Robert Daley (born 1930 in
New York City),
is an American writer of novels and non-fiction. He is the author of 31 books, six of which have been adapted for film, and a hundred or so magazine articles and stories.
Daley graduated from
Fordham University
Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...
in 1951 and served in the
Air Force during the
Korean War. He spent six seasons as publicity director for the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
of the
National Football League in the days of
Frank Gifford,
Charlie Conerly and
Sam Huff. He then worked on the foreign staff of ''
The New York Times'' for six years based first in Nice, then in Paris, covering stories in sixteen countries in Europe and North Africa.
In 1971–72, he served as Deputy Commissioner of the
New York City Police Department (NYPD).
It was a particularly tumultuous period in the department's history: two
Mafia dons were killed, the city's biggest-ever jewel heist took place, the
Knapp Commission investigation into police corruption caused great upheaval in the department, and four police officers were assassinated by gunmen who claimed to be associated with the
Black Liberation Army. Two others were machine-gunned in their car, riddled with bullets but did not die. He had a staff of thirty five, a car and drivers assigned to him around the clock. He witnessed headquarters infighting up close, took part in major decision-making, and saw crime scenes from inside the yellow tape. Daley recounted these events and others in the nonfiction book ''Target Blue'', and he used the police background and his inside knowledge of police headquarters in a number of the novels that followed as well. He was the first professional writer ever to see the NYPD from so deep inside, and said later that when he agreed to take the job, he got more than he bargained for.
Daley's award-winning 1978 nonfiction work ''Prince of the City'' was hailed by ''The New York Times Book Review'': "The policeman as flawed hero, a recurrent and enormously popular figure in contemporary writing, has never been done better." Daley's books, which have been translated into 14 languages, also include ''
Year of the Dragon'' and ''Tainted Evidence'' (filmed as ''
Night Falls on Manhattan''). Most of his books grew out of immersing himself deeply in studying people and subjects that fascinated him, from Grand Prix racing to opera to bullfights to treasure diving—and of course the NYPD. He and his French-born wife divide their time between suburban New York and an apartment in
Nice, France.
Works
Novels
*''The Whole Truth'' (1967)
*''Only a Game'' (1967)
*''A Priest and a Girl'' (1969)
*''Strong Wine, Red as Blood'' (1975)
*''To Kill a Cop'' (1976) - basis of a 1978 TV movie of the same title and the TV series ''
Eischied'' (1979)
*''The Fast One'' (1978)
*''Year of the Dragon'' (1981) - filmed by
Michael Cimino as ''
Year of the Dragon'' in 1985
*''The Dangerous Edge'' (1983)
*''Hands of a Stranger'' (1985) - filmed by
Larry Elikann as ''Hands of a Stranger'' in 1987
*''Man with a Gun'' (1988)
*''A Faint Cold Fear'' (1990)
*''Tainted Evidence'' (1993) - filmed by
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976), ...
as ''
Night Falls on Manhattan'' in 1996
*''Wall of Brass'' (1994)
*''Nowhere to Run'' (1996)
*''The Innocents Within'' (1999)
*''The Enemy of God'' (2005)
*''Pictures'' (2006)
*''The Red Squad'' (2012)
Non fiction
*''The World Beneath the City'' (1959)
*''Cars at Speed'' (1961)
*''The Bizarre World of European Sports'' (1962)
*''The Cruel Sport'' (1963)
*''The Swords of Spain'' (1965)
*''A Star in the Family'' (1971)
*''Target Blue: An Insider's View of the N.Y.P.D.'' (1973)
*''Treasure'' (1977)
*''Prince of the City: The True Story of a Cop Who Knew Too Much'' (1978) - filmed by
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976), ...
as ''
Prince of the City'' in 1981
*''An American Saga - Juan Trippe and his Pan Am Empire'' (1980)
*''Portraits of France'' (1991)
*''Writing on the Edge'' (2014)
Poetry
*''MORE And Other Poems''(2018)
External links
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daley, Robert
1930 births
Living people
Fordham University alumni
Writers from New York City