He spent six seasons as publicity director for the New York Giants of the National Football League in the days of Frank Gifford, Charlie Conerly and Sam Huff.
He then worked on the foreign staff of The New York Times for six years based first in Nice, then in Paris, covering stories in sixteen countries in Europe and North Africa.
Daley's award-winning 1978 nonfiction work Prince of the City was hailed by The New York Times Book Review: "The policeman as flawed hero, a recurrent and enormously popular figure in contemporary writing, has never been done better."
Daley's books, which have been translated into 14 languages, also include Year of the Dragon and Tainted Evidence (filmed as Night Falls on Manhattan).
Most of his books grew out of immersing himself deeply in studying people and subjects that fascinated him, from Grand Prix racing to opera to bullfights to treasure diving—and of course the NYPD.