Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Blue on Blue
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Charles-Campisi/548878495 * https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/meet-the-former-nypd-chief-who-made-a-career-out-of-putting-dirty-cops-behind-bars
RESEARCHER NOTES:
Email: ScribnerPublicity@simonandschuster.com (Email is for the author’s publisher: Brian Belfiglio)
Title: Mr.
HEADING: Campisi, Charles
000 00984nz a2200193n 450
001 10367956
005 20170203073605.0
008 170202n| azannaabn |n aaa c
010 __ |a no2017014028
035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca10694079
040 __ |a IAhCCS |b eng |e rda |c IAhCCS
100 1_ |a Campisi, Charles
370 __ |a Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) |2 naf
372 __ |a Police corruption |2 lcsh
373 __ |a New York (N.Y.). Police Department. Internal Affairs Bureau |2 naf
374 __ |a Police |a Private investigators |2 lcsh
375 __ |a male
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a Campisi, Charles. Blue on blue, 2017: |b title page (Charles Campisi, former chief, NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau) back jacket flap (Charles Campisi was chief of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, the world’s largest police anticorruption unit, for eighteen years, serving in that capacity longer than any other. Currently, he is a senior vice president at the private investigation firm Cyber Diligence. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York.)
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Graduate of FBI National Academy and John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
New York Police Department Internal Affairs Bureau, New York, NY, chief, 1996-2014; Cyber Diligence (private investigation firm), senior vice president, 2014–.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Charles Campisi led the New York Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau from 1996 until his retirement in 2014, serving longer in this position than any previous chief. He came to the job at a critical time for the department. A recent mayor’s commission had alleged widespread corruption in the department, with officers accused of stealing drugs, protecting major drug traffickers, rape, and other serious crimes. Campisi’s task, which he chronicles in his book Blue on Blue: An Insider’s Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops, was not only to clean up the entire department but also to create a new reputation for the Internal Affairs Bureau, which had long been seen as a dumping ground for incompetent or formerly corrupt officers willing to rat on their comrades.
Campisi developed innovative strategies, such as stings and wiretaps, to catch bad cops and obtain evidence sufficient to convict them. Among the first cases the bureau investigated during Campisi’s tenure was one of the most heinous in the NYPD’s history: that of Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who in 1997 was arrested for disorderly conduct. He was beaten by police who later sodomized him with a broom handle, injuring him so severely that he required several surgeries to repair damage to his colon and bladder. Despite compelling evidence of police abuse, fellow officers were reluctant to break the “blue wall of silence,” an unwritten rule assuming that police officers should never report misconduct or testify against each other. Nevertheless, the bureau was able to identify and compile evidence on five officers involved in the incident. The officer who raped Louima with the broom handle eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to thirty years in prison without parole; another officer received a lesser sentence for helping in the assault.
Another type of crime of interest to the bureau is the use of phony police badges–a practice so rampant that in 1994 the bureau created a special subdivision, Group 51, to expose it. “Sometimes a badge, even a phony one, can be even more intimidating than a knife or a gun,” Campisi writes. Posing as police officers, criminals can gain entry into businesses or homes and have extorted money, stolen drugs, and committed rapes.
Despite shocking abuses, the vast majority of New York police officers do their jobs competently and professionally, says Campisi. Officers are wrong to remain silent when their colleagues commit abuses, but the camaraderie behind the “blue wall” is real and necessary. “Law enforcement officers depend on one another for their very survival,” Campisi explained in a Vice interview with Seth Ferranti, and are understandably reluctant to expose their colleagues to blame when they are often working under difficult conditions. At the same time, however, Campisi emphasized the importance of accountability. “What the police departments across the country need to do is be as transparent as possible,” he told Ferranti.
Connie Fletcher, reviewing Blue on Blue in Booklist, hailed the book as “an unflinching expose and a riveting read.” With similar enthusiasm, a Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote: “This superb memoir can be read for its sheer entertainment or as a primer on police work.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Campisi, Charles, Blue on Blue: An Insider’s Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops, Scribner (New York, NY), 2017.
