Able Team is a series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers. It is a spin-off of the Executioner series created by Don Pendleton

Don Pendleton

Don Pendleton was an author of fiction and nonfiction books, best known for his creation of American hero The Executioner: Mack Bolan.-Biography:...

.

Able Team is one of two neutralization teams working for Stony Man, a top-secret anti-terrorist organization based in Virginia. Able Team is composed of Carl Lyons, Rosario Blancanales, and Hermann Schwarz. As with The Executioner, the Able Team novels have been written by a succession of authors under the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 "Dick Stivers". In 1991, Gold Eagle combined Able Team with another Executioner spin-off series, Phoenix Force

Phoenix Force

Phoenix Force is a series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers. It is a spin-off of the Executioner series created by Don Pendleton....

, and launched the Stony Man book series, which is still being published as of 2008. Lyons, Blancanales and Schwarz are still active in the Stony Man series.

Origin

Able Team has a rather colorful past leading to becoming part of Stony Man. The group began during the Vietnam War as a penetration team assigned to deal with the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. The name itself comes from a US Army designation of groups of soldiers designated team A, team B and team C. Instead of calling teams A, B and C words are attached to each to refer to the team. Team A is typically called Team Able, B is typically called Team Bravo and C is called Team Charlie. After Vietnam members of Team A ran a private investigation company called Able Group, before being recruited to Stony Man.

• Hermann 'Gadgets' Schwarz

Herman Schwarz is an electronics

Electronics

Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...

 specialist. He is skilled in dealing with anything electronic or mechanical, including booby traps and surveillance

Surveillance

Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...

 devices, which is why he is known as Gadgets.

• Rosario 'Pol' Blancanales

A native of East L.A.

East Los Angeles, California

East Los Angeles is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States...

, Blancanales is the son of hard working Hispanic parents. An infiltration specialist, he is known as the Politician, or Pol for short, because of his ability to handle volatile situations among people, just like a politician. Once served as a volunteer for a Catholic youth group in his neighborhood. Has two sisters, Toni and Maria. Toni was in several of the early books, and was once taken prisoner by the local mafia.

• George 'Whispering Death' Zitka

Also known as Zitter, Zitka served as Bolan's scout

Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

, where his abilities came in handy on various military operations.

• William 'Boom-Boom' Hoffower

A former Quaker

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 from Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, Hoffower was Bolan's demolitions expert. He only knew Bolan for a short time in Vietnam and remained unaware of his war against the Mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

. Once rigged his house to blow up when it was repossessed by the mortgage

Mortgage loan

A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...

 company.

• Thomas 'Bloodbrother' Loudelk

A Blackfoot Indian

Blackfoot

The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....

 from Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, Loudelk worked with Bolan and Zitka on various military operations. He is an expert with a knife and could kill a human target by breaking his neck with his bare hands. Returned to his reservation after being released from military service.

• Angelo 'Chopper' Fontenelli

A native of New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, Fontenelli was an expert in heavy automatic weapons. Parents are of Italian origin.

• Juan 'Flower Child' Andromede

Born to Puerto Rican parents in New York's ghettos, Andromede was also a heavy weapons expert, like Fontenelli. He is known for vehemently denying he'd ever killed anyone, claiming instead that he'd liberated souls.

• James 'Gunsmoke' Harrington

Serving as Bolan's flanker during the Vietnam War, Jim Harrington was one of the few men ever allowed to carry personal weapons in combat. Often carried two six-guns, which he wore quick-draw style. Spoke with
an Old West

American Old West

The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...

 twang.

• Mark 'Deadeye' Washington

An African-American from Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

, Washington was an expert sniper, just like Bolan himself. Often used a high-powered long-distance rifle with a twenty-power sniper scope.

Death squad

At the conclusion of the war in Vietnam, Schwarz and Blancanales came home and formed a private investigations company called Able Group, where Toni Blancanales, Politician's sister, currently serves as president and general manager. Zitka and the rest left military service. When Zitka became aware of Bolan's war against the Mafia, he approached his former sergeant with the idea of forming an elite commando force to help him. Despite being demoralized and disillusioned by the harsh treatment they received after returning from Vietnam, Zitka and the others were more than willing to join Bolan's cause.

Calling themselves the Death Squad, their first mission had been the fight against Mafia boss

Caporegime

A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization...

 Julian 'Deej' DiGeorge and his criminal empire, which he ran from his mansion in Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...

. The assault on the DiGeorge compound was a complete success, but the cost was staggering. Zitka, Hoffower, Loudelk, Fontenelli, Andromede, Harrington and Washington died in the assault. Bolan, Schwarz and Blancanales were the only survivors.

Carl 'Ironman' Lyons

One of LAPD's

Los Angeles Police Department

The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

 most promising detectives, Carl Lyons has known Mack Bolan since the beginning of his Mafia war. At the time, he didn't approve of Bolan's methods, and was in fact part of a special LAPD unit known as the Hardcase Corps, specifically designed to bring Bolan in, dead or alive. That all changed when Mack Bolan saved his life during his mission against Julian DiGeorge. Lyons would later be recruited by the Sensitive Operations Group, a special organized crime task force led by Hal Brognola.

During his LAPD career, he married Jane Mahoney, and had one son, Tommy. Because of the strain of his work, Lyons and his wife subsequently divorced after 8 years of marriage. She would later go on to marry Steve Odom, vice president for a high-tech company called SanDor Corporation.

