VLVL2 (15): The Popeye Doyle of the Eighties

[Dave Monroe]

"'The fucker,' Sid told Ernie, at poolside, in
confidence, 'wants to be the Popeye Doyle of the
eighties.  Not just the movie, but Hector II, then the
network series.'"  (VL, Ch. 15, p. 338)


"Popeye Doyle"

The French Connection (1971-1972) 

Illegal heroin labs were first discovered near
Marseilles, France, in 1937.... For years, the French
underworld had been involved in the manufacturing and
trafficking of illegal heroin abroad, primarily in the
United States. It was this heroin network that
eventually became known as the French Connection.

[...]

In a 14-month period, starting in February 1972, six
major illicit heroin laboratories were seized and
dismantled in the suburbs of Marseilles by French
national narcotics police in collaboration with U.S.
drug agents.... The French Connection investigation
demonstrated that international trafficking networks
were best disabled by the combined efforts of drug
enforcement agencies from multiple countries. In this
case, agents from the United States, Canada, Italy,
and France had worked together to achieve success.

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/deamuseum/dea_history_book/1970_1975.htm

Moore, Robin.  The French Connection.
   Boston: Little, Brown, 1969.

The true, absorbing and sometimes frightening
documentary of the world's most successful narcotics
investigation, The French Connection is one of the
most fascinating crime accounts of our time. When New
York City detectives Eddie "Popeye" Egan and his
partner Sonny Grosso routinely tail Pasquale "Patsy"
Fuca, after observing some wild spending at the
Copacabana, they quickly realize that they are on to
something really big.... His incongruous connections
are with several distinguished Frenchmen, including
Jean Jehan, the director of the world's largest heroin
network .... 

For many suspense-filled months, through opulent
Manhattan nightclubs, dark tenements in Brooklyn and
the Bronx, tree-lined streets of the genteel Upper
East Side, and in Paris, Marseilles, and Palermo, the
duel is on -- the prize 112 pounds of pure heroin,
worth ninety million on the streets. Over three
hundred investigators from local, state, federal, and
international agencies are ultimately involved in the
hours of weary surveillance, the skilled intuition,
the luck -- both good and bad -- and the danger.

http://www.globepequot.com/globepequot/index.cfm

The French Connection is based on an actual case that
took place in New York City during the 1960s. Real
life cops Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso were the models
for Jimmy Popeye Doyle and Buddy Russo. The narcotics
detectives are ever on the look for the big bust and
when they get wind of the pending arrival of a huge
heroine shipment, the scent is strong and the chase is
on....

http://www.filmsondisc.com/dvdpages/french_connection.htm


"Not just the movie ..."

The French Connection (1971)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067116/

The French Connection II (1975)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073018/

Popeye Doyle (1986) (TV)

http://imdb.com/title/tt0091780/


	
		
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