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Do you really believe Bill Burford infiltrated these firms? I have it on very good authority nobody had ever heard of him and this book is all hearsay and based on stories told to him or through other books. Discuss?

Blake I really don't see him an infiltrator of any sort. He may have been present for a few grisly scenes but he never does more than run to keep up and the…moreI really don't see him an infiltrator of any sort. He may have been present for a few grisly scenes but he never does more than run to keep up and then watch with wide eyes, immune from the carnage only because he visually appears to be a fellow supporter.

He's also very sincere with himself and his subjects. Most of the people who spoke to him seem to have done so under some level of anonymity, intentionally keeping their distance, and yet he never represents himself as anything but an interested third party to them - most want him around specifically because they believe he might help them bolster their reputations.

It might be different were he acting like he was some kind of official firm member, or spun a yarn about plunging a broken bottle into the face of a Italian police officer. He isn't self-aggrandizing at all, anywhere - if anything he represents himself as somewhat cowardly, doubtful, and confused by his own motivations before deciding entirely that the scene isn't worth the trouble, and greater insights aren't to be had by spending further time in it. (less)

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