Mayor-elect Eric Adams wants to make sure whistleblower cop Frank Serpico gets the honor he was denied 50 years ago.
Serpico, 85, will get a Police Department Medal of Honor certificate, Adams promised Saturday night on Twitter.
Serpico, a Brooklyn native, has been waiting for formal recognition ever since he was shot in the face in February 1971, nine months before his Knapp Commission testimony.
Serpico tweeted out the News story after it was published online Saturday.
In the tweet, Serpico told his 5,000 Twitter followers that the article “neglected to mention I’ve been waiting 50+ yrs for the NYPD to issue me my authenticated Medal of Honor certificate and properly inscribed medal.”
Serpico got the medal — it was handed to him over a countertop, without any pomp or ceremony. He also never got the certificate that usually accompanies the medal.
On the morning of Dec. 14, 1971, NYPD undercover detective Frank Serpico put on his only suit. The son of an immigrant cobbler then stopped to get his good pair of shoes shined.
The bearded 12-year police veteran was about to dismantle the department’s infamous “blue wall of silence,” exposing the NYPD’s systemic corruption across three hours of unprecedented testimony before the Knapp Commission and its probe of crooked cops.
A half-century later, the 85-year-old Brooklyn native remains a strident critic of police misconduct and a sounding board for fellow whistleblowers — while sharing his thoughts and concerns on a variety of topics with more than 5,000 Twitter followers.
Serpico, who survived an on-duty gunshot to the face nine months before his testimony and death threats afterward, remains unsure how he’s lasted this long.
To use the old corny expression, somebody up there must like me, ya know?” says Serpico, his borough accent unchanged by the years. “This is what people don’t understand: You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
“But people are afraid of the truth.”