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 1, 2016, Connie Fletcher, review of Blue on Blue, p. 5.
Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2016, review of Blue on Blue.
Publishers Weekly, November 21, 2016, review of Blue on Blue, p. 99.
ONLINE
Michael Thomas Barry, http://www.michaelthomasbarry.com/ (Ausut 24, 2017), review of Blue on Blue.
New York Daily News Online, http://www.nydailynews.com/ (August 24, 2017), Sherryl Connelly, review of Blue on Blue.
Simon & Schuster Web Site, http://simonandschuster.com/ (August 24, 2017), Campisi profile.
Vice, https://www.vice.com/ (August 24, 2017), Seth Ferranti, “Meet the Former NYPD Chief Who Made a Career out of Putting Dirty Cops behind Bars.”*
Charles Campisi
Charles Campisi was Chief of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau from 1996 to 2014. In his years on the job he developed model strategies for investigating corruption, which have been adopted by law enforcement agencies across the US and abroad. A graduate of the FBI National Academy and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, he currently works as a Senior VP at the private investigation firm Cyber Diligence. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York.
CRIME
Meet the Former NYPD Chief Who Made a Career Out of Putting Dirty Cops Behind Bars
Seth Ferranti
SETH FERRANTI
Jan 31 2017, 3:07pm
Charles Campisi didn't want to be a rat, but someone had to at least try and keep tabs on the worst of New York's finest.
SHARE
TWEET
In the early 1990s, when Donald Trump was still basically just a loud real estate tycoon, New York City had a policing problem. But this one had nothing to do with panhandlers or squeegee men or the Central Park Five, the preferred boogiemen of tabloids like the New York Post. The NYPD—or at least a number of its officers—was dirty; a mayoral commission claimed to expose widespread corruption in America's largest police force, including allegations of cops stealing drugs and protecting high-level traffickers. Still, it was practically an article of faith among rank-and-file cops that anyone associated with Internal Affairs—the police department's own watchdog—was the enemy.
ADVERTISEMENT
Enter Charles Campisi, who served 41 years on the force, and was drafted into Internal Affairs against his will by NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly in 1993. He initially hoped to get out of there as fast as he could, but the hard-nosed cop became Internal Affairs chief a few years later, and ultimately made a career of going after bad guys who wear a badge.
In his forthcoming book, Blue on Blue: An Insider's Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops, Campisi details how the old Internal Affairs division evolved into a legitimate—if far from perfect—check on rogue cops. By stressing basic integrity and trying to incentivize the best and brightest to join what is now the Internal Affairs Bureau, Campisi thinks he helped turn things around. From the horrifying case of Abner Louima—a black immigrant the NYPD sodomized with a broomstick in 1997—to the "Cannibal Cop" in 2012, Campisi tried to keep tabs on the worst of New York's finest.
We chatted with the former chief by phone to find out how he went about probing corruption in such a massive police force, what he thinks of the Blue Wall (or Code) of Silence, and the possibility that gang members or even terrorists might make their way inside police forces like the NYPD.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Charles Campisi. Photo by Cyberdiligence, courtesy of Simon and Schuster
VICE: What was the climate like when you were first thrust into Internal Affairs work in the 1990s?
Charles Campisi: When we first started the new Internal Affairs Bureau, we did a series of focus groups, interviewing cops from all over New York City—different precincts, ranks, positions, and assignments. What became clear was there was a distrust of the old Internal Affairs division. That distrust manifested itself in the belief that if you were in Internal Affairs, then you weren't a good police officer. Cops back then looked at it like only three types of people go into internal affairs—I don't know if it was true or not, but this was their perception, so you have to take it into consideration.
Number one on the list was that IA officers were cowards. They were afraid to go on the street and be real police officers, so they went and hid in Internal Affairs. Or they were rats—people who were caught with their hands in the cookie jar or caught dirty, and in exchange for not going to jail, being arrested or losing their job, they would exchange information on other cops and become IA investigators. The third type were zealots who thought that they could go out and change the world by just going after cops, despite being cops themselves, whether it was for some personal reason or professional one.
