On March 1st, 1976, Delphine Moore and Gio Messina were stabbed to death in a Gold Coast apartment. Homicide detectives arrested the murderer within days. There was a witness. There was evidence. It would be an easy conviction.
But when money and power collude, there isn’t much that can’t happen: By the time of the Bicentennial, crucial evidence had disappeared. The remaining police reports and crime scene photos didn’t even fill a file box. The killer went free. The case went cold.
Four years later, prosecutor Gregg Owen took a second look.
But when money and power collude, there isn’t much that can’t happen: By the time of the Bicentennial, crucial evidence had disappeared. The remaining police reports and crime scene photos didn’t even fill a file box. The killer went free. The case went cold.
Four years later, prosecutor Gregg Owen took a second look.
Convergence takes place in the ragged years between the end of the Vietnam war and the election of Ronald Reagan, in a city almost defined by its corruption. It unfolds against a backdrop of bitter politics, a record-setting murder rate, the introduction of cocaine, and the blood economy that sprung up around it with the rising power of street gangs.
It brings in corrupt judges, crusader cops and lawyers, pornographers, undercover informants, FBI stings, and drug smugglers.
It’s a true story. It all happened. And it’s only the beginning of an unforgettable career.
26th Street Books is a publisher focused on bringing new approaches to the art of true crime. It is based in Chicago and New York City.
