Jimmy the King Audiobook By Gus Garcia-Roberts cover art

Jimmy the King

Murder, Vice, and the Reign of a Dirty Cop

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Jimmy the King

By: Gus Garcia-Roberts
Narrated by: Marc Vietor
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An incredible four-decade account of murder, power, and corruption in one of the country’s largest police departments

In 1979, the gruesome slaying of a thirteen-year-old boy riveted the suburbs of Suffolk County, New York. As the county hustled to bring the case to a dubious resolution, a wayward local teenager emerged with a convenient story to tell. For his cooperation, Jimmy Burke was rewarded with a job as a cop.

Thus began Burke’s unlikely ascent to the top of one of the country’s largest law enforcement jurisdictions. He and a crew of likeminded allies utilized vengeance, gangster tactics, and political leverage to become the most powerful and feared figures in their suburban empire.

Until a pilfered bag of sex toys brought it all crashing down.

Jimmy the King is the story of the rise, reign, and paranoiac fall of a corrupt cop and his regime—a crime family with badges and guaranteed pensions. Novelistic in detail and piercing in its political insight, this book will leave you questioning who modern policing serves, who it protects, and who it preys upon and abandons.

©2022 Gus Garcia-Roberts (P)2022 PublicAffairs Americas Crime Organized Crime Politics & Government State & Local True Crime United States Mafia Exciting Murder Police Corruption

Critic reviews

“If Martin Scorsese were to write a true-crime exposé about crooked cops, it would read like Jimmy the King.”—Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos and Goodfellas
“Epic in scope and captivating in detail, the spellbinding story of a massive scandal from its very roots. You will be shocked by the twists in this story and the brazenness of its villains. But you won’t be able to put it down.”—Evan Ratliff, author of The Mastermind
“Jimmy the King is the kind of true-crime book we don’t get enough of: thoroughly reported, and engagingly written, and set in a downwardly mobile suburban world that is too often misunderstood. Highly recommended!”—Nate Blakeslee, New York Times–bestselling author of American Wolf and Tulia
Detailed Investigation • Compelling Narrative • Excellent Storytelling • Mind-blowing Revelations
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Gallant attempt to expose the insidious corruption that permeates our local government, law enforcement and judiciary. Thank you for your exposé.

Brave and inspiring.

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Great non-fiction story. Narrator is really good. I have a feeling this is just the tip of iceberg.

Good listen.

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This was an excellent book, and Gus Garcia-Roberts did a deep dive into the long-standing corruption between the SCPD its IAD and the DA, with its genesis being an unlikely meeting between a young James Burke and Tom Spota decades earlier, and their ultimate downfall.It is a very good read for anyone unfamiliar with the story, but if you are from Suffolk county it is mind-blowing!

An Unholy Trinity

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This book shows how much damage one Psychopath in a top position can inflict. Suffolk County is on Long Island and has to be one of the most corrupt counties in America. With a corrupt DA and a Corrupt Police Chief working together, manipulating each other and everyone around them, the damage they did was unbelievable. The book is about a corrupt Police Chief, James Burke, and a corrupt DA, Thomas Spota but is about much more. The title really should have been changed to reflect this. It is about the long standing and pervasive corruption in the Long Island Police and DAs office that trickles down to every aspect of life there. Innocent people convicted of murder, drugs, sex, prostitution, padded expense accounts, exorbitant pensions after felony convictions, bribery, theft, phony police attorneys, corrupt police unions protecting corrupt cops, behind the scenes promotions of the worst of the worst, incompetence, and so many other crimes it is hard to list them all. I liked the book but think some of it could have been edited better to be more concise and chronological. The narrator was very good. Some of it was very well written and other parts not so much. It was like it was written by two different people. The author also misses the point that they were dealing with a classic psychopath in James Burke. Knowing this explains a lot. He is unredeemable and can never be fixed. He is an absolutely person and his prison sentence should have been ten times longer and not served in Allenwood which is considered a country club. I would highly recommend this book especially if you live or have lived on Long Island I did. Also watch the new Netflix Series about the Long Island Serial Killer called Gone Girls. It ties into all this and these corrupt characters are featured in some of it.

Great book about the extensive corruption on Long Island in Suffolk County.

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As I listened to the story unfold, I had two, somewhat connected, thoughts running through my head. First, that, while the book kept my attention for the most part, the overriding theme was the sheer mundanity, and lack of creativity, of the corruption and, in fact, the corrupt individuals themselves. Perhaps jaded by a conception of evil masterminds and grand schemes, all of this seemed rather run of the mill. But maybe that's just the point, it happens all the time, everywhere. Anyone with even the slightest brushes with the criminal "justice" system can relate stories of how police, prosecutors and local government executives can manipulate law to an extent that it doesn't even bear a resemblance to justice . Which led me to the second thought. That many people would probably like to think institutional corruption like this is confined to by-gone less enlightened days, or sleepy backwater Southern jurisdictions. But of course, it is in every corner of society, it's just that some official criminals are more sophisticated than others. But then again, even the top fraudsters today don't require much polish for gullible supporters, just simplistic bromides and caps.

Everyday, ordinary, ubiquitous corruption

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Start to finish this book, has it all. Bravo to the author, and what if phenomenal job by the narrator

One of the best audiobooks

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What a tale! This is a fine account of an incredibly twisted, ingrained scheme of police corruption in Suffolk County, NY and how long it took to implode, and for these dirty cops to be put out with the trash. This is a can’t-put-it-down book I couldn’t put down. Highly recommend!

Astounding Corruption

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This flows like a thriller and I could see it definitely ending up as a series or movie. Great narration and great storytelling!

A Plus story, could see it being on big screen

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Gus Garcia-Roberts delivers an epic and well-detailed description of a once teenage hoodlum who grew up to become the Chief of one of the largest, and best paid, suburban police departments in the U.S. Garcia-Roberts takes the reader behind the curtain with dozens of sources who knew James Burke (aka “Jimmy the King”) and his ensemble of “palace guards”, his trusted gatekeepers within the Suffolk County PD and DA’s office. Any Long Islander or member of law enforcement should read this well written, and told, book. I would love to see a film made from this script.

Not all cops are bad, but this one was exceptionally BAD!

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A searing exposé on the absolute scumbags that ran Suffolk County law enforcement from the 1970s on

excellent investigative journalism

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