Dirty Laundry

Although this first novel authoritatively depicts corruption among organized crime, labor unions and the federal government, it is far from thrilling. Las Vegas Mafia capo Marty Butera learns that a rival family has put out a contract on him. Butera contacts old friend Danny Davidson, an ex-cop working in Washington, D.C., and offers to exchange information about a money-laundering operation involving all the mob families in exchange for a place in the Witness Protection Program. Butera's introduction to the chief investigator for the Senate Labor Committee launches a series of events that connect congressmen and even the attorney general to the mob. Smolonsky, an investigator for the House Government Operations Committee, understands Washington conspiracies, political payoffs and media stroking, but his characters are merely puppets serving that knowledge. Without an involving cast, the novel becomes a dry, textbook-like expose. (May)