article_snippet.sent: At the helm of the NYPD from 1934-45 was Lewis Valentine (pictured), a stalwart of the force for more than 30 years who had a reputation for brutality .
article_snippet.sent: Today Lewis Valentine (pictured), a stalwart of the force for more than 30 years who had a reputation for brutality are everyday heroes, New York's finest, but the New York Police Department has had a more chequered past than most would imagine.
article_snippet.sent: Bernard Whalen's new book 'the NYPD's First Fifty Years' is a tale of kickbacks, mob violence and secret KKK members.
article_snippet.sent: Bernard Whalen's charts the early rise of the world renowned police department from it beginnings in 1898 when the New York area's 18 independent police forces merged into one.
article_snippet.sent: At the helm of the NYPD from 1934-45 was Lewis Valentine, a stalwart of the force for more than 30 years.
article_snippet.sent: Valentine, whose autobiography was appropriately titled, 'Nightstick' and who would later host a radio show, 'Gang Busters,' was the embodiment of a tough cop.
article_snippet.sent: Under his tenure the NYPD officers were encouraged to mercilessly beat NYPD officers suspects and promotions were on offer to those who could – in Valentine's words 'throw the gorillas around'.
highlights_snippet.sent: NYPD's secret history from first 50 years unveiled in book about the force .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Looking at men who led the police, book describes kickbacks and brutality .
  