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Conversation With
The Consummate Storyteller:
Interview with Anthony Schembri
By Carin Chea
A basic Google search of “Anthony Schembri” will populate your screen with approximately 1,090,000 results within 0.45 seconds. Amongst the sea of realtors, bankers, and Gen Z’ers, there is one Anthony Schembri who truly stands out.
Maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it. Where do you know the eminent former police commissioner from?
Perhaps it’s because Schembri (a Fulbright scholar who has taught Serial Criminology at the University of Florida) made headlines when he was nominated by Governor Jeb Bush to spearhead the largest juvenile justice system in the nation?
Or, perhaps one of television’s most beloved detective serio-dramas was based on Anthony Schembri’s life.
The Commish (which ran for half a decade on ABC) stars Michael Chiklis as a former detective turned police commissioner, with none other than Schembri as the foundation for the resourceful and humorous protagonist.
Schembri, humble and earnest, shuns these accolades because he doesn’t need or want them. He is content simply telling stories.
The commissioner-turned-muse has now embarked on his newest journey – that of an author. In Russia: A Brooklyn Solution is Schembri’s first novel and is guaranteed to intrigue and haunt at the same time.
How did you get into the field of law enforcement?
That’s a story you’re gonna love.
I was about 14 or 15, and I went to the police station to report my neighbor’s lost uncle. The people in front of us were reporting a lost dog. The desk lieutenant took the report and said, “We’ll have people on it.”
Then, we get up to the desk and say my neighbor’s uncle has been missing 12 hours. The desk lieutenant says, “We don’t take reports on people unless it’s been 48 hours or more.” And so I said, “He was walking his dog at the time.”
He gave me a dirty look. But, a detective was walking up the stairs and he winked at me. He told me to come up the stairs with him and he says, “Anthony. You’re pretty fast.” First Grade Detective Johnny Burke, 9-0 squad, that was him.
He was typing a report on this old Remington, two fingers at a time. I said, “That’ll take you forever.” And so he opened the little gate, I stepped in, and I typed the report for him.
At that time, there weren’t civilians. One night, they had a ton of arrests. And he calls me and asks if I could come over and type some of their reports. I got to ride in a police car for the first time.
Anyway, let me get to the header. When I became police commissioner, he was dying of cancer. When I got to the hospital he wanted to see my badge. He couldn’t believe that that kid went on to become a police commissioner.
I know you get asked this a lot, but how did you manage to get a hit ABC show based on your life?
Through a friend of a friend, I met Sylvester Stallone. He heard of a story where I took the floor off the room of a house and rolled it into the courtroom. They’d never heard of that before. I told him this story and he went back and he wanted to do that on television. He told me to get an agent.
The writer [for The Commish] worked for Steve Cannell. They approached me to first be a technical advisor for Wise Guys initially. I took him to Washington, to the FBI lab, and we wrote a script.
Then, his assistant producer, Steve Kronish, said, “Let’s do a story about Tony and the things he’s done.” That’s how we did five years and I laughed all the way through it.
Cannell came to my house in New York, and I brought in a dozen of my detectives and we told Tony Schembri stories! He had his secretary there and they tape recorded it. That’s how we started.
What was your most memorable experience as a police commissioner?
Being a police commissioner is like being in charge of a dynamite company where all your employees are allowed to smoke. That’s what it’s like.
Recently 139 laws have been passed about policing in the United States. I have abused my power as a young detective coming up, but you can’t put your finger on the scale of justice.
I’ve had tragic cases, funny cases. I had a case of two girls who were cut up. We got the bones out of the lake, about 600 bones in all. I brought them to the medical examiner.
The creative process is fascinating. I was in a store and saw a picture of a dinosaur and it dawned on me that if a guy could put a dinosaur together, he could put a body together.
I went to the Smithsonian and asked the lady at the front who the person was that put all the dinosaur bones together. She said that would be the Director of Paleontology. So, I asked if I could speak to the Director of Paleontology.
I went in carrying these bags of bones of these two girls, and she called the cops because I forgot to tell her who I was or why I was there. They apologized, I apologized. Everyone at home had a laugh about it. They were practically levitating.
The killer had 40 acres of land, a ranch. He killed the girls in Brooklyn, but took them upstate.
Finally, we found an informant who told us the bodies were in the lake. He got 25 years to life for both girls.
Is that the same case where you took the floor of someone’s house into the courtroom?
Yeah. I got a picture of me taking the wall down.
How long did that case take?
Two years.
Wow. They don’t show that on TV. Everything’s wrapped up in 45 minutes.
It’s about persistence, to the point where people can’t say “no” to you.
What inspired you to write your first novel? Can you tell us about it?
Well, Russia has recently executed a serial killer and the Russian police have no experience investigating serial crimes because they don’t look at patterns. They had just executed a man, but it was the wrong guy.
The book is about Russia reaching out to different agencies all over the world because they don’t know how to solve these crimes. They end up contacting New York.
The New York Police Commissioner goes to see his Chief of Detectives. The Commissioner says, “You have 4500 detectives working for you. Who’s your best serial crime guy in the whole bureau?”
That person is the character Lieutenant Anthony Magali. He brings with him a female assistant D.A. who reluctantly goes, but happens to speak Russian and is an expert in international law. They use his Brooklyn techniques on the Russians.
Unbeknownst to him, he steps into an international scene. The Russians don’t want him to be successful, and neither does the United States. That’s the end of the book.
I see you got some sequels coming up! Can you tell me more about that?
Someone is also responsible who’s in high government circles and they don’t want Magali to be successful and they put stumbling blocks in his way. But, for Magali, stumbling blocks have always been stepping stones. He’s quick on his feet. I got that from my boyhood.
I worked in a grocery store and one day this guy comes in and asks to buy half a grapefruit. Not wanting to get in trouble, I walk to the manager and unbeknownst to me, that customer is following right behind me.
I didn’t know that and told my manager, “Some ass wants to buy half a grapefruit.” And, as I turn around to point to the guy, I see he’s right behind me, and I say, “And this gentleman wants to buy the other half.”
For more information about Anthony and his upcoming book, please visit AnthonySchembri.com.
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