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NEW YORK — It’s been more than 50 years since Frank Serpico testified about corruption in the New York Police Department, and now the agency is finally recognizing his service and injury in the line of duty with an official certificate and inscribed medal of honor.
Although it lacked pomp and circumstance, the former undercover detective, 85, received the honor in the mail Thursday, according to the New York Daily News.
Serpico bravely broke ranks with the “blue wall of silence” and testified in December 1971 to a panel appointed by Mayor John Lindsay to investigate police corruption. Moreover, he was shot in the face during a drug arrest in Brooklyn in 1971 months before he testified and has maintained that the other officers he was with never made a call for an “officer down,” Yahoo News reported.
His story became legendary when Al Pacino went on to portray him in the hit 1973 movie “Serpico.”
Daily News reporter Larry McShane interviewed Serpico in December about the 50th anniversary of his appearance before the Knapp Commission.
“I felt that finally I was going to tell the world and nobody’s going to interrupt me,” Serpico told the news outlet, speaking from his home in upstate New York. “I thought, ‘I know the truth.’ … Every single word was mine, and it came from the heart.”
Mayor Eric Adams responded to the coverage, saying Serpico’s “bravery inspired my law enforcement career. Frank — we’re going to make sure you get your medal.”
On Thursday, Serpico tweeted a photo of the framed medal of honor and certificate that reads in part, “in recognition of an individual act of extraordinary bravery performed in the line of duty.”
I want to thank @NYCMayor, Chris Dunn @NYCLU, @PeterGleasonEsq &@lmcshanenydn for their efforts in facilitating my receipt of this long overdue honor awarded to me by the NYPD over 50 years ago 👍🏽🙏 pic.twitter.com/UtPPDYxXkm
— frank serpico (@SerpicoDet) February 3, 2022
I want to also thank all my Twitter well wishers. And to all a good night 😴https://t.co/o3zvWFVTqD
— frank serpico (@SerpicoDet) February 4, 2022
When Serpico originally received the medal in 1972, it was unceremoniously handed to him over a countertop, without any fanfare or the accompanying certificate.
As the accolades arrived on Thursday, Serpico tweeted a short video of a “21-gun salute” unveiling the certificate — using popped bubble wrap instead of gunshots, the Daily News reported.
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