DAILY BEAST "HOT READ" - 9/2/2011

The Takedown
by Jeffrey Robinson
The true story behind the effort to stop a drug cartel responsible for 60 percent of the cocaine coming into the United States.

‘The Takedown’ by Jeffrey Robinson. 336 p. Thomas Dunne Books. $28.99.

True-crime expert Jeffery Robinson’s fifth investigative exposé is the tale of an odd couple that paired up to take down Columbia’s notoriously powerful Norte Valle cartel. Working out of a cramped Long Island office 2,500 miles from their suspects, federal prosecutor Bonnie Klapper and Special Agent Romedio “Rooney” Viola spent 13 years tracking and eventually taking down the entirety of the brutal gang. Not so bad for a mom of two and West Virginia native, both initially deemed crazy by their superiors for taking on such a seemingly impossible task. Robinson recounts their audacious task effortlessly, making the thriller a gripping end-of-summer read.

Where Dictators Hide Their Money

THE TAKEDOWN by Jeffrey Robinson --- A Suburban Mom, A Coal Miner's Son, and the Unlikely Demise of Colombia's Brutal Norte Valle Cartel

THE TAKEDOWN by Jeffrey Robinson

"A real-life Law & Order... the narrative crackles with authenticity."
Kirkus Reviews

 


If ever there was an odd couple.

A suburban mom and a coal miner's son.

Bonnie Klapper is an attractive, funny, off-beat but tenacious federal prosecutor who constantly thinks out of the box, often to the chagrin of her superiors. She is a full-time Assistant US Attorney, and a full-time mom to two sons, one of whom is a special needs child.

Now retired Special Agent Romedio "Rooney" Viola --- first of US Customs then of the Department of Homeland Security --- is a slightly built, larger-than-life eccentric from West Virginia whose reputation was based on his obsessive-compulsive pursuit of fugitives.

They were brought together by happenstance while both were assigned to the "El Dorado Task Force," operating out of the World Trade Center. A raid on three wire remitters in Queens, New York uncovered huge amounts of drug money being sent to three tiny villages in Colombia that no one had ever heard of.

Neither the Justice Department nor the Treasury Department seemed terribly concerned with where the money was going, as long as this flow of drug cash was stopped.

But Bonnie and Rooney wanted to know more.

Working together out of her tiny office in the implausible outpost of Hauppauge, Long Island, they set off on a 13 year journey to dismantle --- systematically --- the Colombian cartel responsible for 60% of all the cocaine coming into the United States.

Her superiors at Justice and his superiors at what was then Immigration and Customs Enforcement were quick to write them both off as dreamers. Management believed there were enough drug dealers in the greater New York area to keep everyone busy for a long time. Taking down a barbarous gang of traffickers and murderers 2500 miles away, was pure fantasy.

But Bonnie wasn't so sure.

And Rooney didn't care what they thought.



Tom Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press
Coming August 2011.