Incredible as it may seem, except for the involvement of Raucci and of one particular Red Hook longshoreman and father, the story as told here is essentially accurate. Like the brave firemen and cops of 9/11, a small band of firemen and Coasties rushed forward when most of us would probably have been running as fast as we could in the other direction—and they saved the New York area from what could have been the greatest disaster in human history. It was one of the most astounding examples of human heroism I had ever heard of—so why, I wondered, was it not in every history book?
One reason, perhaps, is that—unlike 9/11—it was the tale of a catastrophe that didn’t happen. Also, the incident occurred in the middle of World War II, at a time when the U.S. Navy was hardly eager to broadcast the vulnerability of New York Harbor, so the story received little press attention. I’m glad to report that Seymour Wittek finally received a Coast Guard medal for his bravery on Veteran’s Day in 2008. He said that he accepted it on behalf of all the other guys who were no longer around.
Next true story. The Italian Mafia—in conjunction with a corrupt longshoremen’s union—really did have a stranglehold over the Brooklyn waterfront during the early and middle years of the twentieth century. A number of the notorious mafiosi mentioned in this book (Carmine Persico, Paul Castellano, Albert Anastasia, etc.) were real historical figures. A Red Hook native told me about his own father’s disappearances into the night in a car full of wiseguys—he never found out why—and that “Crazy” Joe Gallo really did have a front door presided over by a little person named Armando, and that overdue debtors in his loansharking operation were sent down to the basement to “talk to Leo.”
Third, the population of Little Pakistan in the heart of Brooklyn really was decimated by overzealous “anti-terror” raids in the months after 9/11. (I live a few blocks away.) I’m especially sorry to report that there was a real detention center that was used to hold suspected terrorists in Sunset Park, and that the civil and legal rights of hundreds of Muslim residents of New York City—many of them completely innocent—were thrown to the wind when they were rounded up, often without probable cause, and imprisoned there. I didn’t hear of any killings of prisoners at that facility, but a number of its guards later went on trial for subjecting prisoners to physical abuse and sexual humiliation, and it’s clear that a systematic breakdown in the rule of law occurred inside. These sad abuses were detailed in 2003 in a document (easily accessible online) called the “Supplemental Report on September 11 Detainees’ Allegations of Abuse at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York,” issued by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General, and in three hundred hours of secret videotapes which surfaced during the trials. (As someone who was living in New York just a couple of miles from Ground Zero on 9/11, I would never argue that there is not a real need for vigilance against terrorist acts or that a real threat does not exist. I would argue that abusing innocent civilians is not a good way to combat it.)
In late 2008, I stumbled across a few rather dubious news reports which claimed that Somali pirates who had captured an Iranian ship that summer subsequently began to die of what seemed like radiation sickness. I have no idea if there was really any truth to this story, but it certainly fired my imagination—and that of my fictional character Brent Charlson.
Last but not least, when I was doing my research for Red Hook, the first book in the Jack Leightner series, I spent some time going to meetings and otherwise exploring the fascinating world of Alcoholics Anonymous. I was hugely impressed by the courage of its members, who strive every day to face the reality of their problem, to be honest with themselves and others about their behavior, and to regain control of and to repair their lives. That’s when I learned about the Ninth Step.
Gabriel Cohen
Brooklyn, 2010
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INVALUABLE ASSISTANCE WITH THIS book was provided by Reed Farrel Coleman, Robert Smith, Jonathan Green and Keisha Jones, and Gerard Raccuglia. Thank you!
A huge thanks to Seymour Wittek, member of a band of true heroes, who kindly shared his memories of one of the most incredible days in the history of New York City.
For information about a real terror plot in NYC, I turned to Two Seconds Under the World: Terror Comes to America—The Conspiracy Behind the World Trade Center Bombing by Jim Dwyer, David Kocieniewski, Deidre Murphy, and Peg Tyre. For information about the world under the Coney Island boardwalk, I perused the photographs of Nathan Kensinger, at kensinger.blogspot.com.
Thanks to Roxanne Aubrey, as always, for help with my Web site.
And a special thanks to Vicky Bijur, for wise advice and extraordinary representation.
About the Author
Gabriel Cohen’s debut novel, Red Hook, was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. He wrote three more mystery novels featuring Brooklyn South Homicide Task Force detective Jack Leightner: The Graving Dock, Neptune Avenue, and The Ninth Step. He is also the author of Boombox, a novel, and Storms Can’t Hurt the Sky: A Buddhist Path Through Divorce. He teaches in the writing program at Pratt Institute and loves living in Brooklyn, whose spirited, incredibly diverse neighborhoods provide him with a limitless source of vivid material. His website is www.gabrielcohenbooks.com.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by Gabriel Cohen
Cover design by Mauricio Diaz
978-1-4804-6718-7
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
345 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
www.openroadmedia.com
THE JACK LEIGHTNER CRIME NOVELS
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
Available wherever ebooks are sold
Open Road Integrated Media is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. Open Road creates connections between authors and their audiences by marketing its ebooks through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media.
Videos, Archival Documents, and New Releases
Sign up for the Open Road Media newsletter and get news delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up now at
www.openroadmedia.com/newsletters
FIND OUT MORE AT
WWW.OPENROADMEDIA.COM
FOLLOW US:
@openroadmedia and
Facebook.com/OpenRoadMedia
The Ninth Step Page 24