Lumet handled these kinds of stories very well. I suggest you seek out Night Falls in Manhattan, which with this film and Prince of the City forms what could be called Lumet's trilogy police corruption and prosecution. Andy Garcia has one of his best roles as does Richard Drefyus and the entire supporting cast is brilliant.

Lumet was always fascinated by corruption. Famously he directed Serpico in which Pacino played the cop who went undercover to expose how broken the policing system was. I think the reason he kept coming back to it over the years was obvious. Despite the best efforts of his hero, things really didn't get much better for the NYPD for the next quarter of a century. tHESE days of course, the police are just as racist, prone to violence and get away of as horrible things as they did when Lumet was covering it. The only difference is they don't do it for kickbacks, but the sheer joy of it. (Sigh.)