SUPERGRASSES AND INFORMERS AND BENT COPPERS.

Paperback. 1st Omnibus Edn. SIGNED. A book which traces the role of the informer through history, from the 'fig-blabbers' of Ancient Greece to the supergrasses of the 1970s. 'Bertie' Smalls is probably the most well-known of 'modern' supergrasses, but the book also features Smalls's successor Maurice O'Mahoney ('King Squealer'), Billy Williams, Charles Lowe and the not-so-successful Billy Amies and the missing Nikolaus Chrastny. The author also looks at the inextricably linked behaviour of the police and private detectives in infiltrating criminal enterprise, exposing the world of undercover work and examining the fine line between undercover agent and agent provocateur. His research also extends to America. A fascinating and well-documented account of a special subsection of the criminal underworld who decide to break the code of silence. Illus., Appendix, Bibliog. and Index. 396pp. p/back. With tipped-in label SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. Sl. sunned sp. and lightly browned pp. Vg+