T.J. English Online

The Man Who Saw Through Whitey

2012-01-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

(The following book review by T.J. English appeared on The Daily Beast on Jan. 27, 2012.)

In the two decades that James “Whitey” Bulger served as a secret FBI informant while extorting citizens, peddling cocaine and killing people to protect his Boston-based criminal empire, there is only one federal agent who tried seriously to shut him down: Robert Fitzpatrick.

For his efforts, Fitzpatrick was frustrated at every turn, not by Bulger and his fellow gangsters, but by his own FBI.

After being introduced to Bulger in 1981, Fitzpatrick warned his regional supervisor that Whitey was “sociopathic… untrustworthy… likely to commit violence” and suggested that he be “closed” as an informant. Not only were his memos and recommendations ignored, some in the FBI sought to discredit Fitzpatrick and destroy his reputation.

The aggrieved former G-man finally has the opportunity to tell his side of the story in Betrayal, an explosive memoir of his years as Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston office. The book has the feel of an ongoing therapy session, as Fitzpatrick seeks to make sense of a sprawling conspiracy of agents, cops, judges, criminals, and politicians who for decades enabled Bulger and made it possible for his campaign of corruption and terror to infect an entire city. Currently, Bulger awaits trial on nineteen counts of murder, after having been on the lam for sixteen years.

It is a sickening story, one that Fitzpatrick and his co-author Jon Land allow to unfold slowly, like a toxic oil spill that envelopes and destroys the surrounding ecosystem – in this case, the entire criminal justice system of the state of Massachusetts.

It is now common knowledge that Special Agent John Connolly, Bulger’s primary handler in the Bureau who is presently in prison on murder charges, and former state senator William “Billy” Bulger, Whitey’s powerful politician brother, formed a support system that made it possible for the Bulger era to sustain itself. But in Betrayal, Fitzpatrick broadens the conspiracy, detailing the culpability of a vast matrix of enablers, including, most notably, the late-Jeremiah T. O’Sullivan, who, as lead prosecutor for the state’s Organized Crime Strike Force, undermined potential prosecutions of both Whitey and Billy Bulger, and Lawrence Sarhatt and James Greenleaf, successive special agents in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, who buried reports, including Fitzpatrick’s recommendation that Bulger be “closed” as an informant.

Fitzpatrick does not attempt to portray himself as a hero; the dominant tone of the book is one of frustration and astonishment as the author, who was sent to Boston by FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. with the expressed task of evaluating Bulger’s “suitability” as a top-echelon informant, encounters malfeasance and corruption at every level.

Early in the book, he describes being a young boy at the infamous Mount Loretto orphanage in Staten Island, NY, where he encountered bullies and institutional abuse. Late at night, he sought solace by laying in the dark and listening to the popular radio program This Is Your FBI. Fitzpatrick’s belief in the FBI as both an avenue of personal salvation and an institutional force for justice haunts the book, as the reality of corruption and careerism crushes his idealism much the same way Bulger strangled, shot and mutilated his murder victims.

Fitzpatrick came to Boston well suited to deal with subterfuge and corruption. He had gone undercover in the Deep South in the mid-Sixties in an attempt to penetrate and bring down white supremacist organizations. In the 1970s he’d been one of the lead agent on the ABSCAM investigation, a sting operation involving corrupt public officials that led to numerous high-profile arrests, including the indictment of a sitting U.S. senator.

In Boston, Fitzpatrick spent nearly a decade trying to unravel what he calls “the Bulger arrangement.” As a veteran G-man who had trained budding agents on the proper cultivation of criminal informants at the FBI academy in Quantico, VA, he recognized all the telltale signs of a disaster in the making. He saw that Connolly and his supervisor, John Morris, were too close to Bulger. Also, as Fitzpatrick noted to anyone who would listen, the Bulger situation violated one of the most basic tenets of informant cultivation; the proper strategy with informants is to get someone mid-level who can help take down the boss and therefore an entire organization. You cannot have an organized crime kingpin as an informant, because it is inevitable that person will choose to manipulate the information they reveal to their handlers as a way of staying in power.

When it became apparent to Fitzpatrick that his warnings about the Bulger relationship were being ignored, he sought to build his own cases against the mob boss. He developed informants like Brian Halloran, a sad-sack career thug who worked for Bulger, and John McIntyre, a naïve Irish Republican Army (IRA) sympathizer who partnered with Bulger on a scheme to send guns to Northern Ireland in exchange for shipments of marijuana and cocaine. Agents in Fitzpatrick’s own office leaked information to Bulger about the informants; Halloran and McIntyre were both brutally murdered by Bulger, as were other informants whose identities were compromised and revealed to local gangsters by Connolly and Morris.

In the end, Fitzpatrick’s reputation within the Bureau as a potential whistleblower and general “pain in the ass” began to wear him down. It took a personal toll on him and his wife. Fitzpatrick began to get the sense that Bulger and his gangster partner Steve Flemmi, who was also a longtime FBI informant, were more important to the local office than he was. “Apparently Bulger and Flemmi were the FBI’s ‘guys’ while I, somehow, wasn’t,” writes Fitzpatrick. “While busting [the Mafia] remained every bit a top priority in Washington, my efforts and accomplishments were being demeaned by a groupthink mentality that led to a scenario of ‘us versus them,’ with me inexplicably linked with ‘them.’”

When Fitzpatrick, frustrated and disillusioned, resigned from the Bureau in 1987, the full dimensions of Bulger’s partnership with the FBI was not yet known, even to the agent. It wasn’t until the late-1990s, when Bulger went on the lam after being tipped off by his FBI contacts that he was about to be arrested, that the truth started to come out. In a series of hearings and depositions, the Bulger cohorts who were left behind turned “rat” and testified in court. In a groundbreaking hearing presided over by Federal Judge Mark Wolf, Fitzpatrick testified, and for the first time the story of his efforts to rectify the Bureau’s sinister alliance with Bulger began to take shape.

In January 2000, after Whitey’s right hand man provided details on a series of murders, including where the bodies were buried, Fitzpatrick stood in the rain alongside Dorchester gulley as the remains of John McIntyre, his one-time informant, were dug up. “As I stood on that embankment,” writes Fitzpatrick, “steaming over confirmation of what I’d suspected ever since John McIntyre had disappeared in 1984, I never imagined I was looking at the means to achieve my long sought vindication.”

Fitzpatrick’s vindication would come in court, where he testified as part of a civil lawsuit brought by the McIntyre family – and other families of Bulger’s victims – against the FBI and the U.S. government for having underwritten Bulger’s murderous criminal career. In 2006, the McIntyre family was awarded $3.1 million in damages. All told, litigation from cases related to the Bulger debacle would result in damages over $20 million.

Betrayal provides the most complete overview to date of the culture of corruption that made Bulger possible. Fitzpatrick names names and offers an appendix filled with FBI memos, letters and excerpts from depositions and court proceedings. The cumulative effect is a devastating reaffirmation of the findings of a U.S. congressional committee that declared the Bulger-FBI relationship to represent “one of the greatest failures in the history of federal law enforcement.”

The final chapter on Bulger has not yet been written. Whitey is scheduled to stand trial sometime in 2012, and Fitzpatrick will likely be called to testify.

In this sordid saga of homicidal gangsters and dirty federal agents, Fitzpatrick’s perspective – and his book – offers a rare beacon of light.

-- T.J. English

THE SAVAGE CITY Nominated for Edgar Award

2012-01-22T19:51:00.000-08:00

The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) have announced their 2012 nominations for the prestigious Edgar Award, and among the nominees is THE SAVAGE CITY, the NY Times best-seller by T.J. English. The book is nominated in the category of Best Fact Crime.

The venerable MWA annually gives out awards for mystery and crime fiction, as well non-fiction and screenwriting for television and movies. The Edgar Awards, named after legendary writer Edgar Allan Poe, will be given out at the organization's annual awards banquet April 26, 2012 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in NYC.

This is the third time T.J. English has been nominated in this category. His first nomination was for for BORN TO KILL (1995), the true story of a Vietnamese gang based in New York City's Chinatown neighborhood in the early 1990s. English was nominated again in 2009 for HAVANA NOCTURNE, an account of the Mob's infiltration of Havana, Cuba in the 1950s in the years before the Cuban revolution.

THE SAVAGE CITY is an epic account of a ten-year period in NYC history, from 1963 to 1973, when racial tension between the NYPD and the Black liberation movement brought the city to a boiling point. The book was a NY Times best-seller, and English was a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote the book.

For a complete list of this year's nominees for the Edgar Award, click the following link:
http://www.theedgars.com/nominees.html

Kid Shamrock

2011-12-04T09:00:00.001-08:00

Last night I finally caught up with Bobby Cassidy Jr's wonderful little play "Kid Shamrock," based on the boxing career of his father Bobby Cassidy Sr., who was a light heavyweight contender in the 1970s. Staged at the TADA! Theater, an intimate space on W. 28th St., the play is both a tribute and a cautionary tale about "the Sweet Science." Cassidy Sr. was a Jake Lamotta style of fighter, a bruiser, who took a lot of punishment to get in tight and dole out punishment of his own. His career was cut somewhat short by what the play refers to as "the Irish disease" of alcoholism.

