num_pages: 384
description: 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" to "Wise 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.
language: English
title: Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire
titlecomplete: Takedown: The Fall of the Last Mafia Empire
genres: History, Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime
ratings_count: 264
awards: awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Edgar Award
category: Best Fact Crime
publisher: Berkley