Speaker 1: This is the seventy seven WABC Mini Cast. Thomas cannipp
Speaker 1: is one of our great attorneys. We have them all
Speaker 1: on this show. You know, Alan Dershowitz, Joseph Tacopina, Author Idalla,
Speaker 1: even my buddy Jose Baiez down in Miami. But cannipp
Speaker 1: is as good as it gets. Remember he served as
Speaker 1: an assistant District Attorney under Janine Piro. He was a
Speaker 1: nominee for the Manhattan District Attorney. He got screwed by
Speaker 1: the Republican Party or the fat, stupid racist Alvin Bragg won.
Speaker 1: He also served in our Army National Guard, the Judge
Speaker 1: Advocate the general in that corps. A veteran of the
Speaker 1: Iraq War, He's a hero. He earned the Army Commendation
Speaker 1: Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Medal.
Speaker 2: Look at this.
Speaker 1: He's the recipient of the Ronald Reagan Award for the
Speaker 1: Advancement of Individual Liberty, the Marine Corps League Appreciation Award,
Speaker 1: and as an inductee, this is the biggest one. All
Speaker 1: you ready for this, the massive Peakua High School Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. Come on now. Undergrad University of Rochester law
Speaker 1: work at Hofstra. Also swore in Vicki Palladino. This guy
Speaker 1: does it all. And Dave works with Steve Razor, a
Speaker 1: pretty good guy as well. And he's an author, and
Speaker 1: he's got a new book out the name of the
Speaker 1: book is Tuxedo Park, and I'm excited to tell to
Speaker 1: talk about it. Here is my good friend Tom Kaniff Thomas.
Speaker 1: Good morning, buddy, how are you?
Speaker 2: Good morning? Say it and as always, thank you for
Speaker 2: your overly gracious introduction. I don't know who that guy
Speaker 2: was you were talking about. I'll take it.
Speaker 1: Did you really do all you could?
Speaker 2: Get? You?
Speaker 1: All that is? Is that true? All that stuff? I mean,
Speaker 1: you blow me away.
Speaker 2: I thought I was a big deal from one of
Speaker 2: my hockey one of my favorite hockey movies, slap Shots.
Speaker 2: That's what it said me your book.
Speaker 1: And of course you know, on top of all that,
Speaker 1: most people really do know you because you took on
Speaker 1: that Daniel Penny case Ew and Razor and every decent
Speaker 1: human being, every decent human being knew that Daniel Penny
Speaker 1: was a hero that day on the subways. And the
Speaker 1: guy was not the guy that died. It's unfortunate he died.
Speaker 1: We do this all the time, right, whether it's pretty
Speaker 1: or Good in Minnesota, or this guy on the train.
Speaker 1: We don't want to see people die, but sometimes they do.
Speaker 1: And in this case, Daniel Penny was a hero. But
Speaker 1: for some reason you and raise her. How to convince
Speaker 1: this moron Alvin Bragg, and you know, after I indicted
Speaker 1: him to that was the truth and you did do it.
Speaker 1: So I would say that of all the great things
Speaker 1: you've done, the Daniel Penny verdict is probably at the
Speaker 1: very top of your list.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know, that's certainly, that's certainly what I'm knowing for.
Speaker 2: You know, it's funny. It was on John Katsmethes's show
Speaker 2: last weekend. He brought me on to talk about the
Speaker 2: book very graciously, and he was kind of going through
Speaker 2: my resume like you did. And then I start talking
Speaker 2: about the book and he goes, but tell what you're
Speaker 2: really known for. Well, you know, yeah, I guess the
Speaker 2: Daniel Penny thing. But hey, I want to talk about
Speaker 2: the book.
Speaker 1: Well, it's true that Daniel Penny thing was a big deal.
Speaker 1: Now this book is just the first time you've written
Speaker 1: a book.
Speaker 2: I should know this. I don't. No, yeah, absolutely, finally
Speaker 2: you don't know that. And it absolutely is my first
Speaker 2: time writing a book. I've written a lot as an attorney,
Speaker 2: but this is, you know, my first delve into the
Speaker 2: fiction genre, if you will. And you know, it's something
Speaker 2: that I conceived of in concept many many years ago,
Speaker 2: actually when I was still working for gene and you know,
Speaker 2: I did a little. I put it aside. Life happens,
Speaker 2: kids happen, marriage, marriage happens, and big trial like Daniel Penny.
