The page-turning, inside account of how two kids from Florida became big-time weapons traders-and how the US government turned on them. In January of 2007, two young stoners from Miami Beach-one a ninth grade dropout, the other a licensed masseur-won a $300 million Department of Defense contract to supply ammunition to the Afghanistan military. Incredibly, instead of fulfilling the order with high-quality arms, Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz-the dudes-bought cheap Communist-style surplus ammunition from Balkan gunrunners. The pair then secretly repackaged millions of rounds of shoddy Chinese ammunition and shipped it to Kabul-until they were caught by Pentagon investigators and the scandal turned up on the front page of The New York Times. That’s the “official” story. The truth is far more explosive. For the first time, journalist Guy Lawson tells the thrilling true tale. It’s a trip that goes from a dive apartment in Miami Beach to mountain caves in Albania, the corridors of power in Washington, and the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan. Lawson’s account includes a shady Swiss gunrunner, Russian arms dealers, corrupt Albanian gangsters, and a Pentagon investigation that impeded America’s war efforts in Afghanistan. Lawson exposes the mysterious and murky world of global arms dealing, showing how the American military came to use private contractors like Diveroli and Packouz as middlemen to secure weapons from illegal arms dealers-the same men who sell guns to dictators, warlords, and drug traffickers.

The Brotherhoods is the chilling chronicle of the shocking crimes of NYPD detectives Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito, notorious rogue cops convicted in April 2006 of the ultimate form of police corruption-shielding their acts behind their badges while they worked for the mob. Their crimes included participation in the murders of at least eight men, kidnapping, torture, and the betrayal of an entire generation of New York City detectives and federal agents. “one of the most spectacular police corruption scandals in the city’s history,” proclaimed the New York Times in its front-page coverage of the verdict.
This gripping, true-life detective story is remarkable for its psychological intrigue, criminal audacity, and paranoid, blood-soaked fury. Written by prize-winning journalist Guy Lawson and William Oldham, the brilliant detective who quietly investigated the rogue cops for seven years, The Brotherhoods provides unparalleled access to the secretive workings of both the NYPD and organized crime-their hierarchies, rituals, and codes of conduct. Sprawling from Brooklyn to Las Vegas, this incredible story features wiseguys, informants, hit men on the lam, snitches, cops on the take, a crooked accountant, flamboyant defense attorneys, and many other colorful characters.
Destined to rank with such modern crime classics as Serpico, Donnie Brasco, and Wiseguy, this quintessential American mob tale goes to the heart of two brotherhoods-the police and the mafia-and the two cops who belonged to both.