An Idea for a Novel Based on Cops, DA's and PAC's

I have been tossing about in my mind an idea to write a novel.  It occurred to me that I could outline the story idea for my readers to get their reaction as to whether the idea could fly.

I should first note that the story is entirely fictional, and any resemblance to real characters or events is purely coincidental.  In any case, here goes:

A small-to-medium sized southern city has a legacy of discrimination, and a sizable African-American population.  Over time, a black political machine develops that is based on racial identity and the power of bloc voting.  It is centered around the existence of a PAC that endorses candidates, thereby delivering them electoral victory.  Unlike most PAC's , which give money to candidates, this particular PAC receives contributions from many of the white candidates it endorses.  This arrangement works well for a time, and the interests of black residents are more adequately represented. 

The PAC includes elected officials primarily, but also other important community members.  Some of these elected officials become involved in various conflicts of interest, and demonstrate serious ethical lapses. 

But over time, as white politicians learn they must have this endorsement to win elections, they begin to demonstrate solicitous, obsequious behavior in order to get it and to keep it.  They effectively become beholden to the black political machine.  Many of these politicians represent various development-related interests.

One individual in the PAC also happens to be an extraordinarily effective get-out-the-vote operative.  He is therefore very powerful politically.  He happens to lead a private company that ostensibly provides affordable housing for the poor.  He is well positioned to demand taxpayers' money from local government, and he receives lots of it.  It is later discovered that he and others within the organization were stealing much of this money.  The leader is reported to have killed himself after his activities are discovered.

The company goes into bankruptcy; and an attempt is made to liquidate its assets to pay off creditors.  As this process gets underway, one of its attorneys, whom we shall call Fella, is observed absconding away from its offices with office equipment.

The chairman of the board of this housing company, whose name is Dalton, also happens to be a key administrator of a black public university located in the city.  

Meanwhile, there is trouble brewing at the local police department.  Its command staff has ample reason to believe that a number of its minority officers are willfully consorting with drug kingpins, dealers, prostitutes and strippers.  There is also reason to believe these officers are conducting private business on company time, selling police information to shady individuals, and assisting drug dealers evade law enforcement, among other offenses.  The police leadership undertake monitoring of these minority officers, and various forms of investigation.   When the minority officers find out about it, they scream bloody murder and go public claiming discrimination.  Part of the basis for the actions of the police brass was a series of concerns expressed to them by the U.S. Attorney's office.

At one point, the police chief is also involved with the investigation of the former housing agency described above.  The city attorney demands all the records, but he insists upon preserving them for law enforcement.  This angers the city attorney greatly.  Their relationship is contaminated.

It is even reported at one point that one of the minority police officers had delivered a brick of cocaine to the leader of the housing company mentioned above.

In any event, the leader of the minority officers-- and a key player in the drama--  hires a local attorney named Moe.  Moe is a former judge and a very influential leader in the PAC.  Because of his influence, he is able to get council members, the city manager and the city attorney to do things they would ordinarily not do when claims of discrimination are made.  The city essentially admits its police brass discriminated against the minority officers repeatedly, and pushes them all out.  A minority police chief is installed. 

It is now election time; and a new district attorney must be elected.  Attorney Moe, wearing the hat of the PAC principal, gives the inside track for DA to another attorney named Pug.  The question of whether there will be a prosecution related to the now-defunct housing company hangs over the DA race.  Ultimately, Pug is elected DA-- thanks in large part to the PAC endorsement secured for him by Moe. 

Attorney Pug is installed in office, becomes tearful, and publicly thanks attorney Moe for guiding his career and helping him become DA.  And shortly thereafter, Pug announces he will not prosecute anyone in connection with the case of the housing company.

Attorney Pug incidentally had received many contributions from defense attorneys during his race for district attorney.  Some, but not all, of these are minority attorneys.

