RIP Sonny Grosso

Retired NYPD Detective Sonny Grosso, of “French Connection” fame, dead at 88

New York Daily News

By Cathy Burke and John Annese

January 22, 2020

Sonny Grosso, the larger-than-life NYPD detective whose fast-and-furious crime-busting with partner Eddie Egan became the basis of the 1971 hit “The French Connection,” died Wednesday, a family member confirmed. He was 88.

Grosso, who turned Hollywood producer after the spectacular screen retelling of the takedown of a notorious heroin trafficking ring starring Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider, died at his Manhattan home, friends told the Daily News.

“He was some narcotics detective. He made that case. He made the French Connection case," said retired Det. Randy Jurgensen, who also worked on the case and on the award-winning movie as the NYPD adviser.

"Sonny Grosso figured out how they were doing it. It was Sonny Grosso.”

“There were a lot of busts that were coming out of narcotics and I’m telling you, Sonny Grosso was at the front, the bottom, whatever it was, with all those cases," Jurgensen added.

The film tells the story of detectives Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, played by Hackman, and Buddy “Cloudy” Russo, played by Scheider. Their real-life counterparts were Egan and Grosso. The movie world loved the fast-paced, gritty story and its shrewd fearless detectives, and the film picked up a slew of Oscars in 1972, including for best picture, director and actor.

In the real world, Grosso was loved no less.

“Sonny Grosso was a legendary cop who made the transition to filmmaking with gritty cinema verite stories about cops," Denis Hamill said Wednesday night, praising him for being the inspiration for the Scheider character in “the best cop movie ever made.”

“After retiring from NYPD, Sonny used his East Harlem street smarts to launch a highly successful career as a producer of crime films and TV shows, depicting cops as flawed but dedicated human beings in a battle of good vs. evil. He was a great cop, great filmmaker, and a great guy,” Hamill said.

Retired NYPD Capt. Ernie Naspretto, who also counted Grosso as a close friend, said fame suited Grosso, who although born in Harlem, was a regular at Rao’s and was an avid Yankee fan. “One of the greatest thrills of Sonny’s life was that he got to eat alone with Joe DiMaggio," Naspretto said.

“He was the most unpretentious celebrity you could ever imagine," he told The News. “He was so well known in the showbiz world… and yet he would talk to anybody at any time and had a great sense of humor.”

When “The French Connection” scooped up its Hollywood Oscars, Grosso stayed home, Naspretto recalled.

“He didn’t go. He didn’t feel it was his place to be there. He watched it on TV like everybody else," he said.

But he was anything but — getting producer gigs on movie and TV gigs that included “Baretta,” “Kojak” and “Top Cops.”

According to Naspretto, Grosso even had a bit part in “The Godfather,” though it was his off-duty gun that played an out-sized role: It was the gun Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) retrieved from a restaurant bathroom to kill two rivals.

“That gun belonged to Sonny Grosso, that was his off-duty gun," Naspretto said. "That gun was Sonny’s real gun, they put blanks in it. And he carried that gun until the day he died.”

Tony Lo Bianco, a longtime TV and film actor who’s played cops and crooks, and was in “The French Connection,” said Grosso became one of his best friends.

“There was such a bond. He’s just a trustworthy fellow and a dear, dear friend that anyone can trust," he said.

He lamented the lack of respect for cops today, recalling how hard Grosso worked for it. "I wish people would understand, what our law enforcement goes through.”

GROSSO, Sonny (Salvatore Grosso)

Born: 1933, Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Died: 1/22/2020, Manhattan, New York, U.S.A.

Sonny Grosso’s western – executive producer:

The Gunfighters (TV) - 1987