Gangbusters: How a Street Tough, Elite Homicide Unit Took Down New York's Most Dangerous Gang

If you live in suburbia and want to get a good picture of life in the inner city this is the book to read. I have to admit the book was a little unnerving knowing that ive hung out on a few of the corners where some murders happened, imagine my surprise when reading this book! What would have made it better is if we had a more round about picture on the victims, and the perps. As many inner city kids know when your raised seeing one way of life from first sight sometimes you dont know anything else... its not an excuse but maybe we shouldn't only look at the criminal/punishment aspect but a reform aspect. Some kids grow up seeing from first sight there parents smoking crack//shooting dope, or making there family income off of a spot, they're not told go to school and do good, theyre told quit school get a job, pay half the rent, and if you want a couch buy one cause i traded ours for $30 of dope. imagine growing up with this message, which is as strong as the messages for you to suceed were when you were growing up. how hard is it to do good when all you know is societies "bad" and thats normal to you. its probabally just as hard as a "normal" person being bad instead of "good."

I'm in the process of reading this book. While I agree with most of the sentiments of the reviewers that gave it unstintingly glowing reviews, I'm finding it a little bit difficult to keep track of the dozens of players (cops, crooks, DAs etc). The author helpfully provides a list of characters at the beginning, but I think that he should throw into the paperback edition a diagram of the Wild Cowboys organization (with the names, aliases, and "jobs" written in) as well as a chronology of events. It's hard to keep things straight without them, and I'm almost tempted to start reading it again and take notes so I completely understand what is happening.

A wonderfully told story about crime and the crimefighters in NYC. Stone's book provides an insightful and often frightening look at gangs. The members and their actions are so vividly described one feels as if they are right there on the streets with the brave investigators. This is a chilling, moving, heroic story that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end. Not to be missed!!

When we read about drugs, gangs and violence we wonder why the police aren't doing anything. Why are they allowing people, often innocent victims, to be gunned down in the streets. Further we wonder why the courts aren't doing more to put these malevolent violators of decency away. Gangbusters answers many of the questions citing politics and bureauracy as reasons why the police can't get the job done as well as they'd like to. Gangbusters takes the reader through a difficult attempt to rid a section of New York of a drug gang called the Cowboys who terrorized their portion of the city for years, often enlisting the paid help of children of tender years who would do anything for $30. A sepcial unit of prosecutors along with selected detectives dedicated years to bringing the Cowboys down and the good news is that they did, but it is how and what it took that comprises the story. Their frustration becomes the reader's frustration as time after time politics intrudes itself into a worthy effort that should have been helped along at every turn. An interesting slice of the tale is the involvement of newsman Dan Rather's son, Daniel Rather, a prosecutor, who for whatever reasons, causes problems with an already overburdened unit. This book is for everyone who wants to know more about how the greater world operates and the tragedies that lie outside our comfortable lives. Further, it is an eloquent statement about how the system fails to reward those who truly make a difference.

Michael Stone has written a book that takes us beyond the fictions of "Hill Street Blues" and "NYPD Blue"--to describe how a homicide unit, initially established to combat New York's soaring homicide rate, actually brought down the drug-driven gangs that dominated Manhattan's upper West Side, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. He writes with energy and enthusiasm about the individuals involved in this unit, the bureaucratic struggles, the courts and jails, and you are left with a vivid sense of the work and difficulties faced by these investigators, prosecutors, and judges.He also has an excellent lead-in chapter about New York's economic decline and the changes of the 1960s and 1970s that coincided with the infestation of drugs; and the various political forces that impinged on the police force, including the anti-corruption efforts of reformers.This was a great read on a weekend day. I hope you enjoy it, also.