Marianne Serpico is the wife of Frank Serpico. Marianne Serpico’s husband is a retired New York Police Department detective from the United States. He is best known for his investigations into police corruption. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he worked as a plainclothes cop in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan to expose vice racketeering. Frank contributed to a front-page New York Times story about widespread corruption in the NYPD in 1970, which drew national attention to the issue.
Marianne Serpico: Bio Summary
Who is the wife of Frank Serpico?
Frank Serpico has had three marriages. From 1957 to 1962, he was married to Mary Ann Wheeler. Serpico married Leslie Lane in 1963, and their marriage ended in 1965. After walking down the aisle with Laurie Young a year later, they called it quits in 1969. Serpico left the NYPD and the United States on June 15, 1972, to relocate to Europe.
Marianne Serpico (a native of the Netherlands) became the former police officer’s fourth love. The couple tied the knot in a “spiritual marriage” in 1973. The couple’s love story began happily, but things took a tragic turn a few years later. Marianne Serpico died of cancer in 1980, after being together for about eight years. Frank returned to the United States after Marianne Serpico died.
Alexander Serpico, Frank Serpico’s only son, was born the same year Marianne died. The Hero cop challenged a child support order, claiming that his son’s mother told him she was on the contraceptive pill (which she denied, but a friend testified against her). He lost his appeal, and the seven-member court ordered him to pay $945 per month.
According to the New York Times, the Court of Appeals unanimously decided that the “mother’s alleged deception has no bearing on” Mr. Serpico’s “obligation to support his child.” The son of the legendary New York City police whistleblower died in his Manhattan apartment from an apparent drug overdose. He was 41.
Following the death of Frank Serpico’s fourth wife, Marianne Serpico, and his return to the United States, the USA Section of ANPS (National Association of Italian State Police) awarded him the “Saint Michael Archangel Prize” on June 27, 2013, an official award by the Italian State Police with the sponsorship of the Italian Ministry of Interior.
Francesco Serpico is now an Italian citizen, having received his first Italian passport during the same ceremony, following extensive research by the president of ANPS USA, Chief Inspector Cirelli, who established the jus sanguinis, allowing him to gain Italian citizenship.