True Crime / Nonfiction

Janet Albertson

Janet Albertson was the longest serving member of the Homicide Bureau at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, serving from 1993-2018. She has prosecuted some of Suffolk County’s most notorious murderers, including Daniel Pelosi who killed millionaire financier Ted Ammon at his East Hampton estate.

She now works in private practice and consults.

David Berg

David Berg is a trial lawyer who has tried virtually every kind of civil and criminal case. Less than three years into his practice, he argued and won a case in the U.S. Supreme Court, reversing his client’s conviction sentence for his role in a Vietnam War protest. 

He successfully sued the KKK, along with the Southern Poverty Law Center, stopping the Klan’s violence against Vietnamese fisherman along the Texas Gulf Coast and shutting down their paramilitary training camps. 

He won a $12.5 million wrongful death verdict against Missouri/Union Pacific Railroad over a dangerous grade crossing, after which, unfortunately, the railroad lobby obtained a regulation virtually exempting railroads from liability for grade crossing accidents.

During the 2020 elections, David and his wife, Kathryn, led a trial team that obtained a federal injunction against President Trump, Postmaster General DeJoy, and the U.S. Postal Service, compelling them to reverse policies designed to slow down delivery of absentee and mail-in ballots to voters.

David is also an essayist and author. His first book, THE TRIAL LAWYER: WHAT IT TAKE TO WIN (ABA 2008) is part war stories, part how-to manual for trial lawyers. His popular memoir, RUN BROTHER RUN: A MEMOIR ABOUT A MURDER IN MY FAMILY (Scribner 2013), the story of his brother’s murder by Charles Harrelson, a Texas hitman, received widespread critical praise:

“We are in Mary Karr memoir territory here, in Texas no less. . . David Berg’s superb tale of his brother’s shocking murder is true crime at its most intimate, and most personal.” – S. C. Gwynne (author of EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON)

“What is remarkable about the book, though, is Mr. Berg’s writing. He elegantly brings to life the rough-and-tumble boomtown that was 1960s-era Houston, and conveys with unflinching force the emotional damage his brother’s death did to his family.” – The New York Times

“David Berg has written a book that makes me think I’d like to be friends with him. No book that I’ve encountered so far this year has a voice that is as assured and entertaining as Berg’s in this uncanny, addictive memoir.” – Claiborne Smith, features editor, Kirkus

“This book has everything…The story is filled with the dusty small town criminal wheeling and dealings of a Grisham novel, and there’s plenty of courtroom drama. The book inhabits the worlds of Texas, Washington DC, Las Vegas and Hollywood. Berg knows how to keep an audience engrossed.” – Guardian US summer reads, Best Memoir

Anthony M. DeStefano

Anthony “Tony” DeStefano is a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York City journalist and author who has covered crime and related topics for over 35 years. He is the author of eight true crime books, including the most recent: THE DEADLY DON: VITO GENOVESE MAFIA BOSS and GOTTI’S BOYS: THE MAFIA CREW THAT KILLED FOR JOHN GOTTI, both published by Kensington Publishing.

His other true crime books published by Kensington include TOP HOODLUM: FRANK COSTELLO, PRIME MINISTER OF THE MAFIA and LAST GODFATHER: JOSEPH THE MASSINO AND THE FALL OF THE BONANNO CRIME FAMILY. 

Tony has covered a wide range of legal related subjects, specializing in organized crime, white collar crime and immigration. He published THE WAR ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING: U.S. POLICY ASSESSED through Rutgers University Press. In conducting research for the book, he traveled both to Europe and Central America. 

Tony received a Bachelor of Science degree from Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY), a Master of Arts from Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI), and a Juris Doctor from New York Law School (New York, NY.)

Tony is an attorney and member of the New York State Bar and has appeared in a number of television documentaries about organized crime and true crime stories.

Betty Frizzell

Betty Frizzell is the author of IF YOU CAN’T QUIT CRYIN’, YOU CAN’T COME HERE NO MORE, which was featured on Netflix’s I AM A KILLER, Season 3, Episode 1.

She is the former chief of the Winfield, Missouri Police Department. She also served as a Deputy Sheriff and Police officer. As a Detective, she was assigned as a liaison to the Federal Bureau of Investigation working crimes against person cases. 

Frizzell taught criminal justice courses as a professor. She served as a member of the Citizens Advisory Board for the State of Missouri Department of Corrections: Probation and Parole Division and was honored as the Lincoln County Law Enforcement Officer of the Year in 2001.

