Rock Solid

Detective Bose and Sergeant Barchiesi of the New York City police department became partners in 1985, a time when both were concerned about activity in and around 507 E. 11th Street. The building, owned by the city, had been taken over by drug dealers, who turned it into a sort of fortress, with secret passages, concealed exits and the like. It became a drug supermarket, with customers queueing in block-long lines 24 hours a day. Behind the enterprise was Alejandro ``Tito'' Lopez, who reportedly committed some 19 murders. How Bose and Barchiesi devoted the next four years to a monomaniacal nationwide quest to arrest Lopez is the subject of this absorbing book, written with novelist LeMoult. The drug lord is now serving a 33-years-to-life sentence. Unfortunately, Bose and Barchiesi became disillusioned with the department and only Bose continues to serve. Their account of the self-protective timidity of the NYPD brass is profoundly depressing. Photos not seen by PW. (Jan.)