SUPERGRASSES AND INFORMERS

Hardback. SIGNED. Tracing the role of the informer through history, from the "fig babblers" of Ancient Greece to Britain's supergrasses of the 1970s, this book also explores the behaviour of the police and private detectives in infiltrating criminal enterprise. It examines the fine line between undercover agent and agent provocateur, in locations ranging from Ireland to America. Featuring amongst others : Derek Creighton 'Bertie' Smalls, Maurice O'Mahoney ('King Squealer'), Billy Williams, Charlie Lowe and the not-so-successful Billy Amies and the missing Nikolaus Chrastny, and in America, Mike Malone, who managed to snuggle up close to Al Capone and lived to tell the tale. 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. 348pp. lge. 8vo. h/back. With tipped-in label SIGNED BY JAMES MORTON. With the usual lightly browned pp. o/w Nr. F. in F. dw.