ADVERTISEMENT
If any of that was true or not wasn't important. What was important was that was what many cops they believed. What we did was ask: How can we get around that? How can we not have [the perception be that it's all] cowards and rats and thieves and zealots in the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau?
OK, so what was your approach?
We tried to institute a policy where you could no longer volunteer to become a member of Internal Affairs. You had to be selected and drafted. Now, when people were drafted, they didn't want to be in the Internal Affairs Bureau—they tried to resist it as best they could. They had similar feelings to the ones I had, when I was drafted. I really didn't want to go there. But I had no choice. We looked at people who had exemplary records, people who had excelled in other investigative units, and we drafted them into the Internal Affairs Bureau, slowly but surely.
But even if you have great investigators, you still need to build cases against cops. What role do whistleblowers play in helping uncover abuse?
A whistleblower is a great thing, but it's tough on the individual and tough on the organization. The organization must protect its whistle blowers, and the rationale of why the person is blowing the whistle is not as important as the facts that they are giving. If those facts are true, the reason for them coming forward is secondary. You can't dismiss an allegation of corruption just because the person who's reporting it seems to be an offended person. You have to take it on its merits.
Former NYPD officer Charles Campisi, right, accompanying former mayor Ed Koch early in his tenure with the force. Photo by John Penley/courtesy of Simon and Schuster
Right, but there's been a lot of talk in the press since the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement about the Blue Wall or Blue Code of Silence. The idea is that cops just look the other way when their fellow officers do wrong. And some extensive reporting suggests lying is sort of baked into the cake of many police departments. That seems like an enormous obstacle.
Law enforcement officers depend on one another for their very survival. And even further than that, there's a socialization process in law enforcement where there are events and parties that, if you're not considered trustworthy, you won't be invited to, you will be shunned. The concept that the blue wall of silence or an occupational wall of silence exists within the police agencies of the world only is a grave misconception because we've seen it in other professions. There was a case where two firefighters got into an argument and one firefighter hit the other with a chair, causing very serious injuries that led to that firefighter being hospitalized. By the time the police responded, the crime scene was completely cleaned and sterilized, and no one had seen anything.
Many times doctors make honest mistakes, and people are injured and not often do other members of the medical profession come forward and say that the doctor or nurse or caretaker did something wrong. Do you call that the White Wall of Silence? Would another lawyer say that one of their fellow attorneys did something wrong? That can be the Pinstriped Wall of Silence. My point is just that in any profession, there's a camaraderie, and it [does] exist in the police profession. But, I mean, how many people come running forward in the sports worlds to tell about their colleagues taking steroids? What is that—the Locker Room Wall of Silence? It exists in in all walks of life. It's a human thing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sure. But the public perception of police these days among many Americans is that, way too often, they open fire on unarmed African Americans and, in the Eric Garner case, for instance, choke people to death in public. What's your sense of the scope of this problem, having worked at weeding out bad apples?
Within the African American community, there's a distrust and in some cases a fear of the police. And that's something that police agencies around the country have to get over. They have to sit down and meet with the community and work with them to solve crimes. People need to know that police are here to help protect and work with them. If the police and community come together under mutual understanding and mutual respect, things will be so much better.
What the police departments across the country need to do is be as transparent as possible. If we can just focus on our similarities, which outweigh our differences, we can bring our similarities to bear on that problem. There have been great strides in New York, where they are reaching out to the community as much as possible and getting them involved.
Watch Carmelo Anthony reflect on protesting police brutality in his home city of Baltimore.
What individual episode of police brutality stands out to you, looking back on your history as a watchdog?
The most horrifying case I've been involved in is the assault on Abner Louima, because it was such a horrific thing for anybody—not just a police officer, but for any human being—to do. Many people did not believe that it occurred, and they didn't believe it occurred because it was so horrific and completely out of the norm of what you would expect to happen. People would see me and say, "Hey, come on, tell me the truth, did that really happen?" And naturally I'm sworn to secrecy and all I can say is, "Give me the time to do what has to be done and keep your eyes on the newspapers, because things will be public as soon as we can." And then they would take from that that, Oh my God, maybe this really did happen.
