Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob [Hardcover]

Bob Delaney (Author), Dave Scheiber (Author), Bill Walton (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2008

Featured on NPR and CNN

 

In a riveting page-turner, NBA referee Bob Delaney reveals the clandestine life he led before becoming one of professional basketball’s most respected referees.
In 1975, Delaney had spent only a year and a half as a New Jersey State Trooper when his superiors approached him with a tantalizing yet dangerous undercover assignment: to infiltrate the Mob. Delaney accepted, and became Bobby Covert, the president of Alamo Trucking, a fully-operational business used by law enforcement as flypaper for snagging crooks. 

At the height of The Godfather era, Delaney wore a wire and lived among wiseguys who modeled themselves on their on-screen counterparts, quoting lines from “The Movie” and boasting of how often they’d seen it. Delaney even crossed paths with Joe Pistone, the real-life Donnie Brasco (though neither knew the other was undercover), knowing all the while that a single slip could get him killed.

Ultimately gathering enough evidence to convict 30 members of the Bruno and Genovese crime families, Project Alpha was a success, but Delaney struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and traces of Stockholm syndrome after getting too close to those he investigated. Therapy helped him come to terms with all he’d endured during his three tense years undercover, and, once a college basketball star, Delaney began officiating high school and intramural games as a way to rebuild his life—eventually working his way up to the NBA, where he has been a referee for more than two decades.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. NBA referee Delaney's fascinating account of his prior life as a New Jersey state trooper who infiltrated organized crime will be a must-read for those drawn to Joe Pistone's similar account in Donnie Brasco (or the movie adaptation starring Johnny Depp). In 1975, Delaney was a relative novice in law enforcement when he was tapped by a superior to help build cases against major Mafia families by creating and running a fake business, Alamo Trucking. With the aid of St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times sportswriter Scheiber, Delaney captures perfectly the daily routine and perils of undercover work, and describes the psychological challenges he faced during the three years of Project Alpha: The granite foundation of my self-image... had given way to shifting sands of doubt and worry. While less heralded than Pistone's work, Delaney's achievements—which yielded multiple convictions of members of the Bruno and Genovese families—were significant precursors to the Feds' massive 1980s assault on La Cosa Nostra. Becoming a basketball referee after these proceedings was a return to an early passion of the high school all-state forward and captain of his college team—but the fear, he says, still comes back sometimes. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Feb. 5)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"A slam dunk, a bull's eye, and any other glowing mafia or basketball metaphor you can think of." -- Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2007

"NBA Referee Delaney's fascinating account of his prior life...will be a must-read for those drawn to Joe Pistone's similar account in Donnie Brasco..." -- Publisher's Weekly Starred Review - October 15, 2007

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Union Square Press; 1St Edition edition (February 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402754434
• ISBN-13: 978-1402754432
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #748,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "CURRENT NBA REFEREE HAD A PRIOR LIFE AS A "DONNIE BRASCO"!, February 17, 2008

By 

Rick Shaq Goldstein "*SHAQ*" (Danville, Ca, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob (Hardcover)

This autobiography of current NBA referee Bob Delaney commences on April 18, 1999 at America West Arena in Phoenix Arizona. As Bob was going through his normal last minute pre-game rituals, he heard a voice from the crowd yelling "Hey Bob!"... "Hey Bob!" Delaney was now in his second decade of refereeing NBA games, and as a veteran he had developed a second skin, or an emotional armor if you will, against hecklers. NBA ref's, just like umpires in baseball learned to simply ignore the boo's and the catcall's that inevitably came with the territory. He'd heard them all: "Hey ref, get it right for once!"... "Hey ref, eat me!"... "Hey ref, your fly's open!"... "Hey ref, you suck!"... "Hey ref, don't quit your day job!"... And one of his personal favorites that rated high on the creativity chart: "Hey Delaney, I've seen better referees at the Foot Locker!" Bob had trained himself not to look at hecklers because that would only encourage them and possibly add fuel to the fire. Then the same voice from the stands yelled: "ALAMO TRUCKING!" All of a sudden every muscle in Bob's body tightened. This fan had information no average fan could possibly have. Delaney's pulse started to race and a prior lifetime of "shadowy" thunder rumbled in his head. Then the same voice yelled: "ALAMO!" Bob looked to the stands into the mega-expensive courtside seats, and the fan is yelling "ALAMO! ALAMO!" Bob looked straight at him and at first had no idea who the fan was, but "ALAMO TRUCKING" was "a loaded reference to a time almost a quarter century before, and a place nearly three thousand miles away on the New Jersey waterfront."

