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Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Kentucky

A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love





When Benny Martinez walks into the offices of the Philadelphia Daily News in 2008 to speak with reporter Wendy Ruderman, the paper is on the brink of bankruptcy. What he tells Wendy and her colleague Barbara Laker is too shocking to ignore: his career as a confidential informant for a member of the Philadelphia Police Department's narcotics squad has drawn him into a web of corruption, and now Benny is afraid for his life.

Busted is Ruderman and Laker's riveting account of their investigation into the acts committed by powerful rogue members of the narcotics squad. By dint of perseverance, ingenuity, and good old shoe-leather reporting, the women unraveled a tapestry of lies. Starting with the discovery of fabricated search warrants, they soon find that the scandal encompasses a systematic looting of immigrant-owned businesses and allegations of brutal sexual assault.

When Ruderman and Laker produce a devastating series of articles that blows the lid off the scandal, they not only win the fight for justice. They also win a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, an unthinkable triumph for two city reporters at a beleaguered local paper.

Busted

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Wendy Ruderman

Barbara Laker





In the vein of Erin Brockovich, The Departed, and T. J. English's Savage City comes Busted, the shocking true story of the biggest police corruption scandal in Philadelphia history, a tale of drugs, power, and abuse involving a rogue narcotics squad, a confidential informant, and two veteran journalists whose reporting drove a full-scale FBI probe, rocked the City of Brotherly Love, and earned a Pulitzer Prize .

In 2003, Benny Martinez became a Confidential Informant for a member of the Philadelphia Police Department's narcotics squad, helping arrest nearly 200 drug and gun dealers over seven years. But that success masked a dark and dangerous reality: the cops were as corrupt as the criminals they targeted.

In addition to fabricating busts, the squad systematically looted mom-and-pop stores, terrorizing hardworking immigrant owners. One squad member also sexually assaulted three women during raids. Frightened for his life, Martinez turned to Philadelphia Daily News reporters Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker.

Busted chronicles how these two journalists--both middle-class working mothers--formed an unlikely bond with a convicted street dealer to uncover the secrets of ruthless kingpins and dirty cops. Professionals in an industry shrinking from severe financial cutbacks, Ruderman and Laker had few resources--besides their own grit and tenacity--to break a dangerous, complex story that would expose the rotten underbelly of a modern American city and earn them a Pulitzer Prize. A page-turning thriller based on superb reportage, illustrated with eight pages of photos, Busted is modern true crime at its finest. 

Category - Non Fiction / True Crime

Format - Hardcover

Condition - Excellent

Listed - A year ago

Views - 3

Ships From - Kentucky

Est. Publication Date - Mar 2015

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ISBN: 9780062085450

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By: Wendy Ruderman

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