ADVERTISEMENT
That was a very tough case, and I was very pleased how quickly we were able to identify people and how quickly we worked with the Brooklyn District attorney's office and then later with the United States attorney's office to the Eastern District of New York, to bring those cases. We were working on the case like three or four days before it hit the paper, and the thing that annoys me about it is that some members of the press said that we were sitting on our hands when we couldn't speak about it.
Do you think the NYPD fails on the job application side—that gang members, criminals, or terrorists might somehow make their way onto the force?
I'm sure that like any other large organization, there were people who entered the NYPD for the purpose of infiltration—whether they were a gang member or a relative of someone involved in a gang and corrupt behavior—and tried to gather information to be an intelligent source for them. It's not unlikely that someone has infiltrated the NYPD from the terrorist stand point. These are people who have radicalized leanings toward the overthrow of our government. They've joined the NYPD just like they've joined the military or any other organization with the intent of causing havoc from within. It's a very real fear that infiltrators might get in and cause a lot of trouble and damage.
Stepping back for a second, how has policing—and the responsibility and gravity of the job—evolved since you joined the profession decades ago?
When I first started, we were understaffed, underfunded, and undertrained. We did the best we could under the circumstances with the limited resources we had, but policing has made great advances. I've seen a big change in the attitudes of the police officers who often felt that they had no effect on what was happening. Remember that with police officers being the most visible part of government, sometimes we are treated as if we are the cause of the many problems like poverty, under-education, drug abuse, and people living in poor conditions. And those things are way beyond one single agency. All the city government has to come together. We have housing issues, we have healthcare issues, we have childcare issues, we have education issues. The police are not responsible for some of the conditions, but they are held responsible for some of the solutions.
Learn more about Campisi's book, which drops February 7, here.
Follow Seth Ferranti on Twitter.
*Correction 02/04/17: Because of a transcription error, an earlier version of this article referred to Amadou Diallo's fatal assault when the horrifying incident in question was actually the attack on Abner Louima.
NYPD special unit takes down knock-off cops who use phony badges for rapes, shakedowns and heists
Tweet
email
Model and Property Released (MR&PR)
When phony boys in blue commit heinous crimes in convincing cop disguises, real NYPD police catch on and take them down. (JACOBLUND/GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO)
BY
SHERRYL CONNELLY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, February 4, 2017, 6:59 PM
Deep within the powerful NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau exists a small unit dedicated to investigating crooked cops of a different sort — criminals using the badge for a cover.
Former IAB chief Charles Campisi, who ran the world’s largest anti-corruption unit for 18 years, reveals the existence of Group 51 in a “Blue on Blue: An Insider’s Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops.”
The Police Impersonation Group is the only one of its kind in the country, formed in 1994 amid a burgeoning wave of bogus cops.
“Sometimes a badge, even a phony one, can be even more intimidating than a knife or a gun,” he writes.
Follow the Daily News Sports on Facebook. "Like" us here.
The fake officers often targeted bodegas and other small businesses owned by immigrants from countries where police corruption was the norm.
A dozen or so investigators on permanent assignment bust about 100 perps a year for committing serious crimes while passing themselves off as NYPD cops.
Campisi — who wrote the book with Gordon Dillow — reports that rapes by police impersonators are a particularly widespread problem in New York City and across the country.
Happy Employees are Good for Business PAID CONTENT BY LHB
Happy Employees are Good for Business
He cites a typical case where a 35-year-old man banged on the door of an apartment in Queens, flashing a Department of Sanitation badge and yelling at the woman inside, “Police! Open up!”
NYPD unit nabs knock-off cops who use phony badges for no good
She did, and he raped her. Neighbors tackled the suspect as he tried to flee.
Edward Byam, one of three men sentenced today in a check cashing heist of a Pay-O-Matic in Queeens donning a sophisticated 'Hollywood' style mask. (handout)
(HANDOUT)
Exact replica of a mask ordered by Edward Byam for use in a robbbery of a Pay-O-Matic store. This mask was commissioned by the US Attorney's office in Brooklyn from CFX Effects and entered as evidence.
