Robert K. Tanenbaum - Reckless endangerment

Robert K. Tanenbaum is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-five legal thrillers and has an accomplished legal career of his own. Before his first book was published, Tanenbaum had already been the Bureau Chief of the Criminal Courts, had run the Homicide Bureau, and had been in charge of the training program for the legal staff for the New York County District Attorneys Office. He also served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the Congressional Committee investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. In his professional career, Tanenbaum has never lost a felony case. His courtroom experiences bring his books to life, especially in his bestselling series featuring prosecutor Roger Butch Karp and his wife, Marlene Ciampi.

Tanenbaum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the University of California at Berkeley on a basketball scholarship, and remained at Cal, where he earned his law degree from the prestigious Boalt Hall School of Law. After graduating from Berkeley Law, Tanenbaum moved back to New York to work as an assistant district attorney under the legendary New York County DA Frank Hogan. Tanenbaum then served as Deputy Chief Counsel in charge of the Congressional investigations into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The blockbuster novel Corruption of Blood (1994), is a fictionalized account of his experience in Washington, D.C.

Tanenbaum returned to the West Coast and began to serve in public office. He was elected to the Beverly Hills City Council in 1986 and twice served as the mayor of Beverly Hills. It was during this time that Tanenbaum began his career as a novelist, drawing from the many fascinating stories of his time as a New York ADA. His successful debut novel, No Lesser Plea (1987), introduces Butch Karp, an assistant district attorney who is battling for justice, and Marlene Ciampi, his associate and love interest. Tanenbaums subsequent twenty-two novels portrayed Karp and his crime fighting family and eclectic colleagues facing off against drug lords, corrupt politicians, international assassins, the mafia, and hard-core violent felons.

He has had published eight recent novels as part of the series, as well as two nonfiction titles: The Piano Teacher (1987), exploring his investigation and prosecution of a recidivist psychosexual killer, and Badge of the Assassin (1979), about his prosecution of cop killers, which was made into a movie starring James Woods as Tanenbaum.

Tanenbaum and his wife of forty-three years have three children. He currently resides in California where he has taught Advanced Criminal Procedure at the Boalt Hall School of Law and maintains a private law practice.

Tanenbaum as a toddler in the early 1940s. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

A five-year-old Tanenbaum in Brooklyn, near Ocean Parkway.

Tanenbaums family in the early 1950s. From left to right: Bob; his mother, Ruth (a teacher and homemaker); his father, Julius (businessman and lawyer); and his older brother, Bill.

Tanenbaums high school varsity basketball photo from the 5960 season. He played shooting guard, center, and forward, and earned an athletic scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley, where he continued to play.

Tanenbaum shooting during a basketball game his junior year of high school. He wore the number 14 throughout high school and college.

Tanenbaums senior portrait. In addition to basketball, he also played first base for his schools baseball team.

Standing outside a courthouse in downtown Manhattan are Tanenbaum, James Woods, NYPD detective Cliff Fenton, and Yaphet Kotto. Woods and Kotto played Tanenbaum and Fenton in the 1985 movie Badge of the Assassin, based on Tanenbaums book of the same name about a real-life murder mystery in 1971 Harlem.

Seen here in the late 1980s, Mayor Tanenbaum poses with Ed Koch, then mayor of New York City, while Tanenbaums son Billy stands in front wearing a hat given to him by Koch. The two mayors were meeting to discuss a tourist exchange program between Beverly Hills and New York City.

While mayor of Beverly Hills, Tanenbaum awarded Jimmy Stewart, seen here, with this proclamation of Outstanding Citizen of Beverly Hills in the late 1980s.

Tanenbaum and his wife, Patti.

Tanenbaum with Patti and their children Roger, Rachael, and Billy at home in California.

Tanenbaums author photo, which has graced the covers of many of his books.

Again, and yet again, all praise belongs to Michael Gruber, whose genius and scholarship flows throughout and who is primarily and solely responsible for the excellence of this manuscript and whose contribution cannot be overstated.

A special thanks to Bob Diforio for his outstanding representation and guidance.

J ohn Haddads office was located in a small commercial building near Pratt Institute, old but well kept, a relic of the time when Brooklyn had been a major metropolis on its own. Karp took a creaky, mahogany-lined elevator up to the sixth floor. At the receptionists desk in the waiting room of the suite, which seemed otherwise deserted, sat a dark-skinned man in a leather jacket. This person expressed a mien that made it doubtful to Karp that his ordinary task in life was uttering cheerful greetings to clients and fetching coffee. One of his hands was hidden beneath the desk, in a way that suggested it was not empty of lethal force. This person pointed silently at a door, and Karp nodded and followed the point.

Inside was a walnut-paneled office that might have belonged to any mildly prosperous lawyer, of the deeds, closings, trusts and wills sort, its panels decorated with the usual diplomas and awards. Since Haddad was also a politician, the walls also included photos of the owner with various big shotsthe last couple of mayors and governors prominent among them. There was an old oak desk in the center of the room, set on a pale red oriental rug, behind which three large old-fashioned windows looked out on the avenue. Fort Green Park was just visible as a brown smudge in the distance. Haddad and another man were seated on a tufted green leather sofa set along one wall. On a low, ornately inlaid coffee table before them was a brass coffee service, brightly polished. Both men rose when Karp entered, and Haddad made the introductions: Mr. Rahmali, Mr. Karp. Haddads eyes shone behind his spectacles. This was a big moment for him, a far cry from bitching about street-cleaning schedules. They sat and Karp drank some bitter coffee and they exchanged pleasantries. Karp took this occasion to examine the stranger. Tired, was his take, maybe forty-five, but with a lot of hard miles, a small, compact, Peter Lorre-model fellow, a round, cropped head, clean-shaven, deep-set eyes, a bony, flaring nose, all set in a face brown as a grocery bag. Karp had spent a lot of time learning to tell the serious players from the bullshitters. Haddad was a bullshitter, more or less; Mr. Rahmali was a serious player.