· 4hOfficer
Joseph Wambaugh, Ex-Calif. Police Officer Turned Best-Selling Writer, Dies
Joseph Wambaugh, author who knew gritty reality of cop life, dies at 88
Joseph Wambaugh, L.A. Cop Turned Novelist and Screenwriter, Dies at 88
Joseph Wambaugh, Los Angeles cop who wrote 'The Onion Field' and other bestsellers, dies at 88
Bestselling crime novelist Joseph Wambaugh, who mined his own experience as a Los Angeles police officer, has died at 88.
Joseph Wambaugh Dies: ‘The Onion Field’ Writer, ‘Police Story’ Creator Was 88
In 1971, eleven years after joining the LAPD, Wambaugh saw his first novel, The New Centurions, published by Little, Brown and Co. The story of rookie LAPD cops in the early 1960s became his first bestseller and, the following year, the first movie based on his work. The film adaptation starred George C. Scott and Stacy Keach.