(JESSE WARD/JESSE WARD FOR NEW YORK DAILY NE)
Edward Byam's Pay-O-Matic heists resembled the ones pulled off by Ben Affleck in the movie "The Town," where crooks used silicon masks to grab cash.
The files are deep and the examples countless, like the 50-year-old recently-released child predator who flashed a badge at a 15-year-old boy on a subway platform.
The teenager was hustled into the back of a van and assaulted at a remote location.
And there’s the 40-year-old Staten Island man in full police uniform. When approached by a young immigrant woman needing directions, he ordered her to the top of a 16-story building. He threatened to throw her off unless she did what he wanted. This time, the woman fought her way free.
Creep arrested for posing as cop in Bronx to solicit sex acts
New York law prohibits the sale of NYPD uniforms and replica shields.
But “15 minutes on the internet can get you decked out with a uniform, handcuffs, a police radio and siren, emergency lights and sirens for your car,” writes Campisi — not to mention a convincing fake ID and a shield that’s almost a perfect knockoff of ones the NYPD uses.
And then there’s the group that created their own sham minipolice precinct.
In 2005, allergist Dr. Clifford Bassett, lawyer Jonathan Weinrich and seven other members of the Kings County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for Children were busted for trying to pass themselves off as real cops.
Bronx burglar posing as cop hits two apartments
Formed under a law that allows certain entities to enforce child abuse statutes, the 50 or so lawyers, accountants and other professionals functioned more as a social group of cop wannabes.
Not Released (NR)
“15 minutes on the internet can get you decked out with a uniform, handcuffs, a police radio and siren, emergency lights and sirens for your car,” writes Charles Campisi. (AIJOHN784/GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO)
According to Campisi, they set up their own minipolice force in Sunset Park, with “equipment that was newer and better than ours.”
While it seemed the society hadn’t actually conducted any investigations, the danger was always there.
“The last thing anyone wanted was for guys with no police training whatsoever to interfere with ongoing police investigations, or draw a gun on somebody and shout: ‘Freeze! SPCC Police!’ ”
Off-duty cop killed, sergeant critically injured in Bronx crash
The state attorney general’s office shut the group down in 2006.
Phony cop shakedowns are also common in the violent underworld of drug trafficking.
Campisi details a joint NYPD/FBI investigation that caught 16 Latin Kings, disguised as professionally equipped NYPD officers, targeting shipments of drugs or money.
Their arsenal included tactical vests, police scanners, bolt cutters, a hydraulic battering ram for breaking down doors and a Ford Crown Victoria with emergency lights.
DoD launches SVU push on sex crimes
A button allowed the driver to raise a piece of steel to cover the rear license plate.
These are two of the three perps without masks.
These are two of the three perps without masks. (TSMITH)
Another similarly equipped gang targeted major drug dealers, invading their apartments, beating or torturing the dealers or their families, and making off with a stash of drugs, money or both.
Prosecutors estimated the gang hit more than 100 dealers in New York and other cities along the East Coast for a take of about $4 million.
According to Campisi, IAB stages heavily armed showdowns twice a year in which it’s not always clear whether the bureau is in pursuit of dirty real cops or criminals posing as cops.
A typical example took place in Long Island City, Queens. Investigators acted on a tip from a career criminal, who confessed he’d been working for a crew of NYPD cops hijacking trucks carrying cocaine.
An elaborate sting was put in place. The informant told the leader of the thieving cop crew that a van holding 3 kilos of cocaine would be parked outside an empty warehouse. Two tractor-trailers, loaded with Emergency Service Unit A-team cops in full combat gear, waited nearby.
An ESU armored car was positioned behind a garage door.
Two cars pulled up just before midnight. When the perps failed to heed an order to halt, an ESU armored car burst through the garage door. An officer jumped out and hurled flash-bang grenades (since banned), delivering nothing more than sound and smoke.
The haul that night was five unarmed men wearing silver badges stamped “Security Officer.”
