Rating: 
Summary: Robert Mladinich, New York, NY
Review: "Takedown" is the riveting account of one detective's quest to dismantle New York City's long dominant garbage cartel. Detective Cowan truly exemplifies what being a big city cop is all about. He is brazen, brash, street savvy, and unconventional. How else could he, an Irish-American with blue collar pedigree, be able to immerse himself in the inner sanctums of the Mob as Danny Benedetto? That is what you, the reader, will find out as he takes you on a thrill-a-minute ride through the New York underbelly, his life always in danger as he manages to stay one step ahead of a gang of thugs who make many of "The Sopranos" characters seem like choirboys. You will not be able to put this book down.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting; An Eye Opener
Review: "Takedown" is the riveting account of one detective's quest to dismantle New York City's long dominant garbage cartel. Detective Cowan truly exemplifies what being a big city cop is all about. He is brazen, brash, street savvy, and unconventional. How else could he, an Irish-American with blue collar pedigree, be able to immerse himself in the inner sanctums of the Mob as Danny Benedetto? That is what you, the reader, will find out as he takes you on a thrill-a-minute ride through the New York underbelly, his life always in danger as he manages to stay one step ahead of a gang of thugs who make many of "The Sopranos" characters seem like choirboys. You will not be able to put this book down.
Rating:
Summary: Kudos to Sal and Danny Bendetto
Review: A great book. A nice crisp and fast read that will have you turning the pages in anticipation of what comes next. Detective Rick Cowan infiltrated the New York garbage mafia as a problem fixer for an independent garbage hauler. Five years later his investigation resulted in indictments across the board, which have put an end to mafia involvement in the New York garbage industry and has saved New York customers and businesses millions upon millions of dollars.The book is more than an entertaining read. It provides you a real life glimpse into how the mafia infiltrates and consolidates and industry. Cowan and Century provide background history in the novel that tell the origins of the garbage empire. I don't know of any other book that gives you such a detailed nuts and bolts picture of day to day mob operations - mafia bosses meeting on a daily bases and hatching out deals and shakedowns over Italian pasteries. It is all done by word of mouth and handshakes. As they give orders to their brutal underlings they literally get fat off of the hog. I doubt that this is the "Fall of the Last Mafia" empire as the book cover says. I'd like to know what other businesses the mafia have "owned" in New York and how they have adjusted to Cowan's Takedown. After finishing the book I wondered if it was worth it to Detective Cowan - spending five years of his life immersed in an undercover operation that risked his life and disrupted his family life. I think he hints at an answer with his discussion with his father at the end of the book, but there is still some ambiguity. Like a lot of things in life there is probably no yes or no answer. Buy this book and read it. Like another reviewer said it gives a much better picture of how the mafia operates than the "exposes" written by Mafia goons and second to third generation accounts that pack the "true crime" sections of the book stores.
Rating:
Summary: Kudos to Sal and Danny Bendetto
Review: A great book. A nice crisp and fast read that will have you turning the pages in anticipation of what comes next. Detective Rick Cowan infiltrated the New York garbage mafia as a problem fixer for an independent garbage hauler. Five years later his investigation resulted in indictments across the board, which have put an end to mafia involvement in the New York garbage industry and has saved New York customers and businesses millions upon millions of dollars. The book is more than an entertaining read. It provides you a real life glimpse into how the mafia infiltrates and consolidates and industry. Cowan and Century provide background history in the novel that tell the origins of the garbage empire. I don't know of any other book that gives you such a detailed nuts and bolts picture of day to day mob operations - mafia bosses meeting on a daily bases and hatching out deals and shakedowns over Italian pasteries. It is all done by word of mouth and handshakes. As they give orders to their brutal underlings they literally get fat off of the hog. I doubt that this is the "Fall of the Last Mafia" empire as the book cover says. I'd like to know what other businesses the mafia have "owned" in New York and how they have adjusted to Cowan's Takedown. After finishing the book I wondered if it was worth it to Detective Cowan - spending five years of his life immersed in an undercover operation that risked his life and disrupted his family life. I think he hints at an answer with his discussion with his father at the end of the book, but there is still some ambiguity. Like a lot of things in life there is probably no yes or no answer. Buy this book and read it. Like another reviewer said it gives a much better picture of how the mafia operates than the "exposes" written by Mafia goons and second to third generation accounts that pack the "true crime" sections of the book stores.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: Cowan's book is a riveting account of an undercover NYPD's officer infiltration of one of New York's most powerful Mafia families. Much like a similiar work "Donnie Brasco", Cowan keeps the reader in perpetual suspense as the detective narrowly escapes detection from the Mob and exposure from his own colleagues. He also provides a detailed and penetrating view of the Byzantine mechanics and day to day grind of the mob controlled "garbage business" This book is one of the most successful at describing what life is actually like for low and mid level mafiasio.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: Cowan's book is a riveting account of an undercover NYPD's officer infiltration of one of New York's most powerful Mafia families. Much like a similiar work "Donnie Brasco", Cowan keeps the reader in perpetual suspense as the detective narrowly escapes detection from the Mob and exposure from his own colleagues. He also provides a detailed and penetrating view of the Byzantine mechanics and day to day grind of the mob controlled "garbage business" This book is one of the most successful at describing what life is actually like for low and mid level mafiasio.
