People talk 4/22/04

Ex-cop Serpico takes shot at cop book 'Blue Blood'

NEW YORK -- Frank Serpico is blowing the whistle on a new book by an NYPD detective that downplays police corruption. In the book "Blue Blood," Bronx detective Edward Conlon says "Serpico" -- the 1973 hit movie starring Al Pacino as a policeman crusading against graft -- was too kind to its subject. "Frank Serpico has many admirers and many detractors, but there was no disagreement that he was a very strange man," he writes. Conlon insists police misconduct is not as widespread as pop culture might suggest. Instead, he writes the average policeman must deal with "the smallness of the people and the grandeur of their demands. The danger was not in corruption but corrosion." Responded Serpico: "Corrosion must be the Harvard word for corruption. ... Where the hell do you get the truth?"

'Sopranos' star receives honor from alma mater

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- James Gandolfini, star of HBO's "The Sopranos," is among 11 Rutgers alumni to be inducted into the university's hall of fame on May 1.Gandolfini, who plays New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano on the HBO series, has made commercials and appeared in billboard ads for the school's athletics program.

Jackie Chan in Cambodia to serve United Nations

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Jackie Chan will be in Cambodia next week to promote the work of the U.N. children's and AIDS agencies, the United Nations said Wednesday. The Hong Kong star, known for his daredevil movie stunts, will visit the capital, Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap, home to the country's cultural icon, Angkor Wat, during his three-day stay, a UNICEF statement said. Chan is scheduled to arrive Monday. He will visit projects focusing on HIV/AIDS, rehabilitation for land mine victims and land mine education, the agency said.

Bono heaps praise on Canadian leader

TORONTO -- Rocker Bono praised Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin for showing "real political guts" in the global war on AIDS. Bono, frontman for Irish band U2 and an AIDS-awareness crusader, commented Tuesday on changes to proposed legislation that would speed cut-rate drugs to developing countries. "This kind of thing keeps Canada in the lead," Bono said in a statement. Bono has urged Martin to make good on efforts by his predecessor, Jean Chretien, to get drugs to countries that couldn't otherwise afford them.

-- From wire reports