Blood & Volume
Inside New York's Israeli Mafia
Author
Dave Copeland spent two years researching the little-known but vicious gang that New York City tabloid reporters dubbed "the Israeli mafia" during their brief reign in New York's underworld in the 1980's. Working with some of the country's best narrative nonfiction writers while enrolled as a student in Goucher College's creative nonfiction writing program, Copeland turned hundreds of hours of research into a nonfiction book that reads like a novel.
While Blood & Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia is set in the 1980's the story behind the book and how Copeland connected with Ron Gonen and Honey Tesman has a very modern flair. Copeland first got in touch with the couple after reading an ad they had placed on Craigslist, the popular online classified advertising site. Under the heading "Writer wanted" Tesman explained how she and her husband had been living in the federal witness protection program for nearly 15 years and we're looking for a writer to tell their story to.
Copeland painstakingly fact-checked everything Gonen and Tesman told him and supplemented the hundreds of hours of interviews he conducted with Gonen with court records research and with interviews of other principle players in the story, including the investigators who brought the Israeli mafia to justice.
Blood & Volume is Copeland's first book. Before jumping into long-form narrative nonfiction, Copeland was an award-winning writer and journalist. His freelance work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal online, Reason, Boston Common and dozens of other national publications. Between 1999 and 2004 Copeland was a staff writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, where he covered business and politics. His award-winning, 2000 series on the city of Pittsburgh's fiscal crisis accurately predicted the city's financial collapse a full three years before the problem was acknowledged by city officials. Copeland also received awards for his coverage of a 2001 contractor kickback scheme that reached into the upper levels of Pittsburgh City Council and the mayor's office.
Copeland has also worked as a staff writer for the Dow Jones News Service and the Old Colony Memorial, the flagship paper of a chain of nine weekly newspapers based in Plymouth, Mass. He currently lives outside of Boston and has begun work on a follow-up book to Blood & Volume, which he expects to complete in 2007.
While Blood & Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia is set in the 1980's the story behind the book and how Copeland connected with Ron Gonen and Honey Tesman has a very modern flair. Copeland first got in touch with the couple after reading an ad they had placed on Craigslist, the popular online classified advertising site. Under the heading "Writer wanted" Tesman explained how she and her husband had been living in the federal witness protection program for nearly 15 years and we're looking for a writer to tell their story to.Copeland painstakingly fact-checked everything Gonen and Tesman told him and supplemented the hundreds of hours of interviews he conducted with Gonen with court records research and with interviews of other principle players in the story, including the investigators who brought the Israeli mafia to justice.
Blood & Volume is Copeland's first book. Before jumping into long-form narrative nonfiction, Copeland was an award-winning writer and journalist. His freelance work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal online, Reason, Boston Common and dozens of other national publications. Between 1999 and 2004 Copeland was a staff writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, where he covered business and politics. His award-winning, 2000 series on the city of Pittsburgh's fiscal crisis accurately predicted the city's financial collapse a full three years before the problem was acknowledged by city officials. Copeland also received awards for his coverage of a 2001 contractor kickback scheme that reached into the upper levels of Pittsburgh City Council and the mayor's office.
Copeland has also worked as a staff writer for the Dow Jones News Service and the Old Colony Memorial, the flagship paper of a chain of nine weekly newspapers based in Plymouth, Mass. He currently lives outside of Boston and has begun work on a follow-up book to Blood & Volume, which he expects to complete in 2007.
Have Dave Copeland speak to your book club!
If your book club is considering reading Blood & Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia, Dave Copeland is available to attend your book club's meeting in New England or participate in the discussion via conference call for clubs located outside of New England.
Copeland is also available for signings, readings, interviews and lectures on Blood & Volume, writing, journalism and organized crime. To learn more about Dave Copeland, please visit the author's personal Web site and blog at www.davecopeland.com or contact him directly at info@bloodandvolume.com.
To schedule an interview or appearance with Copeland or Gonen, please contact:
Jon Tapper
Melwood Global
(617) 272-6610
jtapper@melwoodglobal.com
-- or --
John Boit
Melwood Global
(202) 468-9413
jboit@melwoodglobal.com