Three Indicted In Prison Homicide Of Mobster James 'Whitey' Bulger

The U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of West Virginia released the below information:  

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Three men have been indicted in connection with the beating death of James “Whitey” Bulger (seen in the above mugshot).

Fotios Geas, also known as “Freddy,” age 55, Paul J. DeCologero, also known as “Pauly,” 48, and Sean McKinnon, 36, were charged on Wednesday with conspiracy to commit first degree murder.

Geas and DeCologero are accused of striking Bulger in the head multiple times and causing his death in October of 2018 while all were incarcerated at United States Penitentiary Hazleton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. In addition to the conspiracy charge, Geas and DeCologero have been charged with aiding and abetting first degree murder, along with assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

Geas faces a separate charge for murder by a federal inmate serving a life sentence.

McKinnon faces a separate charge of making false statements to a federal agent.

Geas is still incarcerated at USP Hazelton. DeCologero is no longer being held at USP Hazelton but remains housed in the federal prison system. McKinnon was on federal supervised release at the time of the indictment and was arrested today in Florida.

Bulger was 89 years old when he died.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brandon S. Flower and Randolph J. Bernard are prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The FBI and the Bureau of Prisons Special Investigative Services investigated.

An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

You can read my Crime Beat column that features my Q&A with Dick Lehr, the co-author of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss, via the below link:

 Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Beat Column: My Q&A With Dick Lehr, Co-Author of 'Whitey: The Life Of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss' 

Wall Street Journal: A Soft-On-Crime Backlash - Philadelphia Democrats Decline To Endorse A Progressive Prosecutor.

The Wall Street Journal offers an editorial noting that the Democratic City Committee voted not to endorse Philly DA Larry Krasner for reelection. The editorial also mentions Philadelphia Weekly and quotes challenger Carlos Vega from my Crime Beat column. 

Prosecutors promising easier bail and fewer criminal prosecutions have swept to power in several big cities in recent years, but a backlash may be underway as crime spikes. Witness last week’s developments in Philadelphia. 

On March 31 the Democratic City Committee voted not to endorse incumbent District Attorney Larry Krasner for May’s primary election. He won in 2017 after denouncing the city’s police and prosecutors as “both systemically racist” and has spent his time in office touting his efforts “to end mass incarceration” by bringing fewer charges and urging lighter sentences. 

But Mr. Krasner now faces a primary challenge from Carlos Vega, a former homicide prosecutor whom he fired. 

In December 2020, Mr. Krasner filed 525 charges for violent crimes, compared to 757 in December 2017, the month before he took office. The decrease doesn’t reflect a safer city; nearly 500 people were murdered in Philadelphia last year, compared to 315 in 2017. 

Last year saw more than 2,200 shootings, and the vast majority of victims were black. Auto thefts have risen sharply, with some 9,295 vehicles stolen last year compared to 5,694 in 2017. 

“Victims are an inconvenient truth that Larry ignores,” Mr. Vega told Philadelphia Weekly in December. “He never talks about the victims.” Mr. Vega says he’s running “to make our city safer.” 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-soft-on-crime-backlash-11617748124?st=0g5ln9brztyabq2&reflink=article_email_share  

You can also read my Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat column on Carlos Vega via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Philadelphia Weekly 'Crime Beat' Column: A Conversation With Carlos Vega, The Former Homicide Prosecutor Challenging Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner 

Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story Of The Capture & Killing Of America's Most Wanted Crime Boss

The New York Post offers an excerpt from a new book on the capture and death of the notorious Boston gangster Whitey Bulger.

The leader of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang and No. 1 on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, Whitey Bulger was indicted for 19 counts of murder, racketeering, narcotics distribution and extortion. But it was his 16-year flight from justice on the eve of his arrest that made him a legend. In this exclusive excerpt from the new book “Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture & Killing of America’s Most Wanted Crime Boss,” authors Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge reveal how the notorious Bulger finally got caught . . . 

On the night of May 1, 2011, people around the world heard the news about the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of US Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Then-President Barack Obama made the announcement, interrupting a nationally televised baseball game between the Mets and the Phillies:

“Tonight I can report to the American people and to the world, the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children,” he declared.

In Santa Monica, at Barney’s Beanery on the Third Street Promenade, bar patrons broke into cheer; “USA, USA,” they shouted. At the popular Santa Monica pub Britannia, one grizzled barfly hoisted his mug in the air. “The bastard’s dead. I’ll drink to that!”

