Craig Welch's "Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty"
Sunday, June 27, 2010
"Craig Welch's "Shell Games" has the most unlikely of central characters: the massive geoduck clam, a tasty creature that resides in the waters of Puget Sound and resembles the raciest part of the male anatomy. Pronounced "gooey-duck," the valuable shellfish and the humans who cannot resist plundering it make for a compelling tale that is at once ridiculous and tragic. Writing in the vein of a detective novelist, Welch recounts how a group of dedicated state and federal wildlife agents devoted years to cracking down on the lucrative trade in geoducks (scientific name: Panope generosa) in the Pacific Northwest.
One of the book's charms lies in the vibrant array of crooks and saints who have spent years immersed in the geoduck underworld. An unlikely duo from the state of Washington's Department of Fish and Wildlife, the tough-talking Ed Volz and the chain-smoking but soft-hearted Kevin Harrington, stake out poaching vessels at night and dodge bullets from irate fishermen. Nichols P. DeCourville, a Las Vegas seafood broker, takes pride in boasting about his Mafia connections to one of his suppliers, only to fall apart when confronted by federal agents in his home. But none of them compares with Native American artist, geoduck diver and convicted felon Doug Tobin, a larger-than-life federal informant whose activities shape Welch's tale. ..."
To read the rest of the review, click here.
“It would seem to be a familiar tale of tough-guy law enforcement, with a plotline somewhere between "Kojak" and "CSI." Lawmen track down leads, sift through evidence, set up stakeouts, work informers, cut deals with low-lifes and work their way up the food chain to bust the big guys or expose a conspiracy. They do everything that cops do except shoot somebody—and you get the sense that a little bloodshed is within the range of possibility ... Craig Welch tells the oddly riveting story of the black marketeers who trade in geoduck clams and of the law-enforcement officials who go to extraordinary lengths to thwart them.” --The Wall Street Journal
“Endlessly fascinating ... Welch is a superb reporter, and the book is never dull because the material is so rich.” -- The Seattle Times
"Reads like a spy novel."-- SmartMoney
Shell Games is a cops-and-robbers tale set in a double-crossing world where smugglers fight turf wars over some of the world's strangest marine creatures.
Puget Sound sits south of the border between the U.S. and Canada and is home to the magnificent geoduck (pronounced "gooey duck"), the world's largest burrowing clam. Comically proportioned but increasingly fashionable as seafood, the geoduck has been the subject of pranks, TV specials, and gourmet feasts. But this shellfish is so valuable it is also traded for millions of dollars on the black market— a world where outlaw scuba divers dodge cops while using souped-up boats, night-vision goggles, and weighted belts to pluck the succulent treasures from the sea floor. And the greatest dangers come from rival poachers who resort to arson and hit men to eliminate competition and stake their claim in the geoduck market.
Detective Ed Volz spent his life chasing elk-antler thieves, bobcat smugglers, and eagle talon poachers. Now he was determined to find the kingpin of the geoduck underworld. He and a team of federal agents set up illegal sales, secretly recorded conversations, and photographed hand-offs from the bushes. For years, they tracked a rogues' gallery of lawbreakers, who eventually led them to the biggest thief of all— a darkly charming con man who called himself the "GeoduckGotti" and who worked both sides of the law.
In Shell Games, veteran environmental journalist Craig Welch delves into the wilds of our nation's waters and forests in search of some of America's most unusual criminals and the cops who are on a mission to take them down. This thrilling examination of the international black market for wildlife is filled with butterfly thieves, bear slayers, and shark-trafficking pastors— all part of one of the largest illegal trades in the world.