Blue on Blue: An Insider’s Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops book jacket
November 11, 2013: NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau Chief Charles Campisi attends a press conference with Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson to announce the indictment of sixteen people, including four New York City police officers, on charges of bribery, grand larceny, and other offenses in scams to defraud automobile insurance companies.
(CHEVRESTT, ANGEL)
Former Internal Affairs Bureau chief Campisi wrote "Blue on Blue: An Insider’s Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops."
Campisi writes that old-fashioned detective work is usually the lot of the IAB Police Impersonation Group.
On Valentine’s Day 2012, a woman working at a 24-hour Pay-O-Matic check-cashing joint on South Conduit Ave. in Queens was stopped in the parking lot by a guy wearing an NYPD raid jacket with a gold shield hanging around his neck.
Heading to work at 8 a.m., she admitted to working as a teller at the store. The “detective” then showed her a series of pictures and asked if she recognized anything.
One of the photos showed her house.
Intimidated, she told him there was only one other teller inside the Pay-O-Matic. Two other men in NYPD jackets followed them inside.
After ordering the two employees to the floor, the robbers stuffed $200,755 inside a bag, spread bleach around to eradicate any lingering DNA, and bolted with the cash.
Since real cops would have hidden their faces from the security cameras, the case fell to the IAB Police Impersonation Group, working alongside the FBI.
On one hand, the crew seemed liked pros, casing the heist in detail. On the other hand, the “detective” dropped the photo of the teller’s house at the scene.
Not Released (NR)
The fake gear gives criminals access to opportunities for crimes. (KARENMOWER/GETTY IMAGES)
It bore a Walgreens stamp.
The photo traced back to a 24-year-old black man from Queens named Edward Byam. The real cops connected two of his friends, also black, to the robbery as well.
But the tellers who had seen the robbers’ faces up close insisted all three were white.
Early on, investigators released the surveillance photos to the media and put them on the NYPD Crime Stoppers website. Only one anonymous tip panned out.
The caller said he recognized one of the faces as a mask. Not a Halloween mask, but a Hollywood-grade silicone mask that fit fully over the head.
“So these guys aren’t just cop impersonators. They’re also race impersonators,” Campisi writes.
A Louisiana company, CFX Composite Effects, produced records showing that Byam bought three “Mac the Guy” masks for $1,800 each shortly before the robbery. He’d sent the company an email promising more business in the future.
It was then that one of the IAB investigators picked up on another intriguing detail.
The Queens robbery echoed a heist in the 2010 Ben Affleck movie “The Town.” In it, professional robbers in Boston dress up as cops, pull on silicone masks and spread bleach around the crime scene. The movie crooks also gathered personal info on the victims to intimidate them into cooperating.
The three Queens robbers used their haul to play out their Hollywood dreams, spending it on expensive resorts and sprees at designer stores like Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
They also splurged on $12,000 diamond-encrusted Rolex watches for themselves and their girlfriends.
But when the credits rolled, Byam, Akeem Monsalvatge and Derrick Dunkley found themselves before a judge in 2014. Each was convicted of robbing two Pay-O-Matics and sentenced to 32 years in prison.
Blue on Blue: An Insider's Story of Good Cops
Catching Bad Cops
Publishers Weekly.
263.47 (Nov. 21, 2016): p99.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Blue on Blue: An Insider's Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops
Charles Campisi, with Gordon Dillow. Scribner, $28 (368p) ISBN 978-1-5011-2719-9
Campisi, the chief of NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau from 1996 to 2014, explains his methods for combating police
corruption in this highly readable account of his time heading the world's largest police anti-corruption unit. After
conceding that eliminating all significant police misconduct is a utopian goal, Campisi places the thefts, brutalities, and
other crimes in context by noting that the vast majority of cops do their hazardous work professionally and honestly.
