Biography

Robert Daley (born 1930 in New York City), is an American writer, journalist, and former New York City Police Department officer. 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 in 1951 and served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He spent six seasons as publicity director for the New York Giants 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.

Between 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.