WEBVTT - King of Wild Beasts 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:09.039 Who wrote the book head Man. I'm not at liberty 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:14.920 to disclose the author's name. That's Peter Lund, founder of 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:18.520 Paladin Press and publisher of Hitman, speaking with Mike Wallace 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:25.480 on sixty minutes back. Why not because the author asked 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:32.400 that we protect her privacy. It is a woman. It 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:38.960 is a woman. One afternoon this past February, I stepped 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.959 away from my desk for just a few minutes. By then, 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:44.760 I'd written who I believed to be Rex Ferrell. I'd 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:48.480 emailed multiple times to several different email addresses, called a bunch, 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:52.239 tried a few family members, mailed certified letters. I even 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.560 wrote her on Pinterest, on Instagram and Facebook. But no 0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:59.720 matter what I did, I didn't hear back. I mean, 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.160 I was only gone for a moment. It was nothing, 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.320 no time at all. But when I returned there was 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:08.919 a missed call from one of the numbers I tried, 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:13.960 and there was a voicemail, a long one. I was excited, 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:16.399 kind of felt like I was gonna puke. I wasn't 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:18.680 entirely sure what I was gonna say, but I hope 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:20.080 to have a chance to tell her what kind of 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:22.360 journalists I am that I'm not looking for some kind 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:24.959 of gotcha moment that I had no interest in doxing 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.039 her or pursuing some kind of moral reckoning. I just 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.760 want to know what happened, what was her story? And 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:33.640 then I held the phone up to my ear and 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:53.760 pressed play. Ye, nothing, just some background noises. I listened 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.080 to it three times, hoping I had missed her message, 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:58.120 like maybe it was just at the very end or 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:05.800 really quiet. No, this was clearly a missdial. Now when 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:10.280 I try that number, it goes straight to voicemail. I 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:12.760 hope she's listening to this right now. It eventually calls 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:33.880 me again. She's got my number from my Heart radio 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:37.520 and hit Home Media. I'm Jasmine Morris. This is Hitman. 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:03.079 On the very last page of Hitman, Reck Ferrell boasts someday, 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.200 when you've done and seen it all, when there doesn't 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.200 seem to be any challenge left or any new frontier 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.720 left to conquer, you might just feel cocky enough to 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.840 write a book about it. You might just feel cocky 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.120 enough to write a book about it. It's so obvious, 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:24.360 especially now that Rex Ferrell, this macho rogue Maverick, the 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.079 King of the Wild Beasts, was always just to put 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:32.560 on a persona. When I got ahold of the print 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.280 copy and thumbed through its pages, I was struck by 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.600 some of the photographs about halfway through, where Rex Ferrell 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.240 shows how to make a homemade silencer. These photos are 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:44.160 in black and white. They're super grainy and kind of 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.800 hard to see any real detail. But the person in 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:50.280 these photographs demonstrating how to make these d i y weapons. 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.960 They're only shown from the neck down, but as I 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.360 looked closely, it looks like they're wearing a woman's engagement ring. 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.120 And in the Homework and Surveillance chapter, one of the 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:05.520 centerpieces of this book is a ten page questionnaire which 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:11.600 the hitman is supposed to submit to the employer and 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:15.480 seeks detailed information on the source, background, habits, whether he 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:19.039 has guns in the house, burglar alarms, whether he knows 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:24.479 martial arts, schematic of surrounding houses and neighbors Tom Kelly, 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:30.000 Paladin's press lawyer. It says directions, please print plainly, answer 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:35.320 all questions as completely as possible. Use additional sheets of necessary, 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:40.159 supply all information available, even if not requested. No detail 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.760 is too small. This sounds a little bit more like 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.600 a college application than Hitman making a deal with an 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:52.679 employer really bordering on the absurd. There are hands drawn 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:57.120 diagrams in maps and a sample information sheet. These are 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.680 all drawn and written in a sort of flowery cursive. 