"His eye was almost closed and the left side of his body was slumped over."Īfter the visit, the younger Keene was fully committed to taking federal prosecutor Lawrence Beaumont's deal to go undercover at the maximum-security prison MCFP Springfield and befriend suspected mass murderer Larry Hall, hoping that doing so would ensure an early release. "The whole left side of his face drooped, especially the corner of his mouth," James recalled in the book. A sickly and frail Big Jim came to the prison in a wheelchair to visit his son. James believed that the reason his father's health had faltered was because of the stress he'd caused him. James Keene's father, Big Jim Keene, portrayed by Ray Liotta in the miniseries, had a sudden stroke while James was wavering about whether to take the prosecutor's deal. However, in the weeks that followed, Keene had second thoughts and even told his lawyer that he wanted to back out of the deal. At the urging of Beaumont and his lawyer, Keene accepted the deal. What if I get shanked? What if I get killed? I mean, am I gonna survive this?" Keene recalled wondering at the time ( Dateline). "What happens when I gotta deal with all these crazy killers and stuff, you know. He told Beaumont that he didn't have any experience with serial killers. At first, Keene said no to Beaumont's proposition, believing that it would be too dangerous. Beaumont was hoping most that Keene could get Hall to confess to the murder of Tricia Reitler, including where her body was buried. If he agreed to transfer to a maximum-security prison in Springfield, Missouri that housed the criminally insane and was able to get alleged serial killer Larry Hall to confess to his crimes and divulge previously unknown information, Keene would be granted an early release from prison. In 1998, ten months into James "Jimmy" Keene's ten-year sentence (with no possibility of parole), federal prosecutor Lawrence Beaumont presented him with a deal. The actor pictured below (right) portrays Big Jim Keene during his younger years. However, James said that "the businesses never worked out the way we hoped" and actually lost money. James's parents divorced when he was 11, which in the book he says put an end to his happy childhood.Īfter his father retired, James and his dad started a number of businesses together, ranging from construction and trucking to frozen food. fiction, we learned that James Keene's father, who is portrayed mostly by the late Ray Liotta in the Apple TV+ miniseries, had been a decorated police officer in the Chicago area, as well as a firefighter. Is James Keene the son of a police officer? Of Larry Hall's victims, only one body has been discovered, that of Jessica Roach. In researching the true story, we discovered that federal prosecutor Lawrence Beaumont believed that suspected mass murderer Larry DeWayne Hall was responsible for more than 20 killings. Unfortunately, the plan didn't work and Jimmy was sentenced to a decade behind bars. Federal prosecutor Lawrence "Larry" Beaumont (renamed Edmund Beaumont in the series) had advised him to plead guilty in hopes that he would be given a lighter sentence. Jimmy took a plea on the drug charge and was sentenced to ten years in a minimum-security prison with no chance of parole. He used the money in part to help get his father, Big Jim Keene, out of debt and then to financially build him up. Jimmy had been earning more than a million dollars annually and had become one of Chicago's biggest independent operators, focusing mostly on marijuana and to some degree cocaine. The former Chicago-area drug dealer was arrested in 1996 by the DEA and FBI for conspiracy to distribute drugs. Why was James Keene sentenced to 10 years in prison? Like the miniseries, the book explores James "Jimmy" Keene's attempt to befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall in order to get him to divulge information that will prevent him from being released on appeal. An expanded version of the book was released in the summer of 2022 with the title Black Bird: One Man's Freedom Hides in Another Man's Darkness. The Apple TV+ miniseries is based on James Keene's 2010 book In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |