SOMERS, N.Y. - Al Alessy of Heritage Hills always had his sights set on becoming a New York City police officer. When he left the military in 1963, following that dream placed him in a perilous world.
His assignment to the 41st Precinct - better known as “Fort Apache” - only heightened those concerns.
“I told my wife, ‘I ain’t coming home. I’m going to get killed down there,’” Alessy recalled.
But as it turned out, the young officer found his footing.
“You know what happened? I learned the job. I learned how to be a good cop. I made detective, and I got out of the job with ten fingers and ten toes,” he said.
Still, he believes the job was easier in at least one respect.
“Today, there’s no respect for police officers, period,” he lamented.
Back then, as he saw it, the work was also less complicated.
“Everyone that was a bad guy got locked up,” Alessy said.
Handling 40 to 50 calls a night, Alessy stood out among the 263 officers on duty.
“Only seven of us got detective shields,” he noted.
Even so, the promotion didn’t ease the burden at home.
“My wife was home alone,” he said. “It was hard for her.”
The challenges only intensified after his 1967 transfer to the Bronx.
“Forget about it,” Alessy said. “It was bad times.”
Residents, he said, often felt trapped.
“Stuck there. They had no way of getting out. So we did things to help them.”
But there were limits.
“You’ve got to remember, a lot of those tenements were burning,” he explained. “The Bronx was actually burning.”
Drugs were another overwhelming problem.
“There was so much of it,” he said. “You couldn’t stop it.”
The same was true of the high murder rate, though he described it as largely internal.
“The homicides were within,” he said. “The criminals took care of their own business.”
Despite the dangers, Alessy rarely used his weapon.
“I fired my gun once—and I missed,” he joked.
His opponent, however, did not.
“He put one under my arm and one through my crotch,” Alessy recalled.
Even that incident, he said, had an unexpected outcome.
“They learned their lesson, and they were our friends for the rest of the time,” said the Medal of Valor recipient.
At one point, Hollywood came calling. Alessy served as an advisor on the film Fort Apache, The Bronx.
Star Paul Newman made a lasting impression.
“He was one of the best people I ever met,” Alessy said.
Ed Asner was also part of the production, and despite the film’s controversial subject matter, the impact on the neighborhood was positive.
“Every time extras were needed, they hired people from the neighborhood, and that kept everyone happy,” he said.
Amid the hardships, there were lighter moments.
One day, Alessy was walking with three rookies when he suddenly realized one was missing. After a frantic search, he heard moaning nearby.
“He had fallen into an open manhole and couldn’t get out,” Alessy recalled.
On another occasion, a rookie driver pressed too hard on the accelerator.
“I’m from Westchester County—we drive fast,” the young officer explained.
Alessy’s response was immediate.
“Get out and walk,” he told him. The lesson stuck.
Not all challenges, however, were so easily addressed.
“The higher-ups make the job tougher for everyone,” he said.
He pointed to the patrol guide as an example.
“God couldn’t read the patrol guide,” Alessy joked. “It was bigger than the Bible.”
Still, camaraderie on the force made a difference.
“If there was a call about a gun, not one car responded. There weren’t two guys—there were 20,” he said.
In the end, Alessy’s feelings about his career are simple.
“I loved the job. I loved it to death,” he said. “But I got out after 25 years, and that’s it.”
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