Renzo Gracie black belt and former NYPD Mike Codella just published Alphaville1988, Crime, Punishment and the Battle for New York City’s Lower East Side, a book of memoirs that’s causing quite a stir.
According to the websites of newspapersThe New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, the former police officer who is now teaches in Staten Island, New York, is a reminder of how bizarre the criminal world of the place was in the 1980s, before a zero-tolerance policy put the metropolis on the right track.
“I might not have always behaved, but I did more good things than bad,” says Codella in the New York Times review. The black belt reflects on a quote by Buddha: “It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.”
For more details on the piece of literature, check out the full NY Times article here.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304410504575561150018734606.html?KEYWORDS=alphaville
