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Sign up now at 23 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:57.960 chumbacasino dot com. 24 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.159 No We're Necessary Daily REPOI where Everybody Lost a recondiating lay. 25 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:04.040 Lupadian. 26 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:16.599 You are now listening to True Murder The Most Shocking 27 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:19.719 Killers in True Crime History and the authors that have 28 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:27.079 written about them Gasey, Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker DTK. Every 29 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.799 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 30 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:35.439 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 31 00:01:35.799 --> 00:01:39.439 journalist and author Dan Zupansky. 32 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:52.079 Good Evening. This is your host Dan Zupanski for the 33 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:55.280 program True Murder, The most Shocking Killers in True crime 34 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:59.439 History and the authors that have written about them. Growing up, 35 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:05.640 Burman's childhood was idyllic. She was Las Vegas mob Royalty, 36 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:08.759 the daughter of a mob boss who ran the Flamingo 37 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:11.639 and furnished his only child with anything money could buy. 38 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:16.719 But halfway through her childhood, her dream exploded. Susan's father 39 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:22.039 died without warning during a routine surgery. Next, Susie Burman's 40 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:24.520 mother died by her own hand the next year when 41 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:28.280 she's overdosed on drugs. Susy was whisked away from the 42 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:31.479 only home she'd ever known, parentless living with an uncle 43 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:35.719 and his family, and sent away to boarding school. Now 44 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:39.000 fast forward to college, where Susan met her soulmate, Robert Durst. 45 00:02:39.319 --> 00:02:42.639 They became best friends in each other's confidants. Durst went 46 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:45.000 to work for his wealthy father at the Durst Organization 47 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:48.919 in Manhattan, while Susan became a journalist, writing about women's 48 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.800 cultural issues for newspapers and magazines. She followed Durst to 49 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:58.159 New York, where he married the beautiful Kathy McCormick. Then 50 00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:01.759 Cathy disappeared, and Susan's did good by her best friend Robert, 51 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.840 despite suspicions that Durst had caused the demise of his wife. 52 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:08.319 Twenty years later, as police closed in on Durst and 53 00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:11.280 reopened the case seeking the interview as best friends, Susan 54 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:14.479 was murdered. Few clues were found. Who did it? And 55 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:18.319 why was it? The mob? A trusted friend murder in 56 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:21.960 Beverly Hills. An updated, revised edition of Murder of a 57 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:29.080 Mafia Daughter answers those questions. Exclusive information about the investigation 58 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.080 is included in this edition, as well as new interviews 59 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:36.319 of police detectives, Susan's friends, family, and colleagues, and new 60 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:40.000 information about Robert Durst is revealed. The book that We're 61 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:44.400 the book we're profiling this evening is Murder in Beverly Hills, 62 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:48.840 the mob style execution of Susan Berman, her crime boss father, 63 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:51.560 and the deadly secret she took to her grave with 64 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:55.800 my special guest, journalist and author Kathy Scott. Welcome back 65 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:58.080 to the program, and thank you for agreeing to this interview. 66 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:01.919 Kathy Scott, You're welcome, Dan, thank you very much for 67 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:03.639 a warm welcome. 68 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:09.400 Thank you. This is a great update of an already 69 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:13.400 previously great book. So let's dive right into this. For 70 00:04:13.560 --> 00:04:18.279 those of us that don't know who Susan Berman is 71 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:23.639 and Davy Berman in the whole connection with what Susan 72 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:27.160 Berman later you claim in the book that she called 73 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.839 it the royal family of Las Vegas, Frank Costello, Bugsy Seagull, 74 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:37.040 Davy Berman and Las Vegas when it was sixteen thousand people. 75 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:40.920 So tell us a little bit about who Susan Berman 76 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:44.800 was first by telling us who her father was and 77 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:47.199 giving us a little bit of a historical background. At 78 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:52.879 that time called him a casino hotel or hotel casino pioneer. 