Michael Tabman's Blog: Crime Scene - Posts Tagged "michael-tabman"

When I embarked on my first book signing last year with Walking the Corporate Beat: Police School for Business People, I was given a sobering warning: If you sell two books, that’s average, five books is a good day. Sitting there with a stack of 15-20 books, that did not sound encouraging. Now I was really concerned, as this was a non-fiction, lessons-learned book; I knew it did not have the wide appeal of a novel. However, things worked out much better than anticipated. At each of our six book signings, we either completely or nearly sold out. I would like to say that was because my book was so irresistible. While I was confident I wrote a good book, I also knew that sales did not correlate to the quality of my book. How could it? Nobody knew what was in the book. Unless you and your book are well known – and most of us are not - you are not selling your book. You are selling you.

My wife accompanies me on all my book signings. As native New Yorkers, we are both gregarious and starting conversations with strangers comes easy to us. And that is where it begins. You must engage the bookstore customers in conversation and get them interested, first in you and then your book. Just sitting there waiting for people to approach you, generally will not work. You may get a few curious people, but they are uncomfortable approaching you, especially if they feel they will be faced with “Wanna buy my book?” Be friendly and keep it light.

Also, use mob psychology to your favor. Invite groups of people over. If you engage people in conversation and share a few laughs, others will notice you. What happens when people see a crowd? They become curious and they want to see what’s going on. Now your audience has grown.

As with all sales, be ready for rejection. At our Midnight Sin book signing this weekend we sold 15 of our 20 books. With that, came a lot of “no thank you” or people deliberately avoiding eye contact and even some rudeness. That’s how it goes. Be confident in yourself and your book. The number of books you sell is contingent upon many factors out of your control; it does not define your success as an author. It is just one step in the process. You will meet new and interesting people. Most of all – have fun.

When I was working narcotics in New York in the late 1980s - early 1990s, the television show, Miami Vice had left its impact. We called it the Miami Vice effect. By that, we meant that when we brought a case to court, juries were expecting to see drug agents dressed in pastel colors seizing race cars and speed boats with millions of dollars and hundreds of kilos of cocaine. Working in New York, we made some good cases and pretty big seizures, but nothing like television.

More recently, law enforcement would refer to the CSI effect. Here, judges and juries expect cops and especially the FBI to perform the same kind of forensics that they would see on CSI – and usually within the same one hour time frame. While forensic capabilities have come a long way, once again, it is nothing like television.

If you have been watching the Casey Anthony murder trial, you will see some interesting forensics. You will also see some good examples of legal strategies at work. This is an interesting case. If you are writing crime novels, you may want to pay attention to this case. I think you will pick up some interesting tidbits. Sometimes life imitates art and sometimes art must reflect life.

There was quite a media buzz surrounding the arrest of aging mobster Whitey Bulger. His story is one of those mob stories that we cannot get enough of. Tipped off about his impending arrest, 16 years ago by an FBI Agent, he went on the lam. And there he remained until his recent capture. We were just as fascinated when Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics Bomber eluded capture for more than five years, to be found living in the woods.

Word has it, that Bulger has been “talking” to the FBI. But, what is he saying? Bulger probably knows where the skeletons are buried literally and figuratively. He is suspected of being involved in 19 murders. There is no statute of limitations for homicide. Bulger is also wanted for an array of other serious crimes. I assure you, some ambitious FBI Agents are licking their chops in anticipation of some impressive prosecutions.

But, why would Bulger tell the authorities anything?

One of the biggest motivators for any criminal to talk would be in exchange for something – usually to drop charges or some accommodation relative to incarceration.
Given Bulger’s violent history, the charges pending against him, and 16 years on the run, I would guess that there is not much room for negotiating his prosecution.

However, if Bulger has the information everyone seems to think he has, the FBI would want to get that, so I expect there may be some horse-trading. However, complicating that is the fact that Bulger was an FBI informant, supposedly cooperating with the FBI – we all know how that went.

