Monday, April 29, 2013

WHITEY'S PAYBACK: And Other True Stories of Gangsterism, Murder, Corruption, and Revenge

 Every World is a Corner, and Every Corner is a World…

The sixteen pieces collected in WHITEY’S PAYBACK represent my interest in crime as a vast ecosystem, a parallel universe to the social and economic system we observe in the upperworld on a daily basis.
    
In America, business, politics and crime are frequently intertwined; one can scarcely exist without the other. What is happening below the surface shapes the world as we know it. What is presented to the public is occasionally wrapped in bullshit and lies.
    
The pieces in this anthology are all basically about one thing: the pursuit of the American Dream. To the reader, the question is posed: How far would you go to achieve power and prosperity for you and your own? Some people, out of free will, dire circumstances, or temporary insanity make choices that take them to the wrong side of the law. Chronicling the path of misguided souls and devious minds has become a big part of my calling as a writer.

WHITEY’S PAYBACK is likely as close as I will ever come to writing a memoir. The subtitle could have been: What I Have Done With the Last 22 Years of My Life. The book is a statement, or manifesto, about doing this kind of work – crime reporting – using the articles as a means to illustrate the central thesis.

Gangsters of many ethnicities, professional con artists, porn kings, and corrupt lawmen populate this gallery of the damned. The American underworld is constantly transforming itself, and the pieces in this collection attempt to bring focus and clarity to a world that is rarely examined in this way.
    
Throughout twenty-two years of crime reporting, one thing remains unchanged: the narrative is open-ended. Being a crime journalist is the gift that keeps on giving. As long as people continue to use the pursuit of the American Dream as a license to commit crimes, I will cover this beat.

Meanwhile, check out WHITEY’S PAYBACK. It will take you places you never even knew existed…

                                                               -- T.J. English
                                                                   New York City