Milton Mollen, Who Investigated Corruption in the NYPD, Dead at 97

Milton Mollen, a prominent judge and deputy mayor who investigated police corruption in the early 1990s, died earlier this week. He was 97.

In 1992 after a police bribery scandal, Mayor David Dinkins tapped Mollen to lead the clunkily-named Commission to Investigate Allegations of Police Corruption and the Anti-Corruption Procedures of the Police Department. It was commonly referred to as the Mollen Commission.

“Dinkins told me, whoever you want, you pick. Whoever you want,” Mollen said in a 2015 interview with WNYC.

Mollen put together a team of dogged prosecutors, judges and investigators. They spent two years investigating the NYPD and held public hearings to grill police officials.

The commission came out with a report in 1994, recommending reforms.

Mollen had an extensive career in public service, serving as a city lawyer, housing official and a judge. He served in World War II and was captured by the Germans after his plane was shot down. He escaped.

Mollen is survived by two children, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His wife Bebe died in 1995— they married in 1943.