cover image The Con and the FBI Agent: An Unlikely Alliance

The Con and the FBI Agent: An Unlikely Alliance

David Nadolski. Rowman & Littlefield, $36 (290p) ISBN 978-1-5381-5959-0

Retired FBI agent Nadolski debuts with a fascinating account of how he worked with Tony Romano, a criminal informant, to foil what would have been “one of the biggest armed robberies of the twentieth century.” Nadolski first met Romano in prison, where Romano gave him a lead in the 1996 theft of rare books from the library of John Quincy Adams at the Adams National Historic Site in Quincy, Mass. After a successful arrest and retrieval of the books, the two teamed up again after Romano was released on parole. Romano had information on gangster Carmelo Merlino’s plan to rob the Loomis Fargo vault facility in Easton, Mass., of $20 million. Nadolski and Romano worked side by side for two years using secret recordings and undercover agents in an effort that led to the police nabbing Merlino and three associates just hours before the heist was to go down in 1999. The result was long sentences for four hardened criminals and a new life for Romano, who went into witness protection and assumed a new identity. Nadolski does a fine job dramatizing the high-stakes operation while evoking the camaraderie and humor shared by cops. This is a must for anyone who has ever wondered how the FBI puts together cases using informants. (Feb.)