Power Broker: NYPD Detective Turned Actor Bo Dietl

Bo Dietl is New York’s “renaissance man.” With a life story that reads like an excerpt from a New York Times bestseller, Dietl has no shortage of amazing stories to share. Whether they involve arresting some of the most infamous criminals in New York City’s history, sharing dinner with “A-List” celebrities at Rao’s or starring in Scorsese films, Dietl has lived an amazing life that now brings him to the shore of the East End.

Dietl is an author, an actor, an entrepreneur, a first-generation American from Ozone Park, but first-and-foremost, he is a cop. Detective Bo Dietl spent 16 years on the New York City Police force, and was acclaimed by the tabloids and news media as one of the city’s most high-profile detectives.

“The foundation of my life is being a cop, but as I have gotten older, I have become more compassionate,” he says. “When I was younger, everything was one-dimensional, but I have since become much more understanding of people’s social issues. I have more of an emotional factor, and I still love to help people.”

He was a founding member of the citywide anti-crime unit and boasts more than 2,000 arrests of felons, which came at the price of being mugged more than 500 times as a decoy. Dietl was sent to the hospital more than 30 times while he was a police officer, after being stabbed, beaten or shot at—all in the interest of keeping New Yorkers safe.

After a skydiving injury left him with a compound fracture in his leg, Dietl was put on modified duty. Believing that this was the end of the road for him in law enforcement, he turned in his papers to begin life as a civilian.

“I was very depressed for about a month,” he recalls. “After leaving the NYPD, I realized that being a police officer was the greatest foundation for me to begin a life in security. I love being a cop, in the days where New Yorkers appreciated hard working police officers,” he adds, alluding to the anti-police sentiment that discourages many from entering the police force.

Shortly after his retirement, Dietl realized just how much his life intersected with the film industry. His work with the department was profiled by award-winning journalist Nick Pileggi as a New York magazine cover story that documented his work to stop rampant violence in the city. It was then that Dietl realized that his hard work in high-profile arrests had laid the foundation for an acting career, in addition to his security company.

“My life touched upon so many movies, like the Wolf of Wall Street and Goodfellas,” he says, two films in which he had supporting roles—playing himself, I might add. “I realized, everyone wants to be around a winner.”

From that point on, he focused on networking himself with some of the nation’s highest-profile individuals. He recalls dinners he shared at his table at Rao’s, with everyone from Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, to Denzel Washington, Jack Welsh, Ken Langone, Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie and Google founder Eric Schmidt.

“These are some of the best experiences, in my ‘little folder of life,’” he says.

And while he will always identify with the Big Apple, he has found refuge on the East End, in the Hamptons, on the water, where he resides with his fiancé, Margo Urban, a former national recording star with the Cover Girls. There, he is frequently visited by his children, grandchildren, family and friends.

“I have lived a stressful life,” he says. “When I get out here, my whole body diffuses. It is really something that you can’t describe. There is a beautiful release out here, the stress level diminishes.”

While he enjoys frequenting local restaurants, when asked about his favorite places to enjoy a meal, he says: “My kitchen is my East End Rao’s.”

He and Margo have taken up a hobby in gardening, in their newly renovated, cedar-fenced garden.

“We have an abundance of vegetables that are remarkable, and we love to cook with what we grow,” he says. “We spent most of the pandemic out here,” he adds, where he enjoys a water-view complimented by an infinity pool.

When asked how he would describe the Hamptons in one word, he says: “Heaven.”

“The moon rises over the water—just last week we saw an orange moon, followed by a pink moon. They are just magnificent and are part of the reason that, when we are out here, we are in heaven.”

Dietl remains active and still runs Beau Dietl & Associates, a New Yorkbased security agency with offices in the city and Miami for the last four decades. For the last 37 years, he has been the CEO and chairman of many corporations in the security and investigation business. His company has worked for some of the nation’s largest corporations on security and investigation matters. In 1999, Dietl sold a security and technology company for more than $200 million.

He has also recently launched an endeavor in cyber security, where he is on the cutting-edge of encryption technology, Advanced Cyber Security. Remaining a frequent staple on some of the nation’s leading cable news broadcasts, as well as remaining engaged in acting, his career is far from over.

“When we get hired, by a corporation or a private client, I make sure that there is no greater priority than the protection of the client and the success of the investigation,” he says. “We are always available to help anyone.”

He says that his success is grounded in his work ethic that he has had since his first job working construction on the original World Trade Center.

But, in an exceptional life that has brought him to the East End for the very same reasons that we all enjoy, he is certainly a power broker from the city’s grid, to our quaint, Hamptons villages.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.