Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob

Delaney, Bob,Scheiber, Dave

ISBN 10: 1402754434 / ISBN 13: 9781402754432

Published by Union Square Press, 2008

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Synopsis:

In a riveting page-turner, NBA referee Bob Delaney reveals the clandestine life he led before becoming one of professional basketball s most respected referees. In 1975, Delaney had spent only a year and a half as a New Jersey State Trooper when his superiors approached him with a tantalising yet dangerous undercover assignment: to infiltrate the Mob. Delaney accepted, and became Bobby Covert, the president of Alamo Trucking, a fully-operational business used by law enforcement as flypaper for snagging crooks. At the height of The Godfather era, Delaney wore a wire and lived among wise-guys who modelled themselves on their on-screen counterparts, quoting lines from The Movie and boasting of how often they d seen it. Delaney even crossed paths with Joe Pistone, the real-life Donnie Brasco (though neither knew the other was undercover), knowing all the while that a single slip could get him killed. Ultimately gathering enough evidence to convict 30 members of the Bruno and Genovese crime families, Project Alpha was a success, but Delaney struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and traces of Stockholm syndrome after getting too close to those he investigated. Therapy helped him come to terms with all he d endured during his three tense years undercover, and, once a college basketball star, Delaney began officiating high school and intramural games as a way to rebuild his life - eventually working his way up to the NBA, where he has been a referee for more than two decades. This is his amazing true story, with a foreword by NBA great and current TV commentator Bill Walton.

Review: "Delaney's story. . . becomes more intense than overtime in the playoffs."--"Boston"" Globe" "Delaney's heroic performance during his perilous assignment represents the finest traditions of the New Jersey State Police. My father, the first superintendent of the New Jersey State Police Department, would have been proud of him."--"General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army (ret.)"
"[F]ascinating...a must-read..."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A slam dunk, a bull's eye and any other glowing mafia or basketball metaphor you can think of."--"Kirkus" "Gripping...Fans of such undercover-themed books as Donnie Brasco, or organized-crime exposes like The Valachi Papers, will devour this one." --"Booklist"

Bibliographic Details

Title: Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob
Publisher: Union Square Press
Publication Date: 2008
Binding: hardcover
Condition: Very Good