The novelty of the play is that acting in it are primarily ex-fighters and others who know the sport intimately. Retired fighters John Duddy and Seamus McDonagh play Cassidy Sr. at different stages of his life; the great former champion Mark Breland plays Cassidy's trainer; Wayne Kelly, a former fighter who is now a boxing referee plays a referee in the play; and "Kid Shamrock" is directed by Michael Bentt, former WBO world heavyweight champ. To top it all off, Cassidy Sr. himself opens and closes each act of the play by taking the stage to read from Rod Serling's classic "Requiem for a Heavyweight."

The play is timeless and heartfelt, with a scene-stealing performance by veteran character actor Patrick Connolly, and a walk-on by Vinnie Vella, the wiseguy actor who's face you will immediately recognize from "Casino," "Analyze This," and many other movies.

It was a great honor to spend time after the performance with the Cassidy's -- Bobby Jr., the playwright; Bobby Sr., the ex-fighter; and Chris Cassidy, a personal friend of mine who helped produce the play and is also a highly talented cameraman and photographer.

"Kid Shamrock" has been staged in NYC twice before for limited runs, and there is talk about trying to stage it again in Las Vegas or even in Dublin, where ex-fighters and native sons Duddy and McDonagh are renowned. If the play comes around again in NYC you don't want to miss it. If you admire boxing, it is a treat, and even if you don't, the play will capture your heart and imagination with its tale of dreams pursued, attained and lost, all of it staged and performed with great authenticity and sincerity.

FRONTERA BUGALÚ MEANS BORDERLAND BOOGIE

2011-11-29T20:34:00.000-08:00

By T.J. English

One year ago this week I had the pleasure of producing and hosting an event in NYC called the Irish-Mexican Alliance. The night was designed to call attention to the plight of journalists, both Mexican and American, who put their lives on the line while attempting to report on the narco war in Mexico. We raised money for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which has set aside a special fund for legal representation of Mexican journalists forced to flee across the border into the U.S. seeking asylum from harassment, death threats and murder.

My interest in the issue came from reporting I had done in the Ciudad Juárez-El Paso borderland region for an article I wrote entitled NARCO AMERICANO that appeared in Playboy magazine (January, 2011.)

While in El Paso in the summer of 2010, at an outdoor plaza downtown, I happened to hear a local band called Frontera Bugalú. The band was relatively new, having been pieced together from a couple different local bands, but I was immediately struck by the originality and sabor of this band that mixed traditional cumbia (from Colombia) bugaloo (from New York City), and norteño music, which is specific to northern Mexico and the borderland region of South Texas and New Mexico. They also mixed in mambo and a few other Latin styles that were new to my ears. Led by the ubiquitous accordion of bandleader Kiko Rodríguez and the soaring vocals of Amalia Castro, they were fun and infectious, an eclectic mix of folkloric music, but with a sound and musical point-of-view that was very contemporary and hip.

MUSICAL INSPIRATION

I returned to NYC with the idea of devising a fundraising event that would call attention to the infernal narco war in Mexico. I also brought back the sounds of Frontera Bugalú in my head and in my heart. I knew that if we were to stage an event calling attention to the hardships being shouldered by people in the borderland of Northern Mexico and the Southwestern U.S., then it would need to have the appropriate soundtrack.

The Irish-Mexican Alliance event was sponsored by an organization called Irish American Writers & Artists, Inc, of which I am a co-founder and co-director. Earlier in 2010, we had organized a highly successful fundraising event for earthquake relief in Haiti. That event, called Island People Supporting Island People, created the template that we hoped to reproduce by using Irish and Irish American entertainers (musicians, bands, writers, and poets) mixed with the particular culture with whom we were interfacing for that event. For the Haiti event, we had some great Irish bands, both rock and traditional, on the bill alongside a muscular 20-member Haitian rara band that blew the roof off Connolly’s Pub in Times Square.

For the Irish-Mexican Alliance, again, we had some fantastic Irish music; a traditional Mexican mariachi band with members from around the NYC area; and, much to my delight, we were able to fly in all the way from El Paso the one and only Frontera Bugalú. Everyone in the room that night, which included not only Irish Americans but also activists from NY’s Latino Diaspora (Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans, etc.) marveled at hearing what we knew was an authentic voice of a very unique region of the U.S that is rarely represented in popular American culture.

THE NEW CD

All of this is a very discursive and round about way to inform you, dear reader, that Frontera Bugalú now has released its first CD, entitled simply FRONTERA BUGALÚ. If you happened to catch this band in NYC at the Irish-Mexican Alliance event, or if you are a fan of Latin dance music in all its many shadings, or simply a lover a great percussive instrumentation and vocals, than you must check out the new 7-track CD. You will want to be among the growing number of people who can honestly say, “I discovered this group! I have their very first CD!”

From the opening track, “Sácame a Bailar,” the band announces itself as something fresh and original. A cascading piano solo by Joel Osvaldo leads in to a brief duet with the harpist, Adrian Pérez, and then – bam! – the band’s signature instrument, the accordion, played by Kiko. The vocals are spare, as the entire 8-piece band coheres around a sultry, sensual groove that continues through every song of the CD, regardless of tempo.

“Embarazar” is a classic cumbia, with lyrics written and sung by Amalia, whose voice ranges from the folkloric to jazzy, with an extended scat (yes, you can scat in any language) right out of the Ella Fitzgerald playbook. On this cut and others, the musical transitions are tight, based around the funky Latin bass of Ramón Villa-Hernández and smoking percussion by Jesús Güereca (congas and timbales), Mykol Nelson (guiro), and Louis Speaking Eagle Sarellano (bataría.)

BOOTY SHAKING, CHICANO STYLE

Frontera Bugalú is, above all, a dance band. It is nearly impossible to listen to their music without moving, the rhythm taking hold of the body like a spectral spirit, as was certainly the case at the Irish-Mexican Alliance event in NY. The dance floor that night was a rainbow-colored, multi-cultural mix. In some ways, to get the full Bugalú experience you need to see the band live, but, on the other hand, the CD – with the benefit of studio time and multi-track recording – is layered with instrumentation and depth of sound not present at the live shows. This is most apparent on a cut like “Rompe Las Cadenas” – my favorite on the CD – which is rooted in Cuban son, familiar to most New Yorkers as salsa (and I don’t mean the condiment!)

Without being preachy or pedantic, Frontera Bugalú is, by nature, a political band. Comprised mostly of Chicanos, they have chosen to preserve certain cultural traditions in their music, to honor those traditions, to promote and celebrate them, which is, by its very nature, a political statement. The fact that they can do this and still be, first and foremost, a contemporary party band dedicated to the principles of rhythm and booty shaking, is a testament to the power of the music. Frontera Bugalú is a celebration of life in the most universal sense, meditative music, hypnotic, designed to inhabit the spirit, work its way through the body, and bring about a physical expression on the dance floor that will leave you with the sweet kiss of human perspiration on your brow.

To listen to a few tracks and to purchase FRONTERA BUGALÚ, as a CD or a computer download, go to the following link: http://fronterabugalu.bandcamp.com/

The Bulger Beat

2011-09-19T22:14:00.001-07:00

In the coming months I will be writing a series of articles relating to the upcoming trial of mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger for Newsweek magazine (http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek.html). The first of those article, WHITEY'S PAYBACK, appeared in the September 19, 2011 issue, and is also posted on the Daily Beast website.

Bulger has been indicted on 19 counts of murder, and in his 20 years as the boss of the Boston underworld, he destroyed many lives, especially in the neighborhood of South Boston, or "Southie," which served as his base of operation. In 1995, he was tipped off by friends in law enforcement that he was about to be indicted on federal racketeering charges. He went on the run and remained on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List for 16 years, until he was apprehended last June 2011.

Bulger is now 82 years old. Whether or not he receives the level of justice that is commensurate with his crimes remains to be seen.

In WHITEY'S PAYBACK, I interviewed a family member of one of Bulger's murder victims, a few of his former criminal associates, retired FBI agents, criminal defense attorneys, and journalists, all in attempt to get a sense of how Bulger's prosecution might play out.

Stay tuned for further posting on the Bulger saga as it unfolds, and check in with the Daily Beast/Newsweek website to keep up with the latest.

James "Whitey" Bulger

2011-06-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

This article by T.J. ENGLISH appeared on The Daily Beast website on June 25, 2011...

When legendary mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, 81, was nabbed earlier this week, after nearly 16 years on the lam, it appeared to some as though the door slammed shut on the longest running show in the American underworld.

Even in his prime, from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, Bulger was a throwback. His criminal reign harkened back to the days of Jimmy Cagney and the Warner Bros. gangster movies of the 1930s. He was Irish American, his racketeering operation rooted in the insular, Old World neighborhood of South Boston. Though sometimes charming, with a carefully cultivated reputation as a “gentleman gangster” who looked out for the neighborhood, Bulger was, above all, psychotically vicious.

