Corruption In Serpico By Peter Maas

Serpico by Peter Maas is about how a man was a cop and stood by what he thought was right and wrong. It is about how in the 1960s there was a lot of corruption in the New York Police Department. It is about how a man deals with payoffs, shakedowns, drug dealers, etc. Serpico was one of those cops that couldn’t be paid off or be quiet with what has happened on the field. I have yet to read the whole book but I will discuss what I have read and the concepts that I understood.
The main character Frank Serpico is a long hair, bearded, short man that would dress laid back most of the time but if needed will dress up. In Chapter 1, it is known that he had just returned from a two-week vacation to meet the narrator to talk about his vacation. They sit down to drink and I noticed that it was mentioned that he wasn’t a big drinker and was very conservative. Although he does seem reserved that didn’t cover the fact that he did have a few relationships with a few women throughout his life. Serpico was the only sibling

out of four that hadn’t married yet. This wasn’t surprising because he was always working and never let anything get in the way of his work.
The theme of this book, so far, is just corruption and what is right or wrong.

I feel as if the author was trying to first explain the life Serpico had and his background to provide reasons for his seriousness with his job. When the author wrote about how he was shot and was just trying to get better it gave an insight on how he reacts with this occurrence in his life. Personally, I think that the book is being told both logically and emotionally. Logically because Serpico is a cop and has to follow specific rules and does things by the book. He never strays from the rules he was sworn into by the police department. Emotionally because he has been hurt on the job and even threatened but he never gives in. Right when I though he was going to sink into the corruption of the department he didn’t. He became strong and stuck with his own thoughts and feelings. The emotion in this book is very interesting because it is going from present to past then back to

present.
My overall opinion about the book so far is that it is eye catching. The cover itself makes you think about what it is about. The quote at the bottom, “the classic story of the cop who couldn’t be bought” catches your attention at first glance. I would recommend this book because it is interesting and very informative. I would recommend it because of the way it is written with the past wrapped into the middle of it. If I had to explain it to someone I would say that if they wanted an insight of how the police system works and how a correct officer of the law behaved to read this book.
This report was to explain the corruption that Serpico went through in the department. I didn’t get to finish the book so my knowledge is limited but after reading what I read and other reviews about it, I came to the conclusion that the book did in fact explain all the corruption he went through and the hurt as well.