{"product_id":"the-jai-alai-murders-a-story-of-the-doj-the-fbi-and-their-mob-hitmen-2","title":"The Jai-Alai Murders: A Story of the DOJ, the FBI, and their Mob Hitmen - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eYou never know where a murder investigation will lead.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter Roger Wheeler's assassination, his son David and Tulsa homicide detective Mike Huff followed evidence toward the very federal agencies they had been taught since childhood to trust.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn May 27, 1981, a professional hitman shot Roger M. Wheeler, Sr., at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A prominent businessman and CEO of Telex Corporation, Wheeler also owned Miami-based World Jai-Alai (WJA)—his first investment in legalized gambling. His confidence in the former FBI agents running WJA had helped persuade him to buy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of those men was H. Paul Rico, a retired agent celebrated for developing informants against organized crime. For Wheeler, that reputation offered reassurance. For David, working on financial reporting software at WJA's Miami headquarters, conversations with the company's controller had begun to raise disturbing questions about Rico, WJA president Dick Donovan, and the business his father had purchased.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDavid recalls that, as the hitman prepared to kill his father in Tulsa, Rico appeared at a retirement party in WJA's accounting department. Instead of joining the celebration, he stood staring at David. Minutes after the party ended, David received the call: his father had been shot in the head.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhere could David and Mike turn for protection if federal law enforcement officials were involved in the killing?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorking together, they pursued evidence connecting the killers in Boston's Winter Hill Gang to WJA's management, financial and legal relationships, and federal law enforcement. Finding the gunman was only part of their decades-long struggle for justice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Jai-Alai Murders\u003c\/i\u003e is David Wheeler's account of that struggle. He recounts federal surveillance of investigators, concealment of evidence, murder of informants, and other efforts to obstruct his father's murder investigation. He also describes how, when a congressional committee investigated wrongdoing within the FBI and Department of Justice, the Attorney General and the President sought to withhold critical documents from the inquiry. He examines the role of retired agent Rico and argues that his father's murder exposed an alliance between federal officials and criminals driven by profit, with corruption reaching far beyond the misconduct of one or two agents.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Huff sought help beyond official channels, the case reached a national audience through the pilot of \u003ci\u003eUnsolved Mysteries\u003c\/i\u003e and an episode of \u003ci\u003e60 Minutes\u003c\/i\u003e. Mike brought his experience as a homicide detective; David brought his knowledge of WJA and his determination to learn who was responsible for his father's murder. David recounts the persistence that enabled Huff to solve the case, the dangers they faced, and the questions of federal accountability that remain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSupported by more than 1,200 references, this memoir grew out of David Wheeler and Mike Huff's partnership—both in the pursuit of justice and in writing this book.\u003c\/b\u003e Huff's guidance and the extensive investigative case file he provided enabled David to bring the investigation back to life on the page. Together they uncovered the truth about Roger Wheeler's murder—and exposed lawlessness and obstruction within the federal justice system.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wheeler, Huff \u0026 Yadon LLC","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":53071043559741,"sku":"9798999517418","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0477\/8731\/1254\/files\/9798999517418ita_cb1393d5-aaf6-4047-82f7-04cef752efbc.jpg?v=1789404352","url":"https:\/\/itascabooks.com\/products\/the-jai-alai-murders-a-story-of-the-doj-the-fbi-and-their-mob-hitmen-2","provider":"Itasca Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}