New York City newspaper readers will find many of the accounts familiar, but Campisi's insider perspective provides a
different lens. He ends with brief commentary on the current state of policing in New York City. He's no fan of Mayor
de Blasio, and expresses concerns about the reduction in the number of integrity tests since his retirement in 2014. Most
eye-opening is his fear that "the NYPD will be infiltrated by sympathizers or even sleeper ?agents of ISIS or al-Qaeda or
some other terrorist organization." The breadth and depth of his experience makes this a must-read for those interested
in how police misconduct has been handled. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Blue on Blue: An Insider's Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops." Publishers Weekly, 21 Nov. 2016, p. 99. General
OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA471273992&it=r&asid=26bc40822a00ad1dfd1c5eb86206cd46.
Accessed 21 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A471273992
---
8/21/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1503371073912 2/3
Campisi, Charles: BLUE ON BLUE
Kirkus Reviews.
(Nov. 1, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Campisi, Charles BLUE ON BLUE Scribner (Adult Nonfiction) $28.00 2, 7 ISBN: 978-1-5011-2719-9
A recently retired high-ranking New York City police supervisor recounts his career, with an emphasis on his unpleasant
but necessary assignment flushing out corrupt cops.With assistance from journalist Dillow (co-author: Trauma Red: The
Making of a Surgeon in War and in America's Cities, 2014, etc.), Campisi offers a compelling, educational, memorable
account of his rise through the police department ranks until he was ordered to accept an assignment no cop ever
wanted: to become part of the Internal Affairs Bureau, hostilely known among rank-and-file police as "the rat squad."
Before his appointment, the bureau had been viewed as a dumping ground for incompetent, lazy, or previously dirty
officers. With aggressive support from a new police chief, Campisi found ways to alter the reputation of the bureau
while also improving techniques to catch and punish cops who cut corners, stole drugs, or employed excessive force.
The author does not shy away from going behind the scenes of infamous cases, including the brutalizing of Abner
Louima and the shooting death of Amadou Diallo. Refreshingly, Campisi rarely comes across as defensive about the
police department, but he does emphasize that an overwhelming percentage of the 30,000-plus cops on the job in NYC
handle their responsibilities as prescribed. Another element that Campisi relates without sounding defensive is the idea
of the "blue wall of silence"--good cops protecting corrupt cops. The author writes convincingly that such protective
behavior is also common among physicians, lawyers, and many other professions. Though Campisi expected to remain
within the Internal Affairs Bureau for two years, he served there for a record-setting 21 years before retiring in 2014. He
is worried that since his retirement, the unit's aggressiveness might have been de-emphasized, with a parallel concern
that the lax screening of cops might lead to terrorist infiltration of the NYPD. This superb memoir can be read for its
sheer entertainment or as a primer on police work--or both.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Campisi, Charles: BLUE ON BLUE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA468389025&it=r&asid=dec35ecdfbfa48454aca6be9c41f9a7a.
Accessed 21 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468389025
---
8/21/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1503371073912 3/3
Blue on Blue: An Insider's Story of Good Cops
Catching Bad Cops
Connie Fletcher
Booklist.
113.7 (Dec. 1, 2016): p5.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
* Blue on Blue: An Insider's Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops. By Charles Campisi and Gordon Dillow. Feb.
2017. 268p. Scribner, $28 (9781501127199). 363.2.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Chief Campisi of the NYPD gives the ultimate insiders view on police brutality and corruption here, gleaning war
stories and insights from his 41 years on the force, 17 of them spent as chief of the department's internal affairs bureau
(Campisi retired from the force in 2014). There are myriad books by street cops and detectives, but a voice telling what
it was like to work internal investigations is rare indeed. He wasn't an outsider brought into LAB--Campisi earned his
street cred in Manhattan Traffic and then as a cop in the high-crime Seven-Three Precinct before becoming a
commanding officer. The focus throughout is on police corruption and brutality, and Campisi has harrowing tales to tell,
starting with a Seven-Three cop's absolute rage at Campisi after Campisi yells "Stop!" as the other cop is aiming his gun
at the back of a running suspect. According to Campisi, "The NYPD had a corruption and brutality problem from the
day it was born." This book traces the reform of LAB from an agency that too often looked the other way to an active
force for finding and getting rid of police misconduct and corruption. It's cops and robbers both ways here, with the
excitement coming both from street stories and from tales of the intricacies of plotting against bad cops, with tools like
wiretaps and sting operations. An unflinching expose and a riveting read.--Connie Fletcher
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Fletcher, Connie. "Blue on Blue: An Insider's Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops." Booklist, 1 Dec. 2016, p. 5.
