The book recounts day by day how the FBI investigators somehow centered the entire extortion plot around Nelson and another innocent man whose only mistake was to spend fifteen minutes chatting by the lake, and then to stop at a fast food restaurant for a hamburger. Nelson fit the profile that the FBI had in mind - a long pony tail, a cellular phone, and a red Corvette which he liked to drive fast. From this harmless set of facts grew an inconsistent FBI surveillance log, incredibly biased misstatements of the truth, and wholly contrived witness statements, all elaborately tailored to inplicate Nelson. Other evidence of Nelson's innocence and the unreliability of the existing evidence was simply ignored, including an FBI wiretap conversation between the real extortionist and his accomplice discussing the extortion plot in detail. The real extortionist admitted that he had no idea who the FBI had arrested. Nevertheless, Nelson was indeed arrested with his photo plastered all over the Phoenix newspapers. Nelson's life would never be the same.

"Although there have been some other articles and books on the "Youngstown" case, this book remains definitive. The author handles a variety of materials exceedingly well, and shows great sensitivity not only to the legal issues involved, but to the political ones as well. It is a model case study."--Melvin I. Urofsky, Virginia Commonwealth University