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Ik Was Jack Falcone (2013)

by Joaquin "Jack" Garcia(Favorite Author)

3.67 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Just Publishers BV

review 1: This book is like sitting down with someone from the neighborhood over a beer. Garcia speaks casually, as if he's spewing his tales from the top of his head. It's a sort of a "day in the life of an undercover agent" who happens to be working more undercover cases at once than any agent in history. You get his colorful perceptions of all the dubious characters involved in the criminal enterprises he's slated to take down - from corrupt cops & politicians to drug pushers & mobsters. The majority of the book focuses on Garcia's most famed case that involved 2 1/2 years infiltrating the mafia to put away 32 members of 3 crime families. Garcia becomes a sort of right-hand man to Greg DePalma, a slimy older made member of the Gambino family who entrusts Garcia, who is known to m... moreafia members as Jack Falcone, to the point of wanting to have him made. DePalma is as mafia as they come, an easy-to-hate cliche of a tough guy with close to zero morals.All through his telling of the seedy world of the shysters he deals with on a day-to-day basis, you get to know the most colorful character, Garcia himself. As a gregarious 375-lb. Cuban-American, he simply doesn't fit the mold of an FBI agent - clearly an advantage in the undercover game he's playing. The mafia born-to-eat lifestyle doesn't help the poor guy, who at one point reaches 450-lbs. Like many working as part of a large, bureaucratic organization, Garcia struggles with red-tape, budget issues and what he feels are illogical decisions of management. In one part of the book he's complaining that his higher-up is demanding he lose weight, dodging his weigh-ins, while later on he's complaining that the FBI didn't force him to go to much-needed health screenings due to budget cuts. Additionally, he's 100 percent pissed off that bureau cut his mafia sting short, because he really, really wanted to have a story to tell about "getting made." While I see some of Garcia's complaints about FBI management as legitimate - especially one where he explains how the FBI failed to inform him that there was a $250K hit out on him - I start to feel by the end of the book that Garcia is simply a winger. I was really disappointed that he exited the FBI in order to "leave at the top of his career" rather than having to do the sludge work of a regular agent. I was hoping the book would end with Garcia wanting to change FBI management, perhaps bringing all of his knowledge and experience to transform the bureau. Instead, he pretty much explains that he had a taste of the good life undercover and now would like to become an actor. Despite feeling a little disappointed with the Garcia in the end, the book is entertaining and worth reading. I think the best part for me was that I could get a sense of the adventures Garcia experienced in the underworld without having to trudge through the gore, as Garcia was legally forbidden from being around when someone was being injured or killed.
review 2: this book caught my eye and had me intrested in reading more everytime. it really pulls you into the seceret violent underworld of the mafia through the eyes of an FBI agent. organized crime is a way of life and the path to big time easy but risky money and the author paints a clear image on every page. this was a good read and i reconmend it to anyone intrested in the on going battle between crime and justice less

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