''No one ever did it better'' NEW YORK TIMES

''If you haven''t read George V. Higgins you can''t call yourself a fan of crime fiction'' Val McDermid

Arthur McKeach and Nick Cistero have been behind most of the loan-sharking, extortion, hijacking, illegal gambling, union corruption and drug-dealing in Greater Boston for almost four decades - and every cop in the Boston Police Department knows it.So what''s kept them on the streets for so long?

What the cops don''t know is that McKeach and Cistero have a sweet deal going with the Boston office of the FBI: the bureau looks the other way when they''re doing business, and even gives them a heads-up when the local or state cops start poking around - and all McKeach and Cistero have to do is rat out the Italian mob from Boston''s North End.

It''s a deal that has worked for four decades, but now there''s a new agent in town, fresh from a desk job in Washington, ready to take over the Organized Crime Unit. Is it the end of an era in the Boston underworld, or are McKeach and Cistero about to find out just how far corruption can go?

''No one ever did it better'' NEW YORK TIMES

''If you haven''t read George V. Higgins you can''t call yourself a fan of crime fiction'' Val McDermid

Arthur McKeach and Nick Cistero have been behind most of the loan-sharking, extortion, hijacking, illegal gambling, union corruption and drug-dealing in Greater Boston for almost four decades - and every cop in the Boston Police Department knows it.So what''s kept them on the streets for so long?

What the cops don''t know is that McKeach and Cistero have a sweet deal going with the Boston office of the FBI: the bureau looks the other way when they''re doing business, and even gives them a heads-up when the local or state cops start poking around - and all McKeach and Cistero have to do is rat out the Italian mob from Boston''s North End.

It''s a deal that has worked for four decades, but now there''s a new agent in town, fresh from a desk job in Washington, ready to take over the Organized Crime Unit. Is it the end of an era in the Boston underworld, or are McKeach and Cistero about to find out just how far corruption can go?