She was also honored as a Starfish award winner from Seattle Children’s Hospital and received an award of recognition from the State of WA Department of Health and Social Services in 2016. Frizzell currently resides in Seattle, Washington, but remains closely connected to Missouri.

She continues her work as a criminal justice reformer and mental health awareness advocate, and is a speaker for the Law Enforcement Action Partnership and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. 

Her work is published in Huffington Post, St. Louis Post Dispatch, and other national newspapers. She has testified for criminal justice reform in front of the Missouri State and Washington State Senate.

Steven Gaines

Steven Gaines is the bestselling author of PHILISTINES AT THE HEDGEROW: PASSION AND PROPERTY IN THE HAMPTONS and a former NPR radio host. He is the co-founder and past vice-chairman of the Hamptons International Film Festival.

Steven also wrote THE SKY’S THE LIMIT: PASSION AND PROPERTY IN MANHATTAN; SIMPLY HALSTON, THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE FASHION DESIGNER, and a memoir, ONE OF THESE THINGS FIRST.

His journalism has appeared in Vanity Fair, the New York Observer, The New York Times, and New York magazine, where he was a contributing editor for 12 years. 

For seven years his weekly radio interview show, Sunday Brunch Live from the American Hotel in Sag Harbor aired during the summer and fall months on a National Public Radio affiliate.

Steven has lived in Wainscott, a small hamlet on the East End of Long Island, for 40 years.

Joseph Giacalone

Joseph Giacalone is a retired NYPD Sergeant SDS, current adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, author, and media resource. Joe is a widely sought-after expert on everything involving law enforcement.

His textbook, THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE FUNCTION: A GUIDE FOR NEW INVESTIGATORS is in its 4th Edition and has been used throughout the country to train new detectives and supervisors. He is also under contract for a new textbook involving cold cases. Joe was also the former Commanding Officer of the NYPD’s Bronx Cold Case Squad.

Joe can be heard every Friday morning for The Crime Report on Suffolk County’s only talk radio station, 103.9 FM. Learn more at josephgiacalone.com

Raymond W. Kelly

With 50 years in public service, including 14 years as Police Commissioner of the City of New York, Raymond W. Kelly is one of the world’s most well-known and highly esteemed leaders in law enforcement. He is the longest serving police commissioner in the city’s history and the first to serve a second, separate tenure. Kelly was police commissioner under Mayor David N. Dinkins from 1992-1994 and for Mayor Michael Bloomberg from 2002-2013.

In 2002, Commissioner Kelly created the first counterterrorism bureau of any municipal police department in the country. He also established a new global intelligence program and stationed New York City detectives in eleven foreign cities. In addition to dedicating extensive resources to preventing another terrorist attack, under Kelly the NYPD drove down violent crime by over 40 percent from 2001 levels. Commissioner Kelly also established a Real Time Crime Center, a state-of-the-art facility that uses data mining to search millions of computer records and put investigative leads into the hands of detectives in the field.

Between terms as Police Commissioner, Kelly worked in the private sector as senior managing director of global corporate security at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and for the federal government as Commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service, where he managed the agency’s 20,000 employees and $20 billion in annual revenue. For his accomplishments at Customs, Commissioner Kelly was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Medal for Exceptional Service.

From 1996 to 1998, Commissioner Kelly was undersecretary for enforcement at the U.S. Treasury Department (the third highest post in the department at the time). There, he supervised the department’s enforcement bureaus including the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

In addition, Mr. Kelly served on the executive committee and was elected Vice President for the Americas of Interpol, the international police organization, from 1996 to 2000. In 1994, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as director of the international police monitors in Haiti, a U.S.-led force responsible for establishing an interim police force there. For this service, Commissioner Kelly was awarded the Exceptionally Meritorious Service Commendation by the President of the United States.

A forty-three-year veteran of the NYPD, Commissioner Kelly served in 25 different commands before being named police commissioner. He was appointed to the New York City Police Department in 1963. Shortly thereafter he accepted a commission to the United States Marine Corps Officer Program. He served on active military duty for three years including a combat tour in Vietnam. He returned to the police department in 1966 and entered the New York City Police Academy, graduating with the highest combined average for academics, physical achievement, and marksmanship. He was also a member of the inaugural class of the New York City Police Cadet Corps for three years while a student at Manhattan College. During his tenure in the NYPD, Kelly received 14 citations of merit for outstanding police work. Commissioner Kelly retired as a colonel from the Marine Corps Reserves after 30 years of service.

