Audiobooks by Ralph Pezzullo

The Great Chinese Art Heist: Imperialism, Organized Crime, and the Hidden Story of China's Stolen Ar

"The extraordinary story of the theft of priceless Chinese antiques around the world and the connection to crimes spanning more than two centuries—with present-day implications. For the past decade, the art world has been rocked by a series of very costly and elaborately planned heists at major museums. The first took place the night of August 6, 2010 at the Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden – the official residence of the Swedish Royal family. Others in France, Great Britain and other countries in Europe followed. In Norway, masked men rappelled down from a glass ceiling into the prestigious Kode Museum on Bergen's picturesque central square, three blocks from police headquarters. In all of these break-ins, the thieves made away with ancient Chinese artifacts, most of which were originally displayed in the spectacular Old Summer Palace outside of Beijing nearly two centuries ago. In The Great Chinese Art Heist, bestselling author Ralph Pezzullo takes us back to the Second Opium War and the sacking of Old Summer Palace by French and British troops in 1860 and connects it to the current wave of heists that seem right out of a Mission: Impossible movie. Comprehensive, balanced, entertaining, and expertly balancing diverse cultural and political perspectives, Pezzullo links these looted artifacts and roots of colonialism to today's billionaires and triad gangs, international banks and drug cartels. The wounds of the past, which is still called the 'Century of Humiliation' in China, remain raw. The Great Chinese Art Heist is a sweeping narrative filled with the voices of those who have lived it—art and art crime experts, and museum and government officials in China, Europe, and the US. In this riveting true crime, Pezzulo expertly grapples with the questions of ownership and cultural heritage, and embodies the words of art critic Holland Cotter—“The history of art is, in large part, a theft of history.”"

Ralph Pezzullo (Author), Kaipo Schwab (Narrator)

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SEAL Team Six: Hunt the Leopard

"Thomas Crocker's SEAL Team Six crew deploys to the Nigerian jungle to combat arms and human trafficking by Boko Haram in this fiercely authentic military thriller. The charismatic Boko Haram leader Ratty Festus, also known as the Leopard, has been terrorizing drought-ridden northeastern Nigeria: raiding villages, blowing up government buildings, and kidnapping schoolgirls. When Thomas Crocker and his Black Cell team, who are in the country on a special training mission, hear about a possible arms-for-schoolgirls exchange between Boko Haram and a Russian arms dealer on the Cameroon border, they convince a Nigerian Special Forces unit to join them in trying to stop it. The operation quickly goes south, with a deadly helicopter crash and an ambush. They can't manage to save all of the girls, even with assistance from a quick-thinking group of British private-security contractors. A week later, the Leopard seizes control of a $500-million dollar Gulf Oil natural gas plant, demanding a $50-million dollar ransom and safe passage out of the compound. Crocker has just 24 hours to plan and execute a high-risk, low-probability, mission to rescue all eighty innocent hostages -- including two of his own who are trapped with the civilians."

Don Mann, Ralph Pezzullo (Author), Peter Ganim (Narrator)

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SEAL Team Six: Hunt the Viper

"Don Mann and Ralph Pezzullo's shockingly authentic military thriller sends Thomas Crocker and his SEAL Team Six brothers to confront a notorious ISIS general, The Viper, during the occupation of Aleppo, Syria. Despite the efforts of the Assad government and its Russian and Turkish allies, Syria is succumbing to the Islamic State. While Crocker and his SEAL Team Six comrades try to help a small Kurdish border town organize a resistance army, he finds an unexpected connection with Severine, a French epidemiologist working for Doctors Without Borders. As Severine and her colleagues establish a makeshift hospital in besieged Aleppo, Crocker counsels caution. He knows too well that their NGO status will be no protection from the Viper, a notoriously vicious ISIS general with a deeply personal hatred of the West. When the Viper's men kidnap one of Severine's American colleagues, Crocker will pull every string at his disposal to launch a rescue mission. But in a situation where the US has no official business, he'll push every boundary of how far he's willing to go -- and how far his SEAL brothers in arms will follow him -- to save innocent lives."

Don Mann, Ralph Pezzullo (Author), Peter Ganim (Narrator)

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The Walk-In: A Novel

"Gary Berntsen, longtime CIA operative and the field commander who cornered Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, writing with award-winning novelist Ralph Pezzullo, offers in this edge-of-the-seat thriller a terrifying vision of where the next threat to America may come from. When a highly placed Iranian intelligence operative walks into a U.S. embassy claiming to possess explosive information, counterterrorism officer Matt Freed is dispatched to interview him and is warned of an impending attack on the United States that could kill millions. But is the man’s story precious truth or calculated fiction? Matt isn’t sure, but with a possible catastrophe looming in less than two weeks, his superiors reluctantly prepare for the assault. Matt can’t leave it alone, though. With questions still lingering about what is really going on, he defies his superiors’ orders and launches his own investigation. As the clock ticks down, he searches frantically for the truth at an Afghan prison under siege, an abandoned Uzbekistan bio weapons facility, and a Moscow hospital where an arms dealer is dying of a mysterious disease. Ultimately, Matt’s efforts brand him an out-of-control renegade, and he finds himself left out in the cold. Yet he may be the only one with the knowledge needed to avert unimaginable chaos. From a counterterrorism warrior who has spent a lifetime thwarting those who would do us harm, The Walk-In is an exhilarating plunge into tradecraft and terror."

Gary Berntsen, Ralph Pezzullo (Author), Robertson Dean (Narrator)

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