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32 of the Worst Dirty Cops in Entertainment

32 of the Worst Dirty Cops in Entertainment

Over the course of cinema history, screenwriters, producers, and directors have seeded and sprouted subgenres as they root for original ways to tell stories.

One example of this evolution was the supplanting of traditional Westerns by anti-Westerns like Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” (1992) and Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” (2015). Notably, these films avoid romanticizing the period. They feature Black actors in key roles, strive for more accurate depictions of Native Americans, and portray the harsher realities faced by women at the time.

Another genre that has changed considerably over the years is the cop movie. It used to be taboo to depict law enforcement officers as straight-up villains. Even the comical portrayal of inept and buffoonish “Keystone Kops” in early Hollywood films elicited condemnation from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which helped put the kibosh on depicting law enforcement agents as crooks and murderers. 

Today, there is no such informal injunction. Police behaving badly has become a common theme on screens big and small. 

To compile a list of 32 of the worst dirty cops in entertainment, 24/7 Tempo referenced sources including IMDb, an online movie and TV database owned by Amazon, and such entertainment sites as Screen Rant and Playlist, and TV Guide. Using editorial discretion, we chose tainted members of law enforcement based on their infamy in the most popular motion pictures and television shows – the bribes they took, the drugs they confiscated, the conspiracies with criminals, the cover-ups, and the strong-arming of suspects, most notably those of color. (These are the police departments that kill the most people.)

These bad cops tend to share similar tropes. Often, they have mob ties, like Det. Vin Makazian from “The Sopranos,” played by John Heard, deftly portraying the pathos of a broken man, or Nelson Van Alden, the sinister Prohibition-era revenue agent who becomes a mob enforcer in “Boardwalk Empire,” brilliantly interpreted by Michael Shannon.

There are also the law enforcers who steal from drug dealers, like DEA agent Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman, in a deeply disturbing role) in “Léon: The Professional” or Detective Alonzo Harris in “Training Day” – Denzel Washington’s debut portraying a villain, which won him an Academy Award in 2002. 

Often, they’re part of a larger police mafia, as in “Serpico” or “Prince of the City.” Other times they’re lone wolves hiding their crooked and violent habits behind badges, like Harvey Keitel in “Bad Lieutenant” or Matthew McConaughey in “Killer Joe.” (Read about the worst corruption scandal in every state.)

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Mark McCluskey
> Played by: Sterling Hayden
> Movie: The Godfather (1972)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

McCluskey is a corrupt NYC police captain on the payroll of heroin kingpin Virgil Sollozzo, who unsuccessfully attempts to have Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) assassinated. To finish the job, Sollozzo sends McCluskey to the hospital where the Godfather is convalescing, but he’s outmaneuvered by the Godfather’s son Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), who later murders Sollozzo and McClusky in retribution.

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Al Neri
> Played by: Richard Bright
> Movie: The Godfather trilogy
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

In Mario Puzo’s novel, Neri is described as a convicted former violence-prone NYPD cop who becomes an enforcer for the Corleone family. This backstory isn’t mentioned in the film trilogy. Neri appears in all three “Godfather” films, rising to become an underboss. He’s depicted toward the end of the third film assassinating a corrupt archbishop in the Vatican.

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Tom Keough
> Played by: Jack Kehoe
> Movie: Serpico (1973)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

There are many bad officers in this film about an honorable NYC detective (played by Al Pacino) dangerously pushing back against a culture of police corruption, but Keough stands out in the film amid this backdrop of crooked cops. The bad detective attempts to recruit Frank Serpico into the police mafia.

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Edgar Blakelock
> Played by: William Prince
> Movie: The Gauntlet (1977)
> Law enforcement agency: Phoenix Police Department

Blakelock is a mobbed-up Phoenix police commissioner who wants to kill Gus Mally (Sondra Locke), a Las Vegas prostitute being escorted by down-and-out alcoholic cop Ben Shockley (Clint Eastwood) who is assigned to run the gauntlet to Phoenix where Mally is set to testify in court against the mob. Mally kills Blakelock at the end of the film.

Source: Courtesy of Orion Pictures

Gus Levy
> Played by: Jerry Orbach
> Movie: Prince of the City (1981)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

The film is about a New York City Police Department anti-drug task force led by Det. Daniel Ciello (Treat Williams) who becomes disillusioned at the sketchy ways the agency was landing convictions and must choose between justice or fraternalism. Gus Levy plays Ciello’s best friend on the force who became outraged at Ciello’s choice to betray his fellow officers.

