Legendary NYPD detective Joseph Coffey dies at 77 - a tough-as-nails cop whose legendary police career involved interviewing “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz, repeatedly arresting mobster John Gotti and protecting boxer Joe Frazier from assassins, died Sunday from complications of heart disease and lung cancer

Joseph Coffey, a tough-as-nails cop whose legendary police career involved interviewing “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz, repeatedly arresting mobster John Gotti and protecting boxer Joe Frazier from assassins, died Sunday from complications of heart disease and lung cancer.

He was 77.

“He was like John Wayne walking into a room.

He was a tough guy, but he was a big family man, too,” recalled Jerry Schmetterer, a long-time journalist who wrote Coffey’s biography, “The Coffey Files: One Cop’s War Against the Mob.”

Coffey combined a tall, athletic build and sculpted good looks with a blustery charm to become the perfect incarnation of the prototypical no-nonsense Irish cop.

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