Even while in his sixties, with a stature that afforded him the opportunity of designating underlings to do the “dirty work” for him, Bulger preferred to kill people with his own hands. One of his more recent killings was of a young woman, the ex-girlfriend of his criminal partner. Whitey allegedly strangled her with his bare hands. Another murder victim of Bulger's, after being shot in the head by Whitey at close range, had his teeth pulled out of his head by the aging mobster with a pair of pliers, so that the body could not be identified by dental records.

Whitey was violent, but he was also thought to be wily. Part of his legend had to do with the fact that, unbeknownst to even his closest criminal associates, he had served as a Top Echelon informant for the FBI. Whitey provided information to the Feds, and they in turn provided information to him. Armed with inside information, Bulger outmaneuvered rival Mafiosi and dodged local criminal investigations. To some in the Boston underworld, it appeared as though Bulger was more powerful than God.

In sunny Santa Monica, CA, just a few blocks from the glistening Pacific Ocean, Bulger and his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig, 60, had seemingly found their Shangri La. Under the assumed names of Charles and Carol Gasko, they strolled the beach and along the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica like any number of mature couples who had left the urban hustle of their native cities behind to retire to the gentle climes of Southern California.

The fact that there was a bounty of $2 million on the head of Bulger and his girlfriend did little to mitigate the banality of Bulger’s life on the run. After disappearing in 1995, facing multiple racketeering charges – including 19 counts of murder – Whitey became the proverbial ghost in the closet. His criminal career was routinely profiled on TV shows like “America’s Most Wanted” and “Unsolved Mysteries,” and still he remained at large. The FBI task force assigned with the job of tracking Bulger down periodically announced that there were “credible sightings” of the mobster in locales as widespread as England, Ireland, Canada, Prague and southern Louisiana. But now we are told that he was hiding in plain sight, living at the same location -- a modest apartment complex near Washington Avenue and Third Street in the City of Angels – for the last 15 years.

According to the FBI, the capture of Bulger came as a result of a new strategy, recently launched, to shift focus from Bulger himself to his girlfriend. A media campaign commenced; photos of Greig and information about her personal habits were circulated in the media, with a phone number to call with information. The $2 million reward was also mentioned.

In a press conference announcing the pair’s capture, an FBI spokesman claimed that the task force was contacted with a tip about a woman who appeared to be Greig. They staked out the apartment where the woman in question lived. Lo and behold, they had indeed stumbled upon Greig and Bulger. Greig was arrested on the street outside the apartment. Bulger was lured outside and arrested without resistance.

Inside the apartment the agents found $800,000 in cash and also an arsenal of thirty guns, including semi-automatic handguns, rifles and a sawed-off shotgun.

To some, it was hard to believe that Bulger had been captured. With his bald head and full white beard, he appeared grandfatherly and harmless, though, upon closer inspection, his mug shot reveals the same cold and steely blue eyes for which he was famous on the streets of Southie.

By Friday, Bulger was back in his native Boston standing before a federal judge who asked, “Can you afford a lawyer?” Answered Bulger, “Well, I could if you gave me my money back.” Bulger was referring to the cash seized in his apartment. Authorities contend that Bulger has untold millions in criminal assets stashed in bank accounts around the globe. A recent FBI account estimated his worth at $50 million.

Among those seated in the courtroom at Bulger’s hearing on Friday was his brother William “Billy” Bulger, 78. For decades, there was no politician in the state of Massachusetts more powerful than the younger Bulger, who rose from being a representative from Southie to president of the state senate. His rise to power in state politics paralleled the rise to power of his gangster brother, leading some to surmise that Billy had to be “connected.” Frequently investigated but never indicted, Billy was, in 2004, forced to resign from a cushy retirement job as president at the University of Massachusetts because of his brother’s tawdry reputation.

In the courtroom, the two Bulger brothers -- who, presumably, have not seen each other in 16 years -- shared a glance and a smile that seemed to encapsulate the mostly unspoken bond between the two that has spanned a lifetime.

The story of the two brothers has always been, and still is, deeply intertwined, as is the story of another man who was not present in the courtroom. John Connolly, also a child of Southie, was an FBI special agent who acted as Whitey Bulger’s handler with the FBI. Connelly is currently is prison in Florida on racketeering and murder charges stemming from his relationship with Bulger.

There are those in Southie and elsewhere who feel the FBI never really wanted to catch Bulger, given what he might know about the nexus between crime, politics and law enforcement in the state of Massachusetts and the Boston office of the FBI. As Bulger appeared in court, the entire city quivers in expectation of what he will do next. Will Whitey cooperate with the feds and begin supplying information about what he knows about 30-plus years of corruption in the city and state? Or will he plead not guilty, thus bringing about a massive criminal trial that would be one of the most sensational court proceedings in the history of the state, an epic casting call of gangsters, victims, cops, agents, politicians, and fellow travelers spanning over nearly a half century of Boston history.

It may be true that with the apprehension of the most wanted gangster in America, the final chapter has been written on the criminal career and lamster’s life of James Bulger. But the epilogue to that story has the makings of a historic coda.

Grammy Award statement

2011-05-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

Press conference, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, May 22, 2011

Led by Bobby Sanabria (band leader, master drummer, composer, educator), an unprecedented collection of musicians, academics and artists gathered at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe to deliver a strong statement of protest against the decision of the Academy to eliminate 31 musical categories from consideration for Grammy Awards. The categories include what are mostly "ethnic" genres of music and include Mexican music, zydeco, some blues categories, contemporary jazz, and Latin jazz. Among an illustrious panel that included Latin jazz legend Larry Harlow, Mercedes Ellington (granddaughter of Duke Ellington), David Amram, and many others, author T.J. ENGLISH, representing New York City's literary community, delivered the following statement....

"I am here as author of the book HAVANA NOCTURNE and other works, and also as the co-founder and co-director of a non-profit organization called Irish American Writers & Artists. I am also here as a concerned citizen and lover of all music, and as someone who appreciates, celebrates and cherishes the role that music plays in American culture.
The diversity of American music is our greatest gift to the world. The creation of this music, and the importance of it being heard around the world, is larger than the Grammy Awards. The diversity of American music is a fact that is larger than the Grammy Awards. And this music will survive and flourish with or without the Grammy Awards.
But what the Awards do, quite frankly, is call attention to the practitioners of this music -- the musicians. And what these musicians here today will tell you is that even the most renowned and celebrated musician in the United States is still, and will always be, a working class musician. Because to make a living as a musician, you must perform nearly every day. And especially for musicians who perform music in genres that are considered to be outside the mainstream, life is a constant hustle. And recognition by your peers -- in this case, recognition by NARAS -- is often what makes it possible for musicians to continue this economically perilous pursuit and struggle of attempting to be an artist in the Unites States of America.
So what the Grammys do is call attention to the practitioners of the music and help make it possible for them to survive as working class musicians. That, to me, is why this statement we are making today is so important and essential. Yes, with the Grammy Awards, we celebrate the music. But most of all we celebrate the musicians. And as deserving as Beyonce or Bruce Springsteen or Alicia Keyes may be, the truth is, their adding another Grammy Award to their trophy shelf is not nearly as vital and necessary as the recongnition by NARAS for the practitioners of certain types of Mexican American music, or the blues, or zydeco, or Latin jazz. A Grammy Award, in many cases, makes it possible for these musicians to survive as musicians. And that, in a nutshell, is why we DEMAND the reinstatement of these musical categories.
Thank you."

THE SAVAGE CITY comes to Harlem

2011-04-25T09:20:00.000-07:00

WHEN: May 10, 2011, Tues., at 8pm

WHERE: Hue Man Bookstore, W. 124 St. & 8th Ave. Harlem, NYC

This is a very special presentation and discussion of the New York Times best-selling book THE SAVAGE CITY by T.J. ENGLISH.

In a one-time appearance only, T.J. will be joined by DHORUBA BIN WAHAD (pictured at his arrest in 1971), a central figure in the book. This discussion will be moderated by Harlem legend HERB BOYD, journalist, author, and editor of many books (including "The Harlem Reader.")

THE SAVAGE CITY is a non-fiction narrative that explores the racial turmoil in New York City in the 1960s and early 1970s. The story is told through the experiences of three people: George Whitmore, a 19 year-old black male who is framed for a horrific double murder he didn't commit; Bill Phillips, a corrupt cop who eventually becomes an informant and testifies at the Knapp Commission hearings into police corruption; and Dhoruba Bin Wahad, one of the founding members of the Black Panther Party in NYC.

Do not miss this opportunity to take part in a discussion of NYC during one of its most difficult recent eras, and add your view as to whether or not this history is still relevant today.

Books will be available for purchase, and T.J. English will, upon request, sign a copy of your book.

THE SAVAGE CITY Tour Schedule

2011-03-04T07:39:00.001-08:00

Throughout March, April and beyond, author T.J. English will be making live appearances and doing radio and TV interviews to promote his new book THE SAVAGE CITY. Below is a list of events and radio interviews. This list will be updated as new events are added to the schedule. Please come to one of the Live Appearance events and T.J. English will sign a copy of the book for you.

TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2011

LIVE APPEARANCE
Reading/Talk
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
108 Orchard St., NYC 6:30 pm

WOCM-FM 98.1 (National)
Bulldog and the Rude Awakening Show
LIVE RADIO: 8:40am - 9am EST.

WVTL-AM (National)
The Bob Cudmore Show
LIVE RADIO: 9:05am - 9:20am EST.

WCBQ-AM 1340
WHNC-AM 89
The Paradise Radio Network
Dr. Alvin Jones, host
LIVE RADIO: 9:30am - 9:40am EST.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2011

WOCA-AM 1340 (Daytona Beach, FL)
Morning Show with Larry & Robin
Larry Whitler, host
LIVE RADIO: 7:35am - 7:45am EST.

WWRL-AM 1600 (New York, NY)
Morning Drive Show
Progressive Talk
LIVE RADIO: 8:05am - 8:15am EST.

WAMV-AM (Lynchburg, VA)
News/Talk
LIVE RADIO: 8:30am - 8:45am EST

KWLM-AM (Willmar, MN)
News/Talk
LIVE RADIO: 8:50am - 8:59am EST.

KMA-AM (Kansas City - Omaha, NE)
The Chuck and Don Show
LIVE RADIO: 9:20am - 9:30am EST.

KCTA-AM (Corpus Christi, TX)
News/Talk
LIVE RADIO: 9:30am - 9:39 am EST.

WESB-AM (Bradford, PA - Jamestown, NY)
Live Line with Anne Holiday
LIVE RADIO: 9:40am - 9:49am EST.

KCMN-AM (Colorado Springs, IL)
News/Talk
LIVE RADIO: 9:50am - 9:59am EST.

SIRIUS/XM (National)
Cover to Cover with Maggie Linton
LIVE RADIO: 10am - 10:30am EST.

KCHE-FM (Cherokee, IA)
News/Talk
LIVE RADIO: 10:30am - 10:39am EST.

KWYK-FM (Albuquerque, NM)
Morning Drive Show
LIVE RADIO: 10:40am - 10:50am EST.

VOICE OF AMERICA (Internationally syndicated)
Hip Hop Connection
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Interview with T.J. English

2011-02-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

Author and journalist T.J. ENGLISH was recently interviewed by the web magazine Stop & Style NYC, currently posted online (Feb. 2011 issue). The interview touches on a number of subjects related to English's upbringing, his methods and career as a writer, and his feelings about NYC, both past and present. The entire interview, including introduction, can be accessed at http://www.stopandstylenyc.com/stop--chat.html.

The Q & A portion of the interview, in its entirety, is posted below....

How do you choose topics for your work? Where do the ideas come from?

Ideas come from everywhere. I tend to draw my subject matter from real life, so ideas often come from reading newspapers, magazines, books, etc. Ideas also come from my travels. For instance, the current article I did for Playboy on the narco war in Mexico likely would not have happened had I not spent time in Mexico a few years ago at a Spanish-language institute learning Spanish. Yes, I knew about the narco war from reading about it and keeping up on the news, but there’s nothing like being right there in the country where its happening, experiencing it from inside the culture as opposed to viewing it from afar. Many of my books and journalism are initiated by a general cultural fascination with the topic, and then I try to think of ways to apply it to my own writerly point-of-view, which invariably leads me to the criminal underworld, organized crime and criminal justice issues.

Many of the subjects you focus on are relatively dark: mobsters, wars, human injustice, etc. Why do you think you are drawn to such genres?

It’s interesting, because my general interest in these topics usually has nothing to do with the so-called dark side. Years ago, for instance – in the mid-1990s – I did an article about a Jamaican drug posse based in Brooklyn that had roots in Kingston, Jamaica. I became interested in that because I had a deep affection for reggae music, which led me to make a trip to Jamaica. This led to a fascination with Jamaican culture. Okay, so you want to explore Jamaican culture and history, you’re going to find yourself reading about some horrible shit like colonialism, political exploitation, extreme poverty the likes of which sometimes leads to sociopathic or even psychopathic behavior. The truth is, writing about the human condition invariably, in my opinion, leads you to writing about the dark side, because the human social process is one of war, exploitation, violence, and death. The way cities, countries and nation-states are formed usually involves a group of people killing or forcibly dominating another group of people and then imposing rules and laws to keep them in their place. To me, writing about the human social process requires writing about the dark side, although, in some ways, I don’t even think of it as writing about the dark side. I think of it as writing about the world as it really is, not about how we like to pretend it is.

Is there any unattainable topic or subject that you wish you could gain access to and write about? A dream project perhaps?

I don’t think there is an “unattainable topic,” although there are many topics that I’m interested in that, to write about them in any kind of in-depth way or from an insider point-of-view, are so fraught with complications and dangers that the risks and difficulties outweigh the likelihood of getting the story. But this is all relative. In fact, many of the articles and books I have written are on subjects that others might have considered to be “unattainable.” Writing about the Westies gang from the point of view of an insider in the gang was considered somewhat unattainable. Thinking I could get inside Mickey Featherstone’s head – I was told by cops and other writers that it was crazy for me to even think I could do that. I wrote a book, Born to Kill, about a Vietnamese gang based in Chinatown that I think, as you’re reading it, will make you feel as though you are a member of that gang, because I tell the story from the subjective perspective of a gang member who was right there in the middle of things. I’m not mentioning this to brag about it; I’m just saying that one person’s “unattainable” is another person’s “challenge.” I suppose I could have failed at the challenge, but it seemed to me like a challenge worth taking on. I was driven by the belief that these unattainable subjects were, in fact, attainable.

I will give you an interesting example, however, of the only story in my career I was not able to get. I shouldn’t be telling you this, because it makes me look bad, but the truth is any journalist or writer who takes chances will have an occasion where they are not able to get the story they are trying to get.

In the mid-1990s I was sent by Rolling Stone magazine to New Orleans to do a story on the New Orleans police department. The police in New Orleans had been wracked by a series of outrageous scandals that had shocked the whole city, and it’s not easy to shock people in New Orleans. A female cop had killed her partner and executed an entire Vietnamese family while moonlighting as a security guard at a restaurant in town. Another cop had ordered a hit on a women who had taken out a brutality complaint against him; he brazenly ordered the hit over the police radio frequency. A whole bunch of cops – something like twenty – had been running a cocaine operation just like a criminal gang. It was incredible. Anyway, I go down there and set about getting people to talk with me, as I always do in these situations. I got some interesting stuff. Interviewed the new police chief, went into the infamous Desire Housing Project, which I think has since been torn down. But I could not get anyone from within the criminal culture of the NOPD to talk with me. I could not get any of the victims of crimes perpetrated by the NOPD to talk with me. In New Orleans, people were afraid to talk about police corruption. They were afraid they would wind up buried in a swamp somewhere and never be heard from again. There was no tradition of talking to a writer or journalist about this stuff. It was a criminal conspiracy I could not penetrate. I have written about all kinds of criminal gangs, written about them from an insider perspective that many people did not think was possible, but I could not penetrate the fear and long-standing tradition of silence surrounding the criminal conspiracy known as the New Orleans police department.

How do you get people to open up to you? Especially in your early days, before you had any best sellers backing you up. Do you think it has anything to do with your general demeanor?

Generally speaking, every person who talks to you does so for their own unique set of reasons, either they want to get out their version of events, from their perspective, or they want to get something off their chest, or they trust you, and when a person trusts you, sometimes you can’t get them to shut up. Believe me, I go through periods in my life when I am getting calls and correspondences from criminals, gangsters, calls from prison – its one of the reasons I sometimes have problems maintaining relationships with significant others. Not everyone is charmed by the idea of killers and gangsters calling at all hours of the day and night.

As for demeanor, yes, this is an interesting point. I recently had an interesting conversation with a group of retired FBI agents here in New York. Generally speaking, I get along better with criminals than I do law enforcement people, but I was invited to speak to a group of retired agents. It turned out to be very instructive, because we got on to this subject of how do you get people – criminals – to talk to you. Granted, it’s somewhat easier for a journalist or writer, because I’m not going to bust them and have them prosecuted, but still, it all has do with trust. And the only way that kind of trust can be established is if the person you are dealing with feels as though you are listening to them free of judgment. You are not judging them. This sounds like a simple thing, but in truth most cops or journalists or even most human beings are not able to do this. The average person feels as though they represent goodness and virtue. Cops, journalists, they are usually there as representatives of the system. They represent “the right side of the law.” Therefore, the person who they are dealing with is viewed as reprehensible, a criminal, a killer, a drug dealer, a scumbag. How could you even sit in the same room with this scumbag and listen to them tell their version of why they do what they do? Well, I find it fascinating. And the fact that a person feels like I’m listening to them without judgment makes them open up. And the truth is, I’m not judging them. I want to hear their version, and then I push them and probe and ask questions that maybe gets them to tell things they never thought they would. But it all starts with a genuine level of trust.

Have you ever gotten yourself into a bad situation while investigating a story or suddenly crossed a line where you felt like you might not make it out?

