, marred slightly by some not so good writing and odd pacing. Around two thirds through, Rudy Giuliani turns up, and in 2025 that's like a jump scare.
January 15, 2021
Spoilers below! As in most situations, there has to be a gray area but everyone's gray area parameters are different.
“There came a day when Assistant U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, trying to put together a major narcotics investigation with new narcotics detectives newly assigned to him, realized that they were all inept. They couldn’t tail a suspect without getting made. They couldn’t conduct a surveillance without calling in that they were lost. They never played hunches.
A great detective, Giuliani thought, should be a man of imagination and fearlessness. A man with a sense of adventure, a man not limited by procedure. In his new detectives, all these qualities were absent, so that he asked himself almost in despair: Where have all the great detectives gone? The answer that came back to him was this one: I put them all in jail.”
“There came a day when Assistant U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, trying to put together a major narcotics investigation with new narcotics detectives newly assigned to him, realized that they were all inept. They couldn’t tail a suspect without getting made. They couldn’t conduct a surveillance without calling in that they were lost. They never played hunches.
A great detective, Giuliani thought, should be a man of imagination and fearlessness. A man with a sense of adventure, a man not limited by procedure. In his new detectives, all these qualities were absent, so that he asked himself almost in despair: Where have all the great detectives gone? The answer that came back to him was this one: I put them all in jail.”
August 22, 2015
I think I might have liked this book better if I had read it when it was first written. It was hard to keep track of all of the people Bob Leuci worked with, testified against, and who bribed him.
November 16, 2017
A real page turner and a great book to read if you hate relaxing or unclenching your jaw.
January 31, 2018
Good grief, this book is poorly written.
June 5, 2022
Robert Leuci is that rare specimen of cop who completely crossed the line and then some, turned around and told the FBI everything. Indeed, some of his more lurid confessions rival St. Augustine. There was no reason for him to spill the beans on the mob and even his partners.
This is an atmosphere where corruption, as the once sane Giuliani put it, was systemic. Leuci and his partners robbed suspects, partnered up with mobsters, the whole bit. “But the people we work for own us,”he notes in one conversation with Scoppeta, his FBI handler. His stories show some grey areas, of course:is it wrong for a cop to give a heroin addict dope when they are withdrawing from the drug, near death? Ultimately though it is pretty obvious Leuci and his partners are dirty as they get, wearing gold watches and rings taken from criminals and anyone else who they arrested.
Though Leuci gets all this off his chest, one cannot help but get the sense the FBI are using him pretty badly as well. A story about the dictates of conscience.
This is an atmosphere where corruption, as the once sane Giuliani put it, was systemic. Leuci and his partners robbed suspects, partnered up with mobsters, the whole bit. “But the people we work for own us,”he notes in one conversation with Scoppeta, his FBI handler. His stories show some grey areas, of course:is it wrong for a cop to give a heroin addict dope when they are withdrawing from the drug, near death? Ultimately though it is pretty obvious Leuci and his partners are dirty as they get, wearing gold watches and rings taken from criminals and anyone else who they arrested.
Though Leuci gets all this off his chest, one cannot help but get the sense the FBI are using him pretty badly as well. A story about the dictates of conscience.
May 2, 2020
Moving true story of a cop who crossed over to the "right" side. The book moves at a quick pace with some flashbacks to inform the reader about who the people are. Really describes the emotional pain the officer was in during the undercover work fighting corruption within the judicial system. It takes courage to do the right thing, especially when one has been a participate on the wrong side.
December 24, 2020
Grimy New York City streets filled with junkies, dealers, bail bondsmen, crooked lawyers and corrupt cops. This true, non-fiction story recounts the days of Bob Leuci in the late 60s - early 70s as a special investigator of narcotics. Serpico was good, but was not in the same life-threatening situations as Leuci. Fascinating stuff, and highly recommended to anyone.
December 4, 2021
Book was fair. as one other reviewer stated, a lot of different characters throughout the book and many are irrelevant. Interesting story, I’m sure there are other books about police corruption that are better written and more entertaining
February 7, 2025
An entertaining fast paced read with a totally predictable outcome. But this was before all the movies about this course of action so he can be excused for not knowing how much he was going to be used and thrown to the wolves by the government.
September 30, 2025
I did not finished this book - I could not get into it and would read it and remember nothing. Finally just said enough. I read the ending and that was even blah. Maybe it was good but I will never know!
January 5, 2018
****1/2: page-turning true story of NYPD corruption in the early 70's; was made into a great film by Sidney Lumet. Read this instead of Don Winslow's The Force.
January 21, 2021
Poorly written. How many times can you say “for he” as in “for he understood them” and “for he was frail”?
September 30, 2025
Bigly!