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Mike Dorsett
> Played by: Richard Bradford
> Movie: The Untouchables (1987)
> Law enforcement agency: Chicago Police Department

Police Chief Dorsett arranges the killings of Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith), a mob bookkeeper who turns state’s witness, and police trainee George Stone (Andy García). Realizing that Dorsett was behind the killings, veteran cop Jim Malone (Sean Connery) forces the crooked chief to disclose the location of mob accountant Walter Payne (Jack Kehoe).

Source: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Dennis Peck
> Played by: Richard Gere
> Movie: Internal Affairs (1990)
> Law enforcement agency: LAPD

Peck is held up in the film as a charming model LAPD officer until Internal Affairs agent Raymond Avilla (Andy García) pokes around in Peck’s business to discover the good cop image is a ruse and that Peck, who moonlights as a hitman, runs a network of snitches and crooks in order to enrich himself. Realizing that Avila is on to him, Peck begins a violent campaign to protect himself before he’s gunned down by Avilla after taking a hostage.

Source: Courtesy of Aries Films

Unnamed lieutenant
> Played by: Harvey Keitel
> Movie: Bad Lieutenant (1992)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

The tough-guy actor portrays a tortured, nameless crooked NYPD cop with addictions to drugs and gambling. Harvey Keitel’s Bad Lieutenant attempts to redeem himself by pursuing men who had raped a nun. After the nun tells him she’s forgiven her attackers, he captures the men, gives them his gambling money, and tells them to leave town. Shortly after, he’s killed by a drive-by-shooter, presumably over his gambling debts.

Source: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Norman Stansfield
> Played by: Gary Oldman
> Movie: Léon: The Professional (1994)
> Law enforcement agency: Drug Enforcement Agency

Oldman’s performance as DEA agent Stansfield is one of the most sinister portrayals of a law enforcement agent in film history. He doesn’t think twice about murdering a family to recover a stash of confiscated cocaine to sell on the street. Stansfield realizes that one of the family members, 12-year-old Mathilda Lando (Natalie Portman), escaped and is trying to kill him with the reluctant help of Léon, an Italian hitman.

Source: Courtesy of Miramax

Ray Donlan
> Played by: Harvey Keitel
> Movie: Cop Land (1997)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

Harvey Keitel plays a member of a group of NYPD officers living in New Jersey who become the focus of an Internal Affairs investigation. Donlan and fellow officers get caught attempting to plant a gun near the bodies of two Black teens that Donlan’s nephew had accidentally shot. As the film progresses, Donlan unsuccessfully attempts to drown his nephew and kills a cop for having an affair with his wife.

Source: Courtesy of MGM/UA Distribution Company

Frank Divinci
> Played by: Jim Belushi
> Movie: Gang Related (1997)
> Law enforcement agency: Unknown

Divinci is one of two police officers who attempt to frame homeless man William McCall (Randy Quaid) for the murder of an undercover DEA agent they had killed for drug money. Divinci leans on Cynthia Webb (Lela Rochon), a stripper with whom he’s cheating on his wife, to provide false witness testimony to bolster the case against McCall.

Source: Courtesy of Orion Pictures

Jake Rodriguez
> Played by: Tupac Shakur
> Movie: Gang Related (1997)
> Law enforcement agency: Unknown

In what became his last movie role before his unresolved murder in September 1996, Shakur plays alongside Jim Belushi in the film about two cops who unwittingly kill a DEA agent in a crooked drug robbery gone wrong, then attempt to frame a homeless man for the crime. Rodriguez is killed over a gambling debt, but not before he records his partner Frank Divinci admitting to the plot.

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Dudley Smith
> Played by: James Cromwell
> Movie: LA Confidential (1997)
> Law enforcement agency: LAPD

In yet another example of bad cops involved in the illicit drug trade, Cromwell plays a crooked LAPD detective in the 1950s who is running a criminal enterprise attempting to expand into the heroin business following the arrest of a local gangster. Based on the 1990 critically acclaimed novel of the same name by James Ellroy, the film depicts a nexus between police corruption and Hollywood fame.

Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

Vin Makazian
> Played by: John Heard
> TV show: The Sopranos (1999-2004)
> Law enforcement agency: Newark Police Department

Heard’s depiction of a dirty Newark detective drips with pathos. Det. Makazian appears a disheveled, broken man who, like Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), suffers from depression and eventually commits suicide. First, though, Makazian provides Soprano with insider information, including private details about Tony’s therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), and reveals that Tony’ longtime soldier and friend, Salvatore Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) was an FBI informant.