General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA474715608&it=r&asid=613854661b1d399395183056095263e0.
Accessed 21 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A474715608
Review of Blue on Blue by Charles Campisi
Category: Book Reviews / Tag: Blue on Blue, Charles Campisi, New York Journal of Books, NYPD Internal Affairs, Review of Blue on Blue, Scribner Books, true crime books / Add Comment
It’s often said that the police are the “thin blue line,” the fragile wall standing between the public and unrestrained anarchy and crime. But within the realm of policing there is no more despised or guarded assignment then Internal Affairs.
“Their work is often misunderstood, by the public and by others cops. It is racked with uncertainties and ambiguities, not simple black and white but varying shades of grey.”
The domain of Internal Affairs is filled with lies and betrayal, a world of squealers and snitches, wires and wiretaps, shadowy surveillance and covert operations. By necessity officers of Internal Affairs have to operate in the shadows, in secret, separated from their fellow officers. Good cops who recognize that the work they do is essential, are happy they don’t have to do the job themselves. But without these brave, honest, and faithful officers, the thin blue line would most certainly collapse from within.
In Blue on Blue: An Insider’s Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops, author Charles Campisi, a recently retired chief of the Internal Affairs Bureau for the NYPD recounts his 40-year career of flushing out crooked cops and combating police corruption. With assistance from veteran reporter and journalist Gordon Dillow, Campisi offers a fascinating and illuminating description of his career within the NYPD from a lowly rank and file officer in some of New York City’s most crime ridden precincts to his reluctant acceptance of head of the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB).
Campisi is honest but cautious about his assessment of his new job post: “as I leave Ray Kelly’s office . . . All I know is that our mission now is to transform Internal Affairs and I know that’s not going to be easy. Because anybody who thinks he’s going to change the way the NYPD handles corruption and misconduct within its ranks has a lot of history to overcome first.”
With aggressive support from superiors, Campisi sought ways to alter the IAB’s bad reputation.
“As far as most cops are concerned, other cops go into IAB for only three reasons: one, they’re cowards or shirkers who are too afraid or lazy to work on the streets; two, they’re rats who jammed up by their own corruption or misconduct and agreed to work for IAB and rat out other cops to save their own skins; or three, they’re zealots who simply get a sick and twisted pleasure out of persecuting cops.”
During Campisi’s 18-year tenure (1996 to 2014) at the IAB the number of people shot, wounded, or killed by cops declined by almost 90 percent, and the number of cops failing integrity tests shrank to an equally startling low. But to achieve these results wasn’t easy, and Campisi had to triple IAB’s staff, hire the very best detectives, and put the word out that bad apples wouldn’t be tolerated. Although he concedes that eliminating all significant police misconduct is virtually impossible, he emphasizes that the majority of cops do their work professionally and honorably.
Campisi’s narrative is thought provoking, and as an ultimate insider he offers the reading public a rare glimpse inside one of the most secretive branches of policing. Within its pages, he recounts the most critical cases that put the IAB to the test and which ultimately helped clean up the department.
Charles Campisi’s Blue on Blue is a compelling behind the scenes account of what it takes to investigate police officers who cross the line between guardians of the public to criminals. It’s a mesmerizing exposé on the harsh realities and complexities of being a cop on the mean streets of New York City and the challenges of enforcing the law while at the same time obeying it. The breadth and depth of experience of the author and his unwavering commitment to justice makes this a refreshing read that will most certainly enthrall true crime enthusiasts and those interested in the history of modern law enforcement and particularly how police misconduct is handled.
Michael Thomas Barry’s most recent book is In the Company of Evil: Thirty Years of California Crime, 1950–1980. He is the author of six other nonfiction books and is a columnist for CrimeMagazine.com.