Publishers Weekly
01/15/2024
Forcelli, a former deputy assistant director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and journalist MacGregor (coauthor of Jane Doe #9) offer a disturbing insider account of the scandal surrounding the ATF’s weapons-trafficking investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious. After joining the ATF in 2001, Forcelli relocated to Arizona in 2007 to serve as a supervisor in Phoenix, where he encountered an office in disarray (many supervisors had been sent to work from home; one was even working as a salsa instructor in Colombia). Moving quickly to bolster morale, he encountered a major roadblock: prosecutors were oddly uninterested in pursuing gun cases. Over time, he came to realize that the ATF had lost track of more than 800 guns through Fast and Furious, an operation meant to trace illegal firearms as they crossed into Mexico so that the buyers could be arrested. Forcelli ultimately blew the whistle during a congressional investigation, which revealed that none of the operation’s intended cartel targets had been arrested, while the missing guns were being trafficked back into the U.S. Full of unsettling details (after the attempted assassination of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Forcelli’s agents “crossed their fingers” that the gun couldn’t be traced back to their operation), this is an eye-opening behind-the-scenes look at government malfeasance. (Mar.)
Ken Croke
Pete Forcelli has a long-standing reputation as being a straight-shooter in law enforcement circles. In this page turning account, he captures the challenges that special agents face every day: Criminals, the bureaucracy and attorneys who are duty bound to prosecute cases, but who at times have other agendas. Readers will get an unfiltered view of what it is really like to investigate violent crime cases in the U.S.
Jay Dobyns
"A Bulldozer moves relentlessly forward, its blade scraping off imperfections, its tract belt crushing what remains behind into the dirt. Government sometimes works the same way, viewing the truth as nothing more than an obstacle to plow aside or bury. When Pete Forcelli - a patriot, talented investigator, and respected supervisor - blew the whistle on misconduct, he found himself in the dozer’s path. He dusted himself off, fought back, reviving his life and career to tell us his story."
William LaJeunesse
A sobering look inside the U.S. effort to stop gun smuggling to Mexico. Reads like a novel, but rips naked a dysfunctional bureaucracy...
Ioan Grillo
"Pete Forcelli served on the frontline trying to stop gun trafficking, with the cartels on one side and a clumsy government bureaucracy on the other. If you want to understand why the iron river of firearms flows so fiercely and the challenges of federal operations you need to hear his story."
Derek Maltz
Peter Forcelli is a courageous and experienced American Patriot who worked his way from s street cop in New York City to a Senior Executive in the ATF in Washington. His story highlights one of the critical, systemic issues law enforcement faces as they are trying to protect the public. Federal prosecutors are vital partners and must be committed in working side by side with law enforcement professionals. It's evident the prosecution system failed the taxpayers as criminal networks sent mass amounts of firearms and grenade parts to the deadly Mexican Cartels and operated with impunity."
Lawrence Keane NSSF Chief Spokesman for the Firearms Industry
Grips you like a gritty crime novel until you remember it’s an accounting of one of America’s most troubling and deadly law enforcement failures. Pete courageously stepped forward risking his career to end Fast & Furious. The media blamed gun dealers but Pete shows they helped ATF to stop gun trafficking. Their cooperation was betrayed by those responsible for Fast & Furious.
Jonathan Green author of “Sex Money Murder: A Story of Crack
In a storied career that spans hard-charging cases against some of the most ruthless drug dealers in the Bronx before ascending ATF’s top ranks, Peter Forcelli’s memoir is a rare insight into the life of a federal agent who staked integrity above all else. In a raw and unflinching account that details his harrowing journey as whistle-blower in the Fast and Furious federal scandal, Forcelli shows the public and personal cost of standing up for justice.
Kirkus Reviews
2024-01-05
An ATF whistleblower tells his story.
With firearms strictly controlled in their country, Mexican drug cartels purchase illegal American arms smuggled across the border. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is charged with stopping the flow. Forcelli, a veteran New York City police detective, transferred to the ATF in 2001, became a supervisor, and then moved to Phoenix in 2007. Much of this memoir, co-written with MacGregor, is an entertaining account of ATF agents at work. Mostly, gun smugglers patronize legitimate gun dealers in the U.S., and the process of smuggling them into Mexico is relatively easy because Mexican border officials know better than to aggressively search for them. Although gun dealers have a bad reputation, the author emphasizes that almost all are honest. Many provide the ATF with highly valuable informants, calling whenever a buyer seems suspicious. But soon after arriving at his new job, Forcelli made a jolting discovery. In New York, ATF agents and federal prosecutors work in harmony; on the southern border, his agents would make arrests and present strong cases, only to have the prosecutors reject them for flimsy reasons over and over. Offering cases to the state prosecutor or local police sometimes helped, but the stubborn refusal of the federal prosecution office was demoralizing. Fed up, Forcelli informed his congressional representative and became a whistleblower. Hearings and media attention followed. Since then, matters in Arizona have improved, although many offenders remain in their positions. Whistleblowers are often portrayed as heroes in the media and Hollywood, but, as the author shows, their lives are often ruined. They pay enormous legal fees, usually lose their jobs and many friends, and suffer retaliation that persists indefinitely. More fortunate than most, although Forcelli left Arizona, he remained at the ATF until his retirement a few years later.
A compelling account of a risky border operation and a half-forgotten scandal.