Inside apartment 303 at the Princess Eugenia Apartments, James “Whitey” Bulger sat in his living room with his girlfriend Catherine Greig, watching the announcement with a mixture of pride and dread. The patriotic side of Bulger was elated to learn that members of SEAL Team 6 had sent the terror mastermind back to his maker with a bullet above his left eye. But bin Laden’s death also meant that Bulger, 81, was now number one on the FBI’s list of most-wanted criminals. He knew the pressure to find him would intensify. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://nypost.com/2020/05/23/how-the-fbi-tracked-down-whitey-bulger-after-16-years/ 

 

You can also read my Crime Beat column Q&A with Dick Lehr, the co-author of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss via the below link: 

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html 

My Crime Beat Column: A Look Back At Pre-Bond Sean Connery In 'The Frightened City'

I first saw actor Sean Connery on the big screen back in 1963 when I was 11-years-old. The 32-year- old Scot actor was portraying Ian Fleming’s iconic character James Bond in Dr No.

The James Bond films in the 1960s lead me to read all of Ian Fleming’s novels, which I was happy to discover were darker and more complicated than the films, and I been an Ian Fleming aficionado ever since. 

The early Bond films also made Sean Connery one of my favorite actors. 

After watching Sean Connery as James Bond, I tried to see all the films he made prior to his portraying Bond, such as Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure and Darby O’Gill and the Little People, both of which came out in 1959.

But there was on film that I was unable to see, which was 1961’s The Frightened City. 

But now, thanks to the Internet, I was able to finally see ole Sean appear in a movie that came out only two years before he appeared as James Bond. 

The Frightened City is a crime thriller set in the West End of London, where the “villains,” the Brit cop’s slang for criminals, ran protection rackets. (I liked the use of slang in the film, such as “she “shopped” you,” meaning she turned you into the police for favors, and “he won’t “grass” on you,” meaning he won’t become an informer for the police). 

Herbert Lom, who was outstanding as a crooked wrestling promotor in The Night and the City with Richard Widmark, is equally outstanding here as Waldo Zhernikov, an urbane, successful accountant and businessman who decides to turn to crime and form an alliance of the six West End extortion mobs into one syndicate.

Although Zhernikov became the head of the syndicate, he decided to stay in the shadows and used one of the local mob bosses, nightclub owner and crook Harry Foulcher, portrayed by Alfred Marks, as a surrogate syndicate boss. The syndicate divided the West End up and the six mobs no longer had to fight over territory. The syndicate also expanded, making more money for the greedy London criminals. 

Sean Connery portrayed Paddy Damion, a professional cat burglar who is sidelined due to his partner’s crippling accident on a job. The handsome, athletic and tough criminal is recruited to join the extortion syndicate and he accepts due to his need to help his partner and to bring in money for himself.

Damion also signs up as he was friends with one of the mob bosses, Alf Peters, an old, tough and crafty villain, portrayed by David Davies. Damion and Peters shared a prison cell together and the experience made them fast friends. 

Although Damion has an attractive and faithful girlfriend, Damion falls for a French singer at Foulcher’s night club named Anya, portrayed by Yvonne Roman. Anya is a girlfriend of Zhernikov’s, but they have an open relationship. Mostly, Anya wants her patron to get her a working permit so she can stay in London.     

Investigating the extortion racket is Detective Inspector Sayers of Scotland Yard, portrayed by John Gregson, who is frustrated as the victims of the extortion refuse to talk to the police out of fear. He later pulls in Damion.           
   
Although Damion is a criminal, he is not a ruthless killer, like Zhernikov and Foulcher. When Zhernikov orders Foulcher to kill one of the syndicate bosses, Foulcher said, “I thought you were against violence?”

“I am against smallpox,” Zhernikov replied coldly. “That doesn’t mean I’m against a vaccination.” 

Damion later turns against the syndicate bosses.  

One can see a bit of Bond in Sean Connery’s tough guy Damion. When Anya tells Damion that she doesn’t want to make unnecessary enemies, Damion offers a quip, “How many necessary enemies do you have?” 

I enjoyed finally watching Sean Connery in The Frightened City. 

Now, except for the British TV programs he appeared in prior to portraying Bond, I believe I’ve seen all of Sean Connery’s films. After he quit James Bond, he went on to make some very good films, such as John Huston’s adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King with Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer as Kipling, and Richard Lester’s Robin and Marion. 