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.120 So I knew it was all fake, but that didn't 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.040 make my job any easier. How do you find someone 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.599 who wrote under a pen name, someone who might not 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.480 want to be found? I scoured message boards, Amazon reviews, 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.720 comments sections, hoping for some kind of bread crumb that 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.960 would lead me to this person. Nothing. I asked the 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.200 same question over and over. Yeah, I was gonna ask 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:25.719 you about this author? What do you know about the 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.240 anonymous office you just mentioned the What did you know 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:30.479 about the author of the book? So? Who was the 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.599 actual author? Do you ever know anything about the author 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:37.600 of the book. My good friend, investigative journalist Andrew Goldberg, 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:40.440 offered his help. He tracked down some court documents and 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:42.919 dockets and handed me a stack of paper with every 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.760 woman's name circled. I asked Howard Siegel why they never 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:48.920 looked into the author? Why didn't her name come out 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.800 in the lawsuit? He said, quote, we simply didn't need her. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.920 There was no possible upside. What was she going to 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.839 say that she was trying to help would be murderers, 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:01.560 of course not she was going to tow the party 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:04.279 line and say she was just kidding or providing information. 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.400 Never bring a witness in who can't add to your case. 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:10.200 When you have them, buy the balls, you don't let 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:11.680 go to see if you can get a better grip. 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:15.440 The question is why didn't they depose or subpoena her, 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:20.440 meaning Paladin Press. So I asked Paladin's lawyer. He confirmed 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:23.480 what Lund had said on sixty minutes. The author chose 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.800 to be anonymous, a right protected by the First Amendment. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:31.279 In Paladin agreed. Paladin deemed itself obliged to keep that 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:35.320 implied pledge of confidentiality, just as you would a news 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:44.599 source grasping for leeds. I remember these two amazing private 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:48.400 detectives I'd interviewed years prior for another radio piece, legit 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:52.440 sleuths who were also married to each other, Um Collin Collins, 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:57.719 I own North Dinder Investigations. My favorite operative's Sean Kaufman. 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:02.360 My name is Kaufman, and I'm a licensed private investigator 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:04.920 in the state of Colorado, and that opens the gate 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.720 to many mysteries. Colleen later named a character in one 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:12.000 of her romance novels After Me. That's another story. I 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:15.480 see Colleen Man tell you what, don't get on her 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.160 bad side, dude, don't make her look for you because 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:25.960 palso wham bam, she will find you, and then she'll 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.320 send me out to serve you. I did find someone 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.200 a c I A one what. So when I got 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:34.520 this person on the phone, the first thing I said 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:36.800 was how did you find me? Wow? What did you say? 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:38.880 I said, Well, I just want you to know it 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.440 wasn't easy. She said, that's because I'm in the CIA, 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:46.640 So finding people is what Colleen and Shawn do, which 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.400 is why. Back in two thousand fifteen, I emailed Colleen 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.880 with everything I knew about Rex Ferrell and told her 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.200 the entire story about this Hitman book, The Trible Murder 0:07:55.240 --> 0:08:00.240 Paladin Press. To my surprise, she'd actually visited Paladin. You're ago. 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.600 I wrote a fiction novel which was really really bad, 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:07.840 because everybody's first books usually are really bad, and they 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:09.960 had a serial killer in it and guns and all 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.440 kinds of things. So I thought, gosh, there's that soldier 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.680 of Fortune magazine here in town. And yet palat impressed 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.720 or something I should call them, you know, because I 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.280 want to talk about guns and killings and stuff. She said, 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:28.000 it was a rather memorable experience. I mean, of course 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:34.560 it was. But was stunning to me was when I 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:38.920 got there there was all this security. I remember thinking, well, 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.720 this is really weird, you know, and there was a 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:45.319 camera and bars and this is fine. I was in 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:48.400 this portal and the door was locked, and this man's 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.720 voice said, is that you calling for the appointment? And 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:55.280 I said yes, I remember. He took me back to 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:57.720 a room and there was the desk in the place 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:02.280 was actually pretty bare. Its step for dozens and dozens 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.679 of boxes. She said she couldn't remember if it was 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.760 actually soldier of Fortune or paladin, but she told me 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.360 whoever she talked to pulled a gun out of his desk. 