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While looking for a freelance job online, David Copeland stumbled into the heart of New York's Israeli mafia as he was browsing through ads on Craiglists.com.
"It was as if the ad was written for me," the University of Massachusetts alum recalled. "It said, 'writer wanted.'"
Copeland originally wanted to write about life in the Witness Protection Program, but that quickly changed when he met Ron Gonen, whose life in the Israeli mob, Copeland described, "had all the elements