A Fight for Justice

Frank Serpico was an honest cop. He worked in the NYPD. He worked in many police departments and precincts in different boroughs, but mainly he worked in Brooklyn in the eighty-first precinct.

When he came into the police, he saw that everything was wrong. Police officers were taking bribes from people and drug dealers. Serpico just wanted to be an honest cop. His perseverance pushed him to change all of this. One day he received an envelope with $300 in it. It was a bribe. After this, he couldn't wait any longer. He started to act. He started to go to higher officials. He reported the accident to authorities. But that wasn't enough to change the NYPD system. After this, everyone hated him. He understood that what he did was not enough so he decided to talk to the public. He wrote everything down in an article to the New York Times on April 25th, 1970 that read: GRAFT PAID TO POLICE HERE. SAID TO RUN INTO MILLIONS. That changed some things and some people got arrested.

When there was an assignment one day, he was shot in the face. At the hospital it was found that the bullet had shattered his skull causing permanent hearing loss in his left ear. While in the hospital Serpico hot offered his golden badge. But he did not want it. After getting out of the hospital, Serpico decided to travel and he retired. The police in New York hated him and many threats had been made on his life. It was believed by many that the shooting was a police setup to get