Sean Connery portrayed an older Robin Hood who returned from the Crusades and did battle with the Sheriff of Nottingham, portrayed by actor Robert Shaw. 

Shaw was terrific as Red Grant, the psychopath killer who went up against James Bond in From Russia With Love. Connery and Shaw’s fight in the train compartment aboard the Orient Express is one of the best cinematic fistfights in my view. In Robin and Marion, Connery and Shaw once again offer a great fight scene, but this time it is with broad swords. 

Sean Connery also appeared in other films I like, such as The Hill, The Offense, The Anderson Tapes, The Molly Maguires, Marnie, Woman of Straw, The Wind and the Lion, and Zardoz. Of course, Sean Connery also made a couple of stinkers as well. 

He appeared in an awful film, The Next Man, rather than portray Blackthorne, the British sailor who traveled to 12^th century feudal Japan in the TV mini-series Shogun. James Clavell, the author of the historical novel the miniseries is based on, said he wrote the character Blackthorne with Sean Connery in mind and wanted him for the role. 

Although Richard Chamberlain was very good as Blackthorne, Sean Connery would have been great in the role. Although Sean Connery was great as a Chicago cop in The Untouchables, and won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, I didn't care for the film.  

Sean Connery is now retired from making films and the 89-year-old is relaxing with his wife at his home in the Bahamas, but his fine films are still entertaining people of all ages. 

You can watch The Frightened City via the below links:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+frightened+city+1961&&view=detail&mid=
063C6E28E754CDAE0D49063C6E28E754CDAE0D49&&FORM=VRDGAR


https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+frightened+city+1961&&view=
detail&mid=BA1286C0F99581C6F05DBA1286C0F99581C6F05D&&FORM=VRDGAR

Is Shaft The Black James Bond?

In my Crime Beat column back in 2015 I noted that a remake of the film Shaft was in the works. 

The black private detective character was originally portrayed in the 1971 film by a black actor, Richard Roundtree, and by another black actor, Samuel L. Jackson, in a 2000 remake.

Should a white actor, I asked in my column, now be cast as John Shaft in the newest remake?

Ridiculous? 

No more ridiculous that a black actor portraying James Bond. 

Well, the new Shaft film has finally been made and released and a black actor, Samuel L. Jackson (seen in the above photo), is back as John Shaft. 

And in the film a character calls Shaft “the Black James Bond.”

I rest my case. 

You can read my Crime Beat column on a black James Bond via the below link:    

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/10/my-crime-beat-column-should-black-actor.html

You can also read my Washington Times piece on a female James Bond via the below link: 

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2018/10/no-jane-bond-says-007-film-producer.html 

Mickey Spillane Turns 100: Max Allan Collins On Sex, Violence, And Mike Hammer

As I noted in my Crime Beat column on the late crime writer, Mickey Spillane's I, the Jury was one of the first crime thrillers I read as a boy. I thought it was terrific.

The novel was tough, violent and sexy. I loved the book's wild ending. I thought it was a cool book.

I went on to read better crime novels and thrillers, like the works of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ian Fleming, Eric Ambler and others, but I remember fondly Spillane's I, the Jury like one remembers his first girlfriend.

I love Spillane's "fuck you" attitude regarding critics. Despite the terrible reviews he received during his life, he sold millions of copies of his books. He wrote unabashedly for money and he said his books were the chewing gum of American literature.

CrimeReads.com offers a piece by Max Allan Collins, himself a crime writer, and a friend to the late Mickey Spillane. He has completed many of Spillane’s unfinished works, included the newly published, The Last Stand.

In July of 2006, at the age of 88, the last major mystery writer of the twentieth century left the building. Only a handful of writers in the genre—Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler among them—achieved such superstar status.

Spillane’s position, however, is unique—reviled by many mainstream critics, despised and envied by a number of his contemporaries in the very field he revitalized, the creator of Mike Hammer had an impact not just on mystery and suspense fiction but popular culture in general.

The success of the paperback reprint editions of his startlingly violent and sexy novels—tens of millions of copies sold—jumpstarted the explosion of so-called “paperback originals,” for the next quarter-century the home of countless Spillane imitators, and his redefinition of the action hero as a tough guy who mercilessly executed villains and slept with beautiful, willing women remains influential (Sin City is Frank Miller’s homage).

