Police Undercover: The True Story of the Biker, the Mafia and the Mountie

Steven R. Hewitt is an assistant professor of history at the University
of Saskatchewan.

Mark Murphy, a 25-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, has
written a book about his adventures during the early 1980s. Murphy, who
was working in Toronto at the time, came into contact with Cecil Kirby,
an ex-biker and full-time criminal who was working for a mob family and
offering his services as a contract killer. Thanks to Murphy’s
efforts, Kirby became a police informant and aided the authorities in
busting several members of the Commisso Mob.

For Murphy, however, there was no happy ending. Several of his
colleagues suspected that he had gotten too close to Kirby while acting
as his police contact. Murphy’s conduct was eventually investigated
and although he was cleared, he found himself transferred to Nova
Scotia. He believes that there have been efforts to undermine his career
ever since.

Police Undercover offers a comprehensive picture of policing in the
1980s. Unfortunately, Murphy’s (perhaps understandable) bitterness at
times makes the book seem more like a means of getting even with his
enemies than a truthful account. Particularly questionable is his
unsupported allegation concerning the malign influence of Freemasonry on
the RCMP.