I should say upfront that over the course of our years of talk, I’ve come to like Jerry LeQuire. That said, however, as a writer I have tried to be objective in my judgment of him as a person then, and today. The best way to describe him is that the volume on his personality traits is different than that of most people I know. As I listen to the stories I am amazed that he was a man who just didn’t consider the consequences, whether it was fights, gun battles, shootouts with the DEA, prison---it didn’t seem to matter.
Now, prison has changed him, as you would suspect, but back then he considered it was him against the world, and he wasn’t going to yield an inch. It was this defiance that kept him alive in the worst prison hole in America at that time, Marion, where he spent 10 grueling years, and made him friends with men like John Gotti and Aldrich Ames. He has a code he lives by; perhaps changed from when he was a free man, but honor remains the one steadfast. He values loyalty and friendship. One of the enduring themes in our conversations is that a man needs to stick to his word and support his friends. And it still bothers him that some of those he considered friends betrayed him. But he is more hurt than angered---time does this to you.
So, what kind of person is he now? He’s a man struggling to get on with his life, a good man just waiting for a chance to show it, but it takes a book to peel back the surface to show what I mean. The question can’t be answered in a few sentences because he’s different, but what I plan to say to the Parole Board one day is that he has paid for his crime and deserves another chance. And that he is my friend.
More later.
Now, prison has changed him, as you would suspect, but back then he considered it was him against the world, and he wasn’t going to yield an inch. It was this defiance that kept him alive in the worst prison hole in America at that time, Marion, where he spent 10 grueling years, and made him friends with men like John Gotti and Aldrich Ames. He has a code he lives by; perhaps changed from when he was a free man, but honor remains the one steadfast. He values loyalty and friendship. One of the enduring themes in our conversations is that a man needs to stick to his word and support his friends. And it still bothers him that some of those he considered friends betrayed him. But he is more hurt than angered---time does this to you.
So, what kind of person is he now? He’s a man struggling to get on with his life, a good man just waiting for a chance to show it, but it takes a book to peel back the surface to show what I mean. The question can’t be answered in a few sentences because he’s different, but what I plan to say to the Parole Board one day is that he has paid for his crime and deserves another chance. And that he is my friend.
More later.
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