ABOUT THE BOOK
LAW & Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Photo courtesy of James “Bone Crusher” Smith.
Reading Tough Streets, Rough Skies, and Sunday Sidelines, readers may need to be reminded that it is a true story. From Larry Wansley’s days as a young police officer dodging bullets during the Los Angeles Watts and Compton riots to his leadership of a staff that identified the 9/11 hijackers, this globally respected security figure has written an action-packed recollection of his foot-to-the-pedal career.
As one of the FBI’s first long-term deep undercover agents, Wansley aided with the search for kidnapped publishing heiress, Patty Hearst and once organized a sting operation that resulted in the recovery of $42 million in stolen property. He used so many aliases that at times he had trouble remembering who he was supposed to be. While serving as Global Security Director for American Airlines, he coordinated American Airlines operational responses to the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks and accompanied search teams during grim recovery operations in the smoldering ruins at Ground Zero. He received the FBI Directors’ Award for his team’s identifying the 9/11 terrorists and his passenger screening model led to the development of TSA. He dealt with revolutionaries who overthrew governments, drug cartels, arms smugglers, a shoe bomber aboard an American Airlines flight, and more than a few Mafia wise guys.
During his tenure as the first Director of Security and Counseling Services for the Dallas Cowboys, he shielded legendary Cowboys Coach Tom Landry from a sniper hidden during a live, nationally televised Monday Night Football game and spent a summer serving as pop singer Whitney Houston’s bodyguard during her European tour (inspiring “The Bodyguard” movie).
Written with two-time Edgar Award winner Carlton Stowers, Wansley’s autobiography runs the emotional gamut from terrifying to heartbreaking to laugh-out-loud funny with the dangerous and high drama situations that are often only found in fiction.
New York City police and fire personnel work at Ground Zero in New York City following the attacks on September 11, 2001.
Photo taken by Fleet Combat Camera Atlantic photographer PHC Eric Tilford
