Featured Author Larry Avrech!
Book Title(s): "Who Killed Donna Gentile" The Real Story!
Police officer Larry Avrech loved his work and passionately wanted to help his community. So, it was a mighty blow when his department fired him for investigating corruption in his department involving a prostitute.
Following his termination, Avrech became a successful private investigator solving some of Southern California’s most prominent criminal and civil cases. However, he ultimately wanted to tell the real story of what happened and how an idealistic officer got entangled in a web of corruption and lies.
As a young San Diego Police Officer, he uncovered a scandal in his department. In August of 1984, his careful investigation revealed The Commander of the Prostitution Enforcement detail was involved with a prostitute named Donna Marie Gentile.
He became her “Sugar Daddy” and routinely paid for boarding her horse, co-signing for bail, paid her hospital bill when injured, and gave her cash twice to pay attorney’s fees.
Suspecting corruption, Avrech befriended her in an attempt to obtain more information. She told Avrech she had a Lieutenant in her hip pocket on a routine street stop and was tired of being harassed. He would be punished again and again for simply doing his job.
When Gentile realized exposure of their cozy little relationship would shut down her money connection, it was a race to see who would get to Internal Affairs first. Gentile beat Avrech to the punch with trumped-up allegations.
Not only did she lie to Internal Affairs when the story leaked to San Diego media, but every news station in town also interviewed her. The story was splashed over the newspaper front pages for years, destroying Avrech's integrity and reputation.
Eight months later, Avrech faced termination for Gentile's lies. In the process, the young officer lost everything, his career, his home, and, afterward, his children.
But that wasn't enough punishment for Avrech's "sin" of investigating corruption. After his termination, San Diego PD continued threatening to destroy him. To make matters worse, Gentile was a Police Informant, a fact the department tried to keep quiet.
Gentile testified against Avrech at his civil service hearing. Six weeks after she testified, they discovered her nude, lifeless body. Avrech became an instant murder suspect. But who killed her? How was he to prove his innocence?
In the spring of 1986, Avrech got a call from a high-ranking Deputy District Attorney who had followed the case and said he could prove the San Diego PD set up Avrech.
For the next seven years, Avrech secretly worked with the Deputy District Attorney. No one breathed a word to law enforcement or the media. Avrech provided the Deputy with a suspect completely off law enforcement's radar and helped solve a string of 14 serial "Dump Death" killings of mostly prostitutes and transients and linking the suspect to six attempted murders of other women.
Finally, the true story's told. This exciting, detailed book reveals what happened in San Diego behind the sensational headlines and how a corrupt Police Department covered up the truth for decades.
Book Trailer: Vimeo
Website: www.whokilleddonnagentile.com
Purchase the Book: https://www.whokilleddonnagentile.com/buy/
Email: lavrech@aol.com
-
Active Membership Date March 29, 2019