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J.J. Maloney 1940-1999
J. J. Maloney, an award-winning journalist and founder and editor of Crime Magazine, passed away December 31, 1999, at his mother's home in Webster Groves, Mo. He was 59. Mr. Maloney, who lived in Kansas City, had been visiting his mother for the holidays. He suffered from acute bronchial congestion and had recently undergone a bout with pneumonia. He was an inveterate smoker. Mr. Maloney launched Crime Magazine, an Internet publication, on October 26, 1998. He described the site (www.crimemagazine.com) as "an encyclopedia of crime: from prisons and parole to serial killers and assassinations, books and movies to unsolved murders and fugitives, from gangsters to cops." Crime Magazine is one of the Internet's most frequently visited sites about true crime. The site has garnered seven Internet awards, including the Medaille d'Or for Web Site Excellence and the Gold Star for Outstanding Quality from Juno Enterprises. In addition, Mr. Maloney was crime editor for ODP, an Internet clearinghouse. Born in St. Louis in 1940, Mr. Maloney spent 3 1/2 years in reform schools and 13 years in prison, serving four life sentences for a murder and armed robbery he committed at age 19. As a convict, Mr. Maloney educated himself and became an artist, poet and eventually a book reviewer for the Kansas City Star. In 1972 he was paroled and began work the next day as a reporter for the Kansas City Star.By January of 1973, Mr. Maloney had been hired full-time as a reporter for The Star. The prison series he co-authored with Harry Jones, Jr., won the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel, and the Kansas Bar/Media Award. By 1977, Mr. Maloney was one of the newspaper's top investigative reporters, and did most of the paper's coverage of the Mafia's infiltration of River Quay. "When The Kansas City Star hired J. J. Maloney as a reporter in 1972, it hired more than a convicted murderer with literary talent. It hired a lightning rod," said Arthur Brisbane, then the editor and now the publisher of The Star, upon the publication in 1992 of Mr. Maloney's book The Pariah's Handbook, A Literary Guide to the Underworld. "For six years, Maloney managed to be where the fire and thunder raged. Sometimes he sparked trouble himself. He was a controversial figure who battled crooks and editors, not necessarily in that order. He also inspired loyalty in some, who saw in him the stuff of greatness," Brisbane said. In early 1980, Mr. Maloney, as a reporter for The Register in Orange County, Calif., broke the Freeway Killer Story and coined the phrase "Freeway Killer." At one point the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department publicly said the Freeway Killer was a figment of The Register's imagination. William Bonin was subsequently arrested, convicted of 14 murders, and executed in early 1996. After Bonin's arrest, Maloney went on television and revealed the existence of a second freeway killer and that man, Randy Craft, is presently awaiting execution in California. Mr. Maloney had two stints as editor of the New Times, an alternative newspaper in Kansas City that ceased publishing at the end of October 1997. From September 1991 through December 1993, he was the paper's first editor. After working five years as a paralegal and investigator for Willard Bunch, a criminal defense attorney, Mr. Maloney returned to the New Times in May of 1997 to write a two-part investigative report based on his final case with Mr. Bunch. In the understated, straight-forward, piston-driving prose that distinguished his writing from as far back as his prison days, he recounted in scrupulous detail how an ATF agent and an assistant U.S. attorney conspired to frame five innocent people in the deaths of six Kansas City firefighters tragically killed in 1988. The articles further revealed the charade of a trial a U.S. District judge presided over that culminated in the convictions of all five defendants, and their subsequent sentencing to life in prison without the possibility of parole. For these articles, the Missouri Bar Association awarded Mr. Maloney its "Excellence in Legal Journalism Award." The complete text of these articles, along with many other of Mr. Maloney's articles and essays, is available on this web site. In the course of working for The Kansas City Star and The Register in Orange County, Mr. Maloney was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize five times. He won the American Bar Association's highest award, The Silver Gavel, and he was the winner of the American Society of Newspaper Publishers award for the Best Investigative Story. Mr. Maloney is the author of two novels, I Speak for the Dead (1982) and The Chain (1986) and a volume of poetry, Beyond the Wall (1973). He is survived by his mother, Bernice Siebel of Webster Groves, Mo., who visited her son in prison every month without fail and who wrote him a letter every single day he was incarcerated. Mr. Maloney was buried in Sunset Cemetery in Afton, Mo. Journalism and Writing Awards: 1970 Conover Prize for Poetry (St. Louis) Pulitzer Prize Nominations: 1973 Kansas City Star: For Prison series that won
ABA Silver Gavel Books: 1973 Beyond The Wall, Greenfield Review Press,
