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Robert Cea, Randy Jurgensen's co-author, is also a former NYPD detective. As
a new recruit Cea learned of Jurgensen's heroism, and the tales of this case are told to this day to each and every recruit
at the Police Academy. When Robert Cea retired from the NYPD, he was the fifth-most-decorated officer in the department's
history. And he was still only in his early thirties.
David Pitt of the American Library Association asks, “So why would an
ambitious, aggressive, highly respected detective end his career so early? Because, like others before him, Cea had fought
bitter battles with his own conscience over the way he did his job. The book explores one of a police officer's toughest dilemmas:
When and how much is it necessary to bend the rules in order to catch the bad guys? This isn't a story of police corruption
in the manner of Serpico or Prince of the City. This one is about moral corruption, about one man's personal descent into
dishonesty.” “No Lights, No Sirens : The Corruption and
Redemption of an Inner City Cop” is Robert Cea’s “sometimes shocking memoir, which is written
in honest, gritty prose.”
In addition to his book writing, Robert Cea has developed a television series
on Court TV entitled "Under Fire." The program airs on Sundays from 10PM to 10:30PM. He is currently working on 12 new episodes for the Spring of 2007. The show features in-depth interviews of police officers as the recount dramatic events filmed by their
own police car cameras.
According to the book description of Circle of Six,
“In 1972, New York City was plagued with protests, riots, and general unrest. It was during this defining year that
one of the Police Department’s most scandalous cases occurred: the murder of Police Officer Phillip Cardillo.
On Friday, April 14, 1972, the police were summoned to Mosque Number 7 in Harlem,
led at the time by the Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan, for a ten-thirteen––officer in need of help. The
turn of events after this officer distress call has become perhaps the most legendary story in NYPD history. Police entered
the Mosque and a conflict occurred, leaving Office Cardillo dead, and the city on the brink of a full-scale riot. Sensing
a potential crisis and conflict with the Nation of Islam and the Black Liberation Army, New York City Mayor John Lindsey,
Commissioner Benjamin Ward, and Congressman Charles Rangel acquiesced to the city’s black leaders and ordered the police
out of the Mosque.
Subsequently, the details of Officer Cardillo’s murder and the events of
what happened at the Mosque were covered up and an investigation was never truly launched until NYPD detective Randy Jurgensen
began his own investigation. For four years, he would not rest, taking on the Mayor, his superiors in the NYPD, the Nation
of Islam, and seemingly at times, the entire city of New York, before he could affect an arrest. His investigation revealed
the tragic and shameful story of the political scandal and cover-up that rocked the NYPD and the Nation of Islam.
Circle of Six is the harrowing true
crime exposé that lifts the curtain to reveal the raw story behind one of the most debated cases in the history of
the New York City Police Department. Officer Cardillo’s murder is still an officially unsolved crime to this day. Written
by Randy Jurgensen with Robert Cea, also a former NYPD detective, it details Jurgensen’s determined effort to bring
Officer Cardillo’s murderer to justice. Despite the mayhem on the streets and the Machiavellian corridors of Mayor Lindsay’s
City Hall, Detective Jurgensen captured Cardillo’s killer, Lewis 17X Dupree. He broke the case with an unlikely accomplice,
Foster 2X Thomas, a minister for the Nation of Islam who became Randy’s witness and would eventually help put Dupree
behind bars.”
One reader of No Lights,
No Sirens: The Corruption and Redemption of an Inner City Cop said, “just finished reading No Lights No
Sirens. I was rocked into the reality of hell that the author lived through and the people he had to deal with every day had
to live through as well. The author made me feel as if I were there voyeuristically watching something I definitely should
not be witnessing. I read it in two nights, something I would not advise another reader to do, as in any horrific true crime
book, it gave me chills and nightmares. The dialogue and prose was so conversational it didn't feel like I was reading,
but listening and watching a very noir like film. I absolutely was blown away by this book. There is so much more to tell,
and so much I learned about one mans opinion of an over worked and broken justice system, one he tried to fix himself but
almost died in the process. Read this book, but not at night - trust me! It was a fascinating and scary slap into a dark dark
world. I loved the book and can't wait for the sequel. What happened to the author after the fact? Please write another
one!”
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