I’ve been in a few potentially perilous situations that made me sweat. In Hong Kong, doing a story on the Triads, secret criminal societies, I was in the Walled City, a hermetically sealed criminal enclave in a part of the city known as Kowloon. The Walled City was later torn down, after China took over control of Hong Kong in 1997. I was there in 1992. As I was getting ready to enter the place one afternoon, a taxi driver saw me; he stopped his taxi and said, “Do not go in there. It’s not safe. You will not come out alive.” Or something like that. It was a little unnerving. Because duty called, and I knew I had to go in there. The taxi driver drove away and I entered. Man, that place was wild. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was all closed in, like an underground city, with cables and dripping pipes overhead, and a maze of narrow walkways, dark and damp. Along these walkways were little stalls with all kinds of illegal businesses. There might be a guy selling illegal animals, snakes and other reptiles, and right next to that stall would be a stall with an illegal dentist. There was prostitution in there, women beckoning from the shadows, and little, old Chinese men selling opium and heroin. All kinds of counterfeit goods and illegal shit. It was like an underworld bizarre for vice and illegal goods. And the whole visual look of the place was designed to blow your mind. It was subterranean and spooky and dangerous-looking, like something out of Dante’s Inferno. I’m glad I had a chance to see it before it was obliterated.

I’ve been in some other situations that could have turned bad, I guess. I was in Denham Town, a shantytown in central Kingston that is probably as dangerous for an outsider as anything can be. For the Mexico narco piece I recently did I was in Ciudad Juárez, which is now thought of as the most dangerous city in the world. I was in Felipe Angeles, a colonia, or slum, in Juárez that is the home of the Barrio Azteca gang. I do not go into these places out of any sense of adventure or thrill-seeking. I am not a thrill seeker. I do not bungee jump or cliff dive or any of that silly shit. I have no desire to jump out of an airplane and skydive. I go into these situations because it is my job to do so. And whenever I do something like this, I take great pride in doing it the most intelligent way I can. I do my homework. I never wander into a situation unprepared. I try to set it up so I am never walking into an uncontrolled situation; I set things up beforehand. I usually have a guide or a specific reason for being there. And the idea is to get in there and get the fuck out. Although, yeah, I do sometimes get waylaid by a woman or the exotic nature of a place. But I try not to be stupid about these things.

When or how did you realize writing was your passion?

I guess grade school was when I first started to get positive feedback about things that I was writing. When you’re young, you tend to go in the direction from which you get the most ego gratification. If it had been a musical instrument I was good at, or singing, or gymnastics, maybe I would have gone in one of those directions instead. By the time I got to high school, I realized journalism was a great way to get out of the house, experience life around you, and sometimes stir things up.

At the Catholic high school I went to in Tacoma, Washington, where I was born and raised, my senior year I did an expose for the school newspaper about Pacific Avenue, which was the Red Light district in town. I interviewed street prostitutes and what were called “winos” back then; I went into Elmo’s Bookstore, a porn shop, and described in great detail what was in there. I’m pretty sure it was the first time – and maybe the last – that the word “dildo” appeared in the school newspaper. It caused quite a controversy, and I loved every minute of it.

How long have you lived in NY and what do you miss most about the way the city used to be when you first came here?

I arrived in NYC in 1981; I was 23 years old. I came here to experience life and, hopefully, become some sort of professional writer. I hustled for work as a freelance journalist, writing for an Irish American magazine and weekly newspaper, for the Village Voice, wherever I could get stuff published. In the evenings I drove a taxi, three, four nights a week, sometimes more, to pay my rent and living expenses, which I always kept lean and minimal as I could. In those years, I remember being like a feral animal, hungry, hyper alert, my aspirations as a writer deeply intertwined with the environment I was living in, which, since I was driving a cab, touched on all neighborhoods of the city, all economic classes and races.

That lifestyle of an aspiring artist, if I can use that term, the pursuit of a non-traditional career, living close to the bone, hustling – I don’t think that even exists any more in New York. I mean, having to have a computer and a fancy iphone alone would have wiped me out back then, and you can barely function without those things in the marketplace today.

Starting somewhere in the mid-1980s, New York City completely gave itself over to the business class, cutting back on city services, giving sweet tax deals for businesses and real estate entities. Smarter people than me have chronicled this; I’m not saying anything particularly insightful. But I watched the city I came here to be a part of become less and less interesting. Manhattan, in particular, is now a place for professional business people, lawyers, brokers, etc. The neighborhood where I have lived for 20 years, the Village -- you don’t want to go anywhere around there on a Friday or Saturday night. They say there’s a recession, but you’d hardly notice it in that neighborhood. Swarms of 20-somethings with credit cards, expendable incomes, auditioning for their own reality shows.

What is your favorite thing about living in NYC these days? Do you have a favorite neighborhood/restaurant/bar?

The one thing I like most about NYC hasn’t changed, and that is – pounding the pavement. I haven’t owned a car since I came here thirty years ago, pretty much my entire adult life. I walk most everywhere I go, if I can. The energy and diversity of the street life is still the best thing about the city. And no amount of gentrification can wipe that out. Because they still need immigrants (i.e. cheap labor) to feed the beast, and the city regenerating itself through waves of immigration is still the central narrative of life in NYC; its what makes walking the streets so beautiful and distinctive.

Also, in the last four or five years I’ve also really gotten into biking. It is one of the new things about the city that I really enjoy. Thirty years ago, even if you’d wanted to, there was no way to bike around the city like there is now. Making the city more biker friendly has made it accessible in new and exciting ways, and it’s a great way to stay in shape. Because if you wanna survive in NYC, you still need to stay lean and strong and ready to run like hell at a moment’s notice.

I don’t have a favorite neighborhood, but I do have a favorite eating establishment – La Taza de Oro, the venerable Puerto Rican diner at 8^th Avenue and 15^th Street, and a bar, the Distinguished Wakamba Cocktail Lounge, at 37^th street and 8th Avenue.

Who are your favorite writers? What kinds of things do you like to read?

Well, the ones that led me in the direction of non-fiction writing, writers I read in college, were Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer and Joan Didion. I’ve gone through phases: the existentialists like Camus and Genet. Dostoyevsky probably shaped my consciousness more than any other single writer, particularly Crime and Punishment, but also Notes from Underground. I went through the classic American hardboiled phase – Hammett, Chandler, James M. Cain, and, most notably, Jim Thompson. I read fiction and nonfiction equally. Right now I’m reading an incredible novel, 2666, by the late-Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño. It is an absolute masterpiece.

Overall, much of my reading is dominated by whatever subject I am researching at any given moment. If you look at the last three books I’ve published – Paddy Whacked, Havana Nocturne and The Savage City – go to the bibliography section and you will see dozens and dozens of books I’ve had to read as research for those books. I hardly have time for anything else.

Besides your new book The Savage City coming out next month, what is next for you?

I hope to do a second article on the narco war in Mexico for Playboy. What’s happening in Mexico right now is the organized crime story of our time. And the United States is directly effected in ways that most people don’t think about or realize. I’m also getting together a collection of my crime journalism over the past twenty-plus years that I hope to publish in one volume, under the title, Season of El Diablo: And Other True Tales from the American Underworld. I’m also working on a movie project and have an idea for my next non-fiction book, but I have a policy of not talking about major works in progress until they are a definite thing. Nothing worse than talking up a project, or making a public proclamation, and then, months later, having people ask you, “Hey, what happened with that such-and-such project you were working on…” Then you have to go into a long explanation of why it didn’t come to fruition, how it didn’t pan out for one reason or another. Makes you look like – and feel like – a douche bag.

(The Savage City: Race, Murder and a Generation on the Edge by T.J. English will be published by HarperCollins in March 2011)

Playboy: Narco Americano

2011-01-20T11:06:00.001-08:00

An extensive new investigative article by T.J. ENGLISH entitled "Narco Americano" appears in the newly published February 2011 issue of Playboy magazine. The article offers a disturbing assessment of the narco war in Mexico, focusing on the border region of Ciudad Juarez, near El Paso, Texas. Using the shocking double-homicide of a U.S. consulate employee and her husband last March as the central narrative of the article, English ranges far and wide, shedding light on issues of corruption, economic exploitation and gangsterism that have contributed to the unprecedented crisis in Mexico. The article shows how the U.S. and Mexico are inextricably linked in the so-called drug war, in which nearly 90% of the product coming from Mexico is destined for the U.S. marketplace of drug users and abusers. Thorough and thought-provoking, the article is not to be missed.

REVIEW: The Savage City

2011-01-10T07:46:00.000-08:00

KIRKUS REVIEWS

THE SAVAGE CITY
Race, Murder, and a Generation on the Edge
Author: English, T.J.

Review Date: January 15, 2011
Publisher:
Morrow/HarperCollins
Publication Date: March 15, 2011

Superior chronicle of the most violent decade in New York City history.

