City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

The setup, a true story of dirty cops, soccer moms, and reality TV, Pete Crooks

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

no index present

non fiction

The setup

Pete Crooks

a true story of dirty cops, soccer moms, and reality TV

The pitch went like this: Chris Butler, a retired cop, ran a private investigator firm in Concord, California. His business had a fascinating angle--his firm was staffed entirely by soccer moms. In fact, Butler employed PI Super Moms: attractive, organized, smart, and trained in investigative techniques, self-defense, and weaponry. This American Life host Ira Glass described them as "MILF: Charlie's Angels." When this story came across Pete Crooks's desk when he was working at Diablo magazine in 2010, he was instantly hooked. He'd heard a little bit about Butler and his super moms in the news; they'd been featured in People magazine and on Dr. Phil. What Butler's publicist was offering was too tantalizing to pass up: an opportunity to ride along with Butler and a few of his sexy PIs as they prepared to start filming a reality TV show. But after the ride-along--and after he started receiving mysterious emails from one of Butler's employees--Crooks started to realize something didn't seem right. After doing a little digging, he discovered the "sting" he'd seen only had one real victim...him. The PI bust had been a setup. Crooks wasn't a hardboiled crime reporter.He did lifestyle pieces for a regional magazine. The more he learned about Butler's operation, the more he realized he was in far over his head. But swallowing his fears, he decided he was going to write an expose on Butler and his entire organization. He soon found himself deep in the underbelly of fake sting operations, wannabe celebrities, police corruption, drug-dealing, reality television, double-crossing employees, and more twists and turns than a dozen crime thrillers

pt. One The Ride-Along -- 1.Have We Got a Story for You -- 2.The King of Stings -- 3.Let's Go for a Ride-Along -- 4.The Dr. Phil Sizzle Reel -- 5.Pl Moms Starts Shooting -- pt. Two A Secret Source -- 6.An Unexpected Email -- 7.Do as Columbo Does -- 8.A Dirty DUI -- 9.What Does a Guy Have to Do to Get a Role on a Reality Show? -- 10.A Cry for Help -- 11.The Cavalry Is Named Cindy Hall -- 12.Reality Sabotage -- 13.A Dirty DUI, Part Deux -- pt. Three The Investigation -- 14.The DOJ Gets the Download -- 15.Stolen Dope at Rock-Bottom Prices -- 16.So Long, Pl Moms -- 17.Tickling the Wire -- 18.The Last Supper -- 19.Halfway on the Record -- 20.The Case of the Candyman -- 21.Butler Squeals -- 22.The Case of the Porn Princess -- pt. Four A Bright White Spotlight -- 23.Breaking the Inside Story -- 24.Mystery Date and Madame DD -- 25.They're Not Booing, They're Yelling "Lou" -- 26.Let's Make a Federal Case over It -- 27.Face-to-Face with Norm Wielsch -- 28.Summer of Carl -- 29.A False Complaint -- 30.Background Check -- 31.Showdown on Dr. Phil -- 32.The Talented Mr. Marino -- 33.The End of the Line