Gerald Petievich

Last updated
Gerald Petievich
Born1944 (1944)
Los Angeles County, California, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
Alma mater Defense Language Institute
Genre
Website
petievich.com

Gerald Petievich (b. 1944) is an American author of crime fiction, and a former agent of the United States Secret Service. [1] [2]

Contents

Biography

Petievich was born in Los Angeles County, California, to a family of Serbian descent. His father and brother were both members of the Los Angeles Police Department. [3] Prior to his law enforcement career, Petievich served in the United States Army as a Counterintelligence officer in West Germany. [3]

Secret Service career

Petievich joined the United States Secret Service as a Special Agent in 1970, a position he held until 1985. [1] [2] During that time, his assignments included Presidential protection detail, counterfeiting enforcement, and representative to the United States Organized Crime Strike Force in Los Angeles. [3]

Writing career

Petievich published his first four novels while still employed by the Secret Service. He retired in 1985 to focus on writing full time. That same year, his novel To Live and Die in L.A. was adapted to film by director William Friedkin. Petievich co-wrote the screenplay with Friedkin, and also made a cameo appearance.

Petievich's novels Money Men and The Sentinel have also been adapted to film. [4] [5] [6]

Personal life

Petievich lives in Los Angeles with his wife. [3]

Works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Bureau of Investigation</span> U.S. federal law enforcement agency

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. An agency of the United States Department of Justice, the FBI is a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence. A leading U.S. counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, the FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen J. Cannell</span> American television producer and writer (1941–2010)

Stephen Joseph Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist, actor, and founder of Cannell Entertainment and The Cannell Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Friedkin</span> American filmmaker (1935–2023)

William David Friedkin was an American film, television and opera director, producer, and screenwriter who was closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in the early 1960s, he is best known for his crime thriller film The French Connection (1971), which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and the horror film The Exorcist (1973), which earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Tidyman</span> American author and screenwriter (1928–1984)

Ernest Ralph Tidyman was an American author and screenwriter, best known for his novels featuring the African-American detective John Shaft. His screenplay for The French Connection garnered him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as a Golden Globe Award, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award. In 1971, he also co-wrote the screenplay for the film version of Shaft with John D. F. Black.

William H. Keith is an American author mainly contributing to military science fiction and military fiction and related game design, who writes also under several pen names, such as Ian Douglas, Robert Cain and H. Jay Riker. His newer original works are written under the name of Ian Douglas.

Barbara Hambly is an American novelist and screenwriter within the genres of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction. She is the author of the bestselling Benjamin January mystery series featuring a free man of color, a musician and physician, in New Orleans in the antebellum years. She also wrote a novel about Mary Todd Lincoln.

<i>To Live and Die in L.A.</i> (film) 1985 film by William Friedkin

To Live and Die in L.A. is a 1985 American neo-noir action thriller film directed and co-written by William Friedkin. It is based on the 1984 novel of the same name by former U.S. Secret Service agent Gerald Petievich, who co-wrote the screenplay with Friedkin. It stars William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow, John Turturro, Darlanne Fluegel and Dean Stockwell. Wang Chung composed and performed the original music soundtrack. The film tells the story of the lengths to which two Secret Service agents go to arrest a counterfeiter.

<i>Role of Honour</i> Novel by John Gardner (British writer)

Role of Honour, first published in 1984, was the fourth novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyright, it was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape and in the United States by Putnam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Informant</span> Person who provides information

An informant is a person who provides privileged information, or information intended to be intimate, concealed, or secret, about a person or organization to an agency, often a government or law enforcement agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informants are officially known as confidential human sources (CHS), or criminal informants (CI). It can also refer pejoratively to someone who supplies information without the consent of the involved parties. The term is commonly used in politics, industry, entertainment, and academia.

Donald Freed is an American playwright, novelist, screenwriter, historian, teacher and activist. According to Freed's friend and colleague, the late Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter, "(Freed) is a writer of blazing imagination, courage and insight. His work is a unique and fearless marriage of politics and art."

<i>The Sentinel</i> (2006 film) 2006 action thriller film directed by Clark Johnson

The Sentinel is a 2006 American political action thriller film directed by Clark Johnson about a veteran United States Secret Service special agent who is suspected of treason after an attempted assassination of the president reveals that someone within the Service is supplying information to the assassins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Bompensiero</span> American mobster (1905–1977)

Frank "Bomp" Bompensiero was a Sicilian-American mobster who was a longtime caporegime in the Los Angeles crime family. In 1956, with the death of boss Jack Dragna, Bompensiero was demoted to the rank of soldier by the new boss, Frank DeSimone. He was the older brother of associate Salvatore "Sam" Bompensiero. Bompensiero made a name for himself for the many killings he committed on the orders of his superiors. Jimmy Fratianno, a close associate, once said that Bompensiero "had buried more bones than could be found in the brontosaurus room of the Museum of Natural History."

To Live and Die in L.A. may refer to:

Justin Tanner Petersen was an American hacker, concert promoter, sound engineer, private investigator and an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. While tasked with helping to catch other hackers and fugitives wanted by the FBI, he continued to commit serious crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles crime family</span> Italian-American organized crime group

The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the Dragna crime family, the Southern California crime family or the L.A. Mafia, and dubbed "the Mickey Mouse Mafia" by former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Los Angeles, California as part of the larger Italian-American Mafia. Since its inception in the early 20th century, the family has spread throughout Southern California. Like most Mafia families in the United States, the Los Angeles crime family gained wealth and power through bootlegging alcohol during the Prohibition era. The L.A. family reached its peak strength in the 1940s and early 1950s under Jack Dragna, although the family was never larger than the New York or Chicago families. The Los Angeles crime family itself has been on a gradual decline, with the Chicago Outfit representing them on The Commission since the death of boss Jack Dragna in 1956.

<i>Shamrock Alley</i> 2009 novel by Ronald Malfi

Shamrock Alley is a crime novel written by American novelist Ronald Malfi. It was originally published in 2009 by Medallion Press. The novel is based on a real-life investigation Malfi's father, a retired Secret Service agent, had worked back in the 1970s against The Westies. This is also the final novel where the author used his middle name on the cover and title page. The novel won a Silver Independent Publisher Book Awards medal (IPPY) for Best Mystery/Suspense/Thriller.

<i>To Live and Die in L.A.</i> (novel) 1984 novel by Gerald Petievich

To Live and Die in L.A. is an American crime novel written by former Secret Service Agent Gerald Petievich. It was published by Arbor House in 1984, and subsequently made into a movie the following year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Silverberg bibliography</span> List of works by Robert Silverberg

List of the published work of Robert Silverberg, American science fiction author and editor. A complete list would include over 500 books.

<i>The Quality of the Informant</i> 1985 novel by Gerald Petievich

The Quality of the Informant is a 1985 crime novel by Gerald Petievich. It is the fourth novel in the author's "Charles Carr" series, about the exploits of a federal agent in Southern California. The other novels in the series include Money Men, One-Shot Deal, and To Die in Beverly Hills.

<i>Operator No. 5</i> American pulp magazine

Operator #5 was a pulp magazine published between 1934 and 1939.

References