Ralph Pezzullo

Deep Cover, Shallow Graves is a political minefield filled with high-level government corruption and top-secret CIA military covert operations. Robert Plumlee, a former contract operative for the CIA, and Ralph Pezzullo, a New York Times bestselling author, guide us on an incredible journey through a no-man's land of political intrigue and covert CIA and Pentagon military operations sanctioned by the White House.

The extraordinary story of the theft of priceless Chinese antiques around the world and the connection to crimes spanning more than two centuries—with present-day implications. For the past decade, the art world has been rocked by a series of very costly and elaborately planned heists at major museums. The first took place the night of August 6, 2010 at the Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden – the official residence of the Swedish Royal family. Others in France, Great Britain and other countries in Europe followed. In Norway, masked men rappelled down from a glass ceiling into the prestigious Kode Museum on Bergen's picturesque central square, three blocks from police headquarters. In all of these break-ins, the thieves made away with ancient Chinese artifacts, most of which were originally displayed in the spectacular Old Summer Palace outside of Beijing nearly two centuries ago. In The Great Chinese Art Heist, bestselling author Ralph Pezzullo takes us back to the Second Opium War and the sacking of Old Summer Palace by French and British troops in 1860 and connects it to the current wave of heists that seem right out of a Mission: Impossible movie. Comprehensive, balanced, entertaining, and expertly balancing diverse cultural and political perspectives, Pezzullo links these looted artifacts and roots of colonialism to today's billionaires and triad gangs, international banks and drug cartels. The wounds of the past, which is still called the "Century of Humiliation" in China, remain raw. The Great Chinese Art Heist is a sweeping narrative filled with the voices of those who have lived it—art and art crime experts, and museum and government officials in China, Europe, and the US. In this riveting true crime, Pezzulo expertly grapples with the questions of ownership and cultural heritage, and embodies the words of art critic Holland Cotter—“The history of art is, in large part, a theft of history.”

In Stolen Elections: The Plot to Destroy Democracy, Ralph Pezzullo exposes a grave threat to democratic institutions worldwide and highlights the serious challenges facing democracies today. Stolen Elections calls for vigilance, reform, and a renewed commitment to democratic values. This critical read is essential for anyone concerned about the integrity of global democracy.

Saigon is a story told in a time of war by New York Times bestselling author Ralph Pezzullo, who lived as a boy in Vietnam from 1963-1965. Our protagonist is a sensitive, intelligent thirteen-year-old with a self-centered, domineering father who serves as a diplomat with the US Embassy. Eager to engage his exotic new environment, he befriends locals working at the Embassy maintenance shop and serves as a batboy for the US Special Forces softball team. Over time, he develops a unique perspective of the political crisis gripping the country and the role of the US. He witnesses terrifying events and scenes of aching beauty - a brutal attack on the softball field, the wedding of two Vietnamese friends, the self-immolation of a Buddhist monk, the bombing of a US movie theater, the sensual elegance of daily life in Saigon, and his budding romance with an American friend. In this coming-of-age story, follow this boy as he learns empathy is the only way to truly understanding another people and their culture, and that he must blaze a new path in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of men like his father.

The charismatic Boko Haram leader Ratty Festus, also known as the Leopard, has been terrorizing drought-ridden northeastern Nigeria: raiding villages, blowing up government buildings, and kidnapping schoolgirls. When Thomas Crocker and his Black Cell team, who are in the country on a special training mission, hear about a possible arms-for-schoolgirls exchange between Boko Haram and a Russian arms dealer on the Cameroon border, they convince a Nigerian Special Forces unit to join them in trying to stop it. The operation quickly goes south, with a deadly helicopter crash and an ambush. They can't manage to save all of the girls, even with assistance from a quick-thinking group of British private-security contractors. A week later, the Leopard seizes control of a $500-million dollar Gulf Oil natural gas plant, demanding a $50-million dollar ransom and safe passage out of the compound. Crocker has just 24 hours to plan and execute a high-risk, low-probability, mission to rescue all eighty innocent hostages--including two of his own who are trapped with the civilians.