Poetry The Murder of JonBenet Ramsey In addition to an 8,000-word overview and analysis of the case, we include the entire autopsy report and the public letters of Fleet White, the former best friend of John Ramsey, and Det. Steve Thomas' letter of resignation in protest of what he saw as a coverup. Randy Kraft: The Southern California Strangler. The reporter who coined the phrase "Freeway Killer," sets the record straight about why serial-killer Randy Kraft should not be confused with William Bonin. The Freeway Killer is an examination of not only the notorious murders committed by William Bonin, but the role the media and the author, as a reporter for the Orange County Register, played in the case. James Earl Ray and Martin Luther King are in-depth articles by J.J. Maloney, who knew James Earl Ray and has researched the King assassination over a 30-year period. A new look at In Cold Blood. Truman Capote's ground-breaking "non-fiction" novel about the murder of a Kansas farm family. We take the position that the book is not only flawed, but dishonest. The Great Brinks Robbery At the time, the Brinks heist in Boston was called "the crime of the century." The take of over $2.7 million was the largest in U.S. history, but it was the cold, calculating efficiency of the robbery that so stunned and intrigued the nation. The Execution Photos When the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the electric chair was a constitutional form of execution, an outraged justice of the court attached three photographs to his dissent. The photographs show the agonized and contorted face of a recently executed Florida prisoner, his shirt-front drenched in blood. It is said a photograph is worth 1,000 words. Some are worth more. Be forewarned that photograph #3 is particularly gruesome. The Death Penalty A primer on the battle over the death penalty in the 20th Century covering historic cases in the 20th century, arguments for and against the death penalty, and how the death penalty can motivate people to kill. The American Gun An in-depth look at the "gun problem" in the United States, along with suggestions for sensible new laws. An Evening with Tony is the true story of a young black man who was executed for murder and an old gangster who wasn't. You decide who got the better of it. Firefighters Case Part I and Part II Five innocent people were convicted in February 1997 in the deaths of six Kansas City firefighters in 1988. These two stories run a total length of 20,000 words, and won the Missouri Bar Association's annual "Excellence in Legal Journalism" award. On Oct. 30, 1998, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the appeal in the Kansas City Firefighters case. Read the full opinion here and our analysis of the opinion. On Oct. 4, 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant certiorari in the case. The Murder of Ramon Novarro , in 1968 has been written about very little -- and the goings-on of his killer are even less well known. Sharon Kinne The story of one of the most remarkable criminals in U.S. history. Sharon Kinne started as a housewife and became a cold-blooded killer. She beat the system. The Man Who Got Away The story of Albert Bradford, a talented and charismatic man who went to prison at the age of 17 with three life sentences for rape, transformed himself into an artist of note and a leader of men -- then committed his most heinous crime of all and beat the system. The Walls An in-depth look at the Missouri State Penitentiary from 1960 through 1972. Jeff City, as the prison is known, is the oldest penitentiary west of the Mississippi. In The Wake of a Riot The disastrous 1954 prison riot leveled much of the Missouri State Penitentiary, leaving four convicts dead and 30 wounded. Seven prisoners convicted of murdering an informer claimed they were tortured into confessing to the murder. River Quay A first-hand investigative report of the Kansas City Mafia's attempt to take over a major Kansas City entertainment area in the mid-1970s -- an effort that included bombings, extortion, and a large number of murders. The Greenlease Kidnapping of 1953 was a sensation of that time, and $300,000 of the $600,000 paid in ransom has never been recovered. Two police officers and a gangster are commonly thought to have stolen the money -- but did they? The Crime Film, presents an overview of the evolution of crime films, their authenticity, the issue of using films to change public behavior and whether crime films, in the last two decades, have influenced public thinking about such matters as crime, prisons and capital punishment. Devil's Island A historical look at what was probably the toughest prison of all time. Those who think that making prisons tougher is the answer to the U.S. crime problem, might want to read this article. Updated: To Live And Die In Belton U.S.A. The story of Jeffrey Gardner, a young man sentenced to prison for shooting an abusive husband who was threatening his wife with a knife. After the printing of this story, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, on March 2, 1999, overturned the conviction of Gardner -- who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the shooting. Gardner was a boarder in the couple's home at the time of the shooting. On Dec. 7, 1999, the Missouri Supreme Court did overturn the appellate court opinion. Gardner is serving his sentence at the state penitentiary in Jefferson City, Mo. Click here to read the Missouri Supreme Court decision. Addtional update 12/19/2007. Kansas City's Dirty Harry In his book The Battle Behind the Badge, former police Cap. Robert Heinen portrays himself as a hero of mythic proportions in rooting out corruption in the Kansas City Police Department. He may have set out to get the bad guys, but in the process he became one himself.
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