Barbara La Rocco was born in the Bronx, as the third child of a NYPD Detective who spent much of this 25-year-career investigating organized crime. After earning a bachelor`s degree in criminal justice from the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, she traveled the United States working in resort communities from Hilton Head, South Carolina to Las Vegas, Nevada. Today, Barbara lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she commits her time to raising awareness of coastal issues and urban waterfronts through the nonprofit she founded-Going Coastal, Inc. She writes and publishes guidebooks to urban waterfronts and is the author of Going Coastal New York City. La Rocco writes primarily about coastal environments now but still has a keen interest is what goes on inside the mob.