The Darkest Glare : A True Story of Murder, Blackmail, and Real Estate Greed in 1979 Los Angeles

"Late-seventies Los Angeles was rampant with killers and shady characters, but all the go-getters at Space Matters saw was possibility. Richard Kasparov was handsome and charismatic; his younger associate, Jerry Schneiderman, brilliant and nerdy. When the pair hired a veteran contractor to oversee construction, the space planning firm they operated out of a hip mansion in LA's Miracle Mile district appeared poised to transform the boundless skyline into their jackpot. After the promising team imploded, however, the orderly lines on their blueprints succumbed to treachery and secrets. To get even, one of the ex-partners launched a murder-for-profit corporation using, among other peculiar sorts, a bantam-sized epileptic with a deadeye shot and a cross-dressing sidekick. The hapless criminals required a comical number of attempts to execute their first target. Once they did, on a rainy night in the San Fernando Valley, the surviving founder of Space Matters was thrown into a pressure cooker existence out of a Coen Brothers movie. Threatened for money he didn't have, he donned a disguise, survived a heart-pounding encounter at the La Brea Tar Pits, and relied on an ex-Israeli mercenary for protection. In the end, he had to outfox a glowering murderer, while asking if you can ever really know anyone in a town where dirty deals send men to their graves. In The Darkest Glare, Chip Jacobs recounts a spectacular, noir-ish, true-crime saga from one of the deadliest eras in American history. You'll never gaze out windows into the dark again. Included as a bonus is an original true crime short from the same unhinged era. In "Paul & Chuck," a flashy, crusading attorney wages war against the messianic leader of a bloodthirsty cult determined to teach the world to stay away."-- Provided by publisher In 1979 The City Of Angels Had Its Fair Share Of Devils. Howard Garrett Was One Of Them. His Contractor's License Bought Him An Entrée Into Space Matters, A Real Estate Development Company Run Out Of A Hip Mansion On The Edge Of La's Miracle Mile District. The Company's Owners, Debonair, Slick-talking Richard Kasparov And Self-conscious, Nerdy Jerry Schneiderman, Were La's Young Turks Of Interior Architecture. When Richard Interviewed The Quiet, Buzzard-faced Howard, He Figured He'd Found The Perfect Supervisor To Oversee Construction For A Firm Hungry To Expand. What Neither He Nor His Partner Jerry Knew Was That By Hiring Howard, They'd Unloosed A Monster Into Their Midst. In The Darkest Glare: A True Story Of Murder, Blackmail And Real Estate Greed In 1979 Los Angeles, Author And Journalist Chip Jacobs Recounts A Spectacular, Noir True-crime Saga From One Of The Most Murderous Times In American History. It's 1979 And The Los Angeles Murder Rate Is The Highest In Recorded History. Even Before Howard Garrett Entered Richard And Jerry's Lives, He Had Managed To Slither Away From A Series Of Brutal Crimes Unprosecuted. But If Howard Was The Violent One Of The Trio, Richard Was Its Resident Grifter. As The Firm Expanded, Richard Figured Out Ways To Bleed The Company Dry For His Own Gain, Including By Hitting Up Howard To Put Up His Credit Line In Service Of The Company. When Richard's Grift Is Exposed, Jerry Cuts All Ties To Him While A--by Now--enraged Howard Loses Everything. Using His Steel Blue El Camino To Stalk His Victims, Howard Unleashes His Blood Thirsty Vengeance And Decides To Create A Murder-for-hire Corporation Employing A Motley Crew Of Junkies And Bottom-scrapers. The First Targets: The Owners Of Space Matters. But Howard's Band Of Would Be Assassins Bungled Through His Scheme, While Jerry Finds Himself In An Odyssey Of Disguises, Getting Not-so-legal, Legal Advice From His Lawyer While Surreptitiously Meeting In A Graveyard, Seeking Protection From A Charismatic, Ex-israeli Mercenary, And Being Used As Bait In A Lapd-orchestrated Showdown At The La Brea Tar Pits. Whether Its Stumblebum Killers Or A Mass Murder Averted By A Kid Watching Laverne & Shirley, You'll Never Read About Bloodlust Like This. Or See Southern California The Same Way. Chip Jacobs Conducted Hundreds Of Hours Of Interviews And Reviewed Thousands Of Pages In Howard Garrett's Case To Connect The Dots. The Resulting Book Is A Feast For True Crime Lovers As Well As For Lovers Of Los Angeles Noir. The Darkest Glare Is Vintage True Crime At Its Finest. As A Bonus, The Darkest Glare Includes An Original True Crime Short Also By Chip Jacobs, Paul & Chuck. Paul & Chuck Is The Truly Terrifying And Weird Story Of Crusading Los Angeles Attorney Paul Morantz Who In The Late 1970s Went To Battle Against One Of The Most Dangerous And Violent Cults America Has Ever Seen: Synanon. It's Story That's Guaranteed To Make Your Skin Crawl!