Product Description

Times were hard for Joey Coyle. A dockworker from a struggling neighbourhood of south Philadelphia, Joey lived with his ailing mother and a drug habit he could barely support. One February afternoon in 1981, he was on his way to score when he found two curious yellow containers lying in the street. They had just fallen off the back of an armoured van and contained $1.2 million, in cash, in unmarked notes from a casino. "Finders, Keepers" tells how Coyle secretly shared the money with everyone around him, including his girlfriend, random strangers and the area's most notorious mob boss. Against the background of growing media interest in the fate of the missing money, Coyle lived for seven days in a drug-fuelled whirlwind, planning his future as a rich man, but terrified that he was about to be captured and killed. "Finders Keepers" is the remarkable story of an everyday man faced with an extraordinary dilemma and a dramatic account of greed, generosity and betrayal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47151 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Mark Bowden is the bestselling author of Black Hawk Down, Killing Pablo, Bringing the Heat and Doctor Dealer. He was a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years.

Customer Reviews

Truth stranger than fiction
Mark Bowden originally covered the story of Joey Coyle and his $1.2 million find as a journalist, then wrote this amazing account of hapless Philly Longshoreman and his botched attempt to keep the money. It's written in a pacey, manic style that conveys the drug fuelled whirlwind Joey found himself dropped into after discovering two unsual sacks at the side of the road on the way back from a disappointing trip to his dealer contained over a million dollars in untraceable one hundred dollar bills.
Applying a natural serdipity to the scenario, Joey decided to keep the money, seeing it as the will of his late Father. What follows is a story so unbelievable and, ultimately and ineluctably tragic, that it's impossible to put down.
More than anything the second half of the book is a fascinating analysis of public opinion, consensus morality, and the true definition of right and wrong, as the court drama unfolds and journalists from all over America pose the irresistible question: What Would You Do?
Unusually concise for Mark Bowden, it's still a wonderfully written account of an amazing story, tinged with comedy, stupidity, and tragedy.

More great stuff from Bowden
Although this book is amazingly short (200 pages of big print) it still encapuslates one of the most incredible events to happen to an everyday man who was down and out. Joey Coyle, a drug addicted dock worker living in Philidelphia, one day discovers a box on the street. Suggesting to his friends, in the car, it would make a useful toolbox the pull over to pick it up. Realising its worth slightly more they speed off back to Joey's. Not fully realisng what they've gotten into they celebrate with drink and drugs. Going from friend to friend (and some stragers) Joey can't resist telling everyone he meets, whilst still on a high for almost 7 days straight, the drugs seem the only thing that can calm him as he sinks into a state of ultra-paranoia.
This is the third Mark Bowden book i've reed and whilst maybe not on the scale of killing Pablo it still portrays the story of a real man in extrodinary circumstances with great panache right up untill the winding, aimless court trial that would carry on the star status of Joey Coyle - the everyday man and everybodies man.