Through a crisp journalistic lens, English (Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution, 2008, etc.) retraces the tormented life of three men who proved pivotal in Manhattan’s “now-legendary descent into mayhem” from the early ’60s to the mid ’70s, as the struggling civil-rights movement battled a corrupt, brutal law-enforcement agency. Following the March on Washington in the late summer of 1963, two white Upper East Side women were found bound together, raped and brutally slashed to death. Police scrambled to bring the increasingly sensational double-homicide case to swift closure. George Whitmore, a naïve, 19-year-old, partially blind black laborer, was falsely identified as the perpetrator and coerced into signing a multiple-felony confession by the NYPD, then a primarily white-male “autonomous institution.” Whitmore spent a decade defending himself in the face of a merciless, unyielding justice system. English also provides a deep profile of Bill Phillips, a thieving, prejudiced, corrupt second-generation police officer, as well as of Dhoruba Bin Wahad, a fearless ex-convict and Black Panther Party. Culled from a host of wide-ranging interviews, memoirs, court-case transcripts, books, and documentary programming, the author effectively addresses key events like the 1963 Harlem Riots, the shockwaves of Malcolm X’s assassination and the Knapp Commission’s dogged scrutiny of NYPD corruption. Noting that the three centerpiece profiles he features (and the era in which they lived) are “largely forgotten today,” their separate legacies should serve as a cautionary reminder.

A comprehensive, still-shocking exhumation of racial discord in America.

16-page black-and-white photo insert. Agents: Nat Sobel and Judith Weber/Sobel Weber Associates

Fundraiser for the Committee to Protect Journalists

2010-12-20T22:27:00.000-08:00

Dec. 8, 2010: THE IRISH-MEXICAN ALLIANCE, a night of music, poetry and speeches all to raise money for the Committee to Protect Journalists, was a fun and fruitful night. Among the participants were author and journalist T.J. ENGLISH, who hosted the event on behalf of Irish American Writers & Artists, Inc.. English was joined by legendary NYC journalist PETE HAMILL and salsa legend and actor RUBEN BLADES.

THE IRISH-MEXICAN ALLIANCE

2010-11-17T22:05:00.000-08:00

T.J. English is the host of an upcoming event sponsored by Irish American Writers & Artists, Inc. Check out the details on this poster. A night of Celtic & Mexican music, Chicano & Irish poets, Mexican & Irish beer, all to raise money for the Committee to Protect Journalists, who are seeking to call attention to and provide legal assistance for Mexican journalists who are being killed intimidated and forced to seek asylum in the U.S. for DOING THEIR JOB, i.e. reporting on the Narco War in Mexico.

If you are in the NYC area on Wednesday, December 8, 2010, you do not want to miss this event.

The First Review

2010-11-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

The first review of THE SAVAGE CITY, from the December 2010 issue of Booklist magazine:

The Savage City: Race, Murder, and a Generation on the Edge.
T.J. English (Author)
Mar 2011. 496 p. Morrow, hardcover, $27.99.

In Manhattan in August 1963, two white women were hacked to death in a crime the tabloids would call the Career Girls Murders. The police picked up a near-blind 19-year-old black youth and spent hours pressuring him into confessing to the crime. George Whitmore would spend the next decade fighting the setup as police and prosecutors persisted in what they knew to be a miscarriage of justice. That same decade was the most violent in the history of New York City, with escalating racial tension between the police and black nationalist groups. Acclaimed journalist English profiles Whitmore, as well as Bill Phillips, a brazenly corrupt second-generation NYPD cop, and Dhoruba bin Wahad, a gangbanger turned Black Panther, to present an epic look at the racial animus, fear, and hatred that characterized that troubled decade. Drawing on interviews with former police and prosecutors, activists, hustlers, and journalists, English recounts a time of growing and visceral hostility between a police department steeped in corruption and a besieged black community that exploded in violence. He chronicles the rise of the Black Panther Party in New York and the Knapp Commission investigation of police corruption that was later depicted in the movies Serpico and Prince of the City. Through the lives of three ostensibly unrelated men, English peels back the underlying turmoil that led to the violent period and the unaddressed social ills that remain to this day.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The New York Times best-selling author of Havana Nocturne returns with a dramatic true story of race, police corruption, and urban chaos in 1960s New York.
— Vanessa Bush

(THE SAVAGE CITY will be published in March 2011.)

Coming soon!!

2010-07-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

THE SAVAGE CITY
Race, Murder, and a Generation on the Edge

A major new work of social history and true crime by T.J. ENGLISH.

THE SAVAGE CITY will be published in March 2011.

NY Press Club Best Crime Reporting 2010

2010-06-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Magazine article by T.J. English cited as best crime reporting of 2009

2010-05-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

MAY 10, 2010 -- The New York Press Club announced today that among its winners for the 2010 New York Press Club Journalism Awards is T.J. English. The author of Havana Nocturne, The Westies and other non-fiction crime books is to be honored for his article DOPE, which appeared in the December 2009 issue of Playboy magazine. DOPE chronicles the career of a veteran DEA agent under indictment for having framed more than a dozen people in Cleveland, Ohio on bogus narcotics charges. The article was selected as the year's best in the category of Crime Reporting/Magazine.

The New York Press Club was established in 1948 and gives out annual awards for the best journalism from newspapers, magazines, the web, television, wire services, and radio. The award is considered to be among the most prestigious journalism honors in the country and, this year, will be given out at a banquet and ceremony on June 14 in New York City.

Of the honor, English said, "The New York Press Club is comprised of some of the most accomplished working journalists in the world. It is especially gratifying to have the article cited and awarded by fellow writers, editors and reporters."

English has a new book that will be published later this year under the title, THE SAVAGE CITY (HarperCollins) that deals with an era of hostility between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Movement in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Island to Island

2010-02-28T15:25:00.000-08:00

T.J. ENGLISH reading at the Relief for Haiti Benefit, February 24, 2010.

IAW&A RAISES $107,500 FOR HAITI RELIEF
The earthquake in Haiti has created a crisis that will last for many years. On the night of February 24th, the organization IRISH AMERICAN WRITERS & ARTISTS, INC. (IAW&A), co-founded by author and journalist T.J. ENGLISH, hosted a benefit to raise money for relief in Haiti. ISLAND PEOPLE SUPPORTING ISLAND PEOPLE was the theme of the evening. Many musical acts, readers and guest speakers were featured, and the event was co-hosted by T.J. English. The benefit raised $107,500 to be donated to CONCERN WORLDWIDE, a Ireland-based relief organization that had boots on the ground in Haiti even before the earthquake struck. For more on IAW&A, check out their website at http://www.i-am-wa.org.

Relief for Haiti

2010-02-05T18:31:00.000-08:00

The after effects of the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti will continue to be felt for generations. The need is great. A benefit concert is being organized by the non-profit organization Irish American Writers & Artists, Inc. (IAW&A), of which writer T.J. English is one of the co-founders. The event is called RELIEF FOR HAITI: ISLAND PEOPLE SUPPORTING ISLAND PEOPLE and will showcase music, readings and other entertainment from Irish America, Ireland, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere. Proceeds from this event will go to the Irish-based charity organization CONCERN.

RELIEF FOR HAITI:
ISLAND PEOPLE SUPPORTING ISLAND PEOPLE

WHEN: February 24, 2010, Wednesday, 7 pm- 11pm
WHERE: Connolly's Pub, Manhattan, W. 45th St bten 6th and 7th Avenues
HOW MUCH: $30 suggested donation (more if you can)
Your tax deductible contribution will go to CONCERN, a charity organization with people on the ground in Haiti -- even before the earthquake.

HAVANA NOCTURNE movie in development

2009-07-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

(from The Hollywood Reporter
June 29, 2009)

by Steven Zeitchik

A trio of prominent producers are teaming up for "Havana Nocturne," a story of gangsters in 1950's Cuba based on T.J. English's New York Times bestseller.

Eric Eisner ("Hamlet 2"), Gil Adler ("Superman Returns"), and Shane McCarthy (untitled Robeert Cooley mob drama at Paramount) are attached as producers on the project. Eisner's L+E banner will produce and finance development, while Adler will produce via his Gilbert Adler Prods.

"Nocturne" centers on a group of mainly American gangsters in Batista's Cuba, particularly Meyer Lansky, who run a freewheeling country's casinos, nightclubs and other debaucherous businesses, and the rivalries that emerge as they lead the high life.

But the good times of their so-called "mobsters paradise" threaten to end when Castro's rebels and the Cuban Revolution begin to gather steam. William Morrow published English's book last year.

Matt Cirulnick has signed on to pen the script. The WME-repped scribe is also penning L+E's English-language adaptation of Bernard Tavernier's French thriller "Bait."

Movies set in Cuba have tended to be more earnest political affairs like "The Motorcycle Diaries" or show a specific side of Cuban life, like Wim Wenders' Oscar-nominated "The Buena Vista Social Club." But this one, producers say, will aim to show the entirety of the Cuban experience at the time, from mobsters plotting in nightclubs to the revolutionaries plotting in the jungle.

"We really want to show Havana and Cuba as a character at a time that it's booming," Eisner said. "This is about mobsters who don't only control a few businesses but try to control an entire country, and the tension that results when their plans go awry."

The movie, Eisner said, will use politics as a backdrop but be less politically explicit than, say, the Sydney Pollack-Robert Redford collaboration "Havana."

