Blood and the Badge by Michael Cannell Pages: 357
Genres: True Crime
Setting: New York City, NY
Source: ARC, NetGalley
Narrator: Jonathan Yen
Goodreads
For the first time in forty years, former New York Times editor Michael Cannell unearths the full story behind two ruthless New York cops who acted as double agents for the Mafia.
No episode in NYPD history surpasses the depravities of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, two decorated detectives who covertly acted as mafia informants and paid assassins in the Scorsese world of 1980s Brooklyn.
For more than ten years, Eppolito and Caracappa moonlighted as the mob’s early warning alert system, leaking names of mobsters secretly cooperating with the government and crippling investigations by sharing details of surveillance, phone taps and impending arrests. The Lucchese boss called the two detectives his crystal ball: Whatever detectives knew, the mafia soon learned. Most grievously, Eppolito and Caracappa earned bonuses by staging eight mob hits, pulling the trigger themselves at least once.
Blood and the Badge is the true story about detectives Eppolito and Caracappa, who worked for the NYPD and the mafia at the same time. Honestly, it sounds like an episode of Law and Order or the plot of a movie, but it really happened and they got away with it for decades!
Cannell does a great job researching and getting first hand accounts of Eppolito and Caracappa from the 1980’s. And while corrupt cops exist (perhaps too often), these two were really the summit of police corruption-they killed people, subverted raids, and destroyed evidence. It defied belief at the time. Understanding the background of these dectectives helps inform their decisions, but it was shocking all the same. Even more shocking is how long they escaped justice. Their crimes occurred in the 80’s and they weren’t tried until the early 2000’s!
If you are a fan of true crime, this is a can’t miss story. If you are thinking of giving true crime a try, I highly recommend Blood and the Badge-its sensational and riveting! If audio is your thing (and I do like it for true crime listens especially), the audio is wonderful as well! Jonathan Yen did a great job of telling the story.
Killer Triggers by Joe Kenda, When a Killer Calls by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker…then you will probably like Blood and the Badge!
I think I’d enjoy reading this and be horrified by it.