Ron Ruthfield has brought his own unique perspective to The Capital Underground, having lived in South Florida during the days when the use of marijuana and cocaine became recreational and permanent habits. During Miami's Cocaine Cowboy era of the 1970s and 1980s, he saw up-close and quite personally how the drug trade became the necessary evil that made South Florida an economic powerhouse and a major player in the world's economy.
His time as a television reporter in South Florida, and a newsman for the nation's leading wire service in other southern states, gives him a particularly incisive view of the rapid growth of drug smuggling, America's prison system, and international money-laundering. Mr. Ruthfield has developed contacts on both sides of the law, including those who reaped enormous financial benefits, those who wished they had, and those who hunted them.
Mr. Ruthfield is also a former advertising and public relations executive, and brings his personal and professional experiences to a wide audience of readers. He and his wife make their home in Boone, North Carolina.
The Capital Underground: Twenty years after his disappearance into the U.S. Federal Witness Protection Program (WITSEC), Aristotle Einshtein Hirsch is summoned – coerced might be a better word – by a Presidential Task Force to emerge from his covert but safe status. Ari’s already complicated world is suddenly turned upside down when he is faced with making a painful choice: participate in a monumental case involving national security, or risk his very own freedom. It would include a whirlwind investigation and international trial that might lead to the discovery of a potentially gigantic cache of riches in one of the world’s most secret and sophisticated tax havens.
His choice could also shed more light on the deception and casualties of America’s forty-year War on Drugs, enormous government avarice, and the assault on the nation’s most precious legal documents – the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Ari knows his life might come to an end, similar to the way it might have been extinguished two decades prior in a thunderous explosion by someone placing a bomb in his car. Innate intelligence, knowledge of underground activities, and personal and professional experiences would be the factors in helping him make the most conflicted decision he would ever face.
The stories in this book are based on true events. And they’re unprecedented. They mark the first time these kinds of chronicles are revealed by a skillful and unique former Internal Revenue Service Special Agent, attorney and CPA. The episodes stretch from the Florida Keys to the Black Hills of South Dakota; from the Principality of Liechtenstein to the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia; from the halls of justice to the grounds of executive power in Washington, DC. And they involve major policing and judicial agencies, assassins, and even royalty.
The Capital Underground is a glimpse of the chilling life of Ari Hirsch, who at sixty-nine remains incognito somewhere in America.
Q. What will e-readers like about your book?
I believe readers will enjoy the back-and-forth chronology that links together the complete story of Ari Hirsch’s life, and how he managed to defend his personal safety from the underworld and U.S. government operatives who wanted to put him in prison and destroy his life. Readers will be treated to a colorful, somewhat sardonic narrative, and will get an incisive view of the impact of illicit drug trafficking, WITSEC, and money laundering.
Q. Why did you go indie?
The paradigm shift taking place in the book and publishing industry led me to believe that unless you’re already an author with a large following, it would become an unending process to get the book placed with a publisher, either directly or via an agent. Neither did I want to give away my rights to my own creative efforts. With downloads and low-cost printing alternatives, it makes a lot of sense to take an easier road to get author recognition and sell your product. Marketing a book today is much easier taking the indie route than trying to beat an outdated business model that old-line publishers still use. And it’s especially effective on downloadable platforms supported by Amazon, Smashwords, Scribd, Lulu, and a host of other sites.
Q. Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
James Patterson is the king of story-telling, at least in my book. But I also thoroughly enjoy Lisa Scottoline, Scott Turow, John Grisham, and Dean Koontz.
Amazon, Smashwords
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