Shares the personal story of the New York City police department's most highly decorated woman detective to recount her early achievements as well as her work with some of the department's most elite units during high-profile cases, a career that was challenged by a landmark federal lawsuit filed by the author against the department for sexual discrimination. 40,000 first printing.
"Growing up in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where physical violence was a daily reality at home, at school, and on the streets, Louis Diaz had what it took to survive--and to one day become what he vowed to be: a man of uncompromising principles who is 'compassionate on the inside, fierce on the outside.' These were the qualities, along with his street fighter's steely nerves and hair-trigger temper, that drove Diaz from his savage beginnings and early forays in organized crime to become one of the DEA's bravest undercover agents--the man who was instrumental in bringing down some of the nation's and the world's most notorious crime rings..."--P. [4] of cover.