Racket Squad

Stuart Miller

Fine has spent all of his professional life investigating and prosecuting cases involving organized crime and racketeering, first as an assistant district attorney in New York and later as a counsel with the federal government. He writes of his experiences in a dry, almost pedantic style that makes such colorful characters as Joe Colombo and Anthony Salerno, and such dramatic subjects as illegal drugs, electronic surveillance, and trademark counterfeiting seem humdrum. But gradually the reader becomes fascinated and uneasy by the weight of evidence that shows organized crime has infected the very fabric of society, and when Fine describes the effect of the criminal influence in Medicare, Medicaid, and waste disposal, it becomes clear that racketeering is exacting an enormous price, not just in dollars but in the ways it undermines the health care we receive and poisons the environment. Must reading for those concerned with health or environmental issues. Bibliography.