home1
links1
archives1
preface
biography

 

 

©1999 - 2012
Edward D. Reuss
All rights reserved. Including the right of reproduction in whole or part in any form

 

REVIEW OF “CIRCLE OF SIX”

Detective Randy Jurgensen and Detective Robert Cea
have written a memoir that recounts the horrific incident at Harlem’s Mosque #7 on April 14, 1972.   The book entitled: “Circle of Six” is scheduled to be published November 5, 2006. 

 When I launched NY Cop Online Magazine, I expressed the hope that this website could serve as a type of  “Institutional Memory”. In my mission statement, I wrote that one of the goals of this website was:

”. to set the record straight about the truth and facts surrounding events that may have been poorly covered or mistakenly distorted under the political correctness of the period. Journalists and members of media are under tremendous pressure by their publishers and editors. They must make their deadline for the TV evening news hour. Their intentions may be good, and they may write in good faith about police incidents, but each day brings more headline producing stories. NY Cop Online Magazine may be able to serve as a type of “institutional memory” of the NYPD. Lest we forget the sacrifices and heroism of the men and women who served as police officers in past years. “

To quote former DCPI Robert Daley:

The Police Department was a living, breathing organism.  It had its hands and its feet, its eyes and its ears, its head, but it had no memory; and it never had had a memory. A year ago was ancient history. The Police Department always in the past had been like a football team.  It no more studied its own history than a football team did, for why bother?  Yesterday’s plays don’t work, old-fashioned formations would draw laughs today; and so what difference did it make who had been in the backfield on the 1930 team, or who the opponents were that year? For everyone, from Commissioner Murphy on down, this year was the only year that counted...”

Robert Daley, Target Blue, Chapter 3, Page 110, Delacorte Press, New York, Copyright 1971, 1972, 1973


Former Deputy Commissioner of Public Information (DCPI) Robert Daley author of the book, “Target Blue” is a must read for all police officers.  One chapter entitled: The Harlem Mosque Murder tells us about the inner circle of brass that led the NYPD at that time and the failure to support the men and women of the NYPD.

  Detective Jurgensen has done all of us a great service. He has set the record straight about the murder of Patrolman Philip Cardillo, 28th Precinct, NYPD .  This murder of Officer Cardillo has rankled the hearts and minds of thousands of his fellow police officers for over thirty years.   The political cowardice that permeated the initial investigation of the murder of one of our own would never be forgotten by the rank and file of the New York City Police Department.   We finally have a book written by the Detective assigned to the case.   Detective Randy Jurgensen responded to Mosque #7 on that fateful day.   He witnessed the political cowardice and interference that led to the destruction of the crime scene.   He was assaulted and seriously injured during the riots that ensued.  It was ironic that he would be chosen to investigate the murder after the crime scene had been utterly destroyed.  The politically motivated interference that he had to endure during his four year quest to solve the murder of Cardillo only added to the disgrace that overshadowed the official attitude towards the murder of a police officer.  This memoir will cause a lot of sleepless nights for some.   It will bring a measure of satisfaction to many more.  

I met  Randy  shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center in September of 2001. Randy had encountered  terrorism decades before September 11, 2001.  The assassinations of police officers by the BLA was a harbinger of what would become the War on Terror.   

                                             
 
Randy Jurgensen at Ground Zero.

To order “Circle of Six”:

GO TO: Detective Randy Jurgensen’s Official Website:

Google
 
Web www.nycop.com
 



CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO NY COP HOMEPAGE

 Retirees Site