Alphaville: 1988, Crime, Punishment, and the Battle for New York City's Lower East Side

Michael Codella · Bruce Bennett

Nov 2010 · Macmillan

About this ebook

A raw, gritty memoir—part true-life cop thriller, part unputdownable history of a storied time and place—that will grip you by the throat until the explosive end

Alphabet City in 1988 burned with heroin, radicalism, and anti-police sentiment. Working as a plainclothes narcotics cop in the most high-voltage neighborhood in Manhattan, Detective Sergeant Mike Codella earned the nickname "Rambo" from the local dealers, as well as a $50,000 bounty on his head. The son of a cop who grew up in a mob neighborhood in Brooklyn, Codella understood the unwritten laws of the shadowy businesses that ruled the streets. He knew that the further east you got from the relative safety of 5th Avenue, Washington Square Park and NYU, the deeper you entered the sea of human misery, greed, addiction, violence and all the things that come with an illegal retail drug trade run wild. With his partner, Gio, Codella made it his personal mission to put away Davie Blue Eyes—a stone cold murderer and the head of Alphabet City's heroin supply chain. Despite the hell they endured—all the beatings and gunshots, the footchases and close calls—Codella and Gio always saw Alphabet City the same way: worth saving.

Alphaville, Codella's riveting, no-holds-barred memoir, resurrects the vicious streets that Davie Blue Eyes owned, and tells the story of how Codella bagged the so-called Forty Thieves that surrounded Davie, slowly working his way to the head of the snake one scale at a time. With the blistering narrative spirit of The French Connection, the insights of a seasoned insider, and a relentless voice that reads like the city's own, Alphaville is at once the story of a dedicated New York cop, and of New York City itself.

Ratings and reviews

As a New York City Police Office I always have to wonder, at what point will America get enough of this garbage? Michael Codella, if his account is to be believed, is a criminal. The fact that he did what he did while wearing a badge is irrelevant as far as that's concerned. Men like him are a disgrace to all the officers who actually do their job the right way. This man is, by his own admission, guilty of perjury, assault, conspiracy and a host of other crimes. He writes about routinely violating the rights of individual citizens, but that's A-Okay because they're bad people. This book is about Michael Codella making money by entertaining people with an account of his criminal behavior. While performing law enforcement duties I have been cursed, attacked with weapons and all the rest. I've never used it as an excuse to line my pockets or lie under oath. As the old saying goes "Adversity does not build character, it reveals it." Michael Codella went to LES and was faced with a daunting task. In the end his character was revealed and it was non-existent. Don't line the pockets of a corrupt cop. You can find it funny or amusing while you're reading this book in your living room but if you ever got pulled over by a police officer you wouldn't be laughing if it was a man like Michael Codella. There's no excuse for what Codella describes here. None, I've seen men like him in my time and I'm not impressed. Cops who perjure themselves and beat people aren't real Cops, they're thugs and the public by and large is getting sick and tired of having to deal with them. They make my job, and the job of every other honest Cop that much harder.

Great book. Rings true to the times when 42nd Street was the slime capital of the world, and Alphabet City was the heroin meca and junkie heaven. Codella's account of a misguided youth in Brooklyn, and his tightrope walk while working as a cop made for a page turning tale that made me wish for more pages. The bad guys were as bad as they get, and to quote one of the authors that gave the book a great review "its characters are so colorful and vivid it reads more like a well-paced novel", Philip Carlo.

I liked this book so much that I HAD to write a review. Michael Codella, is to be believed, respected, and admired for his honesty and bravery. I knew Mike and his partners when he worked on The Lower East Side . They were take charge gutsy Crime Fighters! Yes, like the other reviewer states, and by Mike's own admission, Mike was guilty of perjury, assault,and a host of other crimes, but it was because he was brave enough to commit those "crimes" that enabled him to make a difference. AND YES violating the rights of individual CRIMINALS, NOT good ordinary citizens,was A-Okay because they were more then bad people (unlike the other reviewer points out, they were PERPS /CRIMINALS ). Also, Mike never used an excuse to line his pockets or lie under oath. There is nothing in the book that says he took money or lied to better himself. I have no idea where the other reviewer got that from. As the old saying goes "Adversity does not build character, it reveals it." I agree, and Michael Codella went to Alphabet City and was faced with a daunting task and Won the battle that most cops were either unable to or too scared to engage in.. In the end his character was revealed to be a tenacious and resilient cop who was willing to risk his own neck for little reward. Mike and his partner were NOT corrupt cops. And Yes I would rather have my law abiding family pulled over by, and my streets patrolled by , a police officer like Michael Codella , rather then one who sits at work and does nothing for eight hours or by someone who sits at a computer and becomes a keyboard warrior. Save the tough attitude for the criminals!

About the author

MICHAEL CODELLA was a New York City cop for twenty years. He worked and supervised in the DEA, Secret Service Task Force, Special Frauds Squad, Missing Person's Squad, Operation 8, and several other outstanding and prestigious units throughout the City. Mike retired from the NYPD in 2003 as a Detective Sergeant. He now divides his time between TV and film work, being a professional fight trainer, and running his Renzo Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy with his family. BRUCE BENNETT is a writer whose work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Sun; a guitar player who has performed and recorded with the A-Bones, Hasil Adkins, Action Swingers, Yo La Tengo, and Andre Williams; and the writer and director of two award-winning short films, both aired on the Independent Film Channel. A Manhattan native and twenty year resident of the Lower East Side -- including the period covered in ALPHAVILLE--Bennett now lives and works in Brooklyn.