Rating:
Summary: Walk the Walk
Review: He went by alias of Danny Bridges. He was just on Connie Chung / CNN speaking about his new book Takedown. "Danny" was instrumental in 'taking down' the last mafia empire...that of garbage collection rings that charged extremely high rates and forced Mom and Pop businesses to use their services. Watch out! If any other garbage collection tried to get the business they were 'made a deal' they 'couldn't refuse' (if you know what I mean...). This book is full of great detail of the inner workings and is very suspenseful! Rick Cowan alone worked his way into the mob to 'get the goods' (evidence) on the inner workings of the Mafia. He risks his life and the life's of his family and their families. He found collusion that resulted in the imprisonment of high level "Don's". The Mafia made billions through use of their 'leverage'. I highly recommend this book and hope that one day Rick will not end up in a garbage dump like Jimmy Hoffa. Buy this book today and read it! I couldn't put it down. Great book, great read. Will win the book Academy Awards in December.
Rating:
Summary: Impossible to put down
Review: Here is a book that has all of the dramatic tension of the Godfather or the Sopranos with the added distinction that it's all true. Detective Cowan bravely infiltrates the inner chambers of NYC's garbage cartel and the colorful yet dangerous characters that he deals with are right out of central casting. The story unfolds quickly as he is accepted into this circle. At one point when his cover is almost blown by a distant relative who is not in on the operation the tension is palpable as Cowan deftly avoids detection.
I found this story absolutely fascinating and the writing captures the conversations in a way that puts you right there at the table with these guys. Frankly this is a movie waiting to happen.
It amazes me that someone would make such a personal sacrifice and take the risk necessary to do this type of undercover work but at the same time Cowan's tale makes you understand to some degree how a detective can get caught up in such an assignment.
This is a fabulous read.
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Summary: Review of Takedown: The Fall of Last Mafia Empire
Review: I have read many books about the Mafia and about undercover work inside the Mafia, and this is the best of them all. There are four reasons it is so good. In Takedown, the undercover agent gains access to the very top of the Mafia empire. Second, the tape recordings Cowan made are such high quality that many of the important conversations are reproduced verbatim. Third, the undercover cop is almost constantly in extreme danger. Fourth, Cowan and Century gives fascinating insight into the inner workings of a Mafia controlled legal industry (recycling) with a depth and breadth that no one else has ever achieved. In contrast, the book that was turned into the movie Donny Brasco was excellent, but not as good as this one.
Rating:
Summary: Review of Takedown: The Fall of Last Mafia Empire
Review: I have read many books about the Mafia and about undercover work inside the Mafia, and this is the best of them all. There are four reasons it is so good. In Takedown, the undercover agent gains access to the very top of the Mafia empire. Second, the tape recordings Cowan made are such high quality that many of the important conversations are reproduced verbatim. Third, the undercover cop is almost constantly in extreme danger. Fourth, Cowan and Century gives fascinating insight into the inner workings of a Mafia controlled legal industry (recycling) with a depth and breadth that no one else has ever achieved. In contrast, the book that was turned into the movie Donny Brasco was excellent, but not as good as this one.
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