Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family

By Jodi Picoult

Book Overview

The shocking and unprecedented true story of how an undercover FBI agent infiltrated the Gambino crime family, perfect for fans of Wiseguy, The Pretender, and American Radical.

Petey Chops wasn't kicking up. And if he didn't start soon, he was going to get whacked.

So begins the extraordinary true story of an undercover FBI agent's years-long investigation of the Gambinos, resulting in a string of arrests that crippled the organized crime syndicate.

But long before Joaquin "Jack" Garcia found himself wearing a wire with some of the Mafia's top capos, he was one of the FBI's unlikeliest recruits. A Cuban American, Jack graduated from Quantico standing six-foot-four and weighing 300 pounds, which soon proved to be an asset as the FBI looked to place agents undercover with drug smugglers, counterfeiters, and even killers.

Using a series of carefully created aliases, Jack insinuated himself in the criminal world, from the Badlands of Philadelphia, where he was a gregarious money launderer, to the streets of Miami, where an undercover Garcia moved stolen and illicit goods and brought down dirty cops. But his biggest opportunity came when he infiltrated the shadowy world of the Mafia, but how would the Cuban American convince wiseguys that he was one of their own?

For the first time, the FBI created a special "mob school" for Jack, teaching him how to eat, talk, and think like a wiseguy. And it wasn't long before the freshly minted Jack Falcone found himself under the wing of one of the Gambinos' old school capos, Greg DePalma. DePalma, who cared for an ailing John Gotti in prison, introduced Falcone to his world of shakedowns, beatings, and envelopes of cash, never suspecting that one of his trusted crew members was a federal agent.

A page-turning account of the struggle between law enforcement and organized crime that will rank with such classic stories as Donnie Brasco, Serpico, and Wiseguy, Making Jack Falcone is an unforgettable trip into America's underworld through the eyes of a highly decorated FBI veteran.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439149917
• ISBN13: 9781439149911
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Pocket Star
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Book condition

The book was not good condition

Dual storylines, great historical fiction

This was a heavy read. The author doesn’t gloss over the atrocities of war or tragedy in life. I loved both storylines, and the author bounces back and forth between the two seamlessly.

I Recommend This Book

The book captured my attention from the first page. The characters were all interesting. The depiction of the horrors of the holocaust was so well written. Nice surprising ending.

World war ll and the horrors of the camps

This book is just beyond anything I have read so far, she draws you into each and every character, and their life situations, before, during, and after the war. There are so many stories within the main story, but yet not confusing or disruptive to the main story, it all ties in beautifully.Your heart will break at the excruciating details of all the suffering and injustice done to a whole innocent race of people.I stayed up many a night till 2am and beyond not wanting to put it down. I am so glad I purchased this book on a whim, not that it was recommended by anyone I knew.A powerful and unforgettable story.!! Its heartful and emotional, a story to be remembered for quite a while.

Heartwrenching

This a book that pulls you in from thw beginning. I could not put it down

Amazing story told brilliantly.

You can feel the setting. The characters are so refreshingly real. The way it is told is nothing short of brilliant. You can learn so much about the time period, the motivation of each of the very different characters, and experience feeling of survival in this book. I don't Love, Love, Love many books, but this is one of them.