The Insider

by Donald Goddard

An insider's view of the war against organized crime describes the illegal doings of Billy Breen, who went undercover for the FBI, opening the way to the biggest cocaine bust in history. Reprint.

Genres: True Crime

464 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1992

Reviews

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a true story about Billy Breen who had no intentions of becoming an insider. But, life has a way of directing our path sometimes, when we have no previous intentions of that path. A hard upbringing, and then a wretched time in Viet Nam, helped pave the way for Billy. In time, he found himself as a cop who was questioning what was happening around him politically within the force. When he went to the higher ups, he was dismayed by the dismissal of the problem. With time he found himself seeking out the FBI, but found incredible corruption there too. As more time evolved he did find several who were there for him, cognizant of the problems, ready and willing to help him root out the issues. Unfortunately, most of them were not able to “stand by him.” He found himself alone in many of his undercover operations, and in great danger many times. Billy refused to go into Witness Protection. He spent 7 years in prison for something he was trying to do undercover that backfired on him. It is amazing that this man lived to die a natural death. A little hard to follow at times (thus the '4' rating), but worth the read. Just hang on and go for the ride. You’ll get the drift!

[Walt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book I read long ago that I barely remember.