A lot of random crimes by cops that only a reporter could weave together. A snitch and a bad cop who made a lot of money and came for selfish reasons. Worth your time to read. Apr 15, Mary Miller rated it really liked it Shelves: I couldn't put this down. I grew up in a suburb of Philly. Two brave reporters take on corrupt cops in the Philly PD. Wendy Ruderman tells the story in the first person, and she's a hoot. Feb 25, Mom2schnauzers rated it liked it. Didn't exactly read "like a turbocharged thriller," as stated on the front cover.
Still an interesting look into the corruption that existed in the narcotics unit of the Philly PD. True Crime This book tells the story oof two gutsy women who took on a newspaper story about police corruption in Philadelphia. For this, they won a Pulitzer. Jun 07, Jeffrey Bumiller rated it really liked it. A great read about top-notch journalism and deeply corrupt police officers. Recommended for fans of true crime and fans of Philadelphia!
Mar 22, Sami rated it really liked it. I thought the author was annoying at first, but she grew on me! Was searching for a book about the thin blue line and this didn't quite satiate that hunger, but I was pleased overall. Mar 12, Lynn rated it it was amazing Shelves: It is pages long and is published by HarperCollins. The cover is a long view of Philadelphia at sunset. There is strong language, rape, and lots of violence in this book; 18 and up because of the content. There Be Spoilers Ahead. One afternoon in late , a man walks into the offices of the local tabloid the Philadelphia Daily News and asks to speak with reporter Wendy Ruderman.
An imminent casualty of the foundering print industry, the paper is on the brink of bankruptcy, and its anxious staff members are plagued with dwindling resources. By dint of perseverance, ingenuity, and good old shoe-leather reporting, the women unravel a tapestry of lies almost six years in the making.
Starting with a scheme to fabricate search warrants, the scandal soon encompasses the systematic, citywide looting of immigrant-owned businesses and allegations of brutal sexual assault. But when they produce a devastating series of articles that blows the lid off the scandal- prompting civil lawsuits against the city and the reexamination of hundreds of convictions although none of the officers have been charged or convicted of any crime - they not only win the fight for justice; they also win a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, an unthinkable achievement for two city reporters at a beleaguered regional paper.
Review- This was an eye-opening and riveting read. The amount of corruption that Ruderman and Laker find just by accident was overwhelming. Ruderman and Laker were just two reporters who wanted to find the next big story but then Benny Martinez comes to them with his story they got so much more. Ruderman and Laker have to fight with the cops, lawyers, the threat of losing their jobs, and still try to have some kind of life outside of the story.
In the end they find out so much more than Martinez knew and they go after more than just one dirty cop.
See a Problem?
Dirty barely begins to cover what the cops in this book are. The cops lie, steal from innocent people, rape and sexually assaulting the women they can get alone, and covering it with disdain to both the public and the badge. The fact that the cops who did all of the above are still police officers in Philadelphia just makes it so much worse. Not one of the cops has done any time for their crimes and in fact are not only getting paychecks from the city but still getting all the perks of the job with overtime and benefits. Ruderman and Laker not only lay out the corruption in unit but they disclose for the reader the fact that every ten years from to present there has been corruption in the narcotics units in Philadelphia.
I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I was given this book by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review. Wendy Ruderman's book " Busted " started slowly for me. I expected the book to focus specifically on the story of " Corruption and Betrayal" in the Philadelphia police department. But instead I found I was reading more about the lives of the two female reporters. But I gradually bought into the book, and began to appreciate the work and the story of the reporters and how they went about investigating and detailing the police corruption they uncovered.
So while the book is not focused solely on Wendy Ruderman's book " Busted " started slowly for me. So while the book is not focused solely on the police corruption itself, it does blend that story along with how brave and resourceful the reporters were as they went about tracking down leads and witnesses.
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Eventually, their newspaper series, "Tainted Justice", led to their winning a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism. Unfortunately, if you accept the veracity of their reporting, nothing came of their work.
While their investigation uncovered dozens of victims and witnesses, including finding security tapes showing the police misdeeds, the policemen involved haven't lost their jobs. Witnesses apparently were never interviewed by the grand jury, and the prosecutor didn't file charges, so the policemen were allowed to keep their jobs. So the only people who lost out were the reporters themselves who end up being accused of dragging the good name of these fine police officers through the mud. As we've seen in many other locales, it's very difficult to remove a tainted police officer from a department for misconduct.
Maybe that's a good thing in most cases, since the police, by the nature of their job, are bound to make enemies of the individuals they arrest. And any number of false accusations could be made against the overwhelming number of honest and hard working policemen. However, if the evidence against a policeman is as strong as Ruderman makes it sound, something should have come of their work.