When Spillane published I, the Jury in 1947, he introduced in Mike Hammer one of the most famous of all fictional private eyes, and one unlike any P.I. readers had met before. Hammer swears vengeance over the corpse of an army buddy who lost an arm in the Pacific, saving the detective’s life. No matter who the villain turns out to be, Hammer will not just find him, but kill him—even if it’s a her.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://crimereads.com/mickey-spillane-turns-100/

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Mickey Spillane via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/03/my-crime-beat-column-look-back-at-crime.html 

On This Day In History Thriller Writer Ian Fleming, Creator Of James Bond, Died

On August 12th in 1964, I was a 12-year-old sitting in the back seat of my father's car when I heard on the car radio that Ian Fleming had died. I was thunderstruck.

In the months prior to that sad announcement I had been reading through Ian Fleming's James Bond thrillers. Having loved the first two Bond films, Dr. No and From Russia With Love, starring Sean Connery as James Bond, I began reading the novels. I was pleased to discover that the books were darker and more complicated than the films and I've been an Ian Fleming aficionado ever since. 

Below is Ian Fleming's obituary, which appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer: 

You can read my Crime Beat columns on the late, great thriller writer via the below links: 

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/06/casino-royale-revisited-film-that.html

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/11/my-crime-beat-column-happy-anniversary.html

You can also read my Counterterrorism magazine about Ian Fleming's WWII experience and his creation of the intelligence commando group, 30 Assault Unit, via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/11/look-back-at-30-assault-unit-british.html 

And you can learn more about Ian Fleming and his fascinating life as a naval intelligence officer, journalist and author by reading the below biographies of the late writer:

Life As A Gangster In Japan Just Isn’t As Fun As It Used To Be

Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter On The Police Beat in Japan, looks at  the yakuza these days in his column in the Japan Times. 

A number of theories have been put forward on the reasons behind the 2015 split of the country’s largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi.

Some say the factions that left the organization and formed a group called the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi were egged on by the police, who had deliberately encouraged suspicions to grow among rival syndicates. It’s worth noting that police officers stood guard outside the new group’s headquarters when it announced its existence to the public.

Others believe the split was supported by several former Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate bosses who had been expelled with Tadamasa Goto in 2008. Those involved in organized crime call the cull the “Goto Shock,” a nod to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the same year. Indeed, Goto allegedly bankrolled the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, allowing the new organization to get up and running.

And then there’s Morimasa Ohta, a syndicate leader who had been banished with Goto before eventually joining the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi as a boss. Ohta’s tell-all memoir, “Ketsubetsu” (“Blood Parting“) which was published in July 2015, weeks before the split, is now believed to have been a call to revolt. The book sales have since become problematic because Ohta had retired from organized crime when it was published. Now that he’s joined the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, however, Ohta’s royalty payments could contradict legislation on organized crime. The law prohibits payments to anyone involved in a crime syndicate.

Yet, none of these theories completely explain why the veteran Yamaguchi-gumi members decided to leave the powerful crime syndicate when they were nearing the end of their careers.

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/12/02/national/media-national/life-gangster-japan-just-isnt-fun-used/#.WiNNx0qnGM8

You can also read my Crime Beat column about Jake Adelstein and Japanese organized crime via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/03/tokyo-vice-american-reporter-on-police.html 

Mob Talk 6: Never-Before-Seen Video Of Former Philly Mob Boss Ralph Natale Talking About Hit-Man Role

As the online publication phillyvoice.com notes, veteran organized crime reporters George Anastasia and Dave Schratweiser (seen in the below photo) offer another Mob Talk video.

In this edition the reporters discuss a never-seen-before video of former Philadelphia-South Jersey Cosa Nostra boss Ralph Natale (seen in the above photo) talking about his plan in the 1970s to carry out a public mob hit and a subsequent meeting he attended with Pennsylvania's top mob bosses Angelo Bruno and Russell Bufalino.