79 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:56.839 So tell us a little bit about Davey Berman, and 80 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:01.319 before we talk about Susan Berman and her life point well. 81 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:04.439 Her dad, Davy Berman, was a mobster. I mean he 82 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:11.160 was with the Jewish mob absolutely, actually with Maya Lanski 83 00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:17.199 and that group, and did it in Sioux Falls, Iowa. 84 00:05:18.279 --> 00:05:20.920 A lot of rackets there. Then he went to Cincinnati, 85 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:26.560 and from there he and then some he was working 86 00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:30.360 in casinos doing what I don't know what. In Minnesota, 87 00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:35.959 met met Susan's mother, Gladys, whose real name was Betty, 88 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:39.000 but her stage name she was a dancer and her 89 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:43.360 stage name was Gladys, and he whisked her and their 90 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:47.759 newborn baby. He married her and whisked her to Vegas. 91 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:52.639 They came by train, and that was in the forties. 92 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:57.839 And Susan grew up as basically mob royalty and it 93 00:05:57.879 --> 00:06:03.759 was spoiled little girl and happy, and her dad took 94 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:07.680 her to work a lot, and she had the run 95 00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:11.240 of the casino and all the casino workers to please Davy, 96 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:14.519 her dad. They would give her anything she wanted. And 97 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:18.560 she'd got a hotel room and watched TV and order 98 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.480 you know, room service and everything else. She swam a 99 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:25.920 lot her mom in the flim Mingo swimming pool. Used 100 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:27.480 to go out there with her with some of the 101 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:33.360 other mothers and then her mother her father died when 102 00:06:33.399 --> 00:06:38.639 she was twelve years old during surgery and it was 103 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:42.759 a poll up or something in his intestines, and they 104 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:46.360 sent her away to boarding school. Her mother had had 105 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:49.839 nervous breakdowns off and on, and she was sort of 106 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:55.279 absent that last year. She was in la and in 107 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:59.720 an assisted living or whatever they used to do back then, 108 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:03.879 and for nervous breakdowns or whatever they called them. And 109 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:07.399 then Susan was there part of the time, but going 110 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:10.920 to boarding school. And then her mother died. Susan was 111 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:15.519 convinced that she was murdered, and her cousin, Susan's cousin, 112 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:20.560 her mother's first cousin, is absolutely convinced, and he worked 113 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:25.720 for Davy Berman at the time. And she died and 114 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:32.160 Susan was, you know, sent away to boarding school another 115 00:07:32.279 --> 00:07:34.879 a different boarding school, and then to Idaho to live 116 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:39.879 with her uncle. And nobody ever talked about her dad 117 00:07:39.959 --> 00:07:44.360 or anything. And she no one. That's from her cousin 118 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:48.839 who lived with her, and no one. She never was 119 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:51.240 like it never happened that part of her life, and 120 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:54.480 all of a sudden she was planted elsewhere and she 121 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:57.319 never got over. It was almost like her feet were 122 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:00.480 firmly planted in Las Vegas. She went on to college 123 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:02.920 and all of that. So that's who she was. And 124 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:05.879 her dad took over this Flamingo. He was working there 125 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:10.439 as a co He was part owner. Dougsy Siegel was 126 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:16.319 murdered and Davy Berman took over fifteen minutes after Bugsy 127 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:20.519 was murdered and ran it, ran the Flamingo until he died. 128 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:27.279 Yes, and that was a long journey. You write in 129 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:30.199 the book though, that she had this idyllic life, but 130 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:34.320 she stayed almost matter of factly, that the mother was 131 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:39.039 receiving shock treatments three times a week. So her mother 132 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:43.120 was really not so involved with her upbringing. She adored 133 00:08:43.159 --> 00:08:43.679 her father. 134 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:48.279 Yeah, but she really did. 135 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:53.120 You no go ahead, no go ahead. Sorry. 