|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
The Lawman Joseph Coffey
| Article
# : |
20279 |
|
|
Section : |
LIFE
|
| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1992 |
2,689 Words |
| Author
: |
Sherry Von Ohlsen
Sherry Von Ohlsen writes from her base in Sparta, New Jersey. |
He's fifty-four. He chain-smokes. His hands shake as he signs the inside cover of his book--the only signal that the adrenalin rush of the street still roils within him. You get the feeling that Joe Coffey rarely sleeps and that when he does, he dreams of crime-eclipsed streets and of setting traps for the bad guys.
On an October day in 1946, Coffey was eight years old. He was sitting in the kitchen of the family's East Side Manhattan apartment, straddling a kitchen chair. He was doing homework. Outside, a subway rattled by.
Inside, two shots echoed through the building's hallway. Joe bolted out of the apartment and down the stairs, knowing at once whom the bullets were meant for. His father. Joe's father had resisted labor racketeers who had offered him favors because of his work as a union organizer for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 804.
Shattered glass was on the floor of the foyer. Joe's unharmed father was bent over his pregnant wife, comforting her, also unharmed. Coffey's parents had been saved by an illusion created by the light bulb that dangled from the hallway ceiling. The harsh light had made it appear as though his parents were standing right inside the door. The would-be assassin had shot at air.
Looking back on the experience, Coffey realizes that he failed assassination attempt was a decisive moment in his young life. It helped form in him a mind-set that would direct the course of the rest of his life; he would henceforth set himself to fighting the very kind of people who had tried to kill his father. He would wage war against the shadow life of New York City, against the mob, against thugs with names like "Paulie" Castellano and John Gotti, recently convicted of murder and racketeering by a New York City jury.
THE COFFEY FILES
Now, more than forty years late, Coffey has put down his thoughts and experiences in The Coffey Files: One Cop's War against the Mob (coauthored with Jerry Schmetterer). In his book, Coffey details the investigations of serial killer Son of Sam, the Black Panthers organization, and eighty-two homicides. It also described Coffey's role as commanding officer of the Chief role as commanding officer of the Chief of Detectives' Organized Crime Homicide Task Force, the unit that became known as the Coffey gang. Coffey and his gang sent hundreds of mobsters to prison. Coffey himself
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
