Wiseguys in the Woods

It is the summer of 1989, and the shocking evidence of a mummified murder victim found behind a restaurant wall, a gunshot into a nightclub ceiling and a profitless armed robbery are seemingly unrelated events that all seem to revolve around a secretive middle-aged man who always wears a suit and speaks with an accent. Suddenly, the post card beauty and quiet of the Lake George Region is playing host, as it has in the past, to the Mafia. This, though, is not the Mafia of Godfather movies, but a fast-growing and more sinister version that recruits its members from Italian prisons – the Camorra. As the questions and the bodies begin to pile up, local law enforcement races to respond with forensic personnel from the State Police’s early version of CSI’s, a skilled forensic pathologist for an unusual autopsy, and police colleagues of Peter Drake, including several new ones, working to unravel one mystery only to be faced with another.Despite all of this help, or perhaps because of it, local First Assistant District Attorney Peter Drake’s biggest worry is that he might let them all down. Peter is a young and unremarkable prosecutor, who has worked in Albany County and has recently moved north. The implications of these cases continue to grow, as they peel away layer after layer of secrets. Secrets that many persons, in and out of government, will kill to protect.Only recently has it occurred to ADA Drake, that while most crimes listed in the New York’s Penal Law are committed anywhere in the state, there is one form of criminal activity usually confined to the big cities. It has more to do with the nature of the criminals than the nature of the crimes, but traditional organized crime belongs in the large metropolises. The natural habitat for wiseguys and other mobsters here in New York State would be the five boroughs of New York City and, perhaps, Buffalo. Certainly not the boonies of upstate New York, where they would be the big-eyed fish out of water. Peter’s own experience tends to bear this out. In his seven years as a prosecutor, he has not seen or heard of any organized crime activity, apart from the odd wannabe, in either the Albany area or here in rural Warren County, where he now works, until now. Sure the drug gangs of the mid 80’s, riding the first massive wave of cocaine into the Capital Region, were organized to an extent and caused no end of problems for an unprepared law enforcement community. Peter is now beginning to realize that there is a world of difference between criminals who are organized and organized crime. Personal Note from the Author:The inspiration for writing Wiseguys in the Woods came from a case I prosecuted in Albany in the 80’s. The desire to write about my work came from the many enjoyable crime books that I have read, in which the main characters have some special skill, strength or talent (or outrageous luck). I felt it would be fun to write about the people and work I love, with normal, unspectacular cops, judges and prosecutors. That is not to suggest that I am, in any way normal, but unspectacular – certainly. As an old friend recently put it, “Even ground pounders can do extraordinary things.”Please feel free to visit us on Facebook (Wiseguys in the Woods) and Twitter (@JWappett).