"Bob... it's me... Pat from ALAMO." Then the name, the face, the place and time, all came together in Delaney's hidden memory, unlocking the combination to his secret inner vault. It was Pat Kelly. Bob hadn't seen Pat for over twenty years. Not since the time Pat and Delaney had been in Federal Court testifying against the mob. Pat had entered the Witness Protection Program. Bob Delaney, had been a New Jersey State Trooper, who had given up his name, his identity, and his entire life, to go undercover as Bobby Covert, to infiltrate organized crime for almost three years as part of "PROJECT ALPHA", and had just come out of "DEEP COVER". There are two ways to go undercover in law enforcement: The first is where you go undercover but you still live at home with your family. The second is termed "DEEP COVER", and that's where you not only go undercover, but you give up all ties to your family, friends, and life as you knew it. Bob Delaney went into deep cover in 1975.

Bob arranged for someone to pass a note to Pat at halftime of the game, telling him to meet him after the game. From their reunion after the game the story flashes back to Bob's life story which begins in New Jersey where Bob was the son of a high ranking New Jersey State Trooper Officer. Bob came from a strong Irish family and they lived in a close knit Italian neighborhood. Bob was an All-State basketball player in high school and he also played two years at Jersey City State College. He was a good player at his level but he knew he couldn't go any higher, so when there was an opening in the State Trooper's he applied and was accepted. In a very short period of time Bob impressed the right people and was asked if he wanted to be part of "PROJECT ALPHA" even though it meant "DEEP COVER" and his entire life as he knew it would change. Bob, overflowing with patriotism said yes! The first thing Bob and the other members of the group did was set up a real-live trucking company, and named it Alamo Trucking. The Fed's had a slick wheeler-dealer who they had the goods on by the name of Pat Kelly, and gave him an option of working with "PROJECT ALPHA" or going to prison. Based on the beginning of this review the potential reader already knows the choice Pat made. The rest of the story is a harrowing, amazing, definition of stress and inner fortitude, that along with undying patriotism, is what makes up Delaney's entire DNA. Without giving away any more of this classic episode in crime fighting, that can easily be discussed under the same topic as "DONNIE BRASCO" (Donnie went into "DEEP COVER" for six years, the longest in FBI history.), it should be noted that the busload of high ranking organized crime arrests that resulted from "ALPHA PROJECT" made America a safer place to live. The reader will also find of utmost interest the "withdrawal" symptoms and post traumatic problems with Bob's entire personality and lifestyle once the assignment was completed. I highly recommend this book and must also complement the author's writing style that utilizes everyday jargon and terminology. The storytelling comes across like you're just sitting around having a conversation with an everyday "Jersey-Guy" which Bob Delaney certainly is.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!, February 12, 2008

By 

Jennifer E. Lyons (Gaithersburg, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob (Hardcover)

This is the book that you can't put down, the one that you read all night long just to find out what's going to happen next. The words leap off the pages as if the events are actually unfolding before your eyes. It is gripping, the best combination of wonderful story and natural story-teller. It's a must-read. Get it today!

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super book!, February 11, 2008

By 

Joanne Dann "booklover" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob (Hardcover)

Honestly, couldn't put "Covert" down ! Fast paced, intriguing, and with a happy ending, although my heart was in my mouth for a good part of it ! Writing was consistently superior...all in all, an A+ book!