Chapter Chatter

I grabbed an old copy of The French Connection1 from my mother´s bookshelf. The paperback, doggy and yellowed, is a chronicle of “The World´s Most Crucial Narcotics Investigation.” It is also a peek back to a certain period narrative style (Joe Friday of Dragnet keeps ringing in my head), the art of surveillance in the day and the coordination of a highly choreographed stakeout at a large heroin bust that went down in New York City in the winter of 1962. The book includes detailed descriptions of undercover wiretapping methods and modes of police radio communications at the time.