Speaker 2: But I never you know, I never walked away from it.
Speaker 2: And then in the last two years, I said, you
Speaker 2: know what, I really think I have something here. I
Speaker 2: had some very pre eminent authors and a couple of
Speaker 2: very prominent publishers I knew through professional circles that kind
Speaker 2: of were willing to do me a favor. I so, like, you,
Speaker 2: take a look at this, be brutally honest. I have
Speaker 2: a day job, and you know, it was just resounding.
Speaker 2: Everyone you know, looked at it and said, this is
Speaker 2: this is fantastic. You got to finish this.
Speaker 1: I did, and it looks great. I saw the video
Speaker 1: and we'll discuss the book in a second, but you
Speaker 1: aren't talking about the very real possibility of making this
Speaker 1: great book Tuxedo Park into a movie and somebody said
Speaker 1: to me, mayben you that that may be a part
Speaker 1: available for you said in this movie? Is that all
Speaker 1: it says is that something you guys are really looking at.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'm serious on both counts, because the one
Speaker 2: one thing I get from everybody who's gotten a danced
Speaker 2: copy of the book and read it, and I know
Speaker 2: you you looked over it and so forth, is that
Speaker 2: this is a cinematic story. This is like made for
Speaker 2: the big screen. And what the publishing company did, which
Speaker 2: has gotten kind of popular now because you can now
Speaker 2: do things a lot more cost efficiencily in the world
Speaker 2: of AI as far as putting together with the book
Speaker 2: trailers which are like a movie trailer for a book.
Speaker 2: So they engaged a company and I know you saw
Speaker 2: the trailer.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, what a great trailer.
Speaker 2: It came out great, Tom. I'm like, this is incredible,
Speaker 2: you know so, and the good thing is between you
Speaker 2: and me, well you and me and your audience a
Speaker 2: million people. I retained the movie rights in that contract,
Speaker 2: so you know, we've had some very casual kind of
Speaker 2: conversations with people. It's very early the book, you know,
Speaker 2: first as to make it make its mark, and I
Speaker 2: think it will. But to your second point, I could
Speaker 2: never be part of a movie without trying to find
Speaker 2: a part for Sid Rosenberg. And I think I got
Speaker 2: one boy and Eddie he's a little bit of a villain.
Speaker 1: I can do that. I play a mobster in every
Speaker 1: movie I'm in.
Speaker 2: You do you play a mobster and all that? So
Speaker 2: this guy is you know, you wouldn't be playing the protagonist.
Speaker 2: But who's you know, the kind of imperfect hero of
Speaker 2: the book. But I got a character for you.
Speaker 1: I love that, and most heroes are imperfect. And the protagonist.
Speaker 1: I guess people read the book and say, maybe that's you.
Speaker 1: Thomas Canniff. His name in the book is John Palmer,
Speaker 1: but he's a Manhattan a da. I wonder where you
Speaker 1: got that from. So is it fair to assume that
Speaker 1: John Palmer the star of this book is Thomas Canniff
Speaker 1: in print?
Speaker 2: Well, look, I think any You know what I've learned
Speaker 2: about writing from from speaking with some of the really
Speaker 2: the best people out there, is that, you know, good
Speaker 2: writers always put a little bit of their own experiences.
Speaker 2: You know, he's a term lived experience. I hate that term,
Speaker 2: but you know, into their work because it creates the
Speaker 2: reality of it. And you know, I think that this
Speaker 2: is a going to be a breakout hit. I think
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a great novel. But you know, not
Speaker 2: everyone's going to love your work. And you gotta have
Speaker 2: thick skin and you got to be willing to accept critics.
Speaker 2: But one thing I will not accept is someone telling
Speaker 2: me that, oh, yeah, this book isn't realistic. This isn't
Speaker 2: real because there's so much in it that I've taken
Speaker 2: from a bit for my personal life. My uncle built
Speaker 2: houses in Tuxedo Park when I was a kid. My
Speaker 2: grandmother lived up there. I'd be slept up there every weekend.
Speaker 2: That's why I thought it would be a great place
Speaker 2: to set a you know, murder conspiracy, knapping conspiracy case,
Speaker 2: a very sort of surreal place. But you know, the
Speaker 2: legal stuff that's in there, so much of that has
Speaker 2: been taken from you know, what I've experienced in twenty
Speaker 2: five years prosecuting, defending in Manhattan, New York City and
Speaker 2: other places, being in the in the Jaghorn, in the military.
