There is a great new show about policing called "Public Morals." It is about how NYC used to be in the 1960's.
It shows how the "Pad" worked. The Vice Cops would control things in return for a small stipend that all of the cops in the precinct would share in to supplement their meager pay. It wouldn't be much. Maybe five bucks a week. But in return when something goes wrong you would call up and it was taken care of immediately. You know that there wasn't a problem with the "homeless." They were bums and they were rousted and sent off to the Bowery. Not like today where a homeless douche bag could set up in front of your house and take a dump on the sidewalk and the cops can't or won't do anything about it because they don't want to catch a beef.
It has the flavor of the sixties. The fashions. The cars. The cigars. The food. The style. Burn's old man was a cop and he used all of his old stories in the series. Set on the West Side of Manhattan it deals with Irish cops and Irish Gangsters. With a few Wops mixed in for flavor. Written and directed by Edward Burns it stars a bunch of great actors. Brian Dennehy. Neal McDonnough. Kevin Corrigan. Michael Rapaport. Lots of great scenes of violence and mayhem. There is one mutt who is direct rip off of Crazy Joe Gallo. Has his look and his attitude. Kills five guys with a knife. You see they didn't always have guns in those days.
I remember those days. When the Cops were Irish and the Crooks were guineas. When you had a problem you went to the guys who ran the neighborhood and took care of it. There was no street crime to speak of. The cops controlled the vice. You could play the numbers or bet a horse without paying a huge tax if you won. They always paid off. If you had a beef and were a legitimate citizen the cops would take care of it. Those were the days.
If you want to see the real community policing check this out.
Highly recommended.
15 comments:
No personal offense intended Trooper but it's about New York City and my opinion nowadays about New York City is Fuck New York City and the fucking horse it fucking rode in on.
Other than that I'm good with the Big Apple.
It is about New York City in the good old days. When men were men and the skells were nervous.
But don't sweat it. I don't like shows about shit kickers either.
To each his own.
Actually, the cops and crooks came in all denominations, and, if we're talking the 60s, yeah, there was street crime, but not like it was after the SCUS decisions giving criminals rights. You had sense enough to avoid the bad areas, but you didn't have to worry about your will being made out before sitting out on the front stoop on a hot night.
Sounds more like the early 60s and 50s when, yes, there really were rules and everybody knew them and observed them. Killing a cop was like committing suicide and the pros got it that civilian involvement was to be avoided.
That way in Philadelphia and most cities, I'm guessing.
And then the Lefty geniuses started pulling penumbras out of their behinds.
In fact in one of the episodes a skell shoots through a door and wounds one of the cops. They immediately set out to track him down and take him out. No matter what. That is the way it was.
Oh yeah. The skell was an Irish guy so you Black Lives Matter assholes can take a seat.
There is a subplot with the black lieutenant and a club with some happening sixties girl group music. There was a problem and he took care of it on his side of town.
That's the way it was.
Sounds like another "Eastern" :)
BTW, thanks to you and DBQ for recommending "Peaking Blinders" some time ago.
"Peaky Blinders," sheesh!
I understand where Rabel is coming from -- that's why I refer to the genre of NYC crime and police drama as "Easterns" as opposed to the "Western" genre. Many of us out here just don't relate. We don't like those kind of people. We don't like to see them come out to this clean country with their oily hair, dressed up in those silk suits, passing themselves off as decent Americans. We'll do business with them, but the fact is that we despise their masquerade, the dishonest way they pose themselves. They and their whole fucking famiglia.
How would you rate it with "The Wire" -- another of your great recommendations.
Well it is nowhere near the quality of "The Wire." David Simon who was the show runner is a bleeding heart liberal but he had to show the reality of what Baltimore really is like.
Now this is nostalgia. It is a little cleaned up. It is network albeit cable TV. It is very well done. Some of the details really ring true to me. The Dad coming home and popping a can of beer. All the kids piling into the car. Everybody going to the local Catholic school. Identifying where you are from by your parish not your street. It is spot on.
I hope to bring a little flavor of that on my book. I am going to put a few new chapters on my blog that I have neglected lately. Stay tuned.
Edward Burns has stayed amazingly close (considering the showbiz world he's been a part of for decades) to his roots.
There is a black guy in the picture. INACCURACY!!!
Not true Meth. There were always black cops in the NYPD. Black bosses too. Especially in Vice. There had to be to handle black crime among their own people. The Vice cops were the most broad minded individuals in the city. Theft didn't care.....as long as you paid.
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