Synopses & Reviews
Featured on NPR and CNN In a riveting page-turner, NBA referee Bob Delaney reveals the clandestine life he led before becoming one of professional basketballs most respected referees.
In 1975, Delaney had spent only a year and a half as a New Jersey State Trooper when his superiors approached him with a tantalizing yet dangerous undercover assignment: to infiltrate the Mob. Delaney accepted, and became Bobby Covert, the president of Alamo Trucking, a fully-operational business used by law enforcement as flypaper for snagging crooks.
At the height of The Godfather era, Delaney wore a wire and lived among wiseguys who modeled themselves on their on-screen counterparts, quoting lines from The Movie” and boasting of how often theyd seen it. Delaney even crossed paths with Joe Pistone, the real-life Donnie Brasco (though neither knew the other was undercover), knowing all the while that a single slip could get him killed.
Ultimately gathering enough evidence to convict 30 members of the Bruno and Genovese crime families, Project Alpha was a success, but Delaney struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and traces of Stockholm syndrome after getting too close to those he investigated. Therapy helped him come to terms with all hed endured during his three tense years undercover, and, once a college basketball star, Delaney began officiating high school and intramural games as a way to rebuild his lifeeventually working his way up to the NBA, where he has been a referee for more than two decades.
Review
Delaneys story. . . becomes more intense than overtime in the playoffs.”Boston Globe
Delaneys heroic performance during his perilous assignment represents the finest traditions of the New Jersey State Police. My father, the first superintendent of the New Jersey State Police Department, would have been proud of him.”General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army (ret.)
[F]ascinating...a must-read...”Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A slam dunk, a bulls eye and any other glowing mafia or basketball metaphor you can think of.”Kirkus
"Gripping...Fans of such undercover-themed books as Donnie Brasco, or organized-crime exposés like The Valachi Papers, will devour this one.”Booklist
Synopsis
Featured on ESPN, NPR and CNN
In a riveting page-turner, NBA referee Bob Delaney reveals the clandestine life he led before becoming one of professional basketballs most respected officials.
Soon after joining the New Jersey State Troopers in 1973, Delaney was offered a tantalizing undercover assignment: to infiltrate the Mob. And so he became Bobby Covert, the president of Alamo Trucking, a fully-operational business used by law enforcement as flypaper for snagging wise guys. While wearing a wire, Delaney dealt daily with mobsters who modeled themselves after their on-screen counterparts (at the height of The Godfathers popularity), and even crossed paths with Joe Pistone, the real-life Donnie Brasco. After three tense years playing a role in which a single slip could cost him his life, Delaney had gathered enough evidence to convict more than 30 members of the Genovese and Bruno crime families.
Struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder from the strain of his undercover life, Delaney began officiating high school and intramural basketball games as a way to rebuild his life, eventually working his way up to the NBA, where he has been a referee for over two decades. This is his amazing true story.