 You can watch the Mob Talk video as well as the Ralph Natale video via the below link:

http://www.phillyvoice.com/mob-talk-never-before-seen-video-ralph-natale-talking-about-hit-man-role/

You can also read my Crime Beat column Q&A with Ralph Natale via the below link: 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2017/04/my-crime-beat-column-my-q-with-ralph.html 

On This Day In History The World Trade Center And The Pentagon Were Attacked By Terrorists

As History.com notes, on this day in 2001 terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

At 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors. As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broadcasted live images of what initially appeared to be a freak accident. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767–United Airlines Flight 175–appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center, and sliced into the south tower at about the 60th floor. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and the streets below. America was under attack.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/attack-on-america 

You can also read my Crime Beat column on 9/11 via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/09/look-back-at-911-after-action-report.html

And you can read my Counterterrorism magazine piece on the Pentagon attack via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/09/a-look-back-at-911-attack-on-pentagon.html

On This Day In History President John F. Kennedy Assassinated

As History.com notes, on this day in 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

You can read about the event via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-f-kennedy-assassinated?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2016-1122-11222016&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=112718733&kx_EmailCampaignID=8225&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2016-1122-11222016&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c9

You can also read my Crime Beat column on the Kennedy assassination via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/01/crime-beat-column-assassination-of.html

Frederick Forsyth Interview: "They Put A Price On My Head, So I Had To Get Out"

Frederick Forsyth, author of The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File and other classic thrillers, as well as his recent nonfiction book, The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue, was interviewed by bigissue.com.

Deep inside, I’m still a journalist, rather than a novelist. I tapped out these manuscripts and made a good living but I still had the spirit of the journalist, it never leaves you. That insatiable curiosity about why things happen, the scepticism of the good investigative journalist – I always questioned what we were being told by the establishment. In fiction, I invent a situation so I can investigate it. Maybe it really happened and we never found out. That’s what drives me. 

You can read the rest of the interview via the below link:

http://www.bigissue.com/features/letter-to-my-younger-self/6893/frederick-forsyth-interview-they-put-a-price-on-my-head-so-i

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Frederick Forsyth via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/09/on-crime-thrillers-frederick-forsyth.html

On This Day In History: Ian Fleming, Creator of James Bond, Died In 1964

As History.com notes, Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond thrillers, died on this day in 1964.

You can read about Ian Fleming's life and work via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/james-bond-creator-ian-fleming-dies

You can also read two of my Crime Beat columns on Ian Fleming via the below links:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/11/my-crime-beat-column-happy-anniversary.html

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/06/casino-royale-revisited-film-that.html

And you can read my Counterterrorism magazine piece on Ian Fleming's WWII intelligence-commando unit, his "Red Indians," the 30 Assault Unit, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/11/look-back-at-30-assault-unit-british.html

And below is the Ian Fleming obituary that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Bosch: An Outstanding Crime Drama On Amazon TV

My wife and I are watching the TV crime drama series Bosch on Amazon.

We like the show and we finished watching season one tonight and began watching season two.

The gritty, realistic and well-written TV series is based on Michael Connelly's fine crime novels, which feature a dedicated and determined Los Angeles detective named Harry Bosch.

Actor Titus Welliver (seen in the above photo) portrays Bosch in the series.

I interviewed Michael Connelly, a former crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, a few years ago.

You can read my Q&A with Michael Connelly via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/04/killers-cops-and-crime-reporters-q-with.html

You can also read my Philadelphia Inquirer reviews of Michael Connelly's crime novels and my Crime Beat column on him via the below links:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/08/my-philadelphia-review-of-michael.html

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/08/my-philadelphia-inquirer-review-of_3627.html

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/06/on-crime-thrillers-column-michael.html

Happy Birthday To Ian Fleming, The Creator Of James Bond

Happy birthday to the late, great thriller writer Ian Fleming, who was born on this date in 1908.

You can read read my Counterterrorism magazine piece on Fleming's WWII experience as a naval intelligence officer and the founder of an intelligence-commando group called the 30 Assault Unit via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/11/look-back-at-30-assault-unit-british.html

You can also read one of my Crime Beat columns on Ian Fleming and his iconic character, James Bond, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/11/my-crime-beat-column-happy-anniversary.html 

And you can learn more about Ian Fleming at http://www.ianfleming.com/ian-fleming/

Happy Birthday To Edgar Allan Poe

As History.com notes, Edgar Allan Poe was born on this date in 1809.

You can read the History.com piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/edgar-allan-poe-is-born?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2016-0119-01192016&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=14920314&kx_EmailCampaignID=1830&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2016-0119-01192016&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Poe via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/04/my-first-on-crime-thrillers-column-for.html

Paul Davis Bio

Paul Davis is a writer who covers crime, espionage, terrorism and the military. He has written extensively about violent street crime, gangs, drugs, organized crime, cyber-crime, white collar scams, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. Davis also writes crime fiction.  