Lyons is often described as looking like an Ironman, and this is one reason for his nickname. Another reason is that he likes to use immediate, overwhelming force to solve problems, even though he has sometimes used a more patient, subtle approach when force can't be used.

Stony Man

When Hal Brognola and Mack Bolan

Mack Bolan

Mack Bolan, alias The Executioner, is a fictional character who has been serialized in over six hundred novels with sales of more than 200 million, according to Amazon.com. Created by Don Pendleton, Bolan made his first appearance on the printed page in 1969's War Against the Mafia...

 first put together the Stony Man operation, Bolan himself personally hand selected Lyons, Schwarz and Blancanales for inclusion in the organization to become what is now known as Able Team. To this day, the unit remains the only one of the two Stony Man action teams that has had any history with Mack Bolan.

As time passed, Able Team began to handle domestic situations inside the United States, leaving Phoenix Force to deal with crises overseas, although there have been some missions where Able Team had to go overseas.

Able Team had to handle one mission in the United States that involved Lyons' ex-wife, Jane Odom. Her home had been invaded by modern-day marauders on a crime spree for a quick buck. During the raid, these marauders found top-secret documents from SanDor Corporation regarding the Strategic Defense Initiative

Strategic Defense Initiative

The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...

, the so-called Star Wars program. Mrs. Odom sent a note to Carl Lyons about the incident. Even though Lyons and his ex-wife didn't meet in that incident, he and his teammates, with help from a U.S. Marshal

United States Marshals Service

The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...

 named Dana McKee, stopped the marauders and dealt with a team of Russian KGB

KGB

The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...

 agents who intended to buy the SanDor documents.

Authors

• Tom Arnett
• Nicholas Cain
  Nicholas Cain
  -Military career:Cain was born and raised in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In 1972, despite a relatitvely high draft number of 363, he volunteered for the Vietnam War, where he served as a US Army military policeman until 1973...
  
  
• William Fieldhouse
• G.H. Frost
• Paul Hofrichter
• Mike Linaker
• Larry Lind
• David North
• Ron Renauld
• Rod Pennington
• Larry Powell
• Chuck Rogers
• Ken Rose
• C.J. Shiao
• Sgt. Nik Uhernik

Series Listing

Able Team appeared in 51 regular titles during the run of the series.

• 001 - Tower of Terror
• 002 - The Hostaged Island
• 003 - Texas Showdown
• 004 - Amazon Slaughter
• 005 - Cairo Countdown
• 006 - Warlord of Azatlan
• 007 - Justice by Fire
• 008 - Army of Devils
• 009 - Kill School
• 010 - Royal Flush
• 011 - Five Rings of Fire
• 012 - Deathbites
• 013 - Scorched Earth
• 014 - Into the Maze
• 015 - They Came to Kill
• 016 - Rain of Doom
• 017 - Fire and Maneuver
• 018 - Tech War
• 019 - Ironman
• 020 - Shot to Hell
• 021 - Death Strike
• 022 - The World War III Game
• 023 - Fall Back and Kill
• 024 - Blood Gambit
• 025 - Hard Kill
• 026 - The Iron God
• 027 - Cajun Angel
• 028 - Miami Crush
• 029 - Death Ride
• 030 - Hit and Run
• 031 - Ghost Train
• 032 - Firecross
• 033 - Cowboy's Revenge
• 034 - Clear Shot
• 035 - Strike Force
• 036 - Final Run
• 037 - Red Menace
• 038 - Cold Steel
• 039 - Death Code
• 040 - Blood Mark
• 041 - White Fire
• 042 - Dead Zone
• 043 - Kill Orbit
• 044 - Night Heat
• 045 - Lethal Trade
• 046 - Counterblow
• 047 - Shadow Warriors
• 048 - Cult War
• 049 - Dueling Missiles
• 050 - Death Hunt
• 051 - Skinwalker

As well, they appeared in a number of other books. They had 2 'Super' Books and appeared in all of the 'Heroes' anthologies released by
Gold Eagle.

• Mean Streets (Super Able Team #1)
• Hostile Fire (Super Able Team #2)

• Razorback (Heroes I)
• Death Lash (Heroes II)
• Secret Justice (Heroes III)

See also

• The Butcher
• Death Merchant
• The Destroyer
• The Executioner
• Nick Carter-Killmaster
  Nick Carter-Killmaster
  Nick Carter-Killmaster is a series of spy adventures published from 1964 until the late 1990s, first by Award Books, then by Ace Books, and finally by Jove Books. At least 261 novels were published....
  
  
• The Penetrator
• Phoenix Force
  Phoenix Force
  Phoenix Force is a series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers. It is a spin-off of the Executioner series created by Don Pendleton....
  
  

External links

• MackBolan.com
• GraphicAudio Books Dramatized audio book adaptations of Mack Bolan
  Mack Bolan
  Mack Bolan, alias The Executioner, is a fictional character who has been serialized in over six hundred novels with sales of more than 200 million, according to Amazon.com. Created by Don Pendleton, Bolan made his first appearance on the printed page in 1969's War Against the Mafia...
  
  , Stony Man
  Stony Man
  Stony Man is a fictional clandestine anti-terrorist organization featured in the Executioner series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers.-History:...
  
  and The Executioner.
• Official Don Pendleton website