Richard Marinick

Diagnoses

Passions

Vocation

Family

American author of crime thrillers, Marinick is an ex-convict, a former member of a notoriously brutal organized crime gang in New England. In 1986, Marinick, with a lengthy criminal record, was sentenced to two consecutive terms for two separate masked armed robberies of armored cars. Within the first three months of his incarceration, he says he had a spiritual awakening and vowed to change his life. He entered therapy, began taking college-level courses, and re-connected with his boyhood dream of writing. While in jail, he graduated from Boston University magna cum laude and earned his master’s in children’s literature, summa cum laude. He was released in 1996, and eight years later, in 2004, his hard-boiled novel, “Boyos” was published. As a child, he was a young tough, getting into gang fights. After graduation from high school, he landed a job as a bouncer for a strip club in a tough Boston neighborhood. He married in 1976, and a year later left for Okinawa where he earned his black belt in karate. Upon his return to the United States, he entered the State Police Academy, graduating near the top of his class. By July 1978, he was a State trooper but became disillusioned with the low pay and stressful demands of the job. Quitting police work, he drifted and began using cocaine. It was a short step into the life of a gangster. From petty crime, he graduated to beating up mob victims, hijacking trucks, robbing banks and ultimately to the armored car holdups that led to his incarceration. His wife left him in 1982 and his cocaine habit worsened. He entered a detox program in 1984 and tried to get a legitimate job. But with no skills, crime was attractive. Despite leading what he calls an “insane life,” he clung to his childhood dream of becoming a writer and would continue to jot down children’s stories and ideas for adult books. In 2003 he married an old friend with whom he had reconnected. His first novel was published a year later.