Source: Charley Gallay / Getty Images

Skip Lipari
> Played by: Louis Lombardi
> TV show: The Sopranos (2000-2001)
> Law enforcement agency: FBI

Lombardi portrays an FBI handler in charge of Salvatore Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore), longtime enforcer for Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). Busted for selling heroin, and trying to avoid jail time, Bonpensiero becomes an informant. Lipari develops an affinity for Bonpensiero and helps cover up the murder of Matthew “Matt” Bevilaqua (Lillo Brancato Jr.), an aspiring but naive mob associate.

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Alonzo Harris
> Played by: Denzel Washington
> Movie: Training Day (2001)
> Law enforcement agency: LAPD

Washington was a well-established box office star, often playing honorable and groomed characters when he made this movie. But he won his first Oscar when he diverted into his depiction of a highly decorated but crooked LAPD narcotics officer who drags Officer Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) into his corrupt world of stealing money from drug dealers.

Source: Kevin Winter / Getty Images

Jack Tanner
> Played by: Noah Emmerich
> Movie: Cellular (2004)
> Law enforcement agency: LAPD

In this action thriller about college student Ryan (Chris Evans) receiving a random call from a kidnapped woman, Emmerich plays a violent LAPD officer and friend to police Sgt. Robert Mooney (William H. Macy), seen in compromising video along with other detectives torturing, killing, and robbing a pair of drug dealers.

Source: Courtesy of Turtle Releasing

Marcus Duvall
> Played by: Gabriel Byrne
> Movie: Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
> Law enforcement agency: Detroit Police Department

In this remake of a 1976 film of the same name, Detroit police are forced to work with violent criminals to defend a police precinct from an armed assault during a winter storm to kill one of the prisoners who has compromising information about corrupt cops. The attackers are working for police Captain Marcus Duvall, who leads a police mafia.

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Frank Nugent
> Played by: David Morse
> Movie: 16 Blocks (2006)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

Part of a group of corrupt NYPD cops, Nugent is trying to hunt down key witness Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) while he’s being escorted across town by Detective Jack Mosely (Bruce Willis) – Nugent’s former partner in crime and a worn-out alcoholic police detective. While both detectives are dirty, Mosely redeems himself by rescuing Bunker and serving as a witness in the trials, which costs him two years in prison.

Source: Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Colin Sullivan
> Played by: Matt Damon
> Movie: The Departed (2006)
> Law enforcement agency: Boston Police Department

Matt Damon was applauded for his nuanced portrayal of a man who was groomed since he was a young boy by a Boston crime boss (Frank Costello, played by Jack Nicholson) to become a spy within the Massachusetts State Police. Given his background, Sgt. Sullivan is one of the more sympathetic dirty cops depicted onsceen – but he is no antihero: He’s instrumental in getting Captain Oliver “Charlie” Queenan (Martin Sheen) killed.

Source: Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Nick Trupo
> Played by: Josh Brolin
> Movie: American Gangster (2007)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

Denzel Washington plays Frank Lucas, a low-profile Harlem crime lord in the late 1960s who inherits a heroin trade after his boss dies from a heart attack. While amassing legitimate businesses and befriending politicians and celebrities, Lucas comes to odds with a local gangster, the Corsican Mafia, and Brolin’s crooked NYPD detective Nick Trupo – whom he’s forced to bribe.

Source: Courtesy of New Line Cinema

Jimmy Egan
> Played by: Colin Farrell
> Movie: Pride and Glory (2008)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

In this film about a group of related rogue NYPD cops, Sgt. Jimmy Egan is the son-in-law of Det. Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) and grandson of Sgt. Jimmy Egan (Jon Voight). Egan and fellow crooked officers orchestrate a killing of a rival drug dealer that goes wrong, leaving four of the officers, the dealer, and a cab driver dead. Ray eventually arrests Jimmy but Jimmy sacrifices himself to an angry mob to save his brother-in-law.

Source: Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Jack Wander
> Played by: Forest Whitaker
> Movie: Street Kings (2008)
> Law enforcement agency: LAPD

Forest Whittaker’s Capt. Jack Wander is the lead in a cast of several crooked officers within a police department. The captain steals drugs from the LAPD’s evidence room and is revealed by Det. Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves) to have harbored an elaborate plot to use incriminating evidence to blackmail LAPD top brass and politicians in a plot to become mayor.