Despite the efforts of the Assad government and its Russian and Turkish allies, Syria is succumbing to the Islamic State. While Crocker and his SEAL Team Six comrades try to help a small Kurdish border town organize a resistance army, he finds an unexpected connection with Severine, a French epidemiologist working for Doctors Without Borders. As Severine and her colleagues establish a makeshift hospital in besieged Aleppo, Crocker counsels caution. He knows too well that their NGO status will be no protection from the Viper, a notoriously vicious ISIS general with a deeply personal hatred of the West. When the Viper's men kidnap one of Severine's American colleagues, Crocker will pull every string at his disposal to launch a rescue mission. But in a situation where the US has no official business, he'll push every boundary of how far he's willing to go--and how far his SEAL brothers in arms will follow him--to save innocent lives.

This timely military thriller finds SEAL Team Six and their humanitarian allies confronting a notorious ISIS general, the Viper, during his occupation of Aleppo, Syria. Despite the efforts of the Assad government and its Russian and Turkish allies, Syria is succumbing to the Islamic State. While Crocker and his SEAL Team Six comrades try to help a small Kurdish border town organize a resistance army, he finds an unexpected connection with Severine, a French epidemiologist working for Doctors Without Borders. As Severine and her colleagues establish a makeshift hospital in besieged Aleppo, Crocker counsels caution. He knows too well that their NGO status will be no protection from the Viper, a notoriously vicious ISIS general with a deeply personal hatred of the West. When the Viper's men kidnap one of Severine's American colleagues, Crocker will pull every string at his disposal to launch a rescue mission. But in a situation where the US has no official business, he'll push every boundary of how far he's willing to go--and how far his SEAL brothers in arms will follow him--to save innocent lives.

An action-packed military thriller for fans of Chris Ryan and Andy McNab. Navy SEALs Crocker and Mancini are on a training exercise in Las Vegas when a moment of relaxation is interrupted by a violent altercation between hotel security and three businessmen claiming to be Chinese diplomats. They attempt to stop the fleeing businessmen, but soon realise that they may not be who they claim to be. That same night Las Vegas goes dark - someone has hacked into the Nevada Power Company system and shut down the entire city. As chaos reigns the businessmen make their escape. When Crocker and the rest of SEAL Team Six attempt to track them down, they find themselves drawn into a North Korean plot that combines cyber warfare and the theft of black market nuclear weapons. As darkness reigns, the squad is the last hope of preventing a conspiracy that could have catastrophic international consequences.

Left of Boom is the explosive New York Times bestselling memoir by a young CIA operative on the front lines in Afghanistan. On September 11, 2001, Douglas Laux was a freshman in college, on the path to becoming a doctor. But with the fall of the Twin Towers came a turning point in his life. After graduating he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, determined to get himself to Afghanistan and into the center of the action. Through persistence and hard work he was fast-tracked to a clandestine operations position overseas. Dropped into a remote region of Afghanistan, he received his baptism by fire. Frustrated by bureaucratic red tape, a widespread lack of knowledge of the local customs and culture and an attitude of complacency that hindered his ability to combat the local Taliban, Doug confounded his peers by dressing like a native and mastering the local dialect, making contact and building sources within several deadly terrorist networks. His new approach resulted in unprecedented successes for the CIA, including the uncovering the largest IED network in the world, responsible for killing hundreds of US soldiers. Meanwhile, Doug had to keep up false pretenses with his family, girlfriend and friends--nobody could know what he did for a living--and deal with the emotional turbulence of constantly living a lie. His double life was building to an explosive resolution, with repercussions that would have far reaching consequences. Left of Boom tells his story.

This national bestseller is a dramatic insider account of the world of private military contracting. Armored cars, burner phones, top-notch weaponry and top-secret missions -- this is the life of today's private military contractor. Like author Simon Chase, many PMCs were once the world's top military operatives, and since retiring from outfits like US Navy SEAL TEAM Six and the UK's Special Boat Service, they have devoted their lives to executing sensitive and hazardous missions overseas. Working at the request of U. S. and British government entities as well as for private clients, he takes on jobs that require "zero footprint," with no trace of their actions left behind. Chase delivers firsthand accounts of tracking Bin Laden in Afghanistan and being one of the first responders after the attack on the U. S. Consulate in Benghazi. We see his teams defuse terrorist bombs, guard dignitaries, and protect convoys traveling through perilous territory -- and then there are the really big jobs: top-secret "zero footprint" missions that include searching for High Value Targets and setting up arms shipping networks. The missions in Zero Footprint will shock readers, but so will the personal dangers. Chase and the men he works with operate without government backup or air rescue. If they die serving their country, they remain anonymous. There are no military honors or benefits. Contractors like Simon Chase are the unsung heroes in the war against terrorism, a strong, but largely invisible force -- until now.

