Kevin Dwyer - True Stories of Law & Order: The Real Crimes Behind the Best Episodes of the Hit TV Show

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The Real Crimes

Behind the Best Episodes

of the Hit TV Show

K EVIN D WYER

AND J UR FIORILLO

BERKLEY BOULEVARD BOOKS, NEW YORK

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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This book was not authorized, prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by any entity involved in creating or producing the Law & Order television series.

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright 2006 by Kevin Dwyer and Jur Fiorillo
Cover design by Rita Frangie
Book design by Kristin del Rosario

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

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PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley Boulevard trade paperback edition / November 2006

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dwyer, Kevin.

True stories of Law & order / by Kevin Dwyer & Jur Fiorillo.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-425-21190-8

1. CrimeUnited StatesCase studies. 2. Criminal investigationUnited StatesCase studies. 3. TrialsUnited StatesCase studies. 4. Crime on television. 5. Law & order (Television program). I. Fiorillo, Jur. II. Law & order (Television program). III. Title. IV. Title: True stories of Law and order.

HV6791.D98 2006
364.10973dc22

2006045744

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

We would like to thank the following people, without whose help this book could not have been completed:

Many thanks to our intrepid photo researcher Lori Andrews, whose hard work and enthusiasm we not only appreciated but admired. We are indebted to the families of the victims who were kind and brave enough to share their stories with us. Thanks to Elizabeth Cassidy and Jim McCormack for sharing their family remembrances of Kathie McCormack; Ed Gallardo, for recounting his time on the road with Richard Adan; Jim and Ann Fowler for opening their hearts and lives to us; and Theresa Navarro for helping us gain a better understanding of her beloved brother, Jeremy Giordano.

Thanks also to photographer Steve Spak for allowing us to use his compelling photos of the Happy Land Social Club fire, and Sam Alberti for providing an insiders view of the law enforcement system. Thanks to our agent, Barry Neville; our editor, Samantha Mandor; and to Tom Donnarumma and Jeanmarie Dwyer for all their support and encouragement during the writing of this book.

Law & Order is one of the most successful shows in television history. Millions of people watch the hour-long crime drama every week. Viewers identify with TV programs that are true to life, and no crime show does a better job of it than Law & Order. The writers and producers have remained loyal to the original formulathirty minutes investigating, thirty minutes prosecuting. When it comes down to it, Law & Order is largely about legal and investigative procedure. Who would have thought procedure could be so dramatic?

The shows creators have remained faithful to another item: the marketing slogan Ripped from the Headlines. Each Law & Order story revolves around a single themea legal loophole, an outrageous judgment, a creative prosecution tactic, or sometimes a perp we just love to hate. For sixteen years, the shows writers have found much of this material from the incredible facts of real-life crimes.

Thats where this book comes in. After scrutinizing numerous episodes of Law & Order that suspiciously resemble true crimes, weve chosen to take a look at the twenty-five most compelling and varied in theme. Here youll learn the details of famous storiessuch as the Subway Vigilante (Bernie Goetz) and the Unicorn Killer (Ira Einhorn)and true-crime stories with which you might not be familiar, like that of Joyce Gilchrist, a forensic chemist who reportedly doctored evidence for the prosecution, and Anthony Riggs, who was welcomed home from the Gulf War by a hit man hired by his wife.

Just like the television show, True Stories of Law & Order reveals crimes that are so brutal they defy imagination; cases so groundbreaking they spurred new legislation; defense attorneys so sleazy you want to throttle them; and exasperating travesties of justice, as well as just deserts. Weve also included sidebars throughout explaining real investigative and legal procedures, documenting where the show holds true to life and where it takes liberties.

After researching and writing about these twenty-five remarkable cases, we learned that art truly does imitate life. Or, as Detective Briscoe might say, you couldnt make this stuff up.

LAW & ORDER : An eccentric cross-dresser is accused of murdering three people, one of whom was his wife.

TRUE STORY : Acquitted of murdering a neighbor, transvestite billionaire Robert Durst remains a suspect in his wifes disappearance.

The security guards noticed the man right away. Not only was he acting strangely, skulking about the store, but he looked strange too. He was clearly wearing a wig and as it turned out, a fake mustache. They watched him pocket a single Band-Aid and a sandwich. Before leaving the supermarket, he also swiped a newspaper. Security guards summoned the police. The officers didnt know it yet, but the odd, haggard, seemingly homeless shoplifter with no eyebrows was actually billionaire and fugitive Robert Durst. His pockets were full, stuffed with the stolen sandwich and $500. Another $37,000 was found in the trunk of his rented car.

It was a story so bizarre, it defied belief. Wanted for the grisly murder of a cranky drifter and suspected in the mob-style execution of a Hollywood writer, the heir to one of Manhattans most powerful families was caught shoplifting a six-dollar sandwichchicken saladfrom a Pennsylvania supermarket. He was miles away from the rundown Texas town where hed been living incognito for the last few months, passing himself off as a mute woman. And if that wasnt enough, his beautiful blonde wife mysteriously disappeared in 1982 right after filing for divorce. Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.