Review by Booklist Review
This is a book about a man who no longer exists. Its subject, Australian biker-gang member and police informant Stevan Utah, was given a new identity in 2007. Good thing, too; otherwise, his former gang comrades would probably hunt him down. Written by an Australian journalist (Coulthart) and former police officer (McNab), the book lays bare the operations of a particularly nasty gang, the Bandidos, and chronicles Utah's life as one of the gang's key members. A willing participant in many of the gang's operations, including murder, Utah became a police informant, knowing he was putting his life at risk, but when (according to him) the police cut him adrift due to their own incompetence, he knew he had to go public, even if it meant leaving his entire life behind. This is exactly the kind of story Martin Scorsese should make into a movie: a nail-bitingly suspenseful, highly detailed, very frightening insider account of a criminal organization.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Award-winning journalist Coulthart and former police officer McNab (The Dodger: Inside the World of Roger Rogerson) focus on Australia's branch of the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang in this account of Steve Utah, "bikie," smuggler, and police informer. Utah bonded with a Bandidos gang member over a shared love of exotic pets and became an insider, observing and sometimes participating in their criminal activities. Shocked and upset by the casual violence, drug running, and police corruption he witnessed, he became an informant after landing in legal trouble. His tips about gunrunning and methamphetamine labs could have put a noticeable dent in trafficking, but the refusal of police departments in different states to cooperate caused most of his tips to go nowhere. When a careless word tipped off the Bandidos to an informant in their midst, he dropped out of sight, a "dead man running" who could face the gang's vengeance at any time. VERDICT This fascinating and troubling account of outlaw motorcycle gangs, police corruption, and mishandling of informants should be of interest to fans of biker culture and international true crime.-Deirdre Bray Root, Middletown P.L., OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