Commissioner Kelly holds a BBA from Manhattan College, a JD from St. John’s University School of Law, an LLM from New York University Graduate School of Law, and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has been awarded honorary degrees from the Catholic University of America, Manhattan College, St. John’s University, the State University of New York, the College of St. Rose, Iona College, Marist College, New York University, Pace University, Quinnipiac University, St. Thomas Aquinas College, and Centenary University. In 2014, Manhattan College dedicated the new Raymond W. Kelly Student Commons.

Kelly is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a former ABC News contributor, and serves on the advisory boards of the Counter Extremism Project, Applied DNA Sciences, Clearview AI and Bond. In 2016, His Eminence Cardinal Dolan named Commissioner Kelly to the Board of Directors of The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation.

In September 2006, Commissioner Kelly was awarded France’s highest decoration, the Légion d'honneur, by then French Minister of the Interior Nicholas Sarkozy.

His book, VIGILANCE: MY LIFE SERVING AMERICA AND PROTECTING ITS EMPIRE CITY was published in 2015.

Kelly is currently CEO of The Guardian Group.

Hugh King

Hugh King is the Town Crier and Historian for East Hampton Town and has been studying local history since the 1980’s.

His goal is to make people aware of East Hampton’s history, beyond the moniker “the Hamptons.” He believes it is important that all its citizens know about the village’s past to help plan for the future.

The favorite part of his job of enlightening others is learning from his own research.

Hugh is the Village Historian and Historic Site Director in charge of Home Sweet Home Museum, the most distinguished salt-box home in East Hampton, as well as the three Village Windmills, Hook, Gardiner and Pantigo.

As Village Historian, he answers inquiries concerning Village history, arranges and conducts open-air historical tours, and shares Village history at Board of Trustee meetings. As Historic Site Director, he conducts walk-throughs of Home Sweet Home and arranges guides for the Hook Mill.

Prior to working for the Village, Hugh was a teacher for 33 years, and from 1963-1999, he was an actor in local theater productions.

From 2000-2014 he worked alongside his wife, the respected historian Loretta Orion, who tended the Home Sweet Home gardens. The historic gardens reflect styles and plant species found in the United States and Europe that date back from medieval times to the nineteenth century. 

Jax Miller

Jax Miller is an American author and true crime news writer. Her fiction debut FREEDOM’S CHILD was translated into 17 languages, received critical acclaim, and earned her the 2016 Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle, and several CWA award nominations.

Her first true crime book HELL IN THE HEARTLAND was the basis for a limited series on CNN’s HLN network and aired on HBOMax, for which she was creator, host, and executive producer. It was featured in HuffPost, Marie Claire, OK! Magazine, Bustle, and as an Editor’s Pick on Amazon. 

Miller spends her days as a news writer for Oxygen and NBCUniversal, with true crime features in HuffPost, Yahoo News, Writer’s Digest, the Dr. Oz show, and Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. 

Miller currently resides between New York and Ireland with her husband, John. In her spare time, she writes screenplays, grows pumpkins, and enjoys all things Halloween and rock n’ roll. 

Dan Rattiner

Dan Rattiner founded Dan’s Papers in 1960 on the east end of Long Island.  

He writes several hundred stories a year for that publication, including some about serious crimes, such as the murders of Ted Ammon, Diane Pikul and Roy Radin. 

Dan co-founded the alternate weekly newspaper East Village Other in Manhattan and The Block Island Times on Block Island. He has written more than a dozen books published by, among others, Random House, Assouline and Pushcart Press.  

His cartoons have appeared in Esquire, The Realist, McLeans and The Saturday Review of Literature and he’s had one-man shows at galleries throughout the Hamptons. 

Dan has had speaking parts in two films, traveled widely, worked at The New York Times, and hosted a show on WQXR for five years. He received a degree in English from the University of Rochester and subsequently studied for three years at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.  

Spencer Schneider

Spencer Schneider is a native of Long Island. He practices corporate litigation.

His memoir, MANHATTAN CULT STORY: MY UNBELIEVABLE TRUE STORY OF SEX, CRIMES, CHAOS, AND SURVIVAL, (Arcade, 2022), recounts his 23 years in an ultra-secret cult which preys on young, educated professionals. 

An open water marathon and cold water swimmer, Mr. Schneider is also an ocean lifeguard for the Village of East Hampton. He is the founder of the ocean lifeguard school, Hamptons Ocean Lifeguard Academy. 

He is also a contributing writer for East Hampton Star’s East Magazine and lives in Manhattan and East Hampton.  

Casey Sherman

True Crime Chair

Daniel Simone

Daniel Simone is the author of THE LUFTHANSA HEIST, a narrative non-fiction book. His collaborator was the late Henry Hill (immortalized in the blockbuster film GOODFELLAS.) It is one of the most successful books in the history of Lyons Press. The pilot for a multi-seasonal television series is in development.