As a writer, he has attended police academy training, gone out on patrol with police officers, accompanied detectives as they worked cases, accompanied narcotics officers on drug raids, observed criminal court proceedings, visited jails and prisons, and covered street riots, mob wars, and murder investigations.  

Davis has gone out on patrol with the Coast Guard's Maritime Security and Safety Team (MSST) on a Defender Class, 25-foot, high-speed response boat. He also went out on patrol on the Delaware River with the Philadelphia Police Marine Unit on their 31-foot Munson boat.   

He has interviewed police commissioners and chiefs, FBI, DEA, HSI and other federal special agents, prosecutors, public officials, WWII UDT frogmen, Navy SEALs, Army Delta operators, Israeli commandos, military intelligence officers, CIA officers, former KGB officers, Scotland Yard detectives, film and TV actors, writers and producers, journalists, novelists and true crime authors, gamblers, outlaw bikers, and Cosa Nostra organized crime bosses.  

Paul Davis is a contributor to the Washington Examiner and Counterterrorism magazine and writes the magazine's online Threatcon column. 

His Counterterrorism magazine pieces and columns cover a wide variety of security issues, as well as long-form Q&As with people such as Lt. Col Oliver North, General William Boykin, Bing West, John Lehman, former Navy SEAL and author Dick Couch, former Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill (who shot and killed bin Laden), police chiefs John Timoney, Ray Kelly, Charles Ramsey and Mike Chitwood, and a good number of CIA, FBI and other law enforcement officials, military leaders and journalists.  

He also writes the Crime Beat column for the South Philly Review. Born, bred and still resides in South Philadelphia, his weekly newspaper column covers South Philly crime news, crime issues and crime prevention. And he writes an On Crime column for Philly Daily & Broad + Liberty. His weekly web-based column covers crime in the greater Philadelphia region. 

His older online Crime Beat column covered all forms of crime and offers his long-form Q&As with cops, crooks and crime writers, such as Joseph Wambaugh, Michael Connelly, Robert Leuci, Bernard Cornwell, Ben Macintyre, Chazz Palminteri, former Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime bosses Ralph Natale and Philip Leonetti, and former New York Colombo Cosa Nostra crime family captain, Michael Franzese.   

Paul Davis also provides news and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white-collar crime, cyber-crime, murder, gangs, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism (as well as humor and music) at his website, www.pauldavisoncrime.com 

From 2012 to March of 2025, Paul Davis wrote the On Crime column for the Washington Times. 

His Washington Times On Crime column offered interviews with legendary NYPD detectives Frank Serpico and Randy Jurgensen, legendary undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone and legendary FBI criminal profiler John Douglas, Scotland Yard Flying Squad Detective Dick Kirby, crime novelists James Lee Burke, Joseph Wambaugh, Lisa Scottoline and Michael Connelly, journalists George Anastasia, Ralph Cipriano and Ben Macintyre, thriller writers Stephen Hunter and former Navy SEAL Jack Carr, and other authors, journalists, intelligence officers, military officers, law enforcement officers, criminals and others. The column also offers the back stories and events behind crime books, films and TV series, and a look back at classic crime stories and thrillers.

Davis has since been covering books and interviewing authors in his online On Crime Fiction, True Crime & Thrillers column. You can read the columns via the link below:

Paul Davis On Crime: My On Crime Fiction, True Crime & Thrillers Columns  

His work has also appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Weekly and other print and online publications.

Davis has been a student of crime since he was a 12-year-old aspiring writer growing up in South Philadelphia. He went on to do security work as a young sailor in the U.S. Navy and later as a Defense Department civilian employee.

In a sense, Paul Davis' beginnings in both journalism and government began during summers and after school in the mid-1960s at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Davis sold Philadelphia newspapers to the sailors, Marines and shipyard workers at the Navy Yard during his early teen years.

Riding in the open back of the newspaper truck each day, he would pass the fleet of moored Navy ships in the Delaware River and dream of one day joining the Navy, seeing the world and becoming a writer.

 Davis enlisted in the Navy in 1970 when he was 17 years old. He served aboard the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA 63) as the attack aircraft carrier performed combat operations on "Yankee Station" off the coast of Vietnam in 1970-1971.  

