Her close friend Jimmy Breslin told me on the day she was picked: “This broad is just eight years out of the kitchen. She’s just starting to grow. She’s gonna be president.”

Thanks to concessions won by Hart­man, within a few years Long Island cops would take it for granted that they earned more than FBI agents.

Patrolman Phil Caruso and lawyer Richard Hartman built the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association into an arrogant, insular, and wealthy institution that stands above the law and beyond scrutiny. Where is the $63 million a year in tax funds and union dues going? Only their friends know for sure.