Speaker 2: There's touches of that in there. So the the realism
Speaker 2: thing can't be criticized in my opinion, No, not the realism.
Speaker 1: But but what you've never done, though disrespected Daniel Penny,
Speaker 1: is at least I don't think you have is represent
Speaker 1: the president, well the president elect of the United States,
Speaker 1: in a criminal trial. So this cower through in the book,
Speaker 1: This guy Kent Dawson, who at least in the AI
Speaker 1: video looks every bit the part without giving away too much,
Speaker 1: this will turn out to be a criminal investigation for
Speaker 1: the president. Now, Joe Tacopino, def friends of both the Bars,
Speaker 1: one of my best friends. He represented President Trump twice.
Speaker 1: But I wasn't for murder for kids happening. So in
Speaker 1: terms of realism, is that realistic in a book like this?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, look, I mean no question that this is
Speaker 2: a work of fiction. You know, there were people who
Speaker 2: approached me and said, hey, why don't you do a
Speaker 2: book on the Daniel Penny case and this and that,
Speaker 2: and I said, yeah, I'm not really ready to do that.
Speaker 2: So there's a work of fiction. But the means and
Speaker 2: the methods I describe are very much anchored in what
Speaker 2: this would look like if something like this occurred. So
Speaker 2: in other words, the plot is, you know, John Palmer
Speaker 2: is a young prosecutor who gets sort of drawn into
Speaker 2: an investigation of the disc the kidnapping of his teenage
Speaker 2: girlfriend from you know, his teenage girlfriend from twenty years ago.
Speaker 2: And as he gets further into the investigation, it's it
Speaker 2: leads he starts discovering theory that evidence that leads back
Speaker 2: to the president of the left of the United States
Speaker 2: as being the person who perpetrated or conspired to do
Speaker 2: this in order to get his pregnant mistress out of
Speaker 2: the way pregnancy. Yeah, and it's this race against five
Speaker 2: because it starts out he's just he's you know, put
Speaker 2: quick quote, he's he's just the nominee or is about
Speaker 2: to become the nomination.
Speaker 1: You know, Well, what you just told me is not
Speaker 1: only thrilling, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.
Speaker 2: Any of that. It's not out of real of possibility.
Speaker 2: And one of the things why I personally think that
Speaker 2: this book was kind of meant to be is I
Speaker 2: first conceived and write the book, but it concede of
Speaker 2: the concept and wrote a bit about it, you know,
Speaker 2: before even Trump won, before anyone had ever you know,
Speaker 2: talked seriously about indicting a president or a former president
Speaker 2: or president to be and then you know, through the years,
Speaker 2: as I'm going back to this, these things are happening,
Speaker 2: and you know it's interesting. I mean the book I
Speaker 2: finished writing it a couple of years ago, but the
Speaker 2: editing process, finding an agent, the agent, shopping to a publisher,
Speaker 2: that takes years in of itself, believe it or not.
Speaker 2: And I just look at the things that happened in
Speaker 2: the last year, you know, tragically, you know, the Nancy
Speaker 2: Gunthrey case. You know, there's elements of of you know,
Speaker 2: that sort of thing in this book that the Eric
Speaker 2: Slowell you know, you know you have this is, you know,
Speaker 2: a philandering politician. So there's a lot of things. Again,
Speaker 2: work of fiction, no question, but there's a lot of
Speaker 2: things that themes in the book that are kind of
Speaker 2: like very of the moment as far as what's going
Speaker 2: on in reality or what has been going on in
Speaker 2: the public sphere of political sphere over the last months
Speaker 2: and years. So in fact, act, there was some push
Speaker 2: to you know, change the name of the book from
Speaker 2: Tuxedo Park to Indictment, because the I would just jump
Speaker 2: off the page. Trump was indicted and all that, and
Speaker 2: you know, I pushed back a little bit because of
Speaker 2: the book did a personal meaning to me, and I said, look, you,
Speaker 2: I'd really like to call it Tuxedo Park. I dedicated
Speaker 2: it to my late mother, and you know a history
Speaker 2: there and ultimately I won that battle. Was publisher,