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Rogue Town
“Your boss, Hogan, is running the whole drug and gambling racket in Fairfield County.”
Vito Colucci had only been a cop in Stamford, CT for about a year and a half when he landed an assignment in the Narcotics Squad. He was excited to work with his new partner, Joe Ligi, who was funny as hell and drove a brand-new Mustang GT.
It didn’t take long for Joe and Vito to develop a reputation as an effective, dedicated team. It also didn’t take long for everyone on the squad to notice that despite doing their best, they only caught minnows while the big fish always got away. When Joe and Vito arrested a local man for outstanding warrants one night, they had no idea he was going to tell them that their boss was playing both sides of the law. Those fourteen words would change not just the course of their own lives, but the course of American history.
Rogue Town is Vito Colucci’s first-hand account of how he and a handful of honest cops risked everything to bust through Stamford’s deep entwinement of law and crime and bring the guilty to justice in one of the most corrupt cities in 1960s – 1980s America.
This second edition has been revised and updated, and contains bonus material on other high-profile cases on which Vito Colucci worked as a private investigator after leaving the police force.
Vito Colucci had only been a cop in Stamford, CT for about a year and a half when he landed an assignment in the Narcotics Squad. He was excited to work with his new partner, Joe Ligi, who was funny as hell and drove a brand-new Mustang GT.
It didn’t take long for Joe and Vito to develop a reputation as an effective, dedicated team. It also didn’t take long for everyone on the squad to notice that despite doing their best, they only caught minnows while the big fish always got away. When Joe and Vito arrested a local man for outstanding warrants one night, they had no idea he was going to tell them that their boss was playing both sides of the law. Those fourteen words would change not just the course of their own lives, but the course of American history.
Rogue Town is Vito Colucci’s first-hand account of how he and a handful of honest cops risked everything to bust through Stamford’s deep entwinement of law and crime and bring the guilty to justice in one of the most corrupt cities in 1960s – 1980s America.
This second edition has been revised and updated, and contains bonus material on other high-profile cases on which Vito Colucci worked as a private investigator after leaving the police force.
335 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 15, 2023
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January 15, 2024Cocktails and Crimes pick for January. The author will be at the library for a program January 18th, 2024 at 6pm.
November 23, 2023
**I received a free copy from the author, who is speaking at the library I work in a few months**
Vito Colucci's "Rogue Town" shows us something we've seen a dozen times over in movies ranging from "Serpico" to "Training Day" - a policeman struggling to uproot corruption in his own department. But "Rogue Town", like much of "Serpico", really happened - and highlights all the problems we don't see in the movie. How do you handle the knowledge that your comrades are dirty - and also gunning for you? And when deep undercover, how do you cope with hiding the truth from the ones you love?
It's in these moments that Colucci's book shines, as we see the tremendous weight placed upon Colucci throughout a decades-spanning career. Colucci's "Rogue Town" is competently written, with Vito's heart coming out on every page, from disappointments in his fellow officers to the up's and down's of his relationship with his wife and family. In particular, it's these moments where the book is at his strongest, as it shows the toll the job takes on both the officer and his family.
There are a few moments that highlight just how different 1970's Connecticut are from modern day, but Colucci has perspective enough to highlight these most of these with care and nuance. Overall, this is a powerful book recommended for anyone interested in law enforcement and uprooting corruption.
Vito Colucci's "Rogue Town" shows us something we've seen a dozen times over in movies ranging from "Serpico" to "Training Day" - a policeman struggling to uproot corruption in his own department. But "Rogue Town", like much of "Serpico", really happened - and highlights all the problems we don't see in the movie. How do you handle the knowledge that your comrades are dirty - and also gunning for you? And when deep undercover, how do you cope with hiding the truth from the ones you love?
It's in these moments that Colucci's book shines, as we see the tremendous weight placed upon Colucci throughout a decades-spanning career. Colucci's "Rogue Town" is competently written, with Vito's heart coming out on every page, from disappointments in his fellow officers to the up's and down's of his relationship with his wife and family. In particular, it's these moments where the book is at his strongest, as it shows the toll the job takes on both the officer and his family.
There are a few moments that highlight just how different 1970's Connecticut are from modern day, but Colucci has perspective enough to highlight these most of these with care and nuance. Overall, this is a powerful book recommended for anyone interested in law enforcement and uprooting corruption.
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