136 00:08:53.720 --> 00:08:57.600 Well, her first cousin, Tom or her first cousin once 137 00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:03.480 removed her her HER's first cousin, Tom Patten, who happens 138 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:07.559 to live in Las Vegas. He's in his nineties, very 139 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.519 you know, doing very well. And I met with him 140 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:14.639 and his son several times. And he worked for Davy 141 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:17.120 and so he used to drive with Susan to work, 142 00:09:17.799 --> 00:09:20.080 and he told me she used to get mad at him. 143 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:23.159 And kick him because she wanted to go somewhere and 144 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:25.080 he'd say no, and she'd start kicking him while he 145 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:30.399 was driving. But because she was kind of very, very 146 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:34.679 spoiled and just a kid, but her mother was absent. 147 00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:39.320 I asked the cousin, how was how was you know 148 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:42.879 her mother toward her? Was she affectionate? And then another 149 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:44.960 friend who grew up with her and lived in the 150 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:47.879 neighborhood and spent a lot of time. Her only friend 151 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:51.279 really in the neighborhood was allowed to go to her house, 152 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:55.960 but they wantn't let Susie go to his house. His 153 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:59.679 name was Pat, because the parents were afraid that something 154 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:03.360 could happen if Susan was there, you know, mob unrest 155 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:06.279 and that sort of thing. He said. You know, her 156 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.600 childhood friend Pat told me, and Tom did too, that 157 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:16.480 glad that some her mother wasn't real affectionate, but she 158 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.320 she would always offer him cookies when he'd come over 159 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:25.080 and that sort of thing, but always dressed up, and 160 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:28.879 he thought she was kind of affected. It sounds to 161 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:32.159 me like she was a little distant, But I think 162 00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:35.159 her dad made up for that because he was very 163 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:37.639 affectionate with her, and he would come he would leave 164 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:41.039 work so early so he could tuck her in and 165 00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:44.159 then he would go back to work. So I think 166 00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:48.080 she got her affection and that nurturing mostly from her father. 167 00:10:49.159 --> 00:10:51.240 She was more broken up over his death than she 168 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:54.200 was her mother's. And she was, you know, thirteen years 169 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:57.399 old and she was an orphan. It's very sad, you know, 170 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:02.000 never got over it, never got over her leaving, you know, 171 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:05.159 the idyllic you know, to her, it was idyllic, And 172 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.279 you have to she wrote the book Easy Street, you 173 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:11.159 had to consider Susan was writing it, you know, sort 174 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:15.279 of with her memoir, sort of with rose colored glasses 175 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:18.519 from a child's perspective, and she never got passed a 176 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:22.759 sort of twelve thirteen year old mentality, at least when 177 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:23.799 it came to her childhood. 178 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:28.480 Yeah, talked about sort of this innocence. She didn't realize 179 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:32.320 what her father did till that there was this certain 180 00:11:32.440 --> 00:11:36.600 mob hit and then she saw overlooked someone over the 181 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:40.120 shoulder and saw that the headlines and the photos and 182 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:45.000 the stories. So gradually, it seemed, especially after her family, 183 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:49.320 her parents were dead, that she started to slowly realize 184 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:53.240 who her father was and his importance and and sort 185 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:56.840 of the scary world that he inhabited. And he was 186 00:11:56.840 --> 00:11:57.720 a killer. 187 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:02.279 Actually, yeah, he'd got an accused of killing and he 188 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:05.039 did some time he was in sing sing and she, 189 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.879 you know, I mean, when her book came out in 190 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:12.840 nineteen eighty one, she went on Jane Polly, I think 191 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:16.279 it was the Today Show back then, and she just 192 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:18.679 sort of and you can still view it if you 193 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:21.039 search hard online. You can find the interview and she 194 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:25.639 very matter of factly and almost proudly says, you know, 195 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:28.240 my dad was a killer who could kill a man 196 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:33.399 with one arm. You know, she did a lot of research, 197 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:37.279 went to the library, found any book, you know, with 198 00:12:37.320 --> 00:12:39.639 her dad's name in it. She didn't think it was 199 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:42.879 mentioned enough, and she was trying to make him famous. 