The aircraft carrier visited such ports-of-call as San Diego, California, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Sasebo, Japan, Subic Bay in the Philippines and Hong Kong.

Davis also served on the USS Saugus (YTB 780), a Navy harbor tugboat attached to the U.S. nuclear submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland in 1974-1975. He traveled throughout the British Isles and Europe during those years.

After leaving the Navy Davis became a Defense Department civilian employee. For the last 21 of his more than 37 years of military-civilian service he was the civilian administrative officer of a Defense Department command in Philadelphia. He oversaw security, safety, public affairs and other support programs for the command. He served as an investigating officer and investigated security violations, theft, and other crimes. He also investigated Inspector General complaints of misconduct, waste, fraud and abuse.     

Davis also wrote news and features for local and world-wide Defense Department magazines. Davis received numerous awards during his years of federal service, including the Philadelphia Federal Executive Board's 1990 Public Affairs Award for his magazine articles.

From the 1991 debut to the closing program in 2005, Davis served as a producer and on-air host of the Philadelphia Federal Executive Board's public affairs radio program Inside Government. 

The half-hour interview program dealt with crime, espionage, terrorism, taxes, health, the military and other issues of concern to Philadelphia area residents. The radio program aired Sunday mornings on WPEN 950 AM and WMGK 102.5 FM. Davis and the other members of the production team received the Vice President's National Performance Review "Hammer" Award in 1995.

Davis began moonlighting as a freelance writer in 1993. Working nights and weekends, he covered crime, politics and general assignments for the South Philadelphia Review. He also wrote commentary for the weekly paper. 

On assignment for the Review, Davis attended the pilot class of the Philadelphia Police Department's Civilian Police Academy and wrote an 11-part series on police training and operations.

In 1995 Davis moved over to the South Philadelphia American, where he wrote news, features and a regular column. The American folded in 1998 and Davis moved his column to the Golden Times, where it had a ten-year run in the monthly newspaper for Philadelphia and South Jersey area residents over 50-years-old. His commentary also appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Davis began contributing to the Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International in 1996. He began contributing to the Washington Times in 2012. He was a regular contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1999 to 2017. 

Davis retired from the Defense Department in 2007 and became a full-time writer. 

In 2009 Davis wrote an On American Crime column and an On Espionage column for GreatHistory.com. From 2006 to 2010 Davis wrote a crime prevention & security awareness column for Businessknowhow.com and later wrote a crime prevention column for AllBusiness.com.

You can read his columns, his crime fiction, his book reviews other articles at www. pauldavisoncrime com

Paul Davis is also a public speaker.

For more than 21 years, Davis performed safety, security, OPSEC, crime prevention, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism briefings and seminars for the military and civilian employees of the Defense Department command where he served as the administrative officer. 

Since his retirement from the Defense Department, Davis has been invited to speak to corporate, government, church, student, civic, senior citizen, historical and veterans groups about crime prevention, security awareness and the history of crime and espionage.  

Davis attended journalism courses at Penn State University and Temple University. He also attended many Defense Department courses on security, safety, management, public affairs and military journalism throughout his years of federal service.

Paul Davis has been married to his beautiful wife Dolores since 1982 and he has a grown daughter, a grown son and three young grandchildren. 

Paul Davis is a frequent traveler, but he lives in the same South Philadelphia neighborhood where he was born and raised. 

You can read Paul Davis' Counterterrorism magazine pieces via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Counterterrorism Magazine Pieces

You can read Paul Davis' Philly Daily Crime Beat columns via the link below:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Philly Daily Crime Beat Columns

You can read Paul Davis' Washington Times On Crime columns via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2020/02/my-washington-times-on-crime-columns.html 

You can read Paul Davis' Philadelphia Weekly Crime Beat columns via the below link: 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2020/10/my-philadelphia-weekly-crime-beat.html  

You can read Paul Davis' online Crime Beat columns via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/12/my-crime-beat-columns.html  

You can read Paul Davis Threatcon columns via the below link: 

Paul Davis On Crime: My Counterterrorism Magazine Online 'Threatcon' Columns

You can read Paul Davis' crime fiction via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/12/my-crime-fiction-stories.html 

And you can about read about Paul Davis and his time at the Philadelphia Quartermaster via the below link:

 www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/06/philadelphia-quartermaster-revisited.html 

Paul Davis can be reached via e-mail at pauldavisoncrime@aol.com