Crime

Book Critic John Leonard reviews two new biographies of Roy Cohn, the counsel for the Senate committee conducting the McCarthy trials, and McCarthy's aide and confidante.

Jean-Claude Lauzon. This French Canadian filmmaker talks about his journey from the reform schools of Montreal to becoming an award winning filmmaker. His first feature film "Night Zoo" recently won 13 Genie awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Oscar.

Novelist, journalist and columnist Nicholas Von Hoffman. He's the author of 10 books, including Organized Crimes and Make-Believe Presidents. He's written for The Washington Post, The Chicago Daily News, and almost every major magazine. His latest work is titled Citizen Cohn, The Life and Times of Roy Cohn.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews this week's "American Playhouse" presentation on PBS titled "The Trial of Bernhard Goetz." Goetz was acquitted last year of assault charges stemming from his shooting of four black youths in a New York City subway car after, Goetz contended, the youths tried to rob him. The trial, which dominated the New York City press for several weeks, was known as "The Subway Vigilante" trial.

Author Gerald Petievich. Petievich spent 15 years as a U.S. Secret Service agent. His experiences as a member of the Los Angeles Federal Strike Force against Organized Crime and Racketeering inspired his book To Live and Die In L.A. He later co-wrote the screenplay for William Friedkin's film of the same name. Petievich's new novel is called Shakedown.

Journalist Teresa Carpenter. Her new book, Missing Beauty, is the story of the obsession of a medical professor for a Boston prostitute, and obsession that ended with the prostitute's murder. Carpenter is a staff writer for The Village Voice and won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for her reports on three murders, including those of former congressman Allard Lowenstein and Playmate Dorothy Stratten.

Investigative journalist Paul Eddy, co-author of The Cocaine Wars, which traces the course of cocaine from the hills of Bolivia to American street corners, and the domination of the market by a group of drug barons based in the resort town of Medellin, Colombia. The book also details the extent of cocaine corruption in both Dade County, Florida (Miami) and the Bahamas. Eddy writes for the Insight Team, the investigative arm of the Sunday Times of London.

Sportswriter Phil Berger. Berger covers boxing for The New York Times and has written a new book about heavyweight champ Mike Tyson called Blood Season.

Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand considers several variations of an urban legend about a dead cat mistakenly claimed by shoppers and shoplifters alike.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the police procedural, now in its second season. He admires how the show takes its time with each storyline, exploring one over the course of several episodes -- and often featuring long-term guest stars.

Investigative reporter Ralph Blumenthal's new book takes a look at what the FBI called "the pizza connection": a heroin smuggling operation spearheaded by the Italian mafia in the United States. Pizza restaurants were used as drug fronts.

Errol Morris thinks of himself as much a detective as a documentary filmmaker. Known for his off-beat subjects, he's adopted a more serious tone with his new movie, The Thin Blue Line, about a murder investigation in Dallas. Errol believes the man sentenced to death for the crime, Randall Dale Adams, is innocent.

Hesseman played disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever in WKRP in Cincinnati, and now stars as a high school teacher in the comedy Head of the Class. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about how his performances and personal experiences inform each other. Early in his career, Hesseman sold two ounces of marijuana to an undercover police officer; he later had his record expunged.

Vachss is based in New York and specializes in child abuse cases. His work extends into his crime fiction, which follows an unlicensed detective named Burke. Vachss also helped manage a juvenile prison.

Writer Nick Tosches wrote the book Hellfire, profiling rock progenitor Jerry Lee Lewis. Now he has a novel called Cut Numbers, about small-time loan sharks in New York City.

Book critic John Leonard says that Greene has trained readers to fill the gaps in his novels and flesh out his sometimes underdeveloped characters. Leonard is a longtime admirer of the author, but says his newest book is more of a notebook than a polished novel.

Journalist Elaine Shannon's new book, Desperados, looks at the international impact of the illegal drug trade. She says that major banks and state governments have been complicit in drug trafficking by accepting bribes and laundering money. The U.S. government has faced difficulty curtailing these crimes, in part because of its desire to maintain diplomatic relations with the countries involved.

Film critic Stephen Schiff bemoans Hollywood's current preoccupation with courtroom dramas -- most, he says, aren't very good. The new Jodi Foster movie The Accused, loosely based on a high-profile gang rape trial, leans too heavily on the lurid details of the case, and not enough on developing an interesting narrative.

Part II of the interview with the folk-rock star. While serving time on drug charges, Crosby joined the prison band as a guitar player. He says it was the first time he performed sober.

25 years after John F. Kennedy was assassinated, several networks are rebroadcasting the original news coverage of that event, or airing new specials. TV critic David Bianculli shares his thoughts on a few of these upcoming programs.