200 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.080 But you know, that was typical of the Las Vegas mobsters. 201 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:48.159 And you know, the Jewish mob was here before the 202 00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:52.320 Italian mob in Las Vegas, and it was typical of 203 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:56.039 them to try to legitimize themselves. And they were very 204 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:59.480 respected here in Las Vegas. And you know, there was 205 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:01.399 a rule hear that if you were going to kill 206 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:03.519 you couldn't do it. You'd have to do it over 207 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:07.559 the state line. Don't don't do any murders in Las Vegas, 208 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:13.320 And they didn't, none that we know of. No. Victoria 209 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:18.159 Study kept a low profile, and she she she idolized 210 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.320 him and kind of put him up on a pedestal 211 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.360 and sort of I thought, I don't know, I mean, 212 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:26.200 did you get the feeling when you read it that 213 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:28.399 she thought it was okay that he was a monster, 214 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:31.159 and he was notorious and a killer and all of that. 215 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:32.440 She was almost proud of it. 216 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:36.440 Well, she came I think she came around to accepting 217 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:39.639 it and like a neighbors, like a neighbor had said, 218 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:42.360 and you capturing the book as well, that a lot 219 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:44.200 of friends thought she was, you know, the life of 220 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:47.039 the party, and she was quite outrageous and sort of 221 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:52.120 hilarious and very dramatic. So with a with her ability 222 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:55.399 to be a writer, and you know, you know, you 223 00:13:55.480 --> 00:13:59.440 write about what you know. I think often that there's 224 00:13:59.480 --> 00:14:04.440 a certain of dramaticism in it. But then again, she 225 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:08.320 certainly loved her father, So I think I think later 226 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:11.039 when she came to the realization of who he actually 227 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:12.840 was in the crime, some of the crimes he was 228 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:17.000 accused of, and so I think she came to the 229 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:20.840 realization obviously before thirteen, she didn't know anything. And then 230 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:24.320 there was that you captured the book, that uncomfortable period 231 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.639 of time where her innocence was shattered basically. And and 232 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.519 so I think with the idea that she became a writer, 233 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:35.000 she wanted to be a journalist and she was successful. 234 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:39.320 I think that she came around to accepting again she 235 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:41.519 wasn't investigating maybe forgiving. 236 00:14:41.080 --> 00:14:45.279 Him to maybe forgiving him. 237 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:47.159 Yeah, I would think that. 238 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:50.000 That her. 239 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:54.120 Missing him so much, you know, and missing that life 240 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:56.320 that she was deprived, that she came to at least 241 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:01.720 justify it under whatever pretense want. You know, that's the 242 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:04.879 way things were. But her father did love her and 243 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:07.759 she did have what she considered a wonderful life up 244 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:10.759 to that time before her father died when she was thirteen. 245 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:14.159 So yeah, I mean she had Elvis Presley seeing Happy Birthday, 246 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:18.919 Jimmy Randy, you know, gave her birthday presents, and you know, 247 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:20.960 he would She didn't have a lot of friends, so 248 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:24.519 her dad would invite all of the casino executives and 249 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:27.360 their children to go and they would have this incredible 250 00:15:27.720 --> 00:15:32.799 birthday parties at the casino. And you know, she had 251 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:36.679 her own flop machine at the casino. So for her, 252 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:41.200 you know, she could swim anytime she wanted in the pool. 253 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:43.480 She could do anything she wanted there. And then they 254 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.240 wrote and they held Dorado Parade. It's a very big 255 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.720 the deal here. Year after year the held Dorado Parade 256 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:54.600 and she was on a float every year. So she 257 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:03.080 truly was you know, treated differently and knew and lost that, 258 00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:05.240 and I think she was trying to get it back. 259 00:16:05.320 --> 00:16:08.879 In some ways. It's sad because she had a great 260 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:13.000 deal of wealth and lost it, got some back and 261 00:16:13.039 --> 00:16:16.440 then lost it again. And she wasn't good with money. 