He always wanted to be a cop and, once on the force, never cared much about promotions. His interest was where the action was, and he saw plenty, recalled Nate Smith, his partner for many years.
"I'd be walking down Kensington Avenue with Joe," said Smith, "and they would step out into the street when they saw him coming . . . You didn't mess with a man like Joe Brown. He wore (size) 20 shirts and a (size) 52 suit and could move like a cat . . . He hated criminals."
A gentle, soft-spoken man, Brown had at least a 50 percent average in clearing cases. Smith noted that "he would ring me at 2 or 3 in the morning and say, 'I got a tip.' I'd throw some clothes on and go with him. Most of the time it was good."
Brown had reliable informants and knew how to treat them. His word was always good, and a street investigator travels on his word. Brown traveled far and wide.
Smith said some crooks would turn themselves in to Brown, once the message was out, rather than waiting for a hassle. In the early 1960s, Brown and Smith broke up a $1 million burglary ring being run by the old K&A mob.
In later years, he asked for and received a transfer out of Ferguson's unit
because he didn't like Fergy's way of doing business.
Sam Psoras, a Daily News photographer who has seen thousands of cops through his lenses, can never forget Brown. He's the cop who picked up a car - by himself.
"A suspect had run a car onto the railroad tracks at Lawrence Street below Sedgley (Avenue) in March 1950," Psoras said. ". . . They checked with the (police) radio, and it came back that there was an in-bound train from New York due at 3 a.m., and it's 2:25 a.m. It was a 1948 or '49 Plymouth.