Simone wrote THE PIERRE HOTEL AFFAIR in his signature narrative non-fiction style, in collaboration with Nick ‘the Cat’ Sacco, the sole surviving bandit of the famous hotel robbery. Paul Davis of The Washington Times said, “It is written in a sensational and lurid style, reminding me of an early Mickey Spillane crime thriller.” THE PIERRE HOTEL AFFAIR is being adapted into a feature film.

THE RETRIAL OF CHARLES MANSON, an explosive and stunningly revelatory account of the Manson case, was published in Europe. Charles Manson assisted and cooperated with Simone, granting him hours of recorded telephone interviews and casual conversations. The manuscript was adapted into an award-winning documentary series, CHARLES MANSON: HIS FINAL WORDS, which premiered in 2017.

THE SECRET WITNESS is about Robert Durst’s upcoming murder trial. Mr. Simone’s co-author, Nick Chavin, was Durst’s best friend and testified as the prosecution’s star witness. Chavin asserted that Durst confessed to him of murdering his wife and their intimate companion, Susan Berman. Ms Berman was the daughter of a former Las Vegas Mafia boss. Durst was the subject of HBO’s highly successful documentary series titled, THE JINX.

52 KILOS IN THE WIND is a book about the disappearance of $78,000,000 in drugs seized in the famed 1963 French connection narcotics bust. Mr. Simone’s co-author is retired Lieutenant Commander Pat Intrieri, who was wrongfully accused and convicted of stealing the heroin from the NYPD Property Clerk’s Office.

THE TERRORIST WHO SAVED AMERICA is a moving story of a German civilian, George Dasch, who is dispatched to the U.S. in 1942 by the Hitler regime. Dasch is to lead a squad of six saboteurs to bomb and destroy strategic buildings and factories across America. A Nazi submarine transports the terrorists. They land undetected one night on an East Hampton beach. It turns out, Dasch’s true intentions are to reunite with his American wife.

Daniel Simone writes in the narrative non-fiction genre created originally by Truman Capote for IN COLD BLOOD. Mr. Simone is one of the few contemporary authors who excel in this style, now coined by the media as the Simoneon Writing Technique.

Jeffrey Sussman

Jeffrey Sussman is the author of 16 non-fiction books. The most recent is SIN CITY GANGSTERS: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE MOB IN LAS VEGAS. Nick Pileggi, author of CASINO AND GOODFELLAS, wrote that SIN CITY GANGSTERS is “Fascinating! It’s All Here! I learned a lot.” 

Among Sussman’s other books are BIG APPLE GANGSTERS: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF THE MOB IN NEW YORK; BOXING AND THE MOB: THE NOTORIOUS HISTORY OF THE SWEET SCIENCE; HOLOCAUST FIGHTERS: BOXERS, RESISTERS, AND AVENGERS; ROCKY GRAZIANO: FISTS, FAME, AND FORTUNE; and MAX BAER AND BARNEY ROSS: JEWISH HEROES OF BOXING.

His books have received favorable reviews a full array of media outlets.

Dave Wedge

Dave Wedge is a New York Times bestselling author of six books, including BOSTON STRONG: A CITY'S TRIUMPH OVER TRAGEDY, a non-fiction drama about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings adapted for the 2017 movie PATRIOTS DAY and co-written with acclaimed author Casey Sherman; 12: THE INSIDE STORY OF TOM BRADY'S FIGHT FOR REDEMPTION; HUNTING WHITEY: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE CAPTURE AND KILLING OF AMERICA’S MOST WANTED CRIME BOSS; and THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN LENNON, written with Sherman and James Patterson.

His most recent true crime thriller, RIDING WITH EVIL: TAKING DOWN THE NOTORIOUS PAGAN MOTORCYCLE GANG, was released in 2021 via Harper Collins and is the story of the only law enforcement officer to ever infiltrate the infamous biker club. 

Dave is also a frequent writer for Boston magazine, has written for VICE, Esquire, and Newsweek and was an award-winning investigative journalist for the Boston Herald for 14 years. He has worked in podcast development for VICE and Double Elvis (DISGRACELAND) and co-hosted the acclaimed true crime podcast SAINTS, SINNERS & SERIAL KILLERS with Sherman, which became a live stage show at Boston’s historic Wilbur Theater.

Dave has offered commentary for a wide variety of national and local broadcast and radio networks, including CNN, MSNBC, E!, France 24, Fox News Channel, and Good Morning America. Find him on Twitter @DaveWedge or Instagram @davidmwedge.