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:15.400 Sounds familiar, and so I interviewed him about guns. Well, 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:16.920 I didn't have a lot of friends. I was pretty 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.400 new and Boulder, so nobody told me that they were strange, 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:22.120 you know. And I really the first thing I do 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:24.760 when I go to a new town find find me 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:28.840 the right wing. Hey, everybody here know where I gets 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:33.280 a good hollow tips ammunition. I had no idea I 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:36.560 was like clueless. I probably would wearing a nice little 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:41.200 suit with heels. You know. Back in two thousand fifteen, 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.920 Colleen told me quote pseudonyms can be difficult to track 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.480 down depends on what other information you have. For example, 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:50.480 do you have a birth date or even a year 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.959 of birth, or even a range of age such as 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.920 thirty to thirty five years old, any family member or 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.400 spouse names. No, At the time, I had none of this. 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:06.880 Nothing is impossible, she said, until one learns it's really impossible. Gosh, 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.160 I think you just first said you were doing research 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.200 on someone called rex Ferrell. Give corrects me up that 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.240 name whenever it's spare time. I was like digging another 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:18.079 rabbit hole going. I would find more and more information, 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:22.520 and a lot you had already found two, you know. 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:25.400 I was exchanging notes with you about Okay, I found this, Yeah, 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.040 I read that too. What did you see this? We 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:30.160 were doing that back and forth, and then I found 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:34.319 the piece that you hadn't found yet, and it was 0:10:34.400 --> 0:10:37.720 what opened the door. Well do you trying to speak 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.160 to the Rex Ferrell? There were so many dead ends 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.360 along the way. I'd learned something that would turn out 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:46.560 to be completely wrong, and I'd find myself going in 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.520 a totally different direction. At one point, I thought the 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:53.160 real Rex Ferrell was a real estate agent in Miami. 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.040 She was connected to a man who will We'll get 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.760 into that later. Anyway, I sent off a few emails 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:01.200 and I hoped for the best. I never heard back, 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.160 and after looking into this woman further, I started to 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:06.760 have my doubts. The age didn't quite line up. It 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.960 just didn't feel right. But this piece that Colleen found 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:12.800 led me to someone who claimed to be a friend 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:18.280 of Rex Ferrell's and author herself, Karen Abbott. She once 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.960 quoted an email from Rex publicly, I don't want to 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:26.520 be a hero, tragic or otherwise. Rex supposedly wrote, I 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:28.800 just want to sit in my rocker on my front 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:36.760 porch and tell my grandson's stories. They're certain are fantastic lies. Ultimately, 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.360 Abbott didn't want to talk to me without Rex's permission, 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:41.800 which she never got as far as I know, so 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.680 she declined to participate in this podcast. It was frustrating, 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.719 but I understand. I'm protective of anyone who shares their 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:52.320 story with me too. Either way, I felt like I 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:56.960 was getting closer, but then at the beginning of this year, 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:59.320 I made a few more phone calls, talked to a 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:03.760 bunch of people, and literally stumbled into this conversation. I'm 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.280 not going to give away my source, but I'll play 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:10.040 you my responses. They asked me if I wanted to 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:14.360 know who actually wrote hit Man, we do? That would 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:22.080 be so helpful. You're kidding me. I finally knew her name. Wow, yeah, 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.160 because she's I mean, she's been protected, her nance to 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:30.920 redacted and everything. Wow. I've been wrong, so wrong. My 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:35.199 jaws on the ground right now. I've been looking for 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:39.920 this for a year. I mean really, it's been years, 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:43.920 one concentrated year of looking. But suddenly there it was 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:46.520 a bunch of letters on a pad of paper that 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:52.320 I scribbled down into a name, the name. We'll be 0:12:52.440 --> 0:13:18.200 right back. Women are highly emotional, rarely rational creatures. One 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:19.840 of the first things that jumped out to me when 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:24.360 reading Hitman was the way Rex talked about women, or 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.760 has he put it the h M i W, which 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:34.640 stands for Hitman's ideal woman. The book's misogyny is unsettling. 