Back to the police case.  At one point, the ex-wife of the leader of the minority officers claims that she had been inappropriately monitored in her neighborhood.  This allegation is circulated widely, but is proved to be untrue.  Ironically, she is later accused of being part of a check-kiting scheme affecting local banks.  And to compound the irony, attorney Fella-- the same guy who took the office equipment from the housing company during its liquidation-- also happens to be implicated with her.

The black officers file an EEOC complaint against the city.  But some independent investigative reporting reveals the white police brass were entirely justified in their actions.  The FBI looks at the situation; and does not see any discrimination. 

Another problem, however, erupts.  The city publicizes the police department's past wiretapping of certain local black professionals to dramatize that its own actions had been proper.  One of the black professionals affected is attorney Moe.  It is later learned that the wiretapping was accidental, and that it was part of a legitimate investigation.  Nonetheless, when political candidates go before the PAC/machine to be interviewed, they are asked intently about their feelings regarding the wiretapping episode. 

Lawsuits begin to fly back and forth in connection with the police department matter.  The black officers sue the city and the white former police brass.  The white police brass sues the city also. 

The black officers ironically are represented at various times by some of the same attorneys who had contributed to District Attorney Pug's campaign.

In any event, the city remarkably begins to defend itself against the suits filed by the minority officers even though it had previously admitted, without equivocation, that it had discriminated against them. 

Crime, meanwhile, begins to rage throughout the city arousing public concern.  The city feels compelled to hire a consultant to figure out what is wrong with its police department.

Three minority officers are publicly accused of sexually assaulting an off-duty female officer while they are on-duty.  It turns out they are among the officers who had filed the EEOC complaint against the city.  And the city, in spite of this, offers a settlement to that group of officers.  

One of those officers involved in the sexual assault case coincidentally also had been one of the main instigators of the minority officers' complaints against the former police brass.  At one point, attorney Moe had even arranged with the city attorney and the city manager for this particular officer to help interrogate the former white police chief.  The officer is investigated, but does not lose his job because of the assault incident.

The city manager makes a key admission that one of the chief pieces of information upon which he had relied when he pushed out the former police brass was not based on any kind of evidence.  And yet a core group of city council members protect him through the entire controversy because they are connected with and dependent upon the PAC/machine.

Some of the administrators of the aforementioned local black public university are accused of misusing public funds.  District Attorney Pug looks at the case, and ultimately decides not to prosecute anyone. 

Dalton, the former chairman of the board of the now-bankrupt and dissolved housing company-- the leaders of which had stolen from the poor-- is temporarily elevated to the position of Provost at the university.

In any event, I would like to point out to the reader that I have many ideas for this novel, and there should be little difficulty making it work.  I know I run the risk of having someone else steal my idea by writing about it here, but sometimes that is the price of blogging.

The problem for me, however, is explaining how all of these seemingly unrelated circumstances could somehow hang together.  How could there be so many coincidental interrelationships?  It would seem that some kind of coherent explanation is essential to make the plot work.

Surely, it is, to some extent, a legacy of racial victimization that some minorities still feel, and that sometimes becomes a political cause.  There is a longstanding history of antipathy toward police and other instruments of law enforcement; and indeed, distrust of them.  So key members of the black community are willing to undermine law enforcement, and thereby accept more crime in their neighborhoods, in order to maintain a certain worldview.

But why would the feelings become so intense that there is even a concerted effort to cover up wrongdoing?  I would develop several explanations in the novel. 

First, there are the interests of the local defense attorneys, a group of which attorney Moe is part.  Having Pug as DA, and supporting him, assures that more of their cases will not be prosecuted, and that their clients will "get off easy".  If their clients are able to continue their activities, and avoid time in jail or in prison, that increases enormously the value of these particular attorneys to their clients. 

In fact, it is rumored that attorney Moe's clients hardly ever even see a courtroom.  A friendly DA and a weak local police department, combined with other weaknesses in the overall criminal justice system, assures these defense attorneys will be able to deliver on behalf of their criminal clients, and command maximal fees. 

Second, the success and perpetuation of the local drug trade is the lubricant that makes available many of those fees paid to the local defense attorneys.  This is a regular, ongoing source of income that had to be protected.  Shielding the black police officers became paramount because they were, in turn, protecting the highest functionaries in the local drug trade.  (The minority officers also happened to be receiving compensation for this service.)

Third, the PAC/machine exists to serve the financial interests of some of its key principals.  Its power is used to protect and further those interests.

In any event, I will stop here.  I  think I have the broad outlines of a great fictional novel.  Reader comments are solicited because they might help me improve upon the final product in the event I develop this concept further.

Comments

[Dr. Mary Johnson]

Out of the park, Joe.

Truth is always stranger than fiction.

[Belowe]

Joe,
You also have a mayor courting the Obama administration. Like Obama, the election of the mayor is historic and her time must be protected from scandal. She must be seen as the one who heals Greensboro. There are stories occurring that aren't being told so that her legacy can grow.

[keith]

you can call it

WELCOME TO GREENSBORO NORTH CAROLINA

[John]

Joe,
You produce much information quickly. How do you do it? The community is lucky for your involvement.

[Cindy]

Joe,
You have to include the biased coverage of all of this by the News & Record. Will the news and record post a link to a .pdf of the complaint filed by the 39 officers like they did for Wray? My guess is no. They don't want the citizens to pick it apart on their website.

[Jonah]

Cindy,
Has anyone released a copy of that complaint in its full form? It would be good reading.

[Spag]

Joe, you obviously have a very active imagination. I mean the whole thing sounds like such a huge stretch. What were you smoking to come up with such story? Something like that couldn't possibly happen in real life.

[inkslinger]

This would be a best seller.

Have you thought of an ending yet?

[Stormy]

I agree with Spag. This story would never sell as it is not credible. No none would ever buy-in to this story. And, Hollywood could never conceive of a non-fiction story like this.

[Botswana]

A fictional addition/sub plot to the story would be for the lead shady police officer to be the headmaster of a home for wayward runaway girls. For literary quality in the Southern tradition make it a non air-conditioned home in the summertime with a lot of sultry, sweaty girls in torn dresses. (a bit of literary license.)

[Fred Gregory]

Superb idea , Joe.

It's called a "romam a clef". I'll share my thoughts privately.

Fred

[Laura Hamilton]

With a story like this, it is going to need a "Carl Hiaasen" type ending. The ending must be as bizaar as the story itself. You must do for Greensboro, what Hiaasen does for Miami. Anything short of that will not do it justice. Maybe there will be jury trials & they will have to be moved somewhere else, because they want be able to find 12 jurors that would be appropriate.

[Roger Greene]

I see lifetime income potential here. Once it finishes it's run as fiction and you've maxed out the sales, you can change the name and names to it's real characters and re-release it as history. Need an agent?

[Brenda Bowers]

You mentioned Miami and there was and is much in common with Greensboro. Also like Greensboro the ones to really suffer are the minorities themselves. The crime and drugs and young men dying in the streets are in the minority neighborhoods. The failing students and schools and high drop out rates are in the minority neighborhoods. The highest rate of illegitimacy is in the minority neighborhoods. The poverty is in the minority neighborhoods. For all the power these few minority king pins and politicians have it seems they exploit their own people the most.

The sad joke among Floridians about crime ridden Miami was: "The last American leaving be sure and bring the flag.". Is there a sad joke for Greensboro? BB

[Bubba]

Joe, you forgot to include the famous line of the allied enablers, including the future mayor: "Let's move along, folks. Nothing to see here," or the alternate reaction,when denial doesn't work: "All this talk is bad for business!"

[Erik "E.C." Huey]

Classic, Guarino.

[Delow24]

Be sure to include the unethical newspaper reporter who would do anything to promote the PAC agenda and hide the truth.

[francis Muldoon]

Before you start on this mission let me suggest that you have some conversation with Scott Flander over a beer and a Philly cheese steak. ( if he is still around )

Here is his website

http://www.scottflander.com/

Good luck.