Gangbuster

A gripping and exhaustively researched, first-time account of a feared gangbuster’s groundbreaking battles with organized crime, the KKK, and corruption at the highest levels of government sure to resonate with readers affected by the politics of contemporary society. At the height of the roaring 1920s, the ex-frontier town of Denver, Colorado, emerged from the postwar boom as the future of the American city. But the slick façade of progress and opportunity masked a murky stew of organized crime, elaborate swindles, and widespread government corruption. One man risked everything to alter the course of history. Rookie district attorney Phillip Van Cise was already making national headlines for a new brand of law enforcement. Employing military intelligence tools he’d developed during the Great War—wiretapping, undercover operatives, communication intercepts—Van Cise crippled the criminal empire of Lou Blonger, an ex-lawman who had risen from petty scam artist to master of the Big Con. But Van Cise had even darker, more malevolent forces on his radar. The Ku Klux Klan had emerged as a shockingly mainstream middle-class movement, employing anti-immigration scare tactics, encouraging vigilantism, and instigating culture wars, all while claiming to protect true American values. Van Cise saw the toxic ideology for what it was: a new version of the Big Con sold as populism. Utilizing his pioneering surveillance techniques, Van Cise was determined to expose the Invisible Empire from within. Gripping and exhaustively researched, this prescient chronicle of Phillip Van Cise’s spectacular career as a feared gangbuster taking on organized crime, the KKK, and corruption at the highest levels of government is a cautionary tale that mirrors our tumultuous times.

In the late 1960s the Richardson Torture Gang and the Kray Twins were removed from the London scene by ACC Gerry McArthur and DS Nipper Read respectively.Predictably it was not long before the vacuum this left was being filled. With McArthur retired and Read moved on, who was to sort out the new gangland threat.Step forward Detective Chief Superintendent Bert Wickstead. Having cut his teeth on young desperadoes and neo-Nazis in North London and solved Londons biggest post war bank robbery, Wickstead was well qualified to head up the Yards Serious Crime Squad.First to fall were the Dixon brothers, followed by the Tibbs family. As his fame spread he took on the West End Maltese Syndicate specialising in prostitution and extortion. When he broke up the Norma Levy call ring, two cabinet peers had to resign.Inevitably Wicksteads career was dogged by unproved allegations of malpractice but, as this riveting insider account conclusively proves, he more than earned his sobriquet The Gangbuster.

Peter Bleksley was the best of the best. An undercover detective with CID and SO10, he was the man called in to deal with the most sensitive situations and the most dangerous criminals. This is the story of his life and career.

An elite homicide investigation unit takes on one of the most savage and destructive gangs in New York City history in this gritty true-crime narrative. The investigation into the late-night murder of a college student on the West Side Highway leads to the Wild Cowboys, a group of young men who for years terrorized Upper Manhattan and the Bronx while running a $30,000-a-day drug business. What follows is a tale of dogged pursuit that offers a fascinating inside look at the workings of a complex police investigation, and a satisfying account of how a city took back its streets.