An action-packed military thriller for fans of Chris Ryan and Andy McNab. On his way to a meeting with a CIA source in Istanbul, Captain Thomas Crocker notices he's being tailed. He suspects the men tracking his movements are members of Syria's intelligence agency, the Mulhabarat - their presence a sign of the region's increasing volatility. Syria's government is unravelling, with the alliances between rebel groups increasingly complex, and ISIS dangerously in the mix. Farid al-Kazaz, aka the Fox, leads the most threatening of the ISIS factions. He has vowed revenge for his brother's death, planning an attack that would wreak havoc across not just Syria, but the entire Middle East. Against almost impossible odds, it's up to Crocker and the rest of SEAL Team Six to stop a ruthless killer and keep an explosive plot from detonating. Once again, the fate of millions rests on the shoulders of these fearless men.

An action-packed military thriller for fans of Chris Ryan and Andy McNab. When a Senator's wife and teenage daughter are kidnapped, Crocker and SEAL Team Six are sent to the cities of Mexico and the jungles of South and Central America, hot on the trail of Mexican drug lords and a Colombian narco-terrorist who is known as the Jackal. A self-styled narcotics kingpin who has undergone plastic surgery to disguise his looks, the Jackal is as ruthless as he is colourful, and must be stopped. With drugs, gangs, double-crosses, and plenty of bullets, HUNT THE JACKAL will throw the team into a new environment and an unexplored corner of the world, allowing Don Mann to display his extensive knowledge about how elite warriors can adapt and fight in any situation.

From New York Times bestselling author Don Mann and Ralph Pezzulo, Navy SEAL expert advice on surviving in the jungle, in the mountains, in the desert, or at sea. As the elite of the military elite, U. S. Navy SEALs know that they can be deployed anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. Whether in a temperate, tropical, arctic, or subarctic region, they might find themselves alone in a remote area with little or no personal gear. In The U. S. Navy SEAL Survival Handbook, decorated Navy SEAL Team Six member and New York Times bestselling author Don Mann provides a definitive survival resource. From basic camp craft and navigation to fear management and strategies for coping with any type of disaster, it is an essential resource. It covers: Water Shelter and fire Food and hunting Weather Navigation Survival medicine Survival kits And much more Complete with 150 color photographs, this comprehensive guide includes life-saving information for SEALs, for other special operations forces, or for anyone who might fight themselves in a life-threatening situation.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Black Dahlia Avenger Former LAPD detective Steve Hodel compiles never-before-seen evidence that reveals his father as a serial killer who may have been responsible for some of the most infamous murders of the last century- including the Zodiac killings.

For much of the early 1990s, Haiti held the world's attention. A fiery populist priest, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was elected president and deposed a year later in a military coup. Soon thousands of desperately poor Haitians started to arrive in makeshift boats on the shores of Florida. In early 1993, the newly elected Clinton administration pledged to make the restoration of President Aristide one of the cornerstones of its foreign policy. But that fall the U. S. let supporters of Haiti's ruling military junta intimidate America into ordering the USS Harlan County and its cargo of UN peacekeeping troops to scotch plans and return to port. Less than a year later, for the first time in U. S. history, a deposed president of another country prevailed on the United States to use its military might to return him to office. These extraordinary events provide the backdrop for Plunging into Haiti: Clinton, Aristide, and the Defeat of Diplomacy--Ralph Pezzullo's detailed account of the international diplomatic effort to resolve the political crisis. Through his father, Lawrence Pezzullo, who served as the U. S. special envoy to Haiti, Ralph Pezzullo gained access to important players on all sides. He tells the story of talented, committed men and women from the United States, France, Argentina, and Haiti who dedicated themselves to creating an outcome that would benefit Haiti and the rest of the world. With the energy of a political thriller, Plunging into Haiti fleshes out the central political struggle with threads of Haitian history and will engage readers with a general interest in Haiti as well as students of foreign policy. Using his unique perspective and access, Ralph Pezzullo covers the aftermath of the Clinton administration's diplomatic maneuvers to show an island still in turmoil. Ralph Pezzullo is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, novelist, poet, and journalist. He is the author of several books including Jawbreaker and At the Fall of Somoza and has written articles for the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, the Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, Connoisseur, GQ, USA Weekend, the Miami Herald, and other publications.