Adler is a veteran producer who in additon to the reboot of the Superman franchise counts "Valkyrie" and Warners' comic-book actioner "Constantine" among his credits.

Eisner, best known for the Sundance hit "Hamlet 2" also is developing a Jerry Garcia biopic with "Little Miss Sunshine" producers Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa as well as the undercover crime-adventure tale "The King of Sting." McCarthy is producing the life story of mobster-turned-FBI-agent Robert Cooley for Paramount.

Producers say they have not yet decided on how hard to seek permission to shoot in Cuba. In the past 50 years, the government has been highly restrictive about allowing U.S. crews into the country. Consequently, many Cuba-set pictures are shot in other Caribbean nations such as the Dominican Republic.

(The Hollywood Reporter)

IN THE LION'S DEN

2009-06-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

An Account of Traveling To and Doing
Research in Cuba During the Mysterious
Demise of Commandante Fidel

By T.J. English

[The following was written to be included in the promotional material for HAVANA NOCTURNE when it was first published in June 2008, during the Bush years. Since that time, there have been changes in U.S.-Cuba policy. Fidel officially retired. Barack Obama was elected president. The Obama administration has changed laws, making it easier for Cubans in the U.S. to visit relatives back home. Both governments have voiced a desire to move diplomatic relations into the 21st Century. We shall see.]

Researching the book Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba… And Then Lost It to the Revolution involved numerous trips to Cuba. Although I was granted what is called a “specific license” to travel to Cuba by the U.S. Treasury Department, this did little to alleviate the strangeness of visiting a country that has for forty-plus years claimed to be the sworn enemy of the United States government. As anyone who has traveled to Cuba knows, the journey is fraught with bureaucratic obfuscation, dread, and many occasions for the kind of misunderstandings that lead to hostile interrogation, diarrhea, imprisonment, and/or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Problems begin with the application process. The rules for receiving a special license to travel to Cuba are deliberately vague. The branch of the Treasury Department that processes these applications is called the Office of Foreign Assets Control. They do not respond directly to phone calls or e-mails. You receive the application via mail or computer download, follow the written rules as best you can, then submit the application and wait to receive a response.

My first application was rejected. I couldn’t figure out why: I had described why I wanted to do research in Cuba, where I would be staying and who I would be interviewing. My project clearly came under the guidelines for legitimate research allowed under the Trading With the Enemy Act, which otherwise bans U.S. citizens from doing any kind of commercial business with Cuba. The only thing I could figure is that there was something wrong with the politics of my application. The subject of U.S. mobsters operating in Cuba during the reign of President Batista is a loaded one: would I be suggesting in my book that the U.S. government was somehow complicit with the Mobsters? Would I be suggesting that the moral rot caused by the Mafia in Cuba was justification for the Revolution and the rise of Fidelismo? Was I an anti-American stooge looking to make the current U.S. administration look bad?

I re-wrote the application and submitted it a second time. This time, in the section where I described the focus of my research, I wrote that I would be investigating whether the Mafiosi had been funneling guns and money NOT TO THE U.S.-BACKED BATISTA GOVERNMENT, but to Fidel and the revolutionaries. It was a small but crucial distinction: suggesting the Mob was in cahoots with the rebel insurgency and not the capitalists was apparently sweet music to someone at the Office of Foreign Assets Control. It was the only difference between my first application and the second: this one came back stamped APPROVED.

I was nervous entering Havana. It was August 2006, and Castro only weeks earlier had disappeared from public view with some kind of grave mystery illness. Rumors were swirling: Fidel was dying. Fidel was already dead and it was being covered up by the country’s communist regime. Fidel’s demise would lead to mass confusion, revolution or maybe an armed invasion by the Bush Administration. A certain amount of paranoia, fantasy and misinformation has always characterized Cuba-U.S. relations, but this was a level of hysteria not seen since the days of the Cuban Missile crisis.

Cuba was in lock-down mode. Some foreign journalists were being expelled from the country, others denied entry. The Cuban government was trying to control the flow of information from the island. Friends of mine – even journalists who had themselves traveled to Cuba before – told me to forget it. There was no way Cuban authorities would let me into the country, they said. One friend suggested that I line my baggage with small bottles of perfume and claim that I was visiting a lover in Havana (the thinking being that Cubans are suckers for matters of the heart). Others suggested I’d be better off traveling there as many Americans do – via a third country like Mexico or Canada, bypassing official channels.

It was too late for that – I’d applied for the authorization and been approved and was determined to research the book in a manner acceptable to both countries. I decided on a novel strategy: to tell the absolute truth to Cuban customs, that I was an author researching a book on the era of U.S. mobsters in Cuba.

I happened to be traveling to Havana at a time of year when most Cuban Americans return to the island to visit family (they are allowed to do so by the U.S. government once every three years). The chartered plane from Miami was packed with Cubans loaded with duffle bags, baggage bursting at the seams and boxes filled with gifts and supplies for relatives back home. Entering customs in Havana, I stood out as a gringo traveling solo and was immediately pulled aside by a member of the military police who doubled as a customs official.

The guy was respectful, but the grilling was thorough and lasted the better part of an hour. My suitcase was spread open before me and I was asked to explain virtually every item inside, including the tape recorder, notepads, and copious books about Cuban history and different aspects of Cuban culture. I explained insistently that I was not a journalist. I was not in Cuba to investigate or write about Castro’s current condition. I was there to research a long-ago time in the country’s history when, as I carefully phrased it, “the mafia was chased out of Cuba by the Revolution.”

As in my dealings with the U.S. Treasury Department, my argument here required a fine-tuned understanding of the necessary buzz words, political emphasis and outright propaganda acceptable to The Powers That Be. I knew that the Cuban government would be pre-disposed to approve of the subject of my research, if it was properly presented. The Cuban revolutionary government is proud of having “chased the mafia out of Cuba.” Just in case, I had packed in my suitcase on top of my clothes a copy of the collected writings of Jose Martí.

A 19th Century poet, revolutionary and architect of Cuban independence, Martí is a revered figure within the universe of the Revolution. Fidel has cited Martí repeatedly as an inspiration and declared him a national hero. Placing that book so prominently in my luggage was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done in my life (if I do say so myself). When the customs agent saw it, his eyes lit up and his entire demeanor changed. It was as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders – and mine, too. He told me to put my stuff back in my suitcase and wait in a specified area. He left the area and was out of view for twenty minutes. I figured that, under the circumstances, there was a fifty-fifty chance I’d be allowed into Cuba. I tried not to sweat too much. The custom’s official returned, stuck out his hand and said, “Bienvenidos a Cuba. Puedes entrar.” We shook hands. I wanted to jump up and click my heels. I was in.

I stayed in Havana for two weeks on that first trip. I checked into the Hotel Riviera, the same place mobster Meyer Lansky had constructed in 1957 when the Mob in Cuba was at the height of its power. I later moved to the Hotel Nacional, where Lucky Luciano had stayed and where a famous mobster conference had taken place that would inaugurate the era of the Mob in Cuba. Later I moved to a private residence in the neighborhood of Vedado, which is the center of the action for habaneros or visitors in-the-know.

Recapturing the spirit of the era when the Mob reigned in Havana was not difficult. Havana today seems as though it is frozen in time. The buildings and streets are the same, though many are now crumbling and decrepit. American-model cars from the 1940s and 50s cruise the streets. Many of the hotels and nightclubs from the era are still in existence, their neon signs harkening back to a time long ago. Clothing styles in Havana haven’t changed much in forty years. It is easy to imagine that you are walking the streets in the waning weeks of 1958, only days before President Batista suddenly fled Cuba and the island fell to the Castro Revolution.

I interviewed many people in Havana: historians, workers at the various hotels where the U.S. mobsters stayed, writers, musicians, taxi drivers, former and current members of the Revolution. I did research at the national library in Havana (I still have my Cuban library card) and had access to the National Archives. I visited the sights and locations where prominent events in the story of the Mafia in Cuba unfolded long ago. I did not bother trying to interview Fidel Castro, who was indisposed at the time (Sick? Dead? Dying?). I did request an interview with Raúl Castro, Fidel’s brother, who had dramatically taken over control of the Cuban government due to Fidel’s mystery illness. I was politely informed that Raúl was presently occupied handling matters of state, i.e. the transfer of power from one Castro to the other.

I was not monitored or restricted in Havana in any way. Official representatives of the government and everyday Cubans spoke freely with me about the subject of my research and also about U.S.-Cuba relations. The U.S. embargo against trade with Cuba has contributed to a life of unrelenting economic hardship for the average Cuban citizen, but they do not blame the American people. I did hear anti-U.S. government sentiment and expressions of enmity towards the Bush Administration, but even that was secondary to the more pressing reality of daily survival in a city where the average person makes $22 per month.

There was, of course, much discussion about the situation with Fidel. No one knew for sure if Castro was going to live or what the future held for Cuba. Some Cubans wanted things to stay as they were, others wanted either dramatic or incremental change. It was a fascinating time to be in the country, adding a layer of intrigue and debate to my investigations of those years long ago when the Castro brothers first took over the government.

