Joseph Wambaugh sells out in pursuit of Echoes in the Darkness.

Joseph Wambaugh spent 14 years as an LAPD patrolman and detective sergeant in the Homicide Division. He parlayed that experience and connections to become a best-selling author.

He wrote two true-crime books and more than a dozen novels – several of which became best sellers – and several of which became Hollywood blockbusters. Plus he helped develop the long-running NBC cop-show Police Story starring Dandy Don Meredith.

So he was doing quite well financially.

Real-life murder stories fall into the genre of true crime. Magazine publishers, book publishers, and TV and movie producers rarely make a deal with the writer until there’s a positive adjudication in the case. In other words, they wait until the jury convicts the killer.

If a story were published or video produced prematurely and the jury failed to convict, the exonerated suspect(s) would sue the shit out of the publishers and producers – and win lots of money.

Now enter the high-profile Philadelphia Main Line Murders of Susan Reinert and her two children in 1979.

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Joe Wambaugh saw another best-seller and another blockbuster movie – and he was right. He performed the research and made a book deal and a movie deal to write Echoes in Darkness. To collect the advances on both projects he needed convictions of the accused killers.

In 1983 a jury convicted William Bradfield of three counts of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced him to three life sentences.

In 1986 another jury convicted Jay C. Smith of three counts of murder and sentenced him to the death penalty.

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CHA-CHING – Joe Wambaugh became richer than ever.

William Morrow & Company published Echoes in Darkness in 1984. In 1987 New World TV produced a two-part mini-series.

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But then something strange happened.

Jack Holtz made $35,000 as a PA state trooper.

But a year after the jury convicted Jay C. Smith, Holtz bought a Porsche 944 and a beachfront home on the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Where’d the money come from?

In the process of moving, Jack Holtz contracted Mark Hughes, who ran a clean-out service, to clean out his basement and attic. Hughes stumbled across a box that contained two handwritten notes from Joe Wambaugh. One note mentioned paying the trooper $50,000 to withhold evidence revealing the fact that William Bradfield acted alone to commit the three murders.

Please say it ain’t so, Joe. Please don’t tell me you fell victim to greed – not my hero.

In 1988 William Bradfield suffered a heart attack and died in Graterford Prison. But in 1992 Jay C. Smith walked out of prison a free man.

I previously covered the Main Line Murders in four parts.

Part 1 Victims – Part 2 Killers – Part 3 Story – Part 4 Bribery

I’m America’s Best Crime Writer

and I approve this message.

Warner Books published Born to Be Wild in 1992 & it still sells every day at Amazon & Kindle. True story about certain members of the Warlocks motorcycle gang.

The story takes 21 years to play out – with many twists & turns – an amalgam of Sons of Anarchy & Breaking Bad – but these outlaw bikers make the Sons look like Cub Scouts.

1010700cookie-checkJoseph Wambaugh Sells Outyes