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:40.000 Take chapter eight, danger ego women in partners because of 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:44.160 their uncanny ability to get into places and situations a 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:48.520 man might find hard to duplicate because of their deceitful 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.400 game playing natures, and because a woman can be twice 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.120 as vicious as a man, a woman could be a 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.520 better hired executioner than a man. We had an actor 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.160 read some lines for Only for the World. A woman 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:04.319 usually makes only one man her target, and the nesting 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:07.000 instinct quickly takes her off the street and ties her 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:10.560 down to the little world of babies and laundry and 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.040 house work she creates and protects for her own. And 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.800 then there's the part where Rex Ferrell advises his reader 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:21.240 on avoiding quote woman problems. He writes, once a woman 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:25.680 becomes the proclaimed property of one man, she feels it 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:30.920 her duty to ward off other predators, whether real or imaginary, 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:36.040 through suspicion, jealousy, accusation, or even by becoming her own detective, 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:40.680 to protect and preserve her rightful place. This book has 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:42.960 been linked to the deaths of two women and the 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:46.000 attempted murder of another, and what happened to them is 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:50.640 a familiar, terrifying and infuriating story. Women killed at home, 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:56.000 at work in a car by their husband's ex husband's boyfriends, neighbors, 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.800 in this book, women are property. They serve at one purpose, 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:05.160 to serve their man, and if they don't, they should 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.440 be properly done away with. She will have to be 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.120 a very understanding woman, for if she knows too much, 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:17.200 she could become a hitman's worst enemy on the face 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:19.640 of the earth, and may someday have to be eliminated 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.480 in the name of self preservation. Eliminated in the name 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:29.920 of self preservation. It's like that Margaret Atwood quote. Men 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:33.160 are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:38.160 afraid that men will kill them. The woman who wrote 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.160 that book, if she needed the money, I mean, you 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:44.240 can always choose to do something else. I mean, if 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.960 you're that good of a writer, writes something else. That's 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:53.000 Tiffany Horn Millie's daughter, Trevor's sister. When the family sued Paladin. 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.760 Tiffany was a young mom. She was just trying to 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.960 live a normal life, which she told me was a 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.400 struggle at the time given what happened to her family. 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.080 So she didn't have a ton to say about Paladin 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:05.840 or the author when I asked her, But in caring 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.400 about her story just propelled me to keep looking for answers. 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.240 She remembers first hearing about the Hitman book leading up 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.640 to the criminal trials before her dad, Lawrence Horn, and 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:20.280 the hitman he hired, James Perry, were convicted. We found 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:23.520 out that the book was actually written by a single mom. Like, 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.360 how crazy is that? That was hard to wrap my 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:29.400 head around. I didn't even think about that, like a 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:33.880 mom actually like help kill him, because I mean those 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.040 were her words. She wrote that book, and it's not 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.520 just a fantasy. I know they said that, but I 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:44.120 don't believe that because it was really explicit. I mean, 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.880 did she strike you as a hit man? Oh no, no, 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.760 but again you know, very limited telephone type contact. No, 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:54.600 that's Don Corson. Remember he represented the plaintiff and the 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.720 second time Hitman was found to be used in this case, 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.680 in an attempted murder. He remembers speaking with the real 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:05.160 rex Ferrell once as he built his case. The impression 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.120 we got she was a grandmother and an author and 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:09.960 she was doing this for money. Rex Ferrell won't confirm 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.560 her identity. Paladin's closed now and their press lawyer won't 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:17.360 confirm it. But my best available information tells me I'm right, 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:20.760 And as far as I can tell, the real rex 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.360 Ferrell is now a grandmother in her seventies. She has 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.280 a social media presence and some of her posts are public. 