David Burnham, a former New York Times investigative reporter whose work uncovering corruption in the New York Police Department circa the 1970s inspired the twice Oscar-nominated Serpico , died earlier this week at 91.
Per the Times , he died after a choking incident at dinner, at his home in Spruce Head, Maine, which caused his heart to stop.
Detective Frank Serpico, an undercover officer who had been trying to get the police department to crack down on the graft, worked as Burnham’s chief source, becoming the eventual subject of the 1973 crime thriller in which Al Pacino played him.
Commemorating the reporter, Serpico wrote on social media , “Couldn’t have done it without you David,” alongside a thumbs up and praying emoji.
Burnham was hired by the Times in 1967 after telling the late metropolitan editor Arthur Gelb that the news organization’s coverage of law enforcement was “not very smart.” A year after his hiring, he garnered a major scoop about how officers on overnight shifts routinely slept in their patrol cars. While an assistant editor initially dismissed the reportage, Burnham took time to piece together the article on his own time, eventually scoring front page publication.