Gunrunner: The Mario Oliveira Story
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Gunrunner - A true crime book centered on a real-life Boston area detective hero, Mario Oliveira, who embarks on a series of interconnected gang crimes that leads to his own murder. It's during death that he learns his most important lesson. He's here to tell you about it.
Shot six times at point-blank range, Mario not only solved the big case, he's about to get answers to life's nagging question: what happens when we die? Shot to bits, they rush him into trauma with little hope he'll survive. Mario hangs on by a thread as his life flashes before his eyes. Then, he is suddenly transported back to how this whole mess started. Mario follows the infamous Matt Kramer, public enemy number one for supplying notorious gangs with untraceable handguns used in countless crimes and murders. Mario's quest to close this case got him killed.
The savvy detective summons a street-wise ex-gang member, Leon, to be his new partner. Unfortunately, Leon happens to be an undocumented immigrant, but that's not the crime Mario's tracking. Instead, the unlikely pair practically become best friends. First, Leon dismantles a Brazilian gang of thieves, and now Mario scrambles to get Leon and his family protection visas.
Mario is back on the streets alone and flirts with death on many occasions as his undercover work stings a mass of illegal guns, dozens of arrests, and the big-ticket items driving him. But Mario will stop at nothing, even take six bullets if it means solving the case, and he'll prove it to you!
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Mario Oliveira is a retired Police Detective from the Somerville, Massachusetts Police Department. He was shot in the line of duty, died, and was brought back to life on November 2, 2010. Mario subsequently started a non-profit organization, the Violently Injured Police Officers Organization (VIPO), and has dedicated his life to ensuring that other officers and their families have the resources they need when a law enforcement officer is killed or violently injured in the line of duty. He also serves as the New England Chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) president.
Mario received an Honorary BS in Criminal Justice from Fisher College, in which a scholarship in his name was founded. He is the most highly decorated police officer in the history of the Somerville Police Department. Mario resides in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, with his wife Christy and their three sons.Â
Keith Knotek is a retired sheriffâs sergeant and police commander with thirty years of law enforcement experience in California. Keith has written several books, including From Sorrow to Amazing Grace: One Copâs Journey, which was turned into a movie titled One Copâs Journey in 2022.Â
Keith is a graduate of the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association Regional Command College, the California POST Executive Course, the California POST Sherman Block Supervisory Institute, and holds an MA in Organizational Leadership and a BS in Criminal Justice. He is an adjunct university instructor and lectures on topics related to mental health, resilience, and law enforcement. Keith is an Advisory Board member for the Violently Injured Police Officers Organization (VIPO) and enjoys volunteering, boating, and fishing. He lives in Prescott, Arizona, with his wife, Lily, and has two adult daughters.
