A ROOKIE COP VS. THE WEST COAST MAFIA by Tanya Chalupa and William G. Palmini Jr. is Available Now

Attracted by Sausalito's striking beauty, artists, writers, musicians, actors and hippies took refuge there, with passenger ferries making it a popular destination spot. The famous Trident Restaurant was once a Mecca for Hollywood, the music industry and the New York hip. It was owned by the Kingston Trio and their colorful manager, Frank Werber, a holocaust survivor and self-proclaimed drug priest. Actor Robin Williams worked as a busboy there during this period. Legendary stars like the Rolling Stones were regulars and Janis Joplin had her own table. Sally Stanford, the San Francisco Ex-Madame who later became mayor of Sausalito, was a confidante of the famous and infamous. But no amount of prestige could save the Trident when William Ettleman and his gang of highly-skilled safecrackers targeted it. They got in, they got out and they stole hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In A ROOKIE COP VS. THE WEST COAST MAFIA: Breaking Up the "Best in the West" Gang (New Horizon Press, March 2014), William G. Palmini, Jr., whose career as a detective spans decades, and Tanya Chalupa tell the gripping true story of how Palmini begins his crusade to take down the West Coast Mafia by gaining the confidence of notorious mob operative and safecracker William Ettleman. Set against a backdrop of political and social turmoil, A ROOKIE COP VS. THE WEST COAST MAFIA immerses readers in the hippie subculture of free love and drugs, robbery, murder and organized crime in the coastal enclave of Sausalito, California.

In this gripping, true crime exposé, Bill Palmini, a rookie detective, hopes to take down the West Coast Mafia by gaining the confidence of notorious mob operative William Ettleman. Set against a backdrop of social turmoil, the book immerses readers in free love, drugs, robbery and murder, orchestrated by organized crime in locations like Sausalito, California. The Trident Restaurant, once a drug Mecca for Hollywood, the music industry and the New York hip, was co-owned by the Kingston Trio and their manager, Frank Werber, a self-proclaimed drug priest. Robin Williams worked as a busboy there and Janis Joplin had her own table. Sally Stanford, the former San Francisco Madam who later became Sausalito's mayor, was a confidant of the infamous. Ettleman's safecracking gang targets the Trident. Mobsters like Frank "The Bomp" Bompensiero, on whom Sopranos character "Big Pussy" is thought to have been based, become involved. Palmini, utilizing Ettleman, joins the FBI and the Federal Strike Force on Organized Crime to penetrate the crime scene in Sausalito, loaded dice in Las Vegas and Reno, corruption in San Diego and stolen credit cards in Texas. Then he begins to break up one of the most notorious gangs on the West Coast.

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