Lawyer Makes Case For Legalization of Drugs in New Novel

14 June 2006

These stories are presented as fiction in John Nicholas Iannuzzi's Condemned, but the issues they represent are a daily reality in the war against drugs. Iannuzzi's ripped-from-the-headlines style comes from his experience as one of New York City's most prominent criminal attorneys. With unflinching candor, Iannuzzi exposes the rampant corruption and unscrupulous behavior at every level of the drug trade - from street junkies to DEA agents - and reveals to readers the tangled web of interdependence illegal drug trafficking creates.

"We are repeating what Franklin Roosevelt called the Stupendous Blunder of Prohibition," says Iannuzzi. "Laws that were intended to regulate and eliminate allegedly evil substances have actually created an industry of corruption and violence."

In Condemned, Iannuzzi asserts that by failing to legalize drugs, our government is following the same mistaken path it did with alcohol Prohibition. In fact, he took the title of the book from a well-known quote from Santayana: "Those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it." By legalizing and regulating drugs in the same way that alcohol has been controlled, Iannuzzi contends that society will have a three-fold benefit: eliminating trafficking and its cohorts violence and corruption, bringing in billions of legitimate tax dollars into the public coffers to better serve society, and eradicating the incalculable cost of fighting the ineffective "war on drugs." Once trafficking is eliminated, addiction can be dealt with as the medical and psychological problem that it is.

Iannuzzi's novel weaves together stories of Colombian drug lords, Russian thugs, Mafia soldiers, street junkies, law enforcement, courtroom intrigue, jail cells, luxury cars, and billions of dollars to shine a high-intensity light upon the dark, dangerous corners of international drug trafficking.

"Not only a great read, CONDEMNED also offers a great ride. Iannuzzi's dazzlingly exciting double plot of 1990s drug world counter pointed with 1920s bootlegging and speakeasy chicanery, undoes the 'noble' war on drugs as brilliantly as Marc Anthony undid 'noble' Brutus in his speech at Caesar's funeral."

-New York Law Journal

"Long regarded by the denizens of the New York Criminal Courts as the Dean of the Defense Bar, John Nicholas Iannuzzi has penned a gripping, thought-provoking, controversial and highly topical read. Iannuzzi's CONDEMNED is certain to provoke an important debate about the nature, purpose, methodology and enforcement of our drug laws."

-Robert K. Tanenbaum, lawyer, former N.Y. Asst. D.A., author of "Fury" and many other best selling novels

"Iannuzzi, a brilliant criminal trial lawyer, reflects a master's incisive eye for the sound and feel of the heartbeat of the criminal courts and law enforcement. CONDEMNED'S theme about drugs and the drug laws is confrontational and challenging. An altogether excellent read."

-Hon. Edwin Torres, Justice of the New York Supreme Court, author of best-sellers and major motion pictures "Carlito's Way" and "Q. and A."; former N.Y Asst. D.A.

"CONDEMNED is written by a criminal defense lawyer who knows the subjects: drugs, the law and the players. This novel is both exciting and provocative - a helluva read!"

-Burton B. Roberts, former D.A., Bronx County, retired Judge of the New York State Supreme Court (the model for Tom Wolfe's judge in "Bonfire of the Vanities").

About the Author

John Nicholas Iannuzzi is a New York trial attorney, an Adjunct Professor of Law, and author. He also breeds Lipizzan horses.

Condemned by John Nicholas Iannuzzi

Publication Date: January 3, 2006

Trade Paperback; $22.99; 362 pages; 1-59926-773-X

Cloth Hardback; $32.99; 362 pages; 1-59926-774-8

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