Bullets, Bombs, and Fast Talk: Twenty-Five Years of FBI War Stories
A desperate gunman holds a planeload of innocent passengers hostage. A heavily armed cult leader refuses to leave his compound, threatening mass suicide by a hundred of his brainwashed followers. A neo-Nazi militant in a cabin hideout keeps federal agents at bay with gunfire. A baby disappears; his only trace is an ominous ransom call to his parents. Prisoners riot, threatening the lives of prison officers and hundreds of other inmates. How do you react? What do you do? What do you say? Your...
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"Power comes from the barrel of a gun." — Mao Tse Tung Publishers Weekly From 1971 to 1996, when Botting was an FBI SWAT team member and crisis negotiator, he worked on many of the high-profile crimes irrevocably etched in Americans' collective memory-Wounded Knee in 1973; the Patty Hearst kidnapping; the Rodney King riots; the ill-fated capture of Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho; and the Branch Davidian tragedy in Waco, Tex. Botting's insider view of FBI operations at these events is intrinsically interesting, and he brings added value through his own on-the-scene observations. Botting's style occasionally comes close to tough-talking cliché (bad guys are "lying assholes"), but is oddly satisfying. There are sometimes predictable dynamics, for example, feuding among the LAPD, the DEA and the FBI, and the frequent cluelessness of FBI higher-ups; refreshingly, though, Botting is respectful of his fellow FBI agents and "the Bureau." Readers into guns and real crime drama with a sprinkling of black humor ("It's amazing what the public will do for entertainment," he says of a crowd yelling at a suicidal woman to jump) will like Botting and the stories he has to tell. Photos. (Feb.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1 "Just a Goddamn Yankee" 12 The Republic of New Afrika 73 Wounded Knee Revisited 134 Patty Hearst and the SLA 215 Wannabe Skyjacker 356 Year of the Gun 497 Robert Mathews and The Order 698 Birth of the Crisis Incident Negotiation Team 819 Kidnapping in Palos Verdes 8710 The Cuban Prison Riots 10711 Harvey Lee Green and the Tri-Lateral Commission 12512 Rodney King and the LA Riots 13313 Ruby Ridge 14114 Waco 16515 The Baker of Rancho Cucamonga 19316 The LAX Hotel Jumper 20117 The South Gate Kidnapping and the Juarez Cartel 20918 The Psychedelic Shower 225Conclusion 239
\ From the Publisher"General-interest libraries will find [this book] a vivid set of recollections perfect for any interested in real-world experiences."\ "Botting's insider view of FBI operations ...is intrinsically interesting, and he brings added value through his own on-the-scene observations. Readers into guns and real crime drama with a sprinkling of black humor will like Botting and the stories he has to tell."\ "First-person, you-are-there law-enforcement adventure saga by a male agent who wielded guns, solved crimes and sometimes saved lives.\ Botting joined the FBI in 1971 after earning advanced college degrees, serving in Vietnam and working as an investigator for the U.S. Treasury Department. With that background, he was well prepared for dicey situations, but poorly prepared for the racial tensions that simmered in Mississippi, site of Botting's first FBI posting. "Y'all just don't understand. You're a goddamn Yankee, boy," the Michigan-born author heard constantly that first year; only a transfer to the Los Angeles office kept him from quitting. (He remained with the Bureau until 1995.) Placed in the Violent Crimes and Major Offenders unit, Botting was near the center of action at episode after episode that made headlines. Those cases included the pursuit of heiress Patty Hearst after her abduction by the Symbionese Liberation Army; the standoff with Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho; the murderous debacle in Waco, Texas, that resulted in the deaths of David Koresh and many of his blindly loyal Branch Davidian followers; plus dozens more. Occasionally, Botting provides an education in handling the stresses of high-stakes police work, as when he explains why it's significant when a ransom note doesn't arrive after a confirmed kidnapping. More frequently, he offers little education but plenty of titillation. A conscious and careful stylist—unlike many law-enforcement agents who become authors—Botting knows when to inject humor, however dark, into a grim account. He doesn't provide much documentation for his exploits, but he exudes credibility—at least between the covers of the book.\ Vivid presentation of stories so dramatic that they fully justify the old saw that truth is stranger than fiction."