Frank Serpico – Blogging In the Woods

I’ve been reading New York Magazine’s 40th Anniversary Issue, and there’s a little story in there about Frank Serpico, the real-life Brooklyn-born cop who inspired 1973’s Serpico, starring Al Pacino.

Serpico (pictured), who exposed corruption among fellow NYPD officers during the late 60s, retired 36 years ago and lives off pension and disability payments. After a decade of traveling through Europe and North America, he settled in upstate New York, “In a nice little cabin in the woods.” He spends his time acting, sculpting, teaching ballroom dance (!), meditating, practicing homeopathic medicine, and playing the Japanese shakuhachi flute.

I guess he’s happy with his life, but lives under an assumed name (probably a good thing) and still has a deep mistrust of what he calls the “iron triangle” of industry, government and the military. And he has very few kind words for the NYPD. “I still get emails from cops telling me what’s going on,” he says. “They say, ‘Oh, it is as bad as ever.’”

Check out his Web site and blog. He has a few things to say about McCain and Obama.

Image: Newscom.com