BY KAREN BOSSICK

During the 1980s two decorated New York PD detectives covertly acted as mafia informants and paid assassins even as they wore the badge.

They alerted the mob to raids, leaked the names of mobsters cooperating with the government and crippled investigations by sharing details of phone taps, impending arrests and surveillance.

When evidence that they were on the Mafia payroll arose in 1994, the FBI was unable to indict them. Only through the efforts of a cop determined to break the cold case before his retirement were they finally tried and sentenced to life in prison—30 years after their crimes took place.

Michael Cannell, a former editor at The New York Times, followed the case and wrote the book “Blood and the Badge” based on new research and never-before-released interviews with mobsters, including Sammy “the Bull” Gravano. And he will discuss his work at 5 p.m. tonight—Friday, Aug. 15—at Ketchum’s Community Library.

To see the free talk in person, visit https://thecommunitylibrary.libcal.com/event/14416088. Or, watch the Livestream at https://vimeo.com/event/5130471. The program also will be recorded and available later on the Library Event Archive.

Cannell, who lives in New York City, is also the author of “A Brotherhood Betrayed: The Man Behind the Rise and Fall of Murder, Inc.: He will sign books courtesy of Iconoclast Books, following Friday’s talk.