*** 3 Stars.
*** 3 Stars.
August 5, 2015
This is a hard hitting personal account of the difficult and at times morally ambiguous choices that Robert Leuci had to make as a narcotics detective in the Special Unit of the NYPD circa 1968-1973. He was a contemporary of Frank Serpico who also took on the personal and unpopular crusade of attempting to bring to heel some of the worst aspects of corruption in the NYPD.
Leuci wanted to go farther than Serpico. He wanted people to see that the narcotics trade, due to the vast amounts of money involved, was able to buy favors from not only street cops and detectives, but also from prosecutors, bail bondsmen and even judges.
The strain on Leuci was incredible and the book is a very tense read. because at the same time Leuci was trying to expose and fight corruption at the highest levels, he was also attempting to protect the people he was closest to: his partners and others he had worked with in the Special Unit. Ultimately, this task proved not only impossible, but also heart breaking as he lost friends both literally and metaphorically along the way.
Anytime a person takes on institutions in an effort to create change in the name of social justice, there is a personal cost. This book brilliantly tells the story while at the same time creating a real sense of the emotional and mental toll it took on Leuci.
There were times that I found myself very tense as a I read. The book also does a great job of showing the choices that detectives made in order to achieve "public safety". Many times, those choices were "shades of grey" rather than the black and white many expect of the justice system.
The book also does a wonderful job of showing the parallels of a guerrilla war being fought both in Vietnam and on the home front in the streets of New York. Leuci lost friends and colleagues. Like Frank Serpico, he survived to tell the tale. Unlike Serpico, who was shot by fellow cops attempting to murder him for taking a stand on social justice issues and ultimately choosing to leave the NYPD, Leuci was able to continue with a job in the force. It took a very long time for him to gain back even a small measure of acceptance and one suspects it was a lonely and at times, deeply painful road.
People willing to take these kinds of stances and withstand the public and professional crucifixion are amazing. To this day, if you Google his name, there are cops from the force at that time who are very vocal in their hatred for what Leuci did. But public institutions demand this type of scrutiny.
This is a page turner and well worth the investment of your time.
Leuci wanted to go farther than Serpico. He wanted people to see that the narcotics trade, due to the vast amounts of money involved, was able to buy favors from not only street cops and detectives, but also from prosecutors, bail bondsmen and even judges.
The strain on Leuci was incredible and the book is a very tense read. because at the same time Leuci was trying to expose and fight corruption at the highest levels, he was also attempting to protect the people he was closest to: his partners and others he had worked with in the Special Unit. Ultimately, this task proved not only impossible, but also heart breaking as he lost friends both literally and metaphorically along the way.
Anytime a person takes on institutions in an effort to create change in the name of social justice, there is a personal cost. This book brilliantly tells the story while at the same time creating a real sense of the emotional and mental toll it took on Leuci.
There were times that I found myself very tense as a I read. The book also does a great job of showing the choices that detectives made in order to achieve "public safety". Many times, those choices were "shades of grey" rather than the black and white many expect of the justice system.
The book also does a wonderful job of showing the parallels of a guerrilla war being fought both in Vietnam and on the home front in the streets of New York. Leuci lost friends and colleagues. Like Frank Serpico, he survived to tell the tale. Unlike Serpico, who was shot by fellow cops attempting to murder him for taking a stand on social justice issues and ultimately choosing to leave the NYPD, Leuci was able to continue with a job in the force. It took a very long time for him to gain back even a small measure of acceptance and one suspects it was a lonely and at times, deeply painful road.
People willing to take these kinds of stances and withstand the public and professional crucifixion are amazing. To this day, if you Google his name, there are cops from the force at that time who are very vocal in their hatred for what Leuci did. But public institutions demand this type of scrutiny.
This is a page turner and well worth the investment of your time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2013
This account of a police officer breaking a code of silence is intense. Robert Daley does a great job telling the story of Robert Leuci, a police officer torn between his duty as a cop and also his human instincts. Right, wrong... good, bad... they become horrifically intertwined. In a way, it was tough to read. But worth it.
July 27, 2014
A policeman publicly reveals corruption in NYPD. This is the story of either a rat or a hero. It's easy to see both attitudes coming from his peers or prosecutors, respectively. The author treats Leuci with compassion, but it's difficult to overlook the ease with which cops regularly took bribes and kickbacks from crooks and drug dealers as SOP, including our rat/hero.
December 13, 2016
Reads like a novel but lacks pictures
August 6, 2011
A really good (true) cop story. This a story filled with greed, corruption, and violence. One thing, after reading about the corruption and some of the sleazy things these cops did the ending may not sit well with some people. Still, this is a pretty good read.
January 16, 2008
Fun nonfiction about police corruption in New York City int the 1970s.
March 14, 2008
Great story, more-or-less well written. It surprises me not that narcotics cops are constantly torn between good and bad, but it's still affecting.
May 13, 2009
I was definitely drawn into the author's dilemma ... who are the good guys?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews