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The Pretender
- My Life Undercover for the FBI
- Narrated by: Francis J. Spieler
- Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins
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Publisher's summary
In The Pretender, former FBI agent Marc Ruskin will pull listeners into the fascinating, elusive world of undercover operatives.
Of all the tools available to law enforcement, the living, breathing undercover operative remains the gold standard. This is true in TV shows and in the real world. In the era of electronic surveillance, UC work enforces accountability; it prevents mistakes, and of all the boots on the ground, undercover agents are often the most valuable.
The FBI generally has about 100 UC agents working full-time in the field. In the 1990s and 2000s, Marc Ruskin had the most diverse and notorious case list of all and the broadest experience within the bureaucracy, including overseas. He worked ops targeting public corruption, corporate fraud, Wall Street scams, narcotics trafficking, La Cosa Nostra, counterfeiting - and gritty street-level scams and schemes.
Sometimes working three or four cases simultaneously, Ruskin switched identities by the day: Each morning he had to walk out the door with the correct ID, clothes, accessories and frame of mind for that day's mission. Meet Alex Perez, Alejandro Marconi, and Sal Morelli, just a few of Ruskin's undercover personas.
And how is the right UC agent chosen, how is a bogus identity manufactured and "backstopped", how is the Bureau's long-term con painstakingly assembled? No one has ever given us the inside story like Ruskin. The Pretender is the definitive narrative of undercover ops - the procedures, the successes, the failures - and the changes in the culture of the new-era FBI.
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- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In this riveting and relentless nonfiction thriller, award-winning investigative reporter William C. Rempel tells the harrowing story of former Cali cartel insider Jorge Salcedo, an ordinary man facing an extraordinary dilemma—a man forced to risk everything to escape the powerful and treacherous Cali crime syndicate.
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Thrilling
- By Lee Chemel on 07-05-11
By: William Rempel
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Oklahoma City
- What the Investigation Missed - and Why It Still Matters
- By: Andrew Gumbel, Roger G. Charles
- Narrated by: Todd Waring
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In Oklahoma City, veteran investigative journalists Andrew Gumbel and Roger G. Charles puncture the myth about what happened on that day - one that has persisted in the minds of the American public for nearly two decades. Working with unprecedented access to government documents, a voluminous correspondence with Terry Nichols, and more than 150 interviews with those immediately involved, Gumbel and Charles demonstrate how much was missed in the official investigation.
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A Catalog
- By Lynn on 07-31-12
By: Andrew Gumbel, and others
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Kings of Cocaine
- Inside the Medellin Cartel - An Astonishing True Story of Murder Money and International Corruption
- By: Guy Gugliotta, Jeff Leen
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of the most successful cocaine dealers in the world: Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez, Carlos Lehder Rivas, and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. In the 1980s, they controlled more than 50 percent of the cocaine flowing into the United States. The cocaine trade is capitalism on overdrive - supply meeting demand on exponential levels. Here you'll find the story of how the modern cocaine business started and how it turned a ragtag group of hippies and sociopaths into regal kings.
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Almost Perfect.
- By Nick on 10-31-18
By: Guy Gugliotta, and others
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Making Jack Falcone
- An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family
- By: Joaquin "Jack" Garcia, Michael Levin
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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At six-foot-four-inches and 375 pounds, Jack Garcia looked the part of a mobster, and he played his part so perfectly that his Mafia bosses never suspected he was an undercover agent for the FBI. "Big Jack Falcone," as he was known inside La Cosa Nostra, learned all the inside dirt about the Gambino organized crime syndicate and its illegal activities---from extortion and loan-sharking to assault and murder.
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interesting story--offensive narration
- By Mark on 03-17-12
By: Joaquin "Jack" Garcia, and others
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U.S. Marshals
- Inside America's Most Storied Law Enforcement Agency
- By: Mike Earp, David Fisher
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Blending history and memoir, retired U.S. Marshal Mike Earp - a descendant of the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp - offers an exclusive and fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the most storied law enforcement agency in America, illuminating its vital role in the nation's development for more than two hundred years. Setting his own experiences within the long history of the U.S. Marshals service, Earp offers a moving and illuminating tribute to the brave marshals who have dedicated their lives to keeping the nation safe.
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Boring, history of the bureaucracy
- By Lake Like A Local on 03-15-21
By: Mike Earp, and others
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Class 11
- Inside the CIA's First Post-9/11 Spy Class
- By: T.J. Waters
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Written by one of its own graduates, Class 11: Inside the CIA's First Post-9/11 Spy Class is an insider's view of the first CIA training class after September 11, 2001 - a look at the most elite and secretive espionage training program in the country.
