Target Blue. An Insider's View of the N.Y.P.D.

by Robert Daley

It was a year of trauma, possibly the most traumatic in NYPD history. The so-called Black Liberation Army shot cops in the back. In New York alone they assassinated four, machine gunned two others, ambushed others with guns and knives. A new commissioner, swearing to end corruption and bring the force into the modern age, took over, even as two mafia dons got whacked, the biggest jewel robbery in the city's history took place, and Sgt. Durk and Patrolman Serpico brought on the Knapp Commission, whose purpose was to put cops in jail. Meanwhile, in the corridors of headquarters men with stars on their shoulders undermined the new commissioner where they could while jostling constantly for position and power.
 

Genres: History, True Crime, Police

Hardcover

First published January 27, 2011

About the author

Robert 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.

Reviews

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't let Assata Shakur's negative review scare you off. It reads remarkably well for a non-fiction memoir of Daley's year as a New York City Police Commissioner... that year being from Spring 1971-1972, which covered a whole array of madcap antics: the BLA, mob hits, Serpico, Knapp Commission and the character of Chief Detective Al Seedman, (who has his own very readable (and out of print) autobiography, Chief!.)

Assata Shakur condemns this book as being full of lies (at least for the two brief chapters covering the Black Liberation Army and the Curry-Binetti, Jones-Piagentini, and Foster-Laurie shootings in New York City). And she's not exactly wrong, either. Although Daley covers the corruption scandal of the Knapp Commission (and as a friend of Frank Serpico makes clear that lots of cops are on the take) he spends an equal amount of time lauding the feats and honesty of beat patrolmen. He never questions the accuracy of lab results or goes into the nitty-gritty details of how a case was solved. We simply hear that "residual prints matched those of BLA member so-and-so," and the accounts of witnesses are left largely unchallenged--although later evidence indicates the Police did their fair share of extorting false testimony in many cases.

Daley even goes into some detail on how Police "used" to brutalize and torture (and even sometimes kill) suspects during questioning... but then happily reports that the new commissioner has forbidden it so that's the end of that. Ah, yeah.

Just accept up front that it's a biased account, and it's an enjoyable true crime romp. I believe that Daley may not be "lying," and in fact may not have been fully aware of the extent of COINTELPRO. However, he at least remains guilty of drinking too much departmental kool-aid.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Target Blue' begins with the shooting of Frank Serpico and ends just over a year later with the resignation of Deputy Commissioner Robert Daley. In the tumultuous year, the Knapp Commission investigated the endemic corruption at the heart of the NYPD and the aftermath changed policing in the city beyond recognition.

Daley navigates readers through this lengthy and comprehensive book highlighting the societal problems that led to the Knapp Commission and the infuriating reluctance to accept changes which went from the patrol officer on the ground to the very head of the New York Police Department. This is a fascinating examination of recent history.

[George Norris]

Turbulent times in the NYPD. GREAT READ!

I first read this book decades ago, and I'm so happy to have reread it. Bob Daley was an NYPD Deputy Commissioner in the early 1970s. There was so much, historically, that happened during his short tenure, and to read him recounting them gives one a great perspective of the times in not just the NYPD but NYC as well.

[Marc Mc Menamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A harrowing account of Robert Daleys year at the top of the NYPD. Very insightful reading for a contemporary reader with many lessons to be learnt.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like books that I learn something, or see a new perspective. This book was a little gritty, soemtimes laborious, but it gave an insider's view of NYPD of the times. It was worht reading.