Career
The investigation was the subject of a book by Robin Moore and the subsequent motion picture released in 1971. The movie was highly fictionalized and very successful. The character was called "Popeye" because that was Egan"s nickname in real life.
Egan played a role in the movie as Hackman"s supervisor, Simonson.
Egan and Grosso were also technical advisors. Hackman reprised this role in the sequel film French Connection II in 1975.
Egan"s seizure is mentioned as a throwaway line in the 2007 feature American Gangster, but is portrayed as the very drugs taken out of the Evidence Room by corrupt police officers, cut and resold to the mobsters from whom it was seized. In 1986, a network television series Popeye Doyle was planned based on the fictionalized character from the two films with Editor O"Neill playing the title character.
While the series was never produced, the pilot was broadcast as an National Broadcasting Company-television Movie, and has been shown in syndication.
In 1973 another film, called Badge 373, with Robert Duvall playing the role of Egan, was released detailing Egan"s career. After retiring from the New York City Police Department, Egan became an actor, with small roles in 22 movies and television series. He retired and moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1984.
Egan died of cancer in 1995 at age 65, at the University of Miami Cancer Center.