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Save Your Money
- By Daniel on 11-27-06
By: T.J. Waters
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The Cell
- Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It
- By: John Miller, Michael Stone, Chris Mitchell
- Narrated by: John Miller
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Abridged
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The Cell provides the first complete treatment to piece together what led to the events of 9/11, ultimately delivering the disturbing answer to the question: why, with all the information the intelligence community had, was no one able to stop the September 11 attacks? It also includes a first-person account of John Miller's face-to-face meeting with Osama bin Laden.
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What led up to 9/11?
- By Richard on 12-31-03
By: John Miller, and others
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Cullotta
- By: Dennis N. Griffin, Frank Cullotta
- Narrated by: Michael Taylor
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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From burglary to armed robbery and murder, infamous bad guy Frank Cullotta not only did it all, in Cullotta he admits to it - and in graphic detail. This no-holds-barred biography chronicles the life of a career criminal who started out as a thug on the streets of Chicago and became a trusted lieutenant in Tony Spilotro's gang of organized lawbreakers in Las Vegas. Cullotta's was a world of high-profile heists, street muscle, and information - lots of it - about many of the FBI's most wanted.
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Great story, silly narrator
- By Tom Mainella II on 04-20-15
By: Dennis N. Griffin, and others
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Killing the Dream
- James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- By: Gerald Posner
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the three decades since April 4, 1968, when Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot to death in Memphis, scores of books and articles have questioned whether James Earl Ray, King's killer, acted alone or was part of a larger conspiracy. Now, based on explosive new interviews, confidential files, and previously undisclosed evidence, best-selling author Gerald Posner finally resolves the simple truth of the last great political murder mystery of the 1960s, definitively proving that Ray acted alone.
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Enlightening
- By Thornton Mellon on 05-19-19
By: Gerald Posner
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The Last Gangster
- From Cop to Wiseguy to FBI Informant: Big Ron Previte and the Fall of the American Mob
- By: George Anastasia
- Narrated by: Chris Monteiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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As a cop, Ron Previte was corrupt. As a mobster, he was brutal. And in his final role, as a confidential informant to the FBI, Previte was deadly. The Last Gangster is his story—the story of the last days of the Philadelphia Mob, and of the clash of generations that brought it down once and for all. Convinced that the honor of the "business" was gone, he became the FBI's secret weapon in an intense and highly personalized war on the Philadelphia mob, operating with the same guile, wit, and stone-cold bravado that had made him a force in the underworld.
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Beautifully done! Exceptional.
- By none on 12-15-23
By: George Anastasia
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The Reluctant Spy
- My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror
- By: John Kiriakou, Michael Ruby
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Long before the waterboarding controversy exploded in the media, one CIA agent had already gone public. In a groundbreaking 2007 interview with ABC News, John Kiriakou called waterboarding torture - but admitted that it probably worked. This book, at once a confessional, an adventure story, and a chronicle of Kiriakou's life in the CIA, stands as an important, eloquent piece of testimony from a committed American patriot.
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Fascinating Read about the CIA
- By Nancy on 05-13-10
By: John Kiriakou, and others
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Bloodlines
- The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty
- By: Melissa del Bosque
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In Bloodlines, Emmy and National Magazine award-winning journalist Melissa del Bosque follows Lawson and Perez's harrowing attempt to dismantle a cartel leader's American racing dynasty built on extortion and blood money. With extensive access to investigative evidence and in-depth interviews with key players, del Bosque turns more than three years of research and her decades of reporting on Mexico and the border into a gripping narrative about greed and corruption.
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Why the fake accents?
- By DM on 11-18-17
What listeners say about The Pretender
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JD
- 12-26-18
Interesting story, astoundingly arrogant author
Overall, this book was fine. It’s definitely readable and will likely keep your interest but the author is full of himself to a level that nearly ruins the entire book. I got this book after reading “American Radical” (Tamer Elnoury) and I was looking for something similar. On paper, I suppose these two books are similar. However, The Pretender was more of an anthology of how amazing Marc Ruskin believes himself to be rather than tales of FBI heroics that don’t make the news.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Debra Wolfsong
- 08-20-18
Interesting read.. I think.
I should have just read it on my own. The reader’s voice is too soft for an audiobook. I found myself either trailing off into my own thoughts, or falling asleep. His voice became background noise. But what I did manage to stay alert for was interesting/entertaining.
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1 person found this helpful
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- SB Fulmer
- 10-30-18
FBI undercover stories
Great book. Articulate and well-written. Great real-life undercover cases the author worked as an FBI special agent. It also offered an inside look at the FBI’s bureaucracy and dysfunction. The type of problems you’d find in any large organization. The only downside: the narrator has a voice that puts you to sleep. He’s soft-spoken and, frankly shouldn’t be narrating audio books.
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1 person found this helpful
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- MLV
- 01-21-18
Good inside view of undercover FBI agent
Many situations covered, interesting to hear how a covert agent creates their cover and how they help to build a case against suspects.
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