Although there was a Captain, the Lieutenants ran the show. Each had 5 or 6 sergeants who had a module of police officers and 1 undercover officer. The police officers were called investigators and were eyeing the coveted Detective gold shield. The Federal and city government would provide the money for the overtime, which was the grease that spun the wheels.
My immediate boss was Lt. Louie D, and I was assigned to the Bulldog 6 module covering the 66th Precinct. Again this was another Precinct that had a large Hasidic community, but they were the Lubavitchers as compared to the Satmars of the 90th. There was one block in the 66th where 2 modules could make 15 arrests every day. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. As soon as you made an arrest for sale of crack, another would take over as the profits were better than working at McDonalds. *
In 1986 the Crack epidemic hit the streets of NYC. Crack is a poor man’s version of cocaine and is smoked in a glass tube. Somehow the drug dealers were able to cook cocaine and make it both affordable and highly addictive. It’s called chasing the Lady as you never achieve you first hit or high.
In order to combat this the NYPD expanded the Narcotics Division from about 300 to 3000 personnel. Along with other Sergeants and Lieutenants I was drafted after an extensive interview that included our prior records and our time on the job. Most of us were near or at retirement age. The Department was very concerned about corruption as portrayed years ago in the movie, Serpico.
After the two-week training course, we were assigned to different areas of the city, I was assigned to Brooklyn South Narcotics Division. However, I knew nothing about this area as the 90th Precinct is in Brooklyn North. When I reported to the Narcotics base, I was picked by Lt. Louie D and that made all the difference. He assigned me to Bulldog 6, which covers the 66th Precinct. I was in charge of a group of investigators who had to address complaints from the community. This was done by trying to effect arrests of those selling drugs at these locations.
I will not go into detail about the use of undercover officers. Eventually the rewards were increased overtime and promotion to the Detective Division. At one Community meeting we were given information that resulted in us recovering 14.5 million dollars. I think that we had to work with the DEA and this was the only time I would be at 7 World Trade Center, not the Twin Towers. My unit was cross designated by the Federal government, and we were actually designated Customs officers.
On 3-21-1991 I was attempting to go from a NYPD Harbor boat to a freighter by the Statue of Liberty when a large wave struck causing me to do a back flip into the harbor boat, thus injuring my lower back. This would be the beginning of the end of my career in the NYPD, as the Police surgeon found me unfit for full duty and on 10-30-1992 I handed in my papers and shield. if I was on full duty, I would have been promoted to Lieutenant that day. My dreams of being a Captain were now also over.
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* Note: Somewhere I found a little brass whistle and when I came into the base I would blow it and say “Capos here!” That was the signal that we were going out to collar up and make some overtime to pay the bills.
