Deep Cover (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Deep Cover, a New York Times non-fiction bestseller, is a first-hand account of how the CIA, State and Justice Departments teamed up to destroy a DEA undercover sting operation that threatened to expose U.S. government ties to drug-financed governments in Mexico, Panama and Bolivia. Written by the man 60 Minutes called "America's top undercover cop."

—Michael Levine --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Michael Levine, the host of The Expert Witness radio show, is a 25-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Administration and one of its most highly decorated officers. As an author his books include the community anti-drug plan Fight Back and fact-based fiction Triangle of Death, with Laura Kavanau. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 319 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; First Edition edition (February 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385301286
• ISBN-13: 978-0385301282
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,424,481 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Factual Truth Upon Truth, February 7, 2002

By	K. Johnson (US/Asia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Deep Cover (Mass Market Paperback)

Fact: The U.S. government traffics narcotics, and also lets drug-dealing nations and cartels go unmolested, if it is the politically expedient thing to do. Yet at the same time, the Federal government was at the time of writing, and still is today, waging a "War on Drugs." As most knowledgeable Americans are now aware, this was a facade, and much more distressing, an act of hypocrisy. The so-called War on Drugs has allowed the U.S. government to further erode citizens' rights, unjustly seize property, and further establish a 1984ish "Big Brother," America. This book should be read.

Author Michael Levine noted many interesting insights into the D.E.A., how it functions, and how this bureaucratic machine plays role in relation to foreign policy, and the political pressures that guide and influence this agency. Levine was considered to be the D.E.A's number one undercover agent, having arrested over 3,000 individuals over twenty-five years.

Seeking truth, and having passion for his career, and strongly believing in the mission statement of the Drug Enforcement Agency, He wrote in a very direct manner which I appreciate. What he observed in the agency was contrary to his life's work, and he had the courage and drive to speak out about it. In certain instances, the more a D.E.A. agent penetrated into serious drug operations, the more anxious and admonishing the bureaucratic "suits" who ran the agency in Washington D.C. became.

When he and the agency came to close to nailing major drug kingpins, some with high political status in some South American nations, the agency basically shut the operation down. Some of the Cold War alliances the U.S. had with nation-states were similar to it's relations/alliances to drug-dealing countries and cartel kingpins. The Cold War made strange bedfellows politically and this transgressed into the War on drugs.

The most appropriate thing to do is prosecute United States political figures, Military, D.E.A., and C.I.A. bureaucrats for trafficking and conspiring to traffic narcotics. Of course we all know, that isn't going to happen. Yet we must fill our prisons with nonviolent, small-time working stiffs, casual drug users, to serve out mandatory minimum sentences.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Objective and hard-hitting, June 28, 2003

By	William Jonathan Porcelli (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Cover: The Inside Story of How DEA Infighting, Incompetence and Subterfuge Lost Us the Biggest Battle of the Drug War (Paperback)

I am a retired DEA Field Division SAC. Levine's book, like his radio program, is objective and doesn't pull any punches. The lack of cooperation between organizations is well-known to anyone inside and Levine describes this infighting with brutal candor. The cost to Americans who expect more of their government is painfully high. Well-researched and documented.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth about the "War on Drugs.", August 24, 2000

By	Kenneth Johnson (Travelling across USA (in FL)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deep Cover: The Inside Story of How DEA Infighting, Incompetence and Subterfuge Lost Us the Biggest Battle of the Drug War (Paperback)

Fact: The U.S. government traffics narcotics, and also lets drug-dealing nations and cartels go unmolested, if it is the politically expedient thing to do. Yet at the same time, the Federal government was at the time of writing, and still is today, waging a "War on Drugs." As most knowledgeable Americans are now aware, this was a facade, and much more distressing, an act of hypocrisy. The so-called War on Drugs has allowed the U.S. government to further erode citizens rights, unjustly seize property, and further establish a 1984ish "Big Brother," America. This book should be read.

Author Michael Levine noted many interesting insights into the D.E.A., and how it functions, it's role in relation to foreign policy, and the political pressures that guide and influence this agency. Levine was considered to be the D.E.A's number one undercover agent, having arrested over 3,000 individuals over twenty-five years. Having passion for his career and strongly believing in the mission statement of the Drug Enforcement Agency, He wrote in a very direct manner which I appreciate. What he observed in the agency was contrary to his life's work, and he had the courage and drive to speak out about it. In certain instances, the more a D.E.A. agent penetrated into serious drug operations, the more anxious and admonishing the bureaucratic "suits" who ran the agency in Washington D.C. became.

When he and the agency came to close to nailing major drug kingpins, some with high political status, in some South American nations, the agency basically shut the operation down. Some of the Cold War alliances the U.S. had with nation-states were similar to it's relations/alliances to drug-dealing countries and cartel kingpins. The Cold War made strange bedfellows politically and this transgressed into the War on drugs.

The most appropriate thing to do is prosecute United States political figures, Military, D.E.A., and C.I.A. bureaucrats for trafficking and conspiring to traffic narcotics. Of course we all know, that isn't going to happen. Yet we must fill our prisons with nonviolent, small-time working stiffs, casual drug users, to serve out mandatory minimum sentences. Who killed more people? Timothy McVeigh, or the D.E.A and Federal government? I respect the former much more than the latter.