Chief!

by Peter Hellman and Albert A. Seedman

Book Overview

""Fascinating Seedman recounts with vividness and detail... crimes that were page one stories...Excellent."" -The New York Times "A LIVING LEGEND" -NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 052563004X
• ISBN13: 9780525630043
• Release Date: January 1974
• Publisher: A. Fields Books
• Length: 500 Pages
• Weight: 1.29 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Old Time Police Work, A Lost Art

I read this book many years ago and enjoyed the book. I was much younger at the time but the cases referenced in the book were much closer in time to reading the book. I loaned the book to someone and never got it back. I tried finding the book in old book stores for many years but finally got another copy. The book is broken down into individual cases so you can pick any story as a new beginning. Good book for a younger person to read to see how criminal cases were solved prior to computers, etc. I enjoyed the Belt Parkway case and the Townhouse case (since I am from New York).

Chief!

I read this as my father's book when I was in school. Very interesting read.

Talent, Skill, and Hard Work

This book tells of a few of the many cases of Detective Chief Albert H. Seedman of the NYPD, a force second in size to the FBI. The Introduction briefly covers his career, no detective chief had ever left such an imprint. His legend rested on his performance: so many investigations with such originality, intensity, or good results. Seedman obtained his solutions by using his intelligence on the mundane information available in a record-oriented society (p.5), and his eye for fine detail (p.6). In all his years Seedman never fired his weapon in action, the situation had never gotten out of control. Some of these cases were widely publicized, and some were not. (You can read between the lines in some of these stories.)"The Belt Parkway Case" was solved by detective work; they found a needle in a haystack. "To A Gold Shield" tells of his early life. Seedman tells of a 71-year old Frenchman who picked up dots and dashes by "his inner ear"; I suspect a tooth filling resonant to the frequency. "Brass" tells of his continuing career and promotions. "The Fallon-Finnegan Case" tells of his political knowledge: Seedman would not provide a solution until his own boss was there. "The Johnson-Genovese Case" tells of the detective work that starts immediately after a body is found. People saw the attack on Kitty, but no one called the police ("that late at night they just go back to sleep"). Page 141 tells of the intricate politics of a major arrest. "The Mays Case" tells how a department store was swindled: the mob found an inside man. It describes how organized crime collects its taxes. "The Girls in a Box Case" was solved by relentless investigations, and a seance! "The Melville Case" is about the terrorists who set off bombs in 1969 New York. An undercover FBI informer who previously belonged to the right-wing Minutemen infiltrated their group ("he was full of plots"). Typical agent provocateur?"The Townhouse Case" tells about the explosion and fire on March 1970 in Greenwich Village. The SDS-Weathermen group were destroyed by their bombs. These rebels were mostly from well-to-do or wealthy families and grew up in the 1950s. "The Jewish Connection" tells of the JDL protest bombs. When Seedman met Kahane he noticed something wrong by the look in his eyes (p.315). Again, an inside informant was developed. Page 323 tells of a plan to use a model airplane to bomb a building. Another plan was to set off a car bomb in an underground garage. An incendiary device filled Sol Hurok's offices with thick black smoke, and a young woman died. "The Colombo Case" tells of their meeting; Seedman wanted help in solving two murders (most mob exterminations go unsolved). Joe Colombo formed the Italian American Civil Rights League to protest discrimination, and picketed FBI headquarters. But Colombo began to lose support from former backers, and the fundraising attracted envy (p.350). Colombo was assassinated at a public rally, and so was the alleged assassin. They were never