-
Access Our
Most Anticipated
Books of 2025!
Taking Down the Notorious Pagan Motorcycle Gang
by Ken Croke
Sons of Anarchy meets The Departed in this fast-paced, high-wire act memoir from former ATF agent Ken Croke, the first federal agent in history to go undercover and successfully infiltrate the infamous - and infamously violent - Pagan Motorcycle Club, a white supremacist biker gang.
Longtime ATF agent Ken Croke had earned the right to coast to the end of a storied career, having routinely gone undercover to apprehend white supremacists, gun runners, and gang members. But after a chance encounter with an associate of the Pagan Motorcycle Gang created an opening, he transformed himself into "Slam," a monstrous, axe-handle wielding enforcer whose duty was to protect the leadership "mother club" at all costs. He befriended the club's most violent and criminally insane members and lived among them for two years, covertly building a case that would eventually take down the top members of the gang in a massive federal prosecution, even as he risked his marriage, his sanity, and his life. With today's law enforcement largely moving toward the comparative safety of cyber operations, it became one of the last of its kind, a masterclass in old school tactics that marked Croke as a dying breed of undercover agent and became legendary in law enforcement.
Now for the first time, Croke tells the story of his terrifying undercover life in the Pagans—the unspeakable violence, extremism, drugs, and disgusting rituals. Written with bestselling crime writer Dave Wedge and utilizing the exclusive cooperation of those who lived the case with him, as well as thousands of pages of court files and hours of surveillance tapes and photos, Croke delivers a frightening, nail-biting account of the secretive and brutal biker underworld.
Croke, with the help of bestseller Wedge, debuts with a nail-biting account of how he became the first ATF agent to infiltrate the Pagans, a violent white supremacist motorcycle gang...This engrossing account about the realities of undercover work is must reading for true crime aficionados." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[C]aptivating...The authors pack the brisk narrative with insider details and compelling action, creating a riveting hybrid of true-crime journalism and intensive memoir...A breathless, enthralling thrill ride." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about Riding with Evil was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Dave Wedge is a New York Times bestselling author and writer based in Boston. He has co-authored five books with Casey Sherman, including Boston Strong: A City's Triumph Over Tragedy, which was adapted into the film Patriots Day, starring Mark Wahlberg; Ice Bucket Challenge: Pete Frates and the Fight against ALS, which is in development as a feature film; 2018's 12: The Inside Story of Tom Brady's Fight for Redemption, which is about the Deflategate scandal and the New England Patriots' miraculous comeback win in Super Bowl LI; and Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture and Killing of America's Most Wanted Crime Boss. Dave and Casey also partnered with James Patterson on the New York Times bestseller The Last Days of John Lennon about the life and death of John Lennon (December 2020).
Dave was an award-winning investigative reporter for the Boston Herald for 14 years and has also written for VICE, Esquire, Newsweek, DigBoston, and Boston Magazine. He's also hosted on WRKO 680-AM in Boston and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, E! and CBS.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
