Billy Breen was the FBI's secret weapon. After 25 years of surrepticious observing, reporting, manoeuvring and manipulating, Breen surfaced to tell his story to Donald Goddard, journalist and ex-editor of The New York Times. An ex-cop who has done time for robbery and armed robbery (to protect his family and his cover), Breen could enter any low-life bar in any state and hook into the local criminal network before ordering his second drink. Despite reservations about the FBI, his work for them made him a crime-busting legend, and he gained his satisfaction not from financial reward or fame, but just from seeing the mob heads roll - hundreds of them.