- Retired from the NYPD on June 15, 1972 after being shot in line of duty.
- Retired one month after receiving the New York City Police Department's highest honor, the Medal of Honor. There was no ceremony; according to Serpico, it was simply handed to him over the desk "like a pack of cigarettes".
- Is now an Italian citizen: during the same ceremony, he received his first Italian passport after extended research by the president of ANPS USA, Chief Inspector Cirelli, who established the Jus sanguinis, allowing him to gain Italian citizenship.
- On June 15, 1972 he went to Switzerland to recuperate, spending almost a decade living there and on a farm in the Netherlands, and traveling and studying.
- When it was decided to make the movie about his life called Serpico (1973), Al Pacino invited the officer to stay with him at a house that Pacino had rented in Montauk, New York.
- Jus sanguinis: Is a legal system that determines somebody's nationality according to their parents' nationality. Jus sanguinis means ' law of blood .' In this context, blood means 'blood relative,' or more specifically, the person's parents.
- Father of Alexander Serpico.
- A key figure in exposing Corruption in the NYPD and the Knapp Commission of 1971.
- NYPD Officer 1960 - 1971.
- Served in the U.S. Army.
- Italian-American.
- Grew up in Brooklyn, New York.
- Worked as a Private investigator and Youth counsellor before joining the Police Force.
- Has been referenced in many Movies and TV Series.
- Returned to the U.S. briefly in June 1974 to deliver a nomination speech for Ramsey Clark, candidate for United States Senator, at the New York State Democratic Party's convention in Niagara Falls.
- On June 27, 2013, the USA Section of ANPS (National Association of Italian State Police) assigned him the "Saint Michael Archangel Prize", an official award by the Italian State Police with the Sponsorship of the Italian Ministry of Interior.
- As a result of his efforts, the NYPD was drastically changed. Michael Armstrong, who was counsel to the Knapp Commission and went on to become chairman of the city's Commission to Combat Police Corruption.
- In 1973, he lived with a woman named Marianne (a native of the Netherlands), whom he wed in a "spiritual marriage"; she died from cancer in 1980. They had one son, Alexander Serpico who was born out of wedlock.
- On May 3, 1971, New York Metro Magazine published an article, "Portrait of an Honest Cop", about him, a week before he testified at the departmental trial of an NYPD lieutenant accused of taking bribes from gamblers.
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