Good Cop Bad Cop: Detective Joe Trimboli's Heroic Pursuit of Nypd Officer Michael Dowd [Hardcover]

McAlary (Cop Shot) here affectingly tells the gutsy story of good cop Trimboli, who staked out bad cop Dowd for five years to bring him to justice. Dowd, often drunk or high on drugs, not only fronted for drug dealers but also confiscated and subsequently sold drugs, robbed or set up robberies of drug dealers and engaged in other malfeasance. But with the protective fraternity style pervasive in the department, Internal Affairs officer Trimboli was forced to fight a lone battle. Complicating his task was his discovery that high-ranking officers did not want to know about departmental corruption lest they jeapordize their own careers. The break in the case came when Dowd was arrested for drug trafficking on Long Island and the NYPD could no longer ignore his criminal behavior. Finally, after investigations by the NYPD and the DEA, Dowd was tried in 1993 for distributing drugs and sentenced to 14 years. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Corruption in the New York Police Department is cyclical. There was the famous scandal of 1950; then Frank Serpico revealed corruption during the 1970s. Now, in the 1990s, it is Joe Trimboli's turn. McAlary (Cop Shot, Jove, 1992), the journalist who broke the story in the New York Post, presents a fascinating account of how one honest police officer tried to expose rogue cop Michael Dowd. Trimboli, who worked in the Internal Affairs Department, attempted for five years to get Dowd arrested for his illegal activities. Instead, the NYPD ignored his reports, fearing that another scandal would harm the department's reputation. Ironically, it was the Suffolk County Police who eventually nailed Dowd, who was tried in a federal court for his crimes. When the story broke, the NYPD tried to make Trimboli the fall guy. A sad story of a problem that continues to plague the NYPD. For large true crime collections.
Michael Sawyer, Clinton P.L., Iowa
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A gritty if tasteless and overblown recounting of one honest NYPD detective's investigation of one corrupt NYPD cop. This is hardly the stuff of legend, despite New York Daily News columnist McAlary's (Cop Shot, 1990) insistent invocation of Frank Serpico. Early in 1986, the Field Internal Affairs Unit received a tip that officer Michael Dowd and his partner, Gerald DuBois, serving in the 75th precinct in Brooklyn's East New York section, were ripping off drug dealers. A ``world-class dirtbag,'' according to one cop, Dowd had been involved in a number of disciplinary actions, including being sent to ``the Farm'' for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. ``The first time I saw Michael Dowd,'' said Detective Joe Trimboli, ``I knew he was dirty.'' But Trimboli, known as ``The Watcher,'' failed to prove the more serious allegations, such as snorting cocaine while on duty, accepting bribes, doing chores for drug dealers, and stealing money from prisoners and corpses. Instead, he nabbed Dowd for ``patrol violations,'' such as leaving his assigned area for lunch and wearing his hat backward. Dowd was, however, heavily involved with Joe Adonis, a low-level dealer working for Jose ``Chelo'' Montalvo, a drug lord from the Bronx, and was allegedly receiving $8,000 per week in bribes. Investigators in the DA's office for Suffolk County, Long Island, where Dowd lived, suspected the New York cop was dealing drugs and arrested him in May 1992. Although Trimboli's years of work didn't lead directly to Dowd's downfall, his reports substantiated many of the charges and made a guilty plea inescapable. Dowd was later charged with federal racketeering for accepting the bribes and is serving a 14-year sentence. McAlary's lurid writing--Dowd hung out in a bar where ``the lighting was as weak as the character in the room''--and his sensationalistic attempt to puff up one cop's downfall as indicative of all-pervasive police corruption make this a tough sell. (8 pages photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

An award-winning journalist for the New York Daily News presents an account of police corruption, in which an Internal Affairs officer uncovers an elaborate system of bribery, theft, extortion, racketeering, and drug dealing.