Dan Mahoney was born and raised in New York City. After serving with the Marine Corps in Vietnam, he followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and joined the New York City Police Department. Along the way he attended John Jay College of Criminal Justice and graduated as class valedictorian in 1977. He worked for twenty-five years in the NYPD before retiring as a captain in 1989. The father of three children, he lives in Manhattan with his wife, Yvette, who is a New York City Police Officer.