was reduced in rank to patrolman, his pay was cut by $1000 and he was transferred to Long Island City by police commissioner John F. O'Ryan. Syndicated columnist Westbrook Pegler said at the time that Broderick "has been busted and sent out to walk a beat because he has enjoyed for some years the endorsement and assistance of some of the most pernicious Tammany politicians in the city. He was reinstated as detective third grade by O'Ryan five months later after meeting with Broderick, saying that the original demotion was a result of "vague criticism regarding their political connections," and that he was viewed by his current commander as a "model cop." He was promoted to detective second grade in 1935 and detective first grade in 1939. On the Broadway beat, Broderick swiftly gained a reputation for violence. His fists were once described as "huge lethal pistons that could beat a man senseless in half a heartbeat," and to "broderick" became Broadway slang for being knocked out by a single punch. His knuckles were broken many times. Once he knocked out the gangster Francis "Two Gun" Crowley with a single punch, even though Crowley was pointing a gun at him. At the time Crowley was captured by police in May 1931, Broderick attempted to break into the apartment where he was barricaded. He failed, and had to be hospitalized. He was said to have demanded that hoodlums tip their hat to him, and once was said to have gone to the funeral of a member of the Hudson Dusters gang and spat in his eye. Broderick would wrap a lead pipe in a newspaper, which allowed him to beat gangsters while it looked like he was giving them a friendly swat with a rolled-up newspaper. Broderick's exploits were widely reported in the New York media, gaining him celebrity status. His tenth anniversary on the police department was commemorated by a dinner in his honor in January 1933 at the Della Robbia Room of the Vanderbilt Hotel, attended by politicians and civic leaders including Tammany Hall district leader James J. Hines. Entertainment was provided, gratis, by Bill Robinson, Bert Lahr and Harry Richman. Hines was subsequently convicted of racketeering for protecting Harlem numbers rackets run by Dutch Schultz. Broderick's exploits were a mainstay of the New York newspapers. He tossed hoodlums who had been bothering women through a plate-glass window, one