RICO- How Politicians, Prosecutors, and the Mob Destroyed One of the FBI's finest Special Agents

by Joe Wolfinger, Chris Kerr, Jerry Seper

In October 2003 Paul Rico, a 78-year old retired FBI agent, was arrested and charged with the 1981 murder of a Tulsa Oklahoma based millionaire. Rico died a few months later in January 2004, before a trial or even a preliminary hearing could be held. An investigation by two retired agents proves two 1) he was a great agent and 2) he was not guilty. This is the true story of FBI Agent H. Paul Rico. The writers, Joe Wolfinger and Christophir Kerr, are both retired FBI agents and attorneys. They never met Rico. They are, however, both veteran investigators who made their bones by working the streets building complicated cases and winning difficult convictions. They appreciate first rate agents, like Rico, who take the risk of mixing it up with criminals and persuading some of them to cooperate with law enforcement or, as they used to refer to it when they were active agents, persuading them to "join America's team." When they began they were surprised at what they found and, more particularly, at what was missing. Over the past several years, they reviewed hundreds of court documents and public records, and conducted several hundred interviews. Ultimately, they were shocked at the total miscarriage of justice that surrounded and eventually consumed the Rico case. With the assistance of veteran newsman Jerry Seper, who helped reorganize and refocus the Rico story, the truth about the veteran agent is considerably different from what the public has been told or read in some newspapers, seen on the Internet or heard from some blustery Congressman. Wolfinger and Kerr repeatedly developed information that contradicts the "evidence" used in the case against Rico and show that the myth of his involvement in the 1981 murder was the concoction of two desperate Boston mobsters. More than that, they detail how the false charges that led to Rico's lonely death can only be explained by a perfect storm of corruption, ambition, raw politics and incompetence.

Genres: True Crime

296 pages, Paperback

First published December 3, 2012

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

"RICO-How Politicians, Prosecutors and the Mob Destroyed One of the Finest Special Agents", was a labor of love by two retired FBI Agents who I have met during my career with the FBI. I met Chris Kerr briefly at FBIHQ and knew Joe Wolfinger from both FBIHQ and the Inspection staff.

Both men with ghost writer Jerry Seper put together a work that almost defies believability. I only met Paul Rico once after he retired but knew of him and respected his reputation as an FBI Agent and as an agent who was a master at developing criminal informants. Paul Rico becomes the victim of a perfect storm of corruption of local and federal prosecutors and the informants he developed.

This work is so full of intrigue that it reads as good as a novel. The Authors may have known Paul Rico but it was very briefly. They took on an investigative task to examine the career of Paul Rico as an FBI Agent and conducted exhaustive investigation into the allegations against Rico and in my humble oppinion proved his innocence and laid naked the curruption of several prosecutors who through unbridled ambitions put together a case of injustice of the highest order causing a very respected FBI Agent, who was in bad health, to be arrested and who died in jail before his innocence could be proven in a court of law.

The Authors put together what the prosecutors should have put together before any arrests were ever made. That this could happen is absolutely a story that defies honesty and goodness one would expect from its law enforcement officials.

If you like intrigue and conspiriatorial dramas this is a book you should read. Am I biased? You bet your life. I salute both Wolfinger and Kerr for their selflessness in writing this book. While it will not reap them great financial rewards, it certainly sets the record straight and proves the innocence of a man accused for no other reason than he was an FBI Agent and brings closure to his close family and friends who already knew he (RICO) was a victim of a system that should never have been allowed to carry out such an injustice.

BTW, I did read this book on my Kindle, even though Goodreads does not allow for indicating this version.uiiu