The Takedown: A Suburban Mom, a Coal Miner's Son, and the Unlikely Demise of Colombia's Brutal Norte Valle Cartel

Organized crime expert Robinson (The Sink) tells the dramatic saga of an assistant U.S. attorney and a federal agent who bring down the violent drug lords of the largest drug empire since the heady days of Pablo Escobar. Bonnie Klapper, a hard-nosed prosecutor (not your run-of-the-mill "suburban mom"), with Agent Romedio "Rooney" Viola, plows ahead with her dogged 12-year campaign against the Colombian bosses and couriers, isolating their U.S.-based operatives and turning them to provide state's evidence against their superiors. Robinson writes candidly of the national appetite for illegal drugs: "Organized crime is the planet's biggest business and North America is its most lucrative market." Klapper and Viola wage war with the corrupt Colombian authorities and the joint American law enforcement agencies, trapping the top killers Guzman, Monsalve, and Bustamente, into snitching on the overlords of the Norte Valle Cartel. Impressive from start to finish, the book is a tribute to Robinson's storytelling and the courage of the crime-fighting duo. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Aug.)