Oral history interview with Ralph Salerno, 1982

Biographical Note

Ralph Salerno was born to Italian immigrants on August 24, 1925 in the Bronx, New York. He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx, and went on to serve in the Navy from 1943 to 1945. Salerno joined the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in September of 1946. Throughout his twenty year career with the NYPD he worked as both an officer and a detective, and specialized in the investigation of organized crime. He is the author of the 1969 book "The Crime Confederation: Cosa Nostra and Allied Operations in Organized Crime." Ralph Salerno was interviewed for the project that led to the book "Addicts Who Survived"

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Ralph Salerno discusses his thirty-six year career in law enforcement, twenty years of which he spent at the New York City Police Department. He discusses his decision to become a police officer, and how his recruitment onto the force landed him in a unit that was investigating the murder of Joseph Scottoriggio, initiating his specialization in organized crime. He discusses being made a detective in 1950. Salerno describes tactics of investigation such as electronic and physical surveillance. He explains the many routes through which heroin and opium entered the United States, including through Canada, South America, and Vietnam. He discusses the impact of the Narcotic Control Act of 1956 on New York drug trafficking. He details an investigation he did in the 1960s into the Gallo-Profaci gang war. Salerno discusses his 1969 book "The Crime Confederation: Cosa Nostra and Allied Operations in Organized Crime." He describes how control of the New York City narcotics trade transitioned from mainly Jewish crime syndicates to mainly Italian crime syndicates between 1930 and 1960. Salerno describes the corruption he perceived was growing in the police force, and how it was a contributing factor in his decision to retire at forty-one years old. Salerno discusses what he believes the future of narcotic policy will be in the future in the United States

Subjects

• Courtwright, David T., 1952- interviewer.
• Des Jarlais, Don, 1945- interviewer.
• Drug control--United States--History--20th century.
• Drug dealers--United States.
• Drug traffic--United States--History--20th century.
• Interviews.
• Jewish criminals--New York (State)--New York.
• Joseph, Herman, 1931- interviewer.
• Mafia--United States.
• New York (N.Y.) Police Department--History.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Organized crime--United States--History--20th century.
• Police corruption--New York (State)--New York.
• Salerno, Ralph,--Interviews.

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright