Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob

by Bob Delaney

Book Overview

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 basketball's 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,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402754434
• ISBN13: 9781402754432
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Union Square Press
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Covert

Great book by an author who has lived a diversified life, from under cover state trooper to NBA referee. Bob Delaney is a special guy who exposes the mob for the exploitative, amoral group of criminals they are. Delaney tells a serious story with humor and a style that keeps the reader turning pages. I recommend this book to everyone interested in criminal justice or just a good nonfiction read.

RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "CURRENT NBA REFEREE HAD A PRIOR LIFE AS A "DONNIE BRASCO"!

This autobiography of current NBA referee Bob Delaney commences on April 18, 1999 at America West Arena in Phoenix Arizona. As Bob was going through his normal last minute pre-game rituals, he heard a voice from the crowd yelling "Hey Bob!"... "Hey Bob!" Delaney was now in his second decade of refereeing NBA games, and as a veteran he had developed a second skin, or an emotional armor if you will, against hecklers. NBA ref's, just like umpires in baseball learned to simply ignore the boo's and the catcall's that inevitably came with the territory. He'd heard them all: "Hey ref, get it right for once!"... "Hey ref, eat me!"... "Hey ref, your fly's open!"... "Hey ref, you suck!"... "Hey ref, don't quit your day job!"... And one of his personal favorites that rated high on the creativity chart: "Hey Delaney, I've seen better referees at the Foot Locker!" Bob had trained himself not to look at hecklers because that would only encourage them and possibly add fuel to the fire. Then the same voice from the stands yelled: "ALAMO TRUCKING!" All of a sudden every muscle in Bob's body tightened. This fan had information no average fan could possibly have. Delaney's pulse started to race and a prior lifetime of "shadowy" thunder rumbled in his head. Then the same voice yelled: "ALAMO!" Bob looked to the stands into the mega-expensive courtside seats, and the fan is yelling "ALAMO! ALAMO!" Bob looked straight at him and at first had no idea who the fan was, but "ALAMO TRUCKING" was "a loaded reference to a time almost a quarter century before, and a place nearly three thousand miles away on the New Jersey waterfront." "Bob... it's me... Pat from ALAMO." Then the name, the face, the place and time, all came together in Delaney's hidden memory, unlocking the combination to his secret inner vault. It was Pat Kelly. Bob hadn't seen Pat for over twenty years. Not since the time Pat and Delaney had been in Federal Court testifying against the mob. Pat had entered the Witness Protection Program. Bob Delaney, had been a New Jersey State Trooper, who had given up his name, his identity, and his entire life, to go undercover as Bobby Covert, to infiltrate organized crime for almost three years as part of "PROJECT ALPHA", and had just come out of "DEEP COVER". There are two ways to go undercover in law enforcement: The first is where you go undercover but you still live at home with your family. The second is termed "DEEP COVER", and that's where you not only go undercover, but you give up all ties to your family, friends, and life as you knew it. Bob Delaney went into deep cover in 1975. Bob arranged for someone to pass a note to Pat at halftime of the game, telling him to meet him after the game. From their reunion after the game the story flashes back to Bob's life story which begins in New Jersey where Bob was the son of a high ranking New Jersey State Trooper Officer. Bob came from a strong Irish family and they lived in a close knit Italian neighborhood. Bob

YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

This is the book that you can't put down, the one that you read all night long just to find out what's going to happen next. The words leap off the pages as if the events are actually unfolding before your eyes. It is gripping, the best combination of wonderful story and natural story-teller. It's a must-read. Get it today!

Super book!

Honestly, couldn't put "Covert" down ! Fast paced, intriguing, and with a happy ending, although my heart was in my mouth for a good part of it ! Writing was consistently superior...all in all, an A+ book!

Truth more riveting than fiction

From childhood on, we all make choices in our lives, some inconsequential, others life-altering. Some of us, depending on what we're made of, make choices that are tough on ourselves but that benefit others. Often, the people who make these kinds of choices are labeled heroes. Enter Bob Delaney. From early on, his love of family and friends and his respect for the law molded him into a person capable of self-sacrifice. A successful career as a law-enforcement officer was laid out before him, and that is unselfish enough. But Delaney took it further than that, going undercover at great physical and emotional expense to put "bad guys" behind bars. Once this complicated and dangerous deed was accomplished, no one could have blamed Delaney for going into hiding and living the rest of his life in the shadows of fear. Instead, Delaney chose to step into the limelight of professional sports and live life to its fullest. Covert tells the amazing story of a heroic man who would claim to be anything but a hero. In Delaney's mind, he did a job that needed doing. In Delaney's world, good people fight on the side of good. It's as simple as that. Covert is a great, thrilling read. But it's more than just a book about true crime or sports; it's a human drama. Delaney and co-author Dave Scheiber of the St. Petersburg Times create a ride that will keep you turning the pages from the time you pick up the book -- and ultimately uplift you. To judge a man, you first have to walk in his shoes. In Delaney's case, these are big shoes to fill. -- Jim Melvin, author of The Death Wizard Chronicles, a six-book epic fantasy