The Pena Files: One Man's War Against Federal Corruption and the Abuse of Power [Hardcover]

Octavio G. Pena (Author), Dary Matera (Author), Bruce McKenna (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1996

The inside stories of Pen+a1a's most controversial cases includes accounts of the destruction of the most powerful Mafia empire, the corporate looting at Frito-Lay, and the international battle between two blue-jeans giants. $20,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Octavio Pena was born in Mexico in 1941 and migrated to the U.S. in his early 20s. After quitting a few dead-end jobs, he answered an ad in the New York Times looking for people to work part-time for Lynch International, a large private-investigation firm, and immediately found his true calling. Pena quickly became a star at the agency, and his autobiography is filled with enough derring-do to make James Bond look like a sissy. Whether he's infiltrating a band of Rastafarians in Jamaica to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a wealthy American, or battling the mob to collect $5 million that one of its members owed to Northville Industries, Pena's exploits read like a television movie. He and his coauthors McKenna (a freelance writer) and Matera (Strike Midnight) are not shy about describing Pena's assignments in highly hyperbolic terms, a style that becomes annoying at times. Still, even though some of Pena's accounts sound more like fiction than fact, there are a number of stories that will keep readers rapidly turning the pages to find out how our hero solves his many life-and-death cases. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A young man comes to the U.S. from Mexico and, with intelligence, hard work, and integrity, becomes CEO of a private investigations firm. An old-fashioned success story? Yes, but it's Horatio Alger juiced for the corrupt and cynical 1990s. Pena's cases have pitted him against the Mafia, Central American terrorists, corporate thieves, and most frighteningly, the IRS. At the outset, this nonfiction work strains credulity. It's hard to accept that a private investigator could do everything Pena claims to have done. But as the pages pass at a breathless pace, and well-known corporate and personal names are dropped in profusion, readers will remember that truth is the defense against libel. In the chilling concluding incident, Pena describes a pattern of thuggery, intimidation, and bribery in the IRS that makes the Mafia look noble. He names names and details how senior IRS officials sold their offices to ravage a competitor, manipulate the Justice Department, destroy honest IRS employees, and stonewall Congress. Like Pena, readers will be sadder and wiser. Thomas Gaughan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 277 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060391758
• ISBN-13: 978-0060391751
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,927,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling investigations, June 18, 2006

By 

Frederick C. Overdier (Caro, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pena Files: One Man's War Against Federal Corruption and the Abuse of Power (Hardcover)

Octavio Pena is convincingly the best in the business of private investigations and business security. Much of the book reads better than a movie. For those who are unfamiliar with the corruption in government agencies, this book will be a real eye-opener. Most compelling are several chapters describing coverups within the IRS the author encountered while working on specific cases. Although the book was fascinating, I felt Mr. Pena had limited the focus and perspective of his commentary too much to the specific cases he was working on. I was hoping to see some more opinion by the author on how our government could be improved, either by better legislative oversight, or other legal reforms. Nevertheless well worth reading.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved it and I'm going to have my kids read it, too., December 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Pena Files: One Man's War Against Federal Corruption and the Abuse of Power (Hardcover)

Stories such as are in this book used to be more common, but are getting harder to find. One person fighting to uphold morality and values can make a difference. Entertaining and inspiring.