The Pretender: My Life Undercover for the FBI
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.

1124017163
The Pretender: My Life Undercover for the FBI
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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The Pretender: My Life Undercover for the FBI

The Pretender: My Life Undercover for the FBI

by Marc Ruskin
The Pretender: My Life Undercover for the FBI

The Pretender: My Life Undercover for the FBI

by Marc Ruskin

Hardcover

(Not eligible for purchase using B&N Audiobooks Subscription credits)
$34.99 
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Overview

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.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781250068637
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date: 06/06/2017
Pages: 368
Sales rank: 886,113
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

MARC RUSKIN spent 20 years as an FBI Special Agent for which he was awarded five commendations. A graduate of Vassar College and Cardozo Law School. Ruskin also served on the staff of U.S. Senator Daniel Moynihan and as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn. Following his retirement from the FBI in 2012, he has divided his time between a law practice in New York and Liaoning Province, China, where he writes and studies Mandarin.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Quantico NAC 85-7 5

2 San Juan 14

3 Learning to Live a Lie 36

4 The Stakes Go Up 64

5 The Daily Grind 102

6 The Long Arm of the Lie 121

7 Blue Score 137

8 Sunblock 157

9 Starlight Lounge 199

10 Never the Same, Never Again 213

11 But First, That Shootout in Buenos Aires 232

12 Back to New York 252

13 False Flags 278

14 Alternate Breach 300

15 Shalom 332

Epilogue 345

Acknowledgments 347

Glossary of FBI Argot and Acronyms 349

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