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.439 I shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore. But she's not 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:34.080 at all what I pictured, not from what you'd imagine 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:37.920 from everything we've heard about the typical Paladin writer. She's 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:43.520 shared liberal memes about immigration, privilege in women's rights, and 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:47.160 she's really funny. I came across a few videos of her. 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:49.840 Her hair is white for the most part, she has 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.360 green eyes, and she's beautiful. In one of these videos, 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:57.600 she's singing, laughing, and wearing a sweater that says Grandma 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.879 on it. She has a slight Southern acts in and 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.960 yet it's hard to imagine this is the same person 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:07.880 who told their readers the kill is the easiest part 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.639 of the job. People kill one another every day. It 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.439 takes no great effort to pull a trigger or plunge 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.679 a knife. Is being able to do so in a 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:21.679 manner that will not link yourself or your employer to 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:26.720 the crime. That makes you a professional and the acceptance 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:31.080 of the valuelessness of life has given your own life value. 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.639 Regardless of whether Rex Ferrell ever decides to tell me 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.080 her story. Case files from the two lawsuits filed against 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.159 Paladin gives some insight into how this book was written 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:46.359 and given everything we know now well, she submitted her 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:50.080 first manuscript to Paladin Press with the attached letter dated 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:59.200 November that reads, Dear Sirs, enclosed is my manuscript entitled Hitman, 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:03.919 a tech call Handbook. And because we've now shared Rex 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.040 was a woman, we got a different actor to read 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:10.080 Rex's correspondence. This book is written in first person, but 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:15.199 a fictional professional hit man, Finnie Finnigan. The third chapters 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.560 contained many references to books I and my friends have 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:24.679 purchased from your fine library. This letter in manuscript landed 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.120 on Virginia Thomas's desk, who was an editor at Paladin 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:30.159 at the time. I reached out to her for this 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.320 podcast and didn't hear back. But that's okay. There are 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.760 court documents again, Attorney Don Corson, I remember we took 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.800 miss Thomas's deposition or testimony in Bomby's case. I was 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.760 able to get a transcript of that deposition. Most of 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.840 Thomas's answers are I don't know or I don't recall. 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.800 I mean she was deposed something like eighteen years later, 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:53.399 but don has her read some of her correspondence with 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.800 rex Ferrell. Thomas says, after reading rex Ferrell's manuscript, she 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.600 rejected it and sent the author a dated January four. 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.159 It reads, you will find your manuscript for Hitman a 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:10.760 technical handbook enclosed. Since we publish only nonfiction, we cannot 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:15.320 use this, and that's our producer, Michelle reading for Virginia. 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.600 Our readers are interested in the how to aspects of 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:22.520 survival weapons and military a thank you for allowing us 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:25.840 to consider your work. The idea is intriguing, as are 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.720 some of the tactics you suggest. Have you considered writing nonfiction? 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.200 The concluding sentence reads, good luck to you with this project. 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.040 Feel free to contact me with other ideas that might 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:41.320 fit our market. The original intention was quite a long 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:45.720 ways from what Plato turned it into. Rex Ferrell took 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:49.080 Thomas up on her suggestion and sent another proposal in 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:56.119 letter dated January enclosed. Please find the first two chapters 0:20:56.119 --> 0:21:00.080 in an outline proposed which you suggested for my on 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:05.520 fiction rewrite hit Man a technical manual for the independent contractor. 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:11.920 According to court documents, about three weeks later, on February. