Bullets, bombs and fast talk Twenty-five years of FBI war stories

James Botting

Book - 2008

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Subjects
Published
Washington, D.C. : Potomac Books c2008.
Language
English
Main Author
James Botting (-)
Edition
1st ed
Physical Description
xiii, 239 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN
9781597972444
  • Acknowledgments
  • Author's Notes
  • Prologue
  • 1. "Just a Goddamn Yankee"
  • 2. The Republic of New Afrika
  • 3. Wounded Knee Revisited
  • 4. Patty Hearst and the SLA
  • 5. Wannabe Skyjacker
  • 6. Year of the Gun
  • 7. Robert Mathews and The Order
  • 8. Birth of the Crisis Incident Negotiation Team
  • 9. Kidnapping in Palos Verdes
  • 10. The Cuban Prison Riots
  • 11. Harvey Lee Green and the Tri-Lateral Commission
  • 12. Rodney King and the LA Riots
  • 13. Ruby Ridge
  • 14. Waco
  • 15. The Baker of Rancho Cucamonga
  • 16. The LAX Hotel Jumper
  • 17. The South Gate Kidnapping and the Juarez Cartel
  • 18. The Psychedelic Shower
  • Conclusion
  • About the Author
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

From 1971 to 1996, when Botting was an FBI SWAT team member and crisis negotiator, he worked on many of the high-profile crimes irrevocably etched in Americans' collective memory-Wounded Knee in 1973; the Patty Hearst kidnapping; the Rodney King riots; the ill-fated capture of Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho; and the Branch Davidian tragedy in Waco, Tex. Botting's insider view of FBI operations at these events is intrinsically interesting, and he brings added value through his own on-the-scene observations. Botting's style occasionally comes close to tough-talking cliche (bad guys are "lying assholes"), but is oddly satisfying. There are sometimes predictable dynamics, for example, feuding among the LAPD, the DEA and the FBI, and the frequent cluelessness of FBI higher-ups; refreshingly, though, Botting is respectful of his fellow FBI agents and "the Bureau." Readers into guns and real crime drama with a sprinkling of black humor ("It's amazing what the public will do for entertainment," he says of a crowd yelling at a suicidal woman to jump) will like Botting and the stories he has to tell. Photos. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved