Famed ex-New York City police officer Frank Serpico is running for office in his upstate county after a neighbor cut down trees from his property without permission — and he felt that a local prosecutor and judge conspired against him.
"I’m not Republican, I’m not Democrat," Serpico, who is seeking a seat on the five-member Stuyvesant Town Board in Columbia County,
told the New York Daily News. "I thought we elected people, not parties."
Serpico, now 79, was the key witness in the 1971 police corruption probe. He was portrayed by Al Pacino in the 1973 movie bearing his name.
In 1968, he bought 50 acres in Columbia County and moved there in the early 1980s, the Daily News reports.
"I’m not running for myself," Serpico said. "When a baby soils his diaper, he gets changed. That’s how I feel about politicians."
In his case, a neighbor removed trees on Serpico's property without his permission. When the individual paid only a $350 fine after pleading guilty to trespassing, the ex-cop felt that the district attorney and judge had worked against him.
Both have dismissed Serpico's claim as ridiculous, the Daily News reports.
"Somebody said to me, 'It’s such a little town, there’s not many people there,'" Serpico said. "Well, this is where corruption takes root, where nobody is looking."
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