David Burnham, a former investigative reporter for The New York Times whose exposé of corruption in the New York City Police Department in 1970 led to public hearings; tarnished top officials, including the mayor; and inspired the movie “Serpicomega swerte,” about Mr. Burnham’s chief source, Detective Frank Serpico, died on Tuesday at his home in Spruce Head, Maine. He was 91.
His wife, Joanne Omang, said his heart stopped after a choking incident at dinner.
Mr. Burnham, who was known for a scrupulous faith in facts, knocked about at several news organizations before The Times hired him in 1967, after he told the metropolitan editor, Arthur Gelb, that the paper’s coverage of law enforcement was “not very smart.”
Mr. Burnham was brought on not as a traditional police-beat reporter, to cover shootings and stabbings, but to write about the inner workings of the police department. He scored a major scoop in 1968 when he learned that officers on overnight shifts routinely slept in their patrol cars, often because they were worn out from second jobs during the day.
When Mr. Burnham told an assistant editor about the practice, known as “cooping,” the editor at first rebuffed him, as Mr. Gelb described the events in a 2003 memoir, “City Room,” because The Times wasn’t interested in “crusading” stories.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTOn his own time, Mr. Burnham reported out the details. His article landed on the front page, and his police reporting that year won a George Polk Award for community service.
His enterprising reporting caught the attention of a longhaired undercover officer, Detective Serpico, who for years had tried to get the police department to crack down on internal corruption. He approached Mr. Burnham.
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