Source: Courtesy of First Look Studios

Terrence McDonagh
> Played by: Nicolas Cage
> Movie: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
> Law enforcement agency: New Orleans Police

This Werner Hertzog-directed film angered “Bad Lieutenant” director Abel Ferrara for what he considered to be an appropriation of his concept. Nicolas Cage was reportedly paid more than the original “Bad Lieutenant” cost to produce. He plays a crooked police lieutenant whose drug and gambling addictions nearly drive him insane while he’s investigating a series of murders.

Source: Courtesy of Overture Films

Sal Procida
> Played by: Ethan Hawke
> Movie: Brooklyn’s Finest (2009)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

Struggling to afford a home large enough for his growing family, Det. Procida commits murder and steals drug money from raids in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn in this thriller about three NYPD cops struggling with right and wrong over seven tumultuous days. Sal is killed in turn after murdering three drug dealers for a stockpile of cash.

Source: Courtesy of Home Box Office (HBO)

Nelson Van Alden
> Played by: Michael Shannon
> TV show: Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014)
> Law enforcement agency: Bureau of Prohibition

In one of Shannon’s most memorable roles, he plays Van Alden as a grim, strait-laced, puritanical religious fundamentalist with strong convictions against the alcohol trade. Van Alden’s self-loathing and temper causes him to murder his corrupt partner, sparking a series of events that leads him on a path to becoming a bootlegger and mob enforcer.

Source: Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

Stan Sawicki
> Played by: Joseph Aniska
> TV show: Boardwalk Empire (2011-2013)
> Law enforcement agency: Bureau of Prohibition

Aniska plays a corrupt revenue agent for the Bureau of Prohibition who winds up on the payroll of Atlantic City crime boss Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) and bootlegger Mickey Doyle (Paul Sparks). Sawicki is killed by a shotgun booby trap after he participates in a failed hit against NYC mob boss Joe Masseria (Ivo Nandi).

Source: Courtesy of LD Entertainment

“Killer” Joe Cooper
> Played by: Matthew McConaughey
> Movie: Killer Joe (2011)
> Law enforcement agency: Dallas Police Department

McConaughey plays a Texas police officer with a side gig as a contract hitman. He’s hired by struggling West Dallas drug dealer Chris Smith (Emile Hersch) to kill his abusive mother to collect insurance money so Smith can divide it between his father, stepmother, and sister, Dottie. Dottie winds up as Cooper’s collateral for the payment, and later falls in love with the crooked cop.

Source: Courtesy of Millennium Entertainment

Dave Brown
> Played by: Woody Harrelson
> Movie: Rampart (2011)
> Law enforcement agency: LAPD

Harrelson plays a veteran corrupt, violence-prone LAPD beat cop who is captured on film attacking a hit-and-run suspect, creating another controversy for the department’s Rampart Division near downtown Los Angeles. As pressure on him mounts, Brown resorts to stealing money from an illicit high-stakes card game while killing one of two men who robbed it.

Source: Theo Wargo / Getty Images

Bobby Monday
> Played by: Michael Shannon
> Movie: Premium Rush (2012)
> Law enforcement agency: NYPD

Michael Shannon plays a bad NYPD officer with a gambling addiction who chases bike courier Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) down the West Side of Manhattan. Wilee has been hired to deliver a gambling ticket worth $50,000 to anyone who delivers it and Officer Monday sees stealing the envelope as a literal ticket out of his gambling debts.

Source: Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Bruce Robertson
> Played by: James McAvoy
> Movie: Filth (2013)
> Law enforcement agency: Police Scotland Edinburgh

McAvoy plays a scheming, drug-addicted, sexually abusive Scottish detective who is disturbingly unrepentant and open about his desire to be part of police oppression. Seeing an opportunity to get promoted, he decides to investigate the murder of a Japanese exchange student but gradually loses his grip on reality. The film is very similar in style to “Trainspotting” – which, like “Filth,” is based on a novel by Irvine Welsh.

Source: Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation

Eldon Perry
> Played by: Kurt Russell
> Movie: Dark Blue (2022)
> Law enforcement agency: LAPD

In this film about police corruption that takes place days before the 1992 Los Angeles riots sparked by the acquittal of four officers in the beating of Rodney King, Sgt. Eldon Perry uses underhanded techniques encouraged by his superior within the department who colluded with robbers to steal money from a liquor store in a robbery that leaves four dead.

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