Patrick Picciarelli

Patrick Picciarelli is the author of Jimmy the Wags: Street Stories of a Private Eye (William Morrow (1999) and wrote the screenplay (movie rights sold). He also wrote the sequel, My Life in the NYPD: Jimmy the Wags (Onyx 2002), Mala Femina: A Woman’s Life as the Daughter of a Don, (Barricade Books 2003), Undercover Cop (St. Martin’s Press (2013), Street Warrior: The True Story of the NYPD’s Most Decorated Detective and the Era That Created Him (St. Martin’s Press 2017) and Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the Movies and the Mob (St. Martin’s Press 2019). His short story, The Prince of Arthur Avenue, published in the anthology Bronx Noir (Akashic Books 2007), was included in a list of "Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2007” in the Best American Mystery Stories anthology, co-edited by George Pelecanos and Otto Penzler. It was made into a film by KnightVision Productions (2010). He is also the co-host of The Hollywood Godfather Podcast

Picciarelli, a former U.S. Army machine gunner in Vietnam, spent 20 years in the NYPD, retiring as a lieutenant, and is a licensed private investigator. He holds a BA and MA degrees (2) in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. He also holds a Doctorate in Criminal Justice from California University of Pennsylvania where he is an adjunct professor of criminal justice.

He is the recipient of the coveted PAGS award, recognized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for outstanding graduate-level scholarship.