WRONG NUMBERS: Call Girls, Hackers, And The Mob In Las Vegas - Softcover

Meek, Glen; Griffin, Dennis N.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1948239515 ISBN 13: 9781948239516

Publisher: WildBlue Press, 2019

Synopsis

"Wrong Numbers is an intriguing and well-researched crime story detailing the intersection of big money and quick sex in the city that contains a lot of both." - Jack Sheehan, author of Skin City

Was a hacker diverting phone calls meant for Las Vegas escort services? The FBI wanted to know, and so did associates of a New York Mafia family.

In one of the most unusual undercover operations ever, the FBI had an agent acting as a manager in a real Las Vegas escort service.

Federal agents expected to find prostitution and drugs in the Las Vegas escort industry. What their investigation uncovered was even more serious.

"Wiseguys and wannabes are on the hunt for a shadowy hacker who may hold the keys to control of Las Vegas’ multi-million dollar call girl racket, while FBI agents are hunting them. The result is a gripping true-life crime story that reads like a collaboration between Elmore Leonard and Williams Gibson told with the knowing savvy of two longtime chroniclers of Sin City’s hidden underbelly." - Kevin Poulsen, author of KINGPIN: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground

"In ’90s Vegas, call girls worked for “entertainment” services that were little more than phone numbers, dispatchers, and drop safes. When a mystery hacker started diverting customer’s calls to one service’s number, it launched a series of dangerous events that involved the Mob, feds, hackers, service owners, and the phone system itself. This slice of Sin City history is as little-known as it is thrilling, and it’s well-told by investigative journalist Glen Meek and crime writer Dennis Griffin." - Deke Castleman, author of Whale Hunt in the Desert: Secrets of a Vegas Superhost

About this title

About the Author:

Glen A. Meek is a former television investigative reporter who, over a three-decade career, was honored with ten Emmy awards. His work has also appeared in Desert Companion magazine and The Las Vegas Sun. Glen lives in Las Vegas and does private investigation work. Wrong Numbers is his first book.

Dennis N. Griffin was born in Rome, New York in 1945. He joined the U. S. Navy in 1962. After being honorably discharged in 1966, he returned to central New York. He is married and has four adult children. Mr. Griffin began his career in investigations and law enforcement in 1975, when Pinkerton, Inc. hired ...him as a private investigator. His duties included insurance fraud, missing persons, financial and background investigations, as well as undercover operations. In 1979 the Madison County, New York Department of Social Services hired him as a Senior Child Support Investigator. He was responsible for locating and conducting financial investigations of persons failing to provide legally mandated child support. In 1981 he joined the Madison County Sheriff's Department, and attained the rank of sergeant. He was a shift supervisor and public information officer. During the same time-period, he moonlighted as a part time patrolman for the Village of Chittenango Police Department. In 1987 Mr. Griffin was hired by the New York State Department of Health as Director of Investigations, Wadsworth Center. The primary mission of his unit was to investigate violations of the Public Health Law relating to clinical and environmental laboratories, and health care fraud. He was responsible for hiring and training investigators, case assignments and general supervision. In addition, he personally handled the more difficult and complex investigations. Many of these cases received both local and national media attention. He retired in 1995. In 1996, Dennis was supposed to be retired, but decided to tell the story of what he learned while investigating the operation of a medical examiner's office. It was an eye-opening experience and he felt compelled to share it with others. Dennis eventually authored a fictionalized account called, The Morgue. However, readers didn't believe anything in the book could actually happen, but they liked the story and his style; rough edges and all. Six more mystery/thriller fictions followed. The author is an active member of the Police Writers Association. He attended Onondaga County Community College, Mohawk Valley Community College and the Central New York Regional Academy for Police Training. He has three other novels published through 1stBooks. The first, The Morgue, was published 1999. Red Gold, followed in 2000. In January 2002, his writing career was at a crossroads. Would he continue the uphill struggle for recognition in a genre with a number of well-established authors? Or was it time to find another hobby? The question was answered at a writers' conference when a lady suggested Dennis try his hand at police-related non-fiction. That was the turning point. He began writing Policing Las Vegas, the history of law enforcement in Las Vegas and Clark County from 1905 thru 2004. Policing was released in April 2005. Writing that book opened his eyes to some interesting things about Las Vegas and the mob that he wanted to explore; leading to his second non-fiction book, The Battle for Las Vegas, the story of the Vegas reign of Chicago mob enforcer Tony Spilotro. In the movie Casino, actor Joe Pesci played a character based on Spilotro. The Battle for Las Vegas was released on July 1, 2006. In writing that book, Dennis relied heavily on resources such as retired FBI agents and police detectives from that era, and through his conversations with career criminal and former Spilotro lieutenant Frank Cullotta. Those conversations led to a third Vegas-based non-fiction, CULLOTTA - The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness, released nationally in July 2007. Since that time, Dennis has written several books on the true stories of the Las Vegas mob and the era in which they reigned. In 2007 Denny began hosting his own Internet radio show on Blog Talk Radio. You can hear his broadcasts live or listen to archived shows at http: //www.blogtalkradio.com/dennisngriffin.

Review:

"Wrong Numbers is an intriguing and well-researched crime story detailing the intersection of big money and quick sex in the city that contains a lot of both." - Jack Sheehan, author of Skin City

"Wiseguys and wannabes are on the hunt for a shadowy hacker who may hold the keys to control of Las Vegas' multi-million dollar call girl racket, while FBI agents are hunting them. The result is a gripping true-life crime story that reads like a collaboration between Elmore Leonard and Williams Gibson told with the knowing savvy of two longtime chroniclers of Sin City's hidden underbelly." - Kevin Poulsen, author of KINGPIN: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground

"In '90s Vegas, call girls worked for "entertainment" services that were little more than phone numbers, dispatchers, and drop safes. When a mystery hacker started diverting customer's calls to one service's number, it launched a series of dangerous events that involved the Mob, feds, hackers, service owners, and the phone system itself. This slice of Sin City history is as little-known as it is thrilling, and it's well-told by investigative journalist Glen Meek and crime writer Dennis Griffin." - Deke Castleman, author of Whale Hunt in the Desert: Secrets of a Vegas Superhost

About this edition

• Publisher: WildBlue Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1948239515
• ISBN 13: 9781948239516
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 236