A Peek Under the Hood
by Michael Pevarnik
Rights Sold
Description
Awards & Endorsements
Author(s)
Michael Pevarnik
Related Titles
| Publisher | Rootstock Publishing |
| Publication | Sep 26, 2023 |
| Format | Paperback/Softback |
| ISBN | 9781578691487 |
| Pages | 234 |
| Age | 18 - 99 |
| Price | $18.99 |
A Peek Under the Hood
In 1994, DEA Special Agent Michael Pevarnik opened an investigation with his informant, a Vietnamese refugee who infiltrated a string of drug-dealing auto repair shops in Worcester, Massachusetts. His yearlong case, Operation Tune-Up, solved murders in New York; chased a wily fugitive through Puerto Rico; went undercover with cocaine smugglers in Panama; and, most impactfully, exposed the biggest heroin traffickers the old mill town had ever seen.
When Worcester’s Main South neighborhood was given a voice as a crime victim nearly two years after the virtual elimination of heroin in New England’s second largest city—a phenomenon that reduced violent crime, stimulated business growth, increased property values, and improved the quality of life—it was the first time in US court history a community was allowed to give a victim-witness statement, declaring what they, not law enforcement, defined as a victory in the war on drugs.
A Peek Under the Hood is a true crime exposé of the case that freed an entire inner-city neighborhood from the perils and decay wrought by heroin trafficking.
Reviews, Awards & Endorsements
Award
First Place Winner, True Crime, 2023 Firebird Book Award
Review
"An enlightening and exhilarating true-crime book." —Kirkus Reviews
Review
“A Peek Under the Hood is a fascinating look into DEA’s Operation Tune Up, which dismantled several international drug operations in the depressed Main South area of Worcester, Mass. in the mid-1990s when heroin reigned supreme…Pevarnik describes in engrossing detail the colorful Hispanic, Vietnamese, and South Asian drug perpetrators who had all migrated to Worcester, which became the epicenter of regional drug dealing during that era...He also carefully describes the perpetrators’ connections to the various sources of the drugs in places like Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia, and Thailand, and how and where the drugs were transported and distributed, ending up in Worcester.
And he meticulously describes the development and execution of Op-plans designed to interdict the drug flow and bring the perpetrators to justice…working from the street level up to the kingpins, all leading to the dramatic denouement. A great read.”
–Dean B. Pineles, retired judge and author of A Judge’s Odyssey: From Vermont to Russia, Kazakhstan, and Georgia, Then on to War Crimes and Organ Trafficking in Kosovo
Book Awards
2024 American Writer’s Award Finalist, Narrative Nonfiction & True Crime
2024 Bookshelf Award Top Ten Finalist, Nonfiction
2024 Bookfest Book Award, Second Place Winner, True Crime
2023 Firebird Book Award First Place Winner, True Crime
Author
Michael Pevarnik
Michael Pevarnik is a retired DEA supervisory special agent. During his thirty-year career, he led the New England Field Division’s Mobile Enforcement Team (MET), an elite Boston-based group that deployed to fight drug-related violent crime in communities throughout the six-state region.