Why else may Bulger talk? For one, even a hardened mobster enjoys attention and has an ego. Having spent the last 16 years in hiding, and now with nowhere to go, Bulger may enjoy being the center of so much attention. And, he may have a few axes to grind. There is also speculation that Bulger will disclose damaging information about the FBI and their part in protecting him. I have no personal knowledge of this case, but I doubt that there was or is any wide-spread corruption within the FBI that assisted Bulger. We know that there was at least one bad FBI Agent. That happens. In my first book, Walking the Corporate Beat, when discussing risk, I refer to the more than one occasion that an FBI agent found himself in trouble over his relationship with an informant. Informants are high risk – high reward.

I am sure you are asking yourself how the FBI found itself in a close working relationship with a mobster. Referring back to my blog of June 18, 2011, the fact is that the FBI and police must develop informants – and those informants are going to be mobsters, drug dealers, gang members and other nasty people who have the information the cops need. The problem occurs when the cops and FBI become so anxious for good information, they put blinders on and see only what they want to see.

I have moved my Crime Scene Blog to my web site: michaeltabman.com

Discussing this with Fox 4 News:
http://fox4kc.com/2012/06/11/mother-c...

Ten year old Jessica Ridgeway was abducted and killed in Westminster, Colorado. Her dismembered body was found and a 17-year-old has been arrested, reportedly having confessed to the murder. Body parts were found in the suspect’s house. Who would commit such a horrifying and brutal crime? What is the criminal profile of this kind of pedophile murderer?

The FBI released a profile of the suspect of the Jessica Ridgeway homicide. I recently discussed criminal profiling with a local news station. The question asked was whether we can truly profile a criminal; how accurate are these profiles?

The FBI profile stated that the individual may suddenly change his appearance or leave town. Though I am not a profiler, in my 27 years of law enforcement, I do not recall that as the profile of a child murderer.

In New Jersey, only days earlier, 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale was murdered by two brothers from the neighborhood, aged 15 and 17. Last year, in Brooklyn, NY an 8-year-old boy was kidnapped and murdered by a member of a close knit and trusting religious community. His body was also found dismembered in the perpetrator’s house. Children are most often victimized by people who are known to the family or are neighbors. Law enforcement always considers that the perpetrator may participate in the search for the child.

The FBI Behavioral Science Unit is the leading criminal profiling entity. They are highly trained and well respected in the criminal justice community. Criminal profiling is a valuable law enforcement resource. But, criminal profiling must be viewed from the proper perspective – it is not an exact science; it is not as accurate, specific or detailed as television would lead you to believe.

As a rookie FBI Agent, my first exposure to criminal profiling was after we experienced the stabbing murders of female bank employees. The profile concluded that the perpetrators were clearly heterosexual, drawing an analogy between the stabbings and sexual penetration. The perpetrators were found to be two homosexual partners who killed the women after they made fun of the killers, who were bank customers. In 1993, in Long Island, NY, 12-year-old Katie Beers disappeared. When the police first searched the home of her kidnapper, they did not find her; she was hidden in a specially constructed “dungeon” beneath the house. She was eventually rescued by police who would not be deterred. Explaining the failure of the first search to find Katie, the police stated that they had been distracted by an FBI profile which stated that pedophiles usually did not hide children in their homes.

In 2005, as the Special Agent in Charge of the Red Lake High School Mass Shooting, I requested the assistance of a profiler. We did not need a profile of the shooter, he was dead. We needed a strategy to get teen-agers to cooperate with us. The profiler designed a very creative strategy, which worked.

Everyone knows about the “CSI effect;” how television has affected judges and juries who expect law enforcement to solve crimes within minutes, based on technology that does not exist. Profiling has experienced the same misperception. Criminal profiling is a valuable law enforcement resource, performed by trained personnel, but it has its limitations and is not fool-proof. Solving crime still needs the basics – beating the bushes, interviewing people and employing old fashioned police-smarts.

Please visit michaeltabman.com for more information.

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