262 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:20.000 It's like she wasn't prepared. She wasn't prepared for life, 263 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:20.960 I don't think. 264 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:27.240 Now, tell us a little bit about obviously we skipped 265 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:30.559 over this, her yearning to become a journalist. She becomes 266 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:32.679 a journalist, she becomes a good writer, she gets a 267 00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:35.360 lot of attention. So tell us a little bit about 268 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:39.480 some of the books that she's written in terms of content, 269 00:16:39.960 --> 00:16:43.399 in terms of what did she write about, even though 270 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:46.200 you know, again we're you know, publishers are notorious for 271 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:49.840 being a little overly dramatic too, you know, the inside 272 00:16:50.120 --> 00:16:53.519 on the mob and meanwhile, is it inside of the mob. 273 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:57.840 What did Susan Berman know? But of course her cache 274 00:16:58.279 --> 00:17:01.840 is that she was connected to the mob mob princess 275 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:05.079 as they called her. 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Voidwerk prohibited by Law eighteen plus 298 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.200 terms and conditions applying the website for details? 299 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:10.400 Really was the content? Despite all the hoopla? What was 300 00:18:10.440 --> 00:18:13.200 the content about? And how did she write? Tell us 301 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:14.079 a little bit about that? 302 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:16.559 Well, Easy Street was a good but she was a 303 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:19.160 feature writer. She she was straight out of college. I 304 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:24.640 had interviewed her her dean he's now passed. But she 305 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:28.880 went straight from college master's degree in journalism to the 306 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:32.680 San Francisco Examiner. And she was working in the women's section, 307 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:36.160 which you know, back then in the sixties, that's what 308 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:41.319 women would do. You know. She wasn't ambitious in that respect. 309 00:18:41.880 --> 00:18:44.440 Things seemed to come easy to her. School seemed to 310 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:48.720 come easy. And she didn't like working at the Examiner. 311 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.720 But she made a name for herself there because she 312 00:18:52.839 --> 00:18:57.880 wrote She wrote an article in a in a weekly 313 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:03.359 newspaper that was actually on by Francis Ford Coppola, and 314 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.799 it was how to get laid in San Francisco. And 315 00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:10.000 that just became I mean, it just went off the 316 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:13.480 top and became viral, as viral will be back there. 317 00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:16.400 And she was the talk of the Town, and she 318 00:19:16.599 --> 00:19:20.480 decided then to move to New York. And after she 319 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.960 moved to New York, she landed a book deal with 320 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:27.000 Dial Press for Easy Street and it was her life 321 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:31.599 and her parents and it is an excellent read. And 322 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:38.880 there was a movie deal and she got something like 323 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:41.279 three hundred and eighty five thousand dollars is something which 324 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:44.359 was a lot of money back then for a movie deal. 325 00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:47.960 But she insisted on writing the screenplay. She was difficult 326 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:51.839 to work with sometimes and she insisted on doing the 327 00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:54.680 screenplay and they said no, and the deal got killed 328 00:19:54.680 --> 00:19:58.039 and she didn't have to return the money, so she 329 00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:02.519 but she hung out with all these paparazzi types, you know, 330 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:07.559 Loraene Newman from UH from Saturday Night Live, and a 331 00:20:07.559 --> 00:20:11.240 bunch of a bunch of writers, including Robert Durst, who 332 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:13.640 she met at U C l A. You know, he's 333 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:17.799 the son of a big, big real estate logo in 334 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:21.480 New York. And he was her best friend and she 335 00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:25.680 followed him out there, so she his friends became her friends. 