"...Ben has been the world-wide guru of this technology, providing support to applications of all types. His genius lies in handling the extremely complex mathematics, while at the same time seeing the practical matters involved in applying the results. As this book clearly shows, Ben is able to relate to novices interested in using frequency selective surfaces and to explain technical details in an understandable way, liberally spiced with his special brand of humor... Ben Munk has written a book that represents the epitome of practical understanding of Frequency Selective Surfaces. He deserves all honors that might befall him for this achievement." -William F. Bahret. Mr. W. Bahret was with the United States Air Force but is now retired. From the early 50s he sponsored numerous projects concerning Radar Cross Section of airborne platforms in particular antennas and absorbers. Under his leadership grew many of the concepts used extensively today, as for example the metallic radome. In fact, he is by many considered to be the father of stealth technology. "This book compiles under one cover most of Munk's research over the past three decades. It is woven with the physical insight that he has gained and further developed as his career has grown. Ben uses mathematics to whatever extent is needed, and only as needed. This material is written so that it should be useful to engineers with a background in electromagnetics. I strongly recommend this book to any engineer with any interest in phased arrays and/or frequency selective surfaces. The physical insight that may be gained from this book will enhance their ability to treat additional array problems of their own." -Leon Peters, Jr. Professor Leon Peters, Jr., was a professor at the Ohio State University but is now retired. From the early sixties he worked on, among many other things, RCS problems involving antennas and absorbers. This book presents the complete derivation of the Periodic Method of Moments, which enables the reader to calculate quickly and efficiently the transmission and reflection properties of multi-layered Frequency Selective Surfaces comprised of either wire and/or slot elements of arbitrary shape and located in a stratified medium. However, it also gives the reader the tools to analyze multi-layered FSS's leading to specific designs of the very important Hybrid Radome, which is characterized by constant band width with angle of incidence and polarization. Further, it investigates in great detail bandstop filters with large as well as narrow bandwidth (dichroic surfaces). It also discusses for the first time, lossy elements used in producing Circuit Analog absorbers. Finally, the last chapter deals with power breakdown of FSS's when exposed to pulsed signals with high peak power. The approach followed by most other presentations simply consists of expanding the fields around the FSS, matching the boundary conditions and writing a computer program. While this enables the user to obtain calculated results, it gives very little physical insight and no help in how to design actual multi-layered FSS's. In contrast, the approach used in this title analyzes all curves of desired shapes. In particular, it discusses in great detail how to produce radomes made of FSS's located in a stratified medium (Hybrid Radomes), with constant band width for all angles of incidence and polarizations. Numerous examples are given of great practical interest. More specifically, Chapter 7 deals with the theory and design of bandpass radomes with constant bandwidth and flat tops. Examples are given for mono-, bi- and tri-planar designs. Chapter 8 deals with bandstop filters with broad as well as narrow bandwidth. Chapter 9 deals with multi-layered FSS of lossy elements, namely the so-called Circuit Analog Absorbers, designed to yield outstanding absorption with more than a decade of bandwidth. Features material previously labeled as classified by the United States Air Force.

Readers learn how a colorful coterie of FBI agents, prosecutors, and police detectives overcame the early years of bureaucratic inertia, high-level political corruption, and interagency rivalry to destroy the last great Mafia dynasty--New York's Lucchese Family.

This book is the factual story of the development of armed helicopters in the US Army and their first employment in combat. The story is dramatically told by the courageous men who lived it--flying daily into enemy infested areas facing murderous fire from automatic and anti-aircraft weapons. In late 1961 the US Government deployed five Transportation Helicopter Companies (H-21 lift ships) to South Vietnam to increase the mobility of South Vietnamese ground forces. The Viet Cong quickly recognized that the H-21s were unarmed and began shooting at them endangering the lives of American crewmen. A helicopter company equipped with 25 UH-1 helicopters had been cobbled together on Okinawa by the Commander US Army Pacific. Believing the company was soon to be deployed to Vietnam, the men assigned to the unit armed its helicopters by scrounging weapons systems left over from WW ll and Korea stored in Army/Air Force depots in Okinawa. Machine guns and 2.75 inch rockets were jury rigged onto the UH-1s. .Officially designated the Utility Tactical Helicopter Company, but widely known as the UTT, the company deployed to Saigon in September 1962. After some jurisdictional squabbles with the Air Force over roles and missions, UTT began combat operations in October. It quickly became widely known for professionalism and the courage of its crew members. Such was its fame that for years South Vietnamese military personnel called all armed helicopters UTT. Unfortunately over its years in RVN the Company endured frequent designation changes--UTT/68th/197th/334th Armed Helicopter Company. Why remains a mystery even today. The Companys legacy is strong and endures today. Armed helicopters are a major component of US Army combat forces. The current Army Apache program (over 600) is a direct descendent. Additionally, the Marines and Navy have strong armed helicopter programs, as does every major military power in the world. Ironically it all began with a small group of courageous men mounting scavenged weapons [mostly outmoded] on helicopters originally designed for medical evacuation. This is their story.