Alphaville: New York, 1988: Welcome to Heroin City
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'Written in a hyper-noir style reminiscent of Richard Price and George Pelecanos, this memoir features all the stuff of an excellent police procedural complete with drug gang rivalries, beatings, killings, and endless dealer collars and convictions. Raw, bloody, and very real, Codella's book is a historical snapshot of what was one of Gotham's most dangerous neighborhoods and the men who brought order to its frightening mayhem.' --Publishers Weekly
'A blistering cop's-eye view of the Drug War during the heady years of the late-1980s. Codella and Bennett take the reader down alleyways and into shooting galleries, capturing the mood and patter of a time when a cop nicknamed Rambo and a gang of smack dealers called the Forty Thieves were caught in a dance to the death. You will feel as though you are pounding the pavement and dodging bullets. Alphaville is the real deal.' --T.J. English, New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne and The Westies
'Alphaville is a quick, nitty gritty, page turning read that will leave you breathless. Through the eyes of former undercover cop Mike Codella we are given a bird's eye view into one of the most dangerous neighborhoods anywhere in the world- Manhattan's Lower East Side. Though the book is a true account, its characters are so colorful and vivid it reads more like a well-paced novel. I highly, highly recommend this read.' --Philip Carlo, New York Times bestselling author of Ice Man
'A balls out cop tale from the bad old days of New York City. Watch your back in Alphaville.' --Tom Folsom, New York Times bestselling author of The Mad Ones
'A narcotics cop's front-line exposure of the battles to eradicate one of America's most drug-infested landscapes. A penetrating primer on how street-savvy investigators struggle to overcome corruption, hitmen, frustrating internal rivalries and bureaucratic red tape in an often disheartening campaign to relieve the miseries generated by well-heeled, sadistic traffickers on a captive community.' --Selwyn Raab, author of Five Families
'A terrific memoir ...One of the best cop books I've ever read, and sits on my bookshelf beside such classics as The French Connection, Serpico and Prince of the City. Codella has written a hair-raising, suspenseful, pull-no-punches true-crime tale about the hunt for Davy Blue Eyes through the bloodstained streets and murderous housing projects of Alphabet City' --New York Daily News
'Addictive, brilliant and compelling. A staggeringly well-written true-life drama, which had me breathless from the first page to the last' --R.J. Ellory, #1 bestselling author of A Quiet Belief in Angels and A Simple Act of Violence
'Avenue D was ground zero for the international heroin trade. So of course there were assaults, robberies, murders, and more junkies than anyone could count. Many of these addicts could be described using Codella's words for one: "He looked like he died but forgot to lie down." This was Codella's beat; he had it because he wanted it' --Washington City Paper
'Worthy of Serpico ... Codella secures justice of a sort in this taut true-crime tale... genuinely exciting' --Kirkus
'From dodging Internal Affairs and a hit ordered by a drug kingpin to making a huge dent in New York's drug trade, Codella's life makes for a real page-turner. This should be popular with true crime readers whether or not they agree with him that the ends justified the means. Highly recommended' --Library Journal (US)
'It's better than Homicide in my humble opinion. Easier to follow, pacier, more interesting "characters".' --Matt Bochenski, Little White Lies
'This real life account of New York's lower east side in the late 80s is a real gripper, told threw eyes of two copies battling the corrupt minefield of a booming heroin economy. Violence, tension, it's "The Wire", but a book so much the better.'
--Cooler magazine
'An absorbing account of the policing antics of Mike Cordella, who hits the mean streets of Lower East Side as NYPD plain-clothes `narc' in the mid-1980s.' --Metro
'A blistering cop's-eye view of the Drug War during the heady years of the late-1980s. Codella and Bennett take the reader down alleyways and into shooting galleries, capturing the mood and patter of a time when a cop nicknamed Rambo and a gang of smack dealers called the Forty Thieves were caught in a dance to the death. You will feel as though you are pounding the pavement and dodging bullets. Alphaville is the real deal.' --T.J. English, New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne and The Westies
'Alphaville is a quick, nitty gritty, page turning read that will leave you breathless. Through the eyes of former undercover cop Mike Codella we are given a bird's eye view into one of the most dangerous neighborhoods anywhere in the world- Manhattan's Lower East Side. Though the book is a true account, its characters are so colorful and vivid it reads more like a well-paced novel. I highly, highly recommend this read.' --Philip Carlo, New York Times bestselling author of Ice Man
'A balls out cop tale from the bad old days of New York City. Watch your back in Alphaville.' --Tom Folsom, New York Times bestselling author of The Mad Ones
'A narcotics cop's front-line exposure of the battles to eradicate one of America's most drug-infested landscapes. A penetrating primer on how street-savvy investigators struggle to overcome corruption, hitmen, frustrating internal rivalries and bureaucratic red tape in an often disheartening campaign to relieve the miseries generated by well-heeled, sadistic traffickers on a captive community.' --Selwyn Raab, author of Five Families
'A terrific memoir ...One of the best cop books I've ever read, and sits on my bookshelf beside such classics as The French Connection, Serpico and Prince of the City. Codella has written a hair-raising, suspenseful, pull-no-punches true-crime tale about the hunt for Davy Blue Eyes through the bloodstained streets and murderous housing projects of Alphabet City' --New York Daily News
'Addictive, brilliant and compelling. A staggeringly well-written true-life drama, which had me breathless from the first page to the last' --R.J. Ellory, #1 bestselling author of A Quiet Belief in Angels and A Simple Act of Violence
'Avenue D was ground zero for the international heroin trade. So of course there were assaults, robberies, murders, and more junkies than anyone could count. Many of these addicts could be described using Codella's words for one: "He looked like he died but forgot to lie down." This was Codella's beat; he had it because he wanted it' --Washington City Paper
'Worthy of Serpico ... Codella secures justice of a sort in this taut true-crime tale... genuinely exciting' --Kirkus
'From dodging Internal Affairs and a hit ordered by a drug kingpin to making a huge dent in New York's drug trade, Codella's life makes for a real page-turner. This should be popular with true crime readers whether or not they agree with him that the ends justified the means. Highly recommended' --Library Journal (US)
'It's better than Homicide in my humble opinion. Easier to follow, pacier, more interesting "characters".' --Matt Bochenski, Little White Lies
'This real life account of New York's lower east side in the late 80s is a real gripper, told threw eyes of two copies battling the corrupt minefield of a booming heroin economy. Violence, tension, it's "The Wire", but a book so much the better.'
