Jim ONeil - A Cops Tale. NYPD The Violent Years

Many thanks to Melissa Stanton. Her support and advice
was appreciated.
To Ed Schneider, my old partner, for his
encouragement and suggestions.
To Tim Herlihy, my nephew and a successful
co-writer of many movies with Adam Sandler. Tims
encouragement and advice on certain additions and changes
to the manuscript were heeded, implemented, and appreciated.
To my family, for all the times I was not there during
my career and for the encouragement received during the
writing of this book.

The story you are about to read is true. The characters
depicted all existed, and the incidents described actually took
place. Some names have been altered to protect the identities
of victims, as well as the confidential informants whose
identities I promised never to reveal.

To those members of the law enforcement community both active and retired who have read this book I extend my salutations. As many of you know and others will someday realize, you may retire and leave the job but the job will never leave you. You will always look at people and situations differently and more keenly than those not part of your profession. You will always stand tall and proud knowing where you have been and what you have done. You will be thankful for the many opportunities you had to make peoples lives a little better and safer. Thankful for the times you were able to render assistance to those persons who desperately needed help and had no one else to turn to.

To those of you not involved in law enforcement I extend my greetings and hope you enjoyed reading the book as much as I enjoyed living it. It was a pleasure and a privilege being afforded the opportunity to protect and serve my fellow human beings. While we never got rich monetarily we were abundantly rewarded spiritually. Our reward was found in the knowledge that Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of God, and that cops are part of the greatest fraternity in the world.

The years have gone by and the players in this tome have finished their active service and have gone on to other endeavors.

Wild Jimmy Crean retired as captain of a Bronx detective district and is now a successful lawyer.

Davy Katz spends his retired years out West. Peggy and I had the pleasure to spend some time with him recently and he is still the crazy, funny partner I once had. His words to Peggy after kissing her on the cheek were, Did the church canonize you yet?

Eddie Schneider moved to Florida and is owner of that states largest trailer and RV park as well as a thriving RV dealership. He was always adept at making lots of money and is now able to uphold the law just for the fun of it, as a part-time deputy sheriff.

Fred Lambert became the chief of security for a major bank in Manhattan and still resides in New York City.

Ed Bailey was a security chief at the Board of Education for many years until finally retiring for good. Ed passed away during the writing of this book and the fraternity lost a great brother.

Cleve Bethea retired on a disability pension after sustaining two gunshot wounds in the line of duty. After many surgeries to repair the shattered bone in his leg he regained his ability to walk unaided. He currently lives in a southern state tending to his chickens and using their egg production to supplement his pension.

George Roberts went into private investigation and is now deceased.

John Mattias died of cancer at the young age of forty-four and ended what would have been a brilliant investigative career.

Tricky Dick Lannon moved to New Yorks Catskill Mountains where he lives in a house atop a mountain road overlooking a beautiful valley.

Chief Charles O. Henry, my boss, my friend, and my mentor retired to Las Vegas where he passed away in February of 2006.

Time passes, but time cant dim the shining memories I treasure of a career spent with some of the finest cops and detectives on earth.

The sunlight was slowly fading and with it the heat of the day began to dissipate. Some of the residents were preparing to trade their daylight masks of civility for ones that mirrored their darker side. A side that would turn them into roving marauders, preying on their neighbors.

They were basically a moral people but as the darkness drew them out into the streets they lost their individual identities and became one with the mob. Four thousand strong they were and as dusk approached they readied themselves for a night of violence. Nobody planned it but the looting was inevitable.

First came the yelling, then the screaming out at social injustices, and just as the mob was gathering a feeling of invincibility a low almost imperceptible sound was heard. Not a random street sound but one with a purpose. A word repeated over and over like some barbaric chant. As the mob strained to hear, the sound grew louder; it was getting closer. But as realization spread that the sound was being chanted by only forty cops there was a collective sigh of relief. After all, what could so few do against the awesome might of four thousand angry, oppressed citizens? The relief was short-lived, however, as the cops lined up into an inverted V flying-wedge formation brandishing axe handles and chanting their mantra. With every step the flying wedge took it uttered the word as each cop reassuringly slapped an axe handle into the palm of his hand. The mob stood its ground, waiting to see what the cops hoped to do against such a formidable foe.

They didnt have long to wait.

The word grew louder and clearer, and as the first of the mob lost consciousness from the blow of an axe handle the word was finally understood. It seemed to echo off the tenement walls and all at once the four thousand heard it. At first the crowd froze in disbelief; after all, this was not Russia, this was good old Brooklyn, U.S.A., and it was 1964. KILL... KILL... KILL... KILL.

The chants effect was twofold, emboldening the cops and injecting fear into the mob. Now the forty felt like four hundred as axe handles separated teeth from jaws, broke noses, shut eyes, and bashed heads. The mob had just been introduced to the NYPDs Shock Troopsthe Elite Tactical Patrol Force.

This was NYPD riot suppression 1964-style and my first taste of an escalating disregard for the law that ushered in some of the departments most violent years.

Today New York City is the safest big city in the country, largely due to the New York Police Departments (NYPD) proficient use of modern information technology, statistics, and forensic sciences. But it wasnt always that way.

When I joined the force as Patrolman James ONeil in 1963 the crime rate was at an all-time high. Criminals roamed the streets of certain neighborhoods, almost at will, as violence continued to escalate. Back then it was bare-knuckle law enforcement with cops getting as down and dirty as the criminals. There were no computers, forensic science was in its infancy, cell phones hadnt been invented, and walkie-talkies were a luxury.