David Burnham, a former investigative reporter for The New York Times whose exposé of corruption in the New York City Police Department in 1970 led to public hearings; tarnished top officials, including the mayor; and inspired the movie “Serpico,” about Mr. Burnham’s chief source, Detective Frank Serpico, died on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at his home in Spruce Head, Maine. He was 91.
His wife, Joanne Omang, said his heart stopped after a choking incident at dinner.
Mr. Burnham, who was known for a scrupulous faith in facts, knocked about at several news organizations before The Times hired him in 1967, after he told the metropolitan editor, Arthur Gelb, that the paper’s coverage of law enforcement was “not very smart.”
