SERPICO with PETER MAAS, A&E, 2002
In his final on-camera interview, Peter Maas revisits the story of the cop who sacrificed his career battling corruption.
TRUE CRIME AUTHORS goes between the lines with the men and women who have written the definitive accounts of some of the most infamous crimes in American history. Each episode features surprising revelations, insights that did not make it into print, and a revealing look at what it takes to bring a balanced story to an eager public.
On February 3rd, 1971, as his partners stood by, Frank Serpico, a New York City cop, was shot in the face at a Brooklyn tenement. It was the bitter and brutal conclusion to a five-year career spent battling an epidemic of corruption within the NYPD. But he did not die, and his story, as told by Peter Maas in the true crime classic "Serpico", became a runaway bestseller and made millions of people aware of the shocking problems permeating America's largest police force.
In his last on-camera interview before his death, Maas reflects on Serpico's legacy as an outcast who was willing to pay any price for his ideals, and his own role in telling the powerful, important story.
50 minutes, fully narrated, closed-captioned, VHS NTSC only, ISBN: 0-7670-5031-2, VS4112 / $24.95
ASSOCIATED MATERIAL: Other A&E / History Channel Videos