David Burnham, Times Reporter Who Exposed Police Graft, Dies at 91

David Burnham, a former investigative reporter for The New York Times whose exposé of corruption in the New York City Police Department in 1970 led to public hearings; tarnished top officials, including the mayor; and inspired the movie “Serpico,” about Mr. Burnham’s chief source, Detective Frank Serpico, died on Tuesday at his home in Spruce Head, Maine. He was 91.

His wife, Joanne Omang, said his heart stopped after a choking incident at dinner.

Mr. Burnham, who was known for a scrupulous faith in facts, knocked about at several news organizations before The Times hired him in 1967, after he told the metropolitan editor, Arthur Gelb, that the paper’s coverage of law enforcement was “not very smart.”

Mr. Burnham was brought on not as a traditional police-beat reporter, to cover shootings and stabbings, but to write about the inner workings of the police department. He scored a major scoop in 1968 when he learned that officers on overnight shifts routinely slept in their patrol cars, often because they were worn out from second jobs during the day.

When Mr. Burnham told an assistant editor about the practice, known as “cooping,” the editor at first rebuffed him, as Mr. Gelb described the events in a 2003 memoir, “City Room,” because The Times wasn’t interested in “crusading” stories.

On his own time, Mr. Burnham reported out the details. His article landed on the front page.

His enterprising reporting caught the attention of a longhaired undercover officer, Detective Serpico, who for years had tried to get the police department to crack down on internal corruption. He approached Mr. Burnham.

Following up on tips from the detective and other officers for a year, Mr. Burnham revealed in an explosive three-part series beginning on April 25, 1970, that police graft was widespread, with officers extorting millions of dollars a year from businesses, drug dealers and gamblers while top brass and city officials covered it up.