Revised edition 9/11/14. It was the year that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. At the Woodstock Festival in Bethel New York the flower children sang peace songs as the war raged in Viet Nam. In New York City the song "Aquarius" and "Sweet Caroline" floated through the air like the smell of the neighbor's barbeque on a summer's night. Richard Milhous Nixon was President and the New York Jets, driven by quarterback Joe Namath, had defeated the much favored Baltimore Colts. It was 1969. The first strain of the aids virus migrated from Haiti and infiltrated New York. The first NYC Marathon was run and professional boxer Joe Frazer defeated World Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali. Five hundred NYS Troopers stormed Attica Prison resulting in thirty nine deaths and this same year Evil Knievel jumped nineteen cars on a motorcycle. It was 1969. There were no cell phones, no computers, no digital high definition electronics, not even a GPS system. The country was on the horizon of the electronic age, the computer, fiber optics, and wireless communications but it had not arrived yet. It was 1969 and a time when presence of narcotics and violence dominated the streets of New York. Law enforcements primary drug target was that century old clandestine society know as the mafia. The secret society that was at one time structured and highly organized was slowly starting to fall apart on its own. The old world values of honor, respect and obedience had somehow been lost with the coming of a new generation of Italian Americans. The sons of made men had become too Americanized and slowly law enforcement was starting to penetrate and fragment the secret organization. Then without warning the Sicilian Mafia appeared in NYC with an almost impenetrable organization. These Sicilians were the so called Young Turks who came from Sicily and brought with them the old world values of respect and honor that had been lost. They also brought more drugs and violence to the streets of New York than ever before in history. This book is a story about the Sicilians and their leader at that time, the capo di tuti, who previously remained concealed in the shadows of different countries. Wards Island is located in the center of New York City's East River. Its primary resident is the Manhattan Psychiatric Center and in the nineteen hundreds the island was the home of Blackwell's Lunatic Asylum. It was now the late sixties and the hospital became the home of a tactical New York State Police undercover narcotics unit. Without question the detectives assigned to Wards Island were the most unorthodox, over-zealous, and brightest group of men ever to assemble at a state psychiatric center. They worked with little or no supervision and were without a doubt the best of the best. In 1969 I was a uniform New York State Trooper and content to have found my way out of NYC. When I joined the State Police I had no intentions of ever coming back to the city but when the Wards Island unit was formed I was presented with the assignment and offered a deal I couldn't refuse. A Gold Shield. Within a few months I was attached to a number of task forces and special units in NYC whose job it was to enforce the laws pertaining to organized crime and narcotics. I never realized how exciting that assignment was until I retired and looked back in retrospect. (Authors note) My experiences on Ward's Island inspired me to write this book and I wrote it originally as a true story. The complications of making a true story along with the fact that it read like a text book prompted me to turn it into a novel. Much of the story is true, just as much of it has been fictionalized. It was revitalizing to recollect while gathering my thoughts for this tale. I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
About the Author: This is the first autobiography I have written. I do feel a bit self-serving writing it but here goes. I was luckier than most kids because I grew up poor. Starting at the bottom gave me the advantage of appreciating those small experiences that are taken for granted by so many. I survived the New York City school system and by the time I graduated high school Elvis was singing "Heartbreak Hotel." After two years at Colorado A & M I dropped out. It was probably the best two years of my life. Over the next five years I drove a truck and completed at tour in the US Army. In 1962 I was appointed to the position of Trooper on the New York State Police. At thirty I married the girl of my dreams and we have three wonderful daughters. In 1968 I received a promotion to Detective/ Investigator and was assigned to work specifically on Organized Crime investigations and undercover narcotics cases. I was given a Federal clearance by the US Attorney's Office while assigned to various Federal & State Strike Forces in the NYC area. I was at Woodstock (1969) and made drug buys. I continued working narcotics cases in NYC, drove an undercover taxi, installed wiretaps, and had a partner that was shot and killed during a drug buy and bust deal gone bad. It was during this time that I was promoted to Detective Supervisor/ Senior Investigator and earned a bachelor's degree from S.U.N.Y. and a master's degree from Long Island University. I retired in the early eighties, did some private investigations work, tried commercial fishing and obtained a Coast Guard charter captain license. I ended up in business where I experienced the American Dream. I didn't start to write until I was in my late sixties and had lost most of my hearing. By not being able to hear it allowed me to enter into a special world of fantasy. I wrote five books before I had any thoughts of publishing. I presently reside, with my wife of 47 years, in New York spending my time between Westchester County and the Hamptons on Long Island. During the winter months I will be on the Treasure Coast, usually in Vero Beach, Florida. Last year, while alone on my boat in Shinnecock Bay NY I died of sudden cardiac arrest. I was brought back to life minutes later by an act of serendipity performed by my buddy who I call Mickey. Mickey is an implanted defibrillator who permanently resides under my skin below my left shoulder. That is my 45,000 word autobiography in 450 words.