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Takedown

The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire

Author Rick Cowan, Douglas Century
Read by Christopher Meloni
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Audio | Random House Audio
On sale Oct 29, 2002 | 5 Hours and 38 Minutes | 9780739301661
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Seldom has the netherworld of the mafia been revealed with such fascinating detail and sheer suspense. Like the classics of the genre-from The Godfather to The French Connection toWise Guy-Takedown leads us to the inner ring of a conspiracy of corruption and terror that held the city in its grip for nearly fifty years. 

Rick Cowan was a young NYPD detective in 1992 when he dropped by a Brooklyn waterfront warehouse to investigate a recent fire bombing-only one in a string of interviews he considered routine. But what he found there was far from routine, for it would take him on a five-year odyssey and nearly cost him his life. In fact, he had stumbled upon the lead of a lifetime-the suspicion that he might unearth the hard evidence police and federal agencies alike had been chasing for decades: the proof of collusion among the mob families to extort billions from the nation's most influential corporations that call New York their home. 

Featuring eccentric, larger-than-life New York characters and an undercover cop on the brink of being discovered-and murdered-at every step, Takedown is a riveting real-life procedural and one of the most important investigative books of the season.
Rick Cowan is retired first-grade detective who went undercover to investigate and expose mafia control the waste disposal industry. He was born and raised in New Jersey, where he was employed variously as a corrections officer, welder, and construction worker before beginning a law enforcement career with several small New Jersey police forces. In June 1988, Cowan joined the NYPD’s Organized Crime Investigations Division (OCID) as a “white shield." He spent years undercover on the case and put dozens of mobsters behind bars. He retired in 2008, after 25 years on the force. View titles by Rick Cowan
Douglas Century is the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award–winner Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire. He has also written for the New York Times, Details, Rolling Stone, and the Guardian (London). He lives in New York City. View titles by Douglas Century

About

Seldom has the netherworld of the mafia been revealed with such fascinating detail and sheer suspense. Like the classics of the genre-from The Godfather to The French Connection toWise Guy-Takedown leads us to the inner ring of a conspiracy of corruption and terror that held the city in its grip for nearly fifty years. 

Rick Cowan was a young NYPD detective in 1992 when he dropped by a Brooklyn waterfront warehouse to investigate a recent fire bombing-only one in a string of interviews he considered routine. But what he found there was far from routine, for it would take him on a five-year odyssey and nearly cost him his life. In fact, he had stumbled upon the lead of a lifetime-the suspicion that he might unearth the hard evidence police and federal agencies alike had been chasing for decades: the proof of collusion among the mob families to extort billions from the nation's most influential corporations that call New York their home. 

Featuring eccentric, larger-than-life New York characters and an undercover cop on the brink of being discovered-and murdered-at every step, Takedown is a riveting real-life procedural and one of the most important investigative books of the season.

Author

Rick Cowan is retired first-grade detective who went undercover to investigate and expose mafia control the waste disposal industry. He was born and raised in New Jersey, where he was employed variously as a corrections officer, welder, and construction worker before beginning a law enforcement career with several small New Jersey police forces. In June 1988, Cowan joined the NYPD’s Organized Crime Investigations Division (OCID) as a “white shield." He spent years undercover on the case and put dozens of mobsters behind bars. He retired in 2008, after 25 years on the force. View titles by Rick Cowan
Douglas Century is the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller and Edgar Award–winner Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire. He has also written for the New York Times, Details, Rolling Stone, and the Guardian (London). He lives in New York City. View titles by Douglas Century

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