I made two more trips to Havana over the next fifteen months, each journey more fruitful and less fraught with paranoia than the last. I walked the streets, smoked wonderful cigars, drank rum, danced to incredible music, and got to know the people. Over time, I came to feel as though the subject I was investigating was central to understanding U.S.-Cuba relations. The U.S. mobsters in Cuba had wanted to exploit the island for their own economic gain, to turn Havana into a Devil’s Playground. But they also became intoxicated by the island and fell in love with the place.

After numerous research trips to the city, I could see why.

With its U.S. mobster history, present-day hardships, and uncertain future, there is no place on earth quite like the city of Havana. It is unique.
(copyright: T.J. English)

HAVANA NOCTURNE now in paperback

2009-06-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

To underworld kingpins Meyer lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Cuba was the greatest hope for the future of American organized crime in the post-Prohibition years. In the 1950s, the Mob -- with the corrupt, repressive government of brutal Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in its pocket -- owned Havana's biggest luxury hotels and casinos, launching an unprecedented tourism boom complete with the most lavish entertainment, top-drawer celebrities, gorgeous women, and gambling galore. But Mob dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others who would lead an uprising of the country's disenfranchised against Batista's hated government and its foreign partners -- an epic cultural battle the bestselling author T.J. English captures here in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory.

"HAVANA NOCTURNE has the air of a thriller with the bonus of being true... [English's] well-researched descriptions of how business, gambling, politics, revolution, music, and religion all played off each other give [it] a broad context and a knowledgeable edge."
--Tom Miller, Washington Post Book World

You can purchase the New York Times bestseller, HAVANA NOCTURNE, online or at bookstores everywhere.

20 Essential Non-fiction Crime Books (for the aficionado)

2009-05-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

by T.J. English

Look at any best seller list and what do you see: celebrity tell-alls, celebrity memoirs, topical political books, and mass market novels - books that are generally read quickly and tossed aside. A great non-fiction crime book, on the other hand, is savored like fine wine (or rot-gut whiskey, depending on the cut of your gib). The best of the lot sometimes climb best seller lists and lurk there like a crazy uncle in the attic. If it’s really good – a well-crafted yarn that is also thoroughly researched, notated and sourced – it’s the kind of book you keep on your shelf (or on your Kindle) for a lifetime.
Here is a list of twenty non-fiction crime books that, from my corner of the attic, represent the cream of the genre. Some are of recent vintage, others classics that have withstood the test of time.

1. THE EXECUTIONER’S SONG – NORMAN MAILER. The heavyweight champion of non-fiction crime books. This book succeeds masterfully at the single-most important task of any author: to tell a good story. Beautifully written, with a level of psychological insight that elevates the story of Gary Gilmore, a rampaging killer who goes to the electric chair, to the level of great art.
2. IN COLD BLOOD – TRUMAN CAPOTE. In telling the tale of two drifters who murder an entire Kansas family, Capote created a new genre: the non-fiction novel. Still the best of its kind.
3. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X – ARTHUR HALEY. The early years of Malcolm Little’s adulthood were mired in crime and sociopathic behavior. How Little educated, redeemed and recreated himself as Malcolm X is one of the most compelling stories in American literature.
4. THE HOT HOUSE – PETE EARLY. There have been many non-fiction books about prison life, but none with the same level of detail and intensity as Early’s exposé about Leavenworth Prison. Harrowing and unforgettable, this book will haunt your dreams.
5. DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY – JONATHAN LARSON. Crafted with the delicacy of a Swiss watch, this book is also creepy and terrifying. An irresistible combination of expert historical research and evocative prose, Larson’s masterpiece about a serial killer loose at the 1898 Chicago World’s Fair was on the New York Times best seller list for two years.
6. SUCKER’S PROGRESS – HERBERT ASBURY. The author of Gangs of New York also wrote this sweeping history of gambling in America. The book is loaded with larger-than-life reprobates and daring chance-takers who blazed a trail in U.S. gambling circles in the century before Las Vegas made it “family friendly.”
7. MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL – JOHN BERENDT. This picaresque exploration of a high society murder in Savannah, Georgia shows how books can do what movies cannot: detail the multi-layered nature of a particular social universe in all its glories and contradictions (if you saw the movie, you know what I mean). The book became a publishing phenomenon for one simple reason: it is a whopping good read.
8. LITTLE MAN – ROBERT LACEY. The life story of Meyer Lansky and arguably the best biography of a major Mob figure ever written. Through scrupulous research and with a healthy dose of skepticism, Lacey punctures many of the myths that grew up around the legendary Jewish Mob boss and underworld financier.
9. A FATHER’S STORY – LIONEL DAHMER. If you’ve ever allowed yourself to wonder what it would be like to be the parent of a monstrous serial killer, this is the book to read. Heartbreaking and disturbing, Dahmer reveals that his son Jeffrey’s psychosis was all the more shocking because his upbringing was seemingly so “normal.”
10. THE OUTFIT – GUS RUSSO. In telling the full story of the Chicago Mob in the years after Al Capone to the end of the Twentieth Century, Russo bites off and masticates a thick t-bone of American history. Exhaustive and masterful, the book details the connections between organized crime and politics that are still deeply ingrained in the fabric of contemporary life.
11. A PICKPOCKET’S TALE – TIMOTHY J. GILFOYLE. There have been other good books on the subject of underworld crime in Nineteenth Century America, but few as well observed and researched as this chronicle of George Appo, a Chinese-Irish con man who lived a life of crime, testified in court against corrupt cops, and played himself on Broadway. A flavorsome depiction of New York City’s urban demimonde, complete with hookers and venereal disease.
12. TOUGH JEWS – RICH COHEN. Some of the most hardened gangsters in American underworld lore were of the Hebrew persuasion. Cohen personalized the story by connecting it to his own family history, and he also unearths long-buried anecdotes about “Kid Twist” Reles, Arnold Rothstein, Lewis “Lepke” Buchalter, “Bugsy” Siegel, Lansky, and others.
13. WISEGUY – NICHOLAS PILEGGI. In telling the story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Italian mobster from Queens, New York, Pileggi brought the mafia story down from its lofty Godfather perch to the streets where it belonged. Written in the first-person, the book takes the reader on a wild ride through the life of a professional gangster – which director Martin Scorsese rendered faithfully in Goodfellas.
14. ALWAYS RUNNING – LUIS RODRIGUEZ. The process by which first and second-generation immigrant males became lured into the world of gangsterism is a story as American as apple pie. In lyrical and insightful prose, Rodriguez details his youth as a budding Chicano gang banger in Los Angeles. Must reading for young males of any ethnicity, whether Irish, Italian, Asian or Latino.
15. EDUCATION OF A FELON – EDDIE BUNKER. A professional crook and longtime prison inmate, Bunker reinvented himself in later years as a crime novelist and part time actor with a mug that only a mother could love (he played Mister White in Quintan Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs). This non-fiction memoir is a brutally honest look at the criminal life from a man who was redeemed by an impressive literary talent.
16. MY DARK PLACES – JAMES ELLROY. The quintessential hardboiled crime novelist, Ellroy investigates his mother’s long-ago murder and in so doing unearths a number of hideous family secrets. This mesmerizing non-fiction book takes the reader deep into the mind of a brilliant crime writer and sheds light on why his authorial voice is so genuinely twisted.
17. ALL GOD’S CHILDREN – FOX BUTTERFIELD. The story of Willie Boskitt, once termed “the most violent criminal in America,” is a story of poverty and violence as a way of life. Butterfield painstakingly excavates the entire Boskitt family history from Brooklyn back to its Southern roots, showing that violence and poverty were an inheritance going back to Bullwhip Days. A sobering, eye-opening delineation of the roots of American violence.
18. BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE – DEE BROWN. The stain of slavery and the genocide of Native Americans are two institutional atrocities that cast a dark shadow over the American experience. Brown’s classic history of governmental deception and brutality in the war against “the red man” goes a long way towards explaining why violence and predatory crime are so deeply ingrained in our national psyche. A painful though essential read.
19. MANHUNT – JAMES L. SWANSON. John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at the Ford Theatre and went on the lam. For eight days federal agents were hot on his trail. Robert Swanson uses the event to craft a taut thriller that also illuminates many of the most important political and sociological issues surrounding Lincoln’s life and death.
20. TULIA – NATE BLAKESLEE. The gut-wrenching story of a small Texas town in which more than three dozen African American residents were framed on trumped-up narcotics charges by local law enforcement officials. Blakeslee first broke the story for the Texas Observer in 2000, and in his book he broadens and deepens the implications of the conspiracy. An instant classic that exposes the dark side of America’s so-called “War on Drugs.”

T.J. ENGLISH is the author of four non-fiction crime books, including most recently Havana Nocturne, which was on the following best seller lists: New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Publisher’s Weekly and USA Today.

T.J. on "The Daily Show"

2008-08-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

On July 23, 2008, T.J. was interviewed on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart".

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=177437&title=t.j.-english

Welcome!

2008-04-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the News & Blog Page for TJ-ENGLISH.COM.