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:17.080 Thomas replies with this recommendation, make sure the material is 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:20.040 how to, since our readers buy books to learn, but 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:23.240 flush out the material with personal anecdotes as though you 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:26.840 were a working or retired hit man. People essentially like 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:30.600 to read about other people. Rex Ferrell writes back six 0:21:30.680 --> 0:21:35.720 days later, the tone I am using is totally professional. However, 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:39.159 due to the serious nature of the book, I am 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:45.280 finding it hard to apply appropriate anecdotes. I do include 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:48.880 accounts of real hit men who have been apprehended by 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:53.640 the authorities, and I feel very satisfied that the finished 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:58.160 product will make us both Prior and Virginia. Thomas responds with, 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:01.320 as I told you in our tele phone conversation, we 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:04.200 received Hitman, and I am excited about it. I found 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:08.480 it most intriguing reading. Congratulations, you did what you set 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:12.359 out to do. I just want to underline what's happening here. 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:17.560 Rex Ferrell initially submitted a work of fiction, and at 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:20.840 Paladin Presses Encouragement or guidance, whatever you want to call it, 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:28.040 wrote an entirely new book other than you know, asking 0:22:28.040 --> 0:22:30.520 rex Ferrell to change the format of the book. There 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:34.560 were some other changes. For example, apparently the original preface 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:38.520 to Hitman. Read this information and more will be made 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:42.800 available to enrich your fantasies and add spice to your 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:46.760 dreams of reasserting your status as the dominant sex of 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:50.199 the species who ruled with an iron will in the 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:57.000 days before overpopulation, mass production, and women's liberation. Ultimately, that 0:22:57.040 --> 0:22:59.760 didn't make it into the book, and Rex Ferrell initially 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:02.840 had a different last name, one that wasn't working for Paladin. 0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:06.440 Thomas writes, we must change the name Rex Savage to 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:12.600 something a little less stereotyped. However, Rex Savage, the publisher 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:15.399 suggests that you think of another name, possibly something that 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:17.840 sounds like a person who might belong to the mob, 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:22.000 although not too obviously. Then let's develop a persona for 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:25.880 the author for advertisements and future books. Write a personal 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:29.840 history for Mr X for that use. I am inclosing 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:33.040 your copy of the contract for hit Man signed by us. 0:23:34.520 --> 0:23:36.840 There was a notation at the top right corner that 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:40.600 read five advanced paid. You will notice that we also 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:43.800 signed the paragraph on privacy that you added. She wrote. 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:50.400 That paragraph, apparently written by Rex Ferrell, said publisher agrees 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:56.840 to accept full financial and legal responsibility for any litigations 0:23:57.160 --> 0:24:00.240 or censors that may arise out of this same ale 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:06.520 use or misuse of the contents of the contracted book. Furthermore, 0:24:07.080 --> 0:24:10.080 publisher will, to the best of his ability, protect the 0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:16.480 true identity of the author. I'm so fascinated by all 0:24:16.480 --> 0:24:19.760 of this because these are her words, that's all I 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:22.719 have from her. And you have to wonder if her 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:25.560 book stayed the work of fiction she initially wrote, if 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:28.800 it never been turned into how To Manual, if any 0:24:28.840 --> 0:24:32.119 of this would have ever happened. Paladin went on to 0:24:32.160 --> 0:24:36.200 sell just over copies of hit Man, mostly via their 0:24:36.200 --> 0:24:40.440 catalogs and eventually even through bookstores like Borders, Powell's Bookstore, 0:24:40.480 --> 0:24:46.159 and Barnes and Noble, and then on March three, Millie 0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:52.840 and Trevor Horn and Janie Saunders were murdered. The author, 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:56.919 who was just horrified that this has happened. I mean, 0:24:56.960 --> 0:25:01.080 Stephen King was horrified when learned that one of his 0:25:01.160 --> 0:25:04.560 books inspired a school shooting. I think that's a normal 0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:09.200 human reaction. That's Tom Kelly, Paladin's lawyer. She's a decent 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:12.840 human being and wanted the book off the shelf. We 0:25:12.880 --> 0:25:15.400 know the author was fearful of something like this, happening 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:18.200 based on her correspondence with Paladin as she was writing 0:25:18.200 --> 0:25:22.199 this book, and once it did, she apparently tried to 0:25:22.240 --> 0:25:25.480 do the right thing. Of course, her request was not honored. 0:25:25.920 --> 0:25:28.840 Don Courson again, who represented the plaintiff and the second 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:31.879 hit Man lawsuit, and Paladin kept it on the market, 0:25:32.119 --> 0:25:34.360 and their sales actually spiked because a lot of notoriety, 0:25:34.400 --> 0:25:37.960 a lot of publicity about it. According to court documents, 0:25:38.119 --> 0:25:41.399 sales of Hitman increased dramatically during the period after the 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:44.720 author asked that the manual be withdrawn due to the murders. 0:25:45.520 --> 0:25:48.720 They made a conscious decision to continue selling the Hitman 0:25:48.840 --> 0:25:51.320 book knowing and it had been used to murder people, 0:25:51.560 --> 0:25:53.560 and it was a strategic choice in their part. In 0:25:53.600 --> 0:25:56.280 other words, they knew what had been done, they knew 0:25:56.320 --> 0:25:59.120 that the harm had been inflicted on humans, they knew 0:25:59.119 --> 0:26:01.480 the author didn't want to They thought they're more likely 0:26:01.520 --> 0:26:03.040 to win the case if they kept it on the market. 0:26:04.760 --> 0:26:07.560 So that's how the book came to be, how it evolved, 0:26:07.920 --> 0:26:10.120 and how she wanted to pull it after the murders. 0:26:11.119 --> 0:26:14.320 But I still have so many questions. Should I even 0:26:14.359 --> 0:26:17.280