--Cooler magazine
'An absorbing account of the policing antics of Mike Cordella, who hits the mean streets of Lower East Side as NYPD plain-clothes `narc' in the mid-1980s.' --Metro
Product Description
The true story of a cop taking down a drugs kingpin in the retail heroin capital of the world
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I notice that there has been a minor spree in urban American "True Crime" cop books recently, nothing to do with "The wire" and associated books at all of course. If so, this is a decent enough addition to the collection, a thrilling story of one man's quest (and his colleagues to be fair) to bring down a local drugs Kingpin in late 80's New York. It's written in a non-stop, wham bam sort of way, offers little philosophical thought but tells an exciting story well enough. I note that another recent book of this type, Blue Blood, tells a similar story in a similar setting (New york again) at a similar time but has had some criticism for too much navel gazing and not enough action. Well those critics should enjoy this book as it fulfils that criterion very well. Don't come here looking for any answers to organised crime but if a rollicking policier is your wish then this is one for you
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Very interesting book based on a policeman's life in the Lower East side of NYC in the 80's. However don't be fooled into thinking this is a "Thriller", it's really what I would call a "Police Procedural". It tells a story from the author's perspective which is fine enough and worth a read, but maybe teh publishers didn't think it would sell without a bit of artistic licence in the marketing speak. Good book, well written and interesting - but not a "Thriller"
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Who is the real criminal here
24 Feb 2011
Format:Paperback
Village cops were on the take.' Repeat........Our hero should know that the guilty always confess if only just a little bit.
It is also about years of failed NYPD policing. Yes, the smack dealing bad guys are bad -- way bad. But the 'hero' cop robs a pimp before he becomes a cop. The hero (never a zero) tips off an ex girlfriend about an investigation - she has a machine gun in the trunk of her car. Love is strange? Such a good guy. Such an inconsequential thing. And this same hero cop goes (while still a cop) to the sentencing of Vic Amuso, Luchesse crime family boss, just to pay respects to a friend of his father's. Give me a break. Also the book gets it factually wrong about Larry Davis (ghetto banger ghetto folk hero) who shot but DID NOT MURDER 5 or 6 cops. What are facts when you are embellishing yer street cred?
Although a good read one has to question the integrity, honesty and reliability of the authors of this book. What the book does do however inadvertently is give us insight into the minds of the well paid, not too smart, 'good guys' who were supposed to protect us during this period. At that they failed for years and years. (a note: I lived in the East Village during the period portrayed in the book. It was way worse there than portrayed in the book.) Parts of the book are pure keystone comedy. The Shakespearean Fools (aka the cops) indeed had the dynamite then. See the movie 'Serpico' for the real story of too many NYPD cops during that era. Also what the hero doesn't tell you is that the Housing PD (of which he was an 'honorable' member) were the laughing stock of New York's uniformed officers. Well perhaps the sanitation inspectors were lower.
Maybe this book should be in the fiction section? I'm afraid it is filled with lies, evasions and incorrect facts. As a work of fiction it would be a compelling read. Larry Davis would have loved it. Read the other reviews (hardcover) first: you will see they are all written by Cordella's friends not one of whom read the book. Unfortunately, too often during the era described in the book the difference between an NYPD cop and a Juarez, Mexico cop was only in the name. Case closed.
It is also about years of failed NYPD policing. Yes, the smack dealing bad guys are bad -- way bad. But the 'hero' cop robs a pimp before he becomes a cop. The hero (never a zero) tips off an ex girlfriend about an investigation - she has a machine gun in the trunk of her car. Love is strange? Such a good guy. Such an inconsequential thing. And this same hero cop goes (while still a cop) to the sentencing of Vic Amuso, Luchesse crime family boss, just to pay respects to a friend of his father's. Give me a break. Also the book gets it factually wrong about Larry Davis (ghetto banger ghetto folk hero) who shot but DID NOT MURDER 5 or 6 cops. What are facts when you are embellishing yer street cred?
Although a good read one has to question the integrity, honesty and reliability of the authors of this book. What the book does do however inadvertently is give us insight into the minds of the well paid, not too smart, 'good guys' who were supposed to protect us during this period. At that they failed for years and years. (a note: I lived in the East Village during the period portrayed in the book. It was way worse there than portrayed in the book.) Parts of the book are pure keystone comedy. The Shakespearean Fools (aka the cops) indeed had the dynamite then. See the movie 'Serpico' for the real story of too many NYPD cops during that era. Also what the hero doesn't tell you is that the Housing PD (of which he was an 'honorable' member) were the laughing stock of New York's uniformed officers. Well perhaps the sanitation inspectors were lower.
Maybe this book should be in the fiction section? I'm afraid it is filled with lies, evasions and incorrect facts. As a work of fiction it would be a compelling read. Larry Davis would have loved it. Read the other reviews (hardcover) first: you will see they are all written by Cordella's friends not one of whom read the book. Unfortunately, too often during the era described in the book the difference between an NYPD cop and a Juarez, Mexico cop was only in the name. Case closed.
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