The strength of the police unions, a blue-wall of silence among members of the department, a fear of witnesses to testify, and cozy relationship with the prosecutor and police often combine to allow a bad officer to remain on the job. And that's not a story unique to the City of Brotherly Love. Mar 12, Brianna rated it liked it Shelves: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. Before reading Busted, I had not heard of the Tainted Justice series.
Having no prior knowledge of the events, I was sucked into the story and found the book difficult to put down. I shared the outrage of the victims and often felt my face twist in disgust as the tales of police misconduct got more and more outrageous, right to the bitter and unsatisfying end. But hey, you can't make up the perfect ending when you write nonfiction.
So I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. So why only three stars?
Busted : a tale of corruption and betrayal in the city of brotherly love
I almost put this book down for good after the first ten pages. Four of the first seven pages detailed a morning in Ruderman's home before she went to work. More specifically, she spent four pages talking about how bad of a parent she thinks she is and how unruly her children are.
Four pages may not seem like a lot to be complaining about, but placing this useless information that is unrelated to the actual story so early in the book got me quickly disinterested. I wouldn't have picked it up again if I hadn't felt obligated to read it because I got it from a giveaway.
As I read more, I got the feeling that Ruderman and Laker wrote a pretty good and mostly interesting page book and were told that they had to make it longer if they wanted it published. So they went back and added a side story about the failing print news industry. That wasn't enough, so they went back and described everyone's appearance in painstaking detail.
That still wasn't enough, so they went back again and wrote a mini life story for every person they mentioned by name. This book reminded me of when I wrote quality essays in college, but had to water them down with BS to meet arbitrary word counts. The story at the heart of this book deserves five stars, and Ruderman and Laker deserve that Pulitzer for exposing these atrocities as perhaps only journalists could. Their book editor deserves one star for either not cleaning out the crap or even worse requesting that it be added in.
Worth a read, but don't feel bad if you skim some parts. Mar 17, Deb Schell rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is the most honest book I've read.
These two women, Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman, sacrifice their career, their families, their lives, for this true story. They take on police officers, drug dealers, pimps, and addicts, forcing themselves to find the story, get the interviews, get the facts. This story doesn't have a happy ending, it is life, real life. Every journalists' dream, to win a Pulitzer, Barbara and Wendy succeed, but throughout the entire painful time of newspaper bankruptcy This is the most honest book I've read.
Every journalists' dream, to win a Pulitzer, Barbara and Wendy succeed, but throughout the entire painful time of newspaper bankruptcy issues with their careers hanging in the balance, they somehow find a way to focus on what's important - the story. Standing firm on Journalism ethics, Barbara and Wendy force the hand of police officials to make changes to protocol for undercover drug informants.
The story led to change, but not justice for the victims of these corrupt cops, the victims are still waiting for their justice, while these cops collect salaries at their desks. The bodega owners, victims of raids gone bad, have lost all hope in their "American Dream". One squad member also sexually assaulted three women during raids. Busted chronicles how these two journalists--both middle-class working mothers--formed an unlikely bond with a convicted street dealer to uncover the secrets of ruthless kingpins and dirty cops.
Professionals in an industry shrinking from severe financial cutbacks, Ruderman and Laker had few resources--besides their own grit and tenacity--to break a dangerous, complex story that would expose the rotten underbelly of a modern American city and earn them a Pulitzer Prize.
A page-turning thriller based on superb reportage, illustrated with eight pages of photos, Busted is modern true crime at its finest. The two men were so close in their successful snitch-and-bust enterprise that Jeff even rented a house next to Benny and his family. When they had a falling out, Benny was on the run, fearful of police and drug dealers who knew he'd sold them out.
Benny turned to Philadelphia Daily News reporters Ruderman and Laker, giving them the background on hundreds of busts, many based on fabricated evidence. The reporters, an odd couple Ruderman, short and pugnacious, and Laker, tall and gracious began a month series that uncovered widespread abuse in the narcotics unit, from the systematic looting of bodegas to sexual assault by one officer.
The series irritated the FBI, in the midst of its own investigation of police corruption, and angered the police and their sympathizers as drug crimes took a toll on the city. Prevailing against threats, intimidation, and the impending bankruptcy of their newspaper, Ruderman and Laker delivered a powerful series on police corruption, ultimately earning the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.
Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love
This is a gritty, true-life thriller about the intersection of policing, drug dealing, and news reporting. This true crime book offers an impressive, crisply told account of the reporting of a police corruption scandal that yielded a Pulitzer Prize for Philadelphia Daily News reporters Ruderman and Laker. They comb through boxes of search warrants to separate the real from the phony and back it up with a paper trail. Lives and livelihoods are ruined by these predatory escapades. I believed that if you worked hard, you get ahead. But, everything changed after this. She and Laker wisely let the gripping story build itself, fact by fact, witness by witness.
The narrative drive is leavened by the contrasting personalities of the two reporters. What they have in common is what drives Busted.