The Duke of North Beach
The sequel to Central Station
When car bombs, mob hits, and murder find their way to North Beach…
San Francisco’s police chief, Oscar Castillo, is forced to face the reality he’s lost his city and stands to lose his job.
When the head of his new Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) is suddenly killed in a motorcycle accident, he turns to Officer Ray DeLuca for help. Ray was terminated a year earlier for insubordination, then reinstated when family consigliere Gianni Lentini, a mob attorney, lent a hand.
Ray DeLuca is Sicilian born and understands La Cosa Nostra better than anyone in the police department, growing up the son of a mob boss…a caporegime in New York.
At almost forty, Ray began a second career as a rookie officer with SFPD, after sixteen years as a Navy SEAL, never anticipating the politics and fragile egos inside the department. As a decorated SEAL team commander, he made the decisions…was respected by all, and was always in-charge.
When car bombs kill a San Francisco judge and two of San Francisco’s finest, the gloves come off, as Ray and the chief’s new task force, fight to take the city back.
The action, swerves, and twists are non-stop, including an assassination attempt on a member of Ray’s family.
Ray finds comfort in two fingers of bourbon, a lover in Witness Protection, and another connected to the mob.
After years of combat deployments, he wrestles with his demons, and remains a hardened loner, an outside dog, whose loyalties are regularly called into question. Ray DeLuca. No excuses. No apologies.
What Readers have to say about Central Station
“I’m a voracious reader. I read 2-3 books a month. I’m a big fan of Lee Child, WEB Griffin, David Baldacci, and Nelson DeMille. In his first book, Cariffe is now on that list. Central Station is a fast paced, action-packed, crime thriller that kept me wanting to read the next page. Ray DeLuca is a fantastic character that quickly draws you in and causes you to love and root for him.” Trey M.
“The author really knows the city, the Bay Area, and the SFPD. Captivating, action packed thriller with a little romance thrown in. I couldn’t put it down! The Cops and the criminals possess great charisma! Joe Cariffe is reminiscent of Joe Wambaugh!” Mark M.
Central Station
A Ray DeLuca Novel
You’ve read police stories… but never one quite like this. In the tradition of the Grand Master of Police Novels Joseph Wambaugh, Central Station introduces San Francisco rookie cop Ray Deluca.
A few things make Ray DeLuca different from his peers and they also make him extremely dangerous:
- He’s the son of a Sicilian capo in La Cosa Nostra.
- He spent 16 years as a Navy SEAL.
- He’s the oldest recruit in his SFPD Academy class and has nothing to prove, nothing to lose.
Soon after he begins his probation at Central Station, Ray finds himself in the middle of a turf war between the Sicilian mob and the Ghost Boys, a local Chinese gang. Some assume because of his Sicilian roots, he’s a mob sympathizer (and maybe he is). Ray’s character and integrity are questioned at every turn- including by his partner, cocksure veteran Hank Lau.
When Ray accidentally kills a Ghost Boy, he’s soon hunted by gang members and targeted by enemies within the department. He’s complicated and troubled, and betrayed by almost everyone in his life, but he’ll never quit, or accept defeat. He kneels for no one.
For Ray Deluca, he’s never out of the fight.
