Badge of the Assassin is a 1985 television film starring James Woods, Yaphet Kotto and Alex Rocco.

[2] Three black revolutionaries (Anthony Bottom, Albert "Nuh" Washington, and Herman Bell) gun down two New York City police officers.

The policemen were gunned down in cold blood by the self-styled terrorists, who first elude to the law and then, for want of crucial evidence, conviction for their crime.

Assistant District Attorney, Robert Tanenbaum, the man responsible for bringing the three cop killers to justice leads a tireless nationwide investigation that moves to San Francisco, New Orleans and Mississippi and finally back to a climax in a New York City courtroom, during the desperate search for the killers.

The film is an account of the detective work and prosecution that resulted in the convictions in 1975 of the Black Liberation Army members who, four years earlier, had shot to death two New York City police officers, Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagentini, in an unprovoked attack.

[10] On November 1, 1985, the New York Times writer Lawrence Van Gelder reviewed the film under the article headline "Police Murders Dramatized in Badge of the Assassin", where he stated "On screen, Mr. Tanenbaum, who pursued the case through two trials -the first ending in a hung jury, the second in murder convictions - is portrayed with a nice mixture of intensity, warmth, subdued humor and occasional self-doubt by James Woods.

He is well supported by Yaphet Kotto and Alex Rocco as the New York detectives assigned to the case, and the cast also includes Rae Dawn Chong and Pam Grier as women associated with the killers.

"[7] In The Pittsburgh Press of November 1, 1985, writer Barbara Holsopple stated "Badge of the Assassin is well-written, performed and produced, but it lacks the tension, suspense and horror of its era.

"[11] As quoted on the film's original publicity poster and VHS release, Leonard of Entertainment Tonight said "Bristling police drama about real life... played with nervous intensity by James Woods.