336 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:29.599 So she hung out with rich people, lived on Beekman Place, 337 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:35.359 which is real Tony. And and then her she had 338 00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:39.400 gone after after college. She went in between college and 339 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:43.519 high school for a summer. Her uncle Santer with you know, 340 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:47.279 mob money, because he was given a stipend for Susan 341 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:51.279 quite a bit. She went to Israel for a summer 342 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:54.839 and she came back and after she wrote Easy Street, 343 00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:59.759 she wrote two novels and one was Driver Give a Soldier, 344 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:04.279 and it was a love story in Israel, based in Israel, 345 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:07.039 and she kind of got back to her roots and 346 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:11.000 in Judaism. Her dad was from Russia Minx Russia. I 347 00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:17.400 believe her grandfather was a rabbi in Russia, and so 348 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.759 she kind of was going back to her Russian roots. 349 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:23.920 Her dad didn't take her to the synagogue very often, 350 00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:27.359 but he did take her in Las Vegas, and up 351 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:31.119 until she died, she was going to the synagogue in Hollywood. 352 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:34.200 So she wrote that book. And then there was another novel, 353 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:38.039 I forget the name. It didn't do very well. Easy 354 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:40.960 Street did very very well. It's been a long long 355 00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:43.559 out of print. Someone should put it back in print. 356 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:47.400 And then a high note she had lows and then 357 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:54.240 a high note is she wrote Lady Las Vegas to company. 358 00:21:55.759 --> 00:22:00.279 It was a It was released at the time that 359 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:03.960 an A and E special three part A and E 360 00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:07.640 special was released, the best, really the best piece of 361 00:22:07.799 --> 00:22:11.200 that's ever been done on Las Vegas, and Susan was 362 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:15.000 a producer on that and a writer, an instrumental in 363 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:20.079 landing a lot of the interviews for it. But as 364 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:23.240 a historian here in town told me, a state historian 365 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:27.759 when I interviewed him, the Lady Las Vegas was such 366 00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:31.880 a disappointment because Easy Street was so good. Maybe it 367 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:35.880 was the edit and I don't know, but she just it. 368 00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:38.240 It was almost like she was trying to be It 369 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:42.480 was sort of the adult Susan riding Easy Street, you know, 370 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:45.680 to accompany the release of the A and E specials, 371 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:48.880 and it just didn't come off, and it didn't do 372 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:51.200 very well, and that was a big disappointment to her. 373 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:55.440 They got an award, all the producers, including Susan, for 374 00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:58.920 the A and E Special, and that was in ninety six, 375 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:05.880 so that was for years before she died right now, 376 00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:08.000 So there was not a lot of money involved in 377 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.359 an any special, but a lot of notoriety. 378 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:16.960 Absolutely. Now, there was nothing in these books though that 379 00:23:17.079 --> 00:23:20.799 Susan knew or told. There was a tell all or 380 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:26.359 embarrassing or humiliating or out of bounds for mobsters, no 381 00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:29.720 present or past. So there was nothing like that at all, 382 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:30.799 was there. No? 383 00:23:30.920 --> 00:23:32.839 In fact, the cops, you know, when she died in 384 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:36.640 a Beverly Hills home, you know, it was just very sparse, 385 00:23:36.920 --> 00:23:41.480 sparsely furnished, and the cops locked in. And it was 386 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:44.400 the first mistake and many that they made in the 387 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:48.680 murder case. But this is the LAPD. They didn't call homicide. 388 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:53.119 It was new It was Christmas Eve morning, early afternoon, 389 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:56.279 and they were greeted as they opened the door and 390 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:58.480 went into the house, and she was she was in 391 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:03.640 a side room with a poster, a wanted poster of 392 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.200 her dad, wanted for murder that she probably had on 393 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:11.799 above her fireplace. And so their their deal was, oh, 394 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:13.440 she was shot in the back of the head, it 395 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:20.480 must be a mob hit. So but no, Sue, I'm 396 00:24:20.519 --> 00:24:23.119 the joke. Was I mean, even Oscar Goodman, you know, 397 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:25.759 a former mob attorney here in Las Vegas and was 398 00:24:25.799 --> 00:24:28.440 a mayor at one time, even he said, you know, 399 00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:31.799 they all those monsters from that era back then, most 400 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:36.599 of them are dead or you know, senile, and there's 401 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:40.599