The French Connection: The World’s Most Crucial Narcotics Investigation.

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969. First edition of this account of New York detectives Sonny Grosso and Eddie Egan and their pursuit of an international heroin smuggling ring, basis for the William Friedkin Academy Award-winning film. Octavo, original half cloth, cartographic endpapers, illustrated. Fine in a near fine dust jacket. The true, absorbing and sometimes frightening documentary of the world's most successful narcotics investigation, The French Connection is one of the most fascinating crime accounts of our time. When New York City detectives Eddie "Popeye" Egan and his partner Sonny Grosso routinely tail Pasquale "Patsy" Fuca, after observing some wild spending at the Copacabana, they quickly realize that they are on to something really big. Patsy is not only the nephew of a mob boss on the lam but also a key negotiator in an impending delivery of narcotics from abroad. His incongruous connections are with several distinguished Frenchmen, including Jean Jehan, the director of the world's largest heroin network, and Jacques Angelvin, a star of French television. It is the basis for the 1971 film directed by William Friedkin, with the screenplay, written by Ernest Tidyman, starring Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, and Fernando Rey. At the 44th Academy Awards, it won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Hackman), Best Director (Friedkin), Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Tidyman). It was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Scheider), Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing. Tidyman also received a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Writers Guild of America Award and an Edgar Award for his screenplay. A sequel, French Connection II, followed in 1975 with Gene Hackman and Fernando Rey reprising their roles.