\ “Jim Botting brings a unique perspective, having served both as a SWAT member and crisis negotiator. His experiences include some of the most high-profile events the Bureau has encountered in recent history and he paints a realistic, insightful, and at times, humorous picture of the FBI. With his comfortable style, Jim makes you feel as though you have met many of the people on its pages. Jim has artfully managed to take away some of the mystery that still unfairly haunts the FBI.”\ “In my almost twenty-nine years with the FBI, Jim Botting was clearly in the class of the best Agents I ever worked with or around. Bullets, Bombs and Fast Talk provides a unique insight into FBI major cases and the occasional incidents of law enforcement politics, and leaves the reader with a sense of why being an FBI Special Agent is the best job on the planet.”\ “Reading Bullets, Bombs, and Fast Talk brought back many memories from early in my own career. In the middle of one exciting case another new agent turned to me and said, ‘You know, this is so cool that I would pay the FBI to do this!’ Botting’s book resounds with this same career-long enthusiasm for the job. He tells a story that only an FBI Special Agent could tell with sincerity and honesty, warts and all.”\ "Jim Botting provides an extraordinary front-row seat to some of the most riveting FBI incidents from his twenty-five years. From the Bureau’s alphabet soup of CIRGs and HRTs to an eclectic cast of characters, crooks, and crazies, Jim takes us along for a wild ride. It’s a dizzying account guaranteed to leave the reader exhausted."\ “Jim Botting provides a vivid account of some of the most high-profile incidents of the late twentieth century. This book will appeal to a wide audience with interests in crime and justice and can serve as a thought-provoking supplement for students of law enforcement.\ \ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyFrom 1971 to 1996, when Botting was an FBI SWAT team member and crisis negotiator, he worked on many of the high-profile crimes irrevocably etched in Americans' collective memory-Wounded Knee in 1973; the Patty Hearst kidnapping; the Rodney King riots; the ill-fated capture of Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho; and the Branch Davidian tragedy in Waco, Tex. Botting's insider view of FBI operations at these events is intrinsically interesting, and he brings added value through his own on-the-scene observations. Botting's style occasionally comes close to tough-talking cliché (bad guys are "lying assholes"), but is oddly satisfying. There are sometimes predictable dynamics, for example, feuding among the LAPD, the DEA and the FBI, and the frequent cluelessness of FBI higher-ups; refreshingly, though, Botting is respectful of his fellow FBI agents and "the Bureau." Readers into guns and real crime drama with a sprinkling of black humor ("It's amazing what the public will do for entertainment," he says of a crowd yelling at a suicidal woman to jump) will like Botting and the stories he has to tell. Photos. (Feb.)\ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsFirst-person, you-are-there law-enforcement adventure saga by a male agent who wielded guns, solved crimes and sometimes saved lives.\ Botting joined the FBI in 1971 after earning advanced college degrees, serving in Vietnam and working as an investigator for the U.S. Treasury Department. With that background, he was well prepared for dicey situations, but poorly prepared for the racial tensions that simmered in Mississippi, site of Botting's first FBI posting. "Y'all just don't understand. You're a goddamn Yankee, boy," the Michigan-born author heard constantly that first year; only a transfer to the Los Angeles office kept him from quitting. (He remained with the Bureau until 1995.) Placed in the Violent Crimes and Major Offenders unit, Botting was near the center of action at episode after episode that made headlines. Those cases included the pursuit of heiress Patty Hearst after her abduction by the Symbionese Liberation Army; the standoff with Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho; the murderous debacle in Waco, Texas, that resulted in the deaths of David Koresh and many of his blindly loyal Branch Davidian followers; plus dozens more. Occasionally, Botting provides an education in handling the stresses of high-stakes police work, as when he explains why it's significant when a ransom note doesn't arrive after a confirmed kidnapping. More frequently, he offers little education but plenty of titillation. A conscious and careful stylist—unlike many law-enforcement agents who become authors—Botting knows when to inject humor, however dark, into a grim account. He doesn't provide much documentation for his exploits, but he exudes credibility—at least between the covers of the book.\ Vivid presentation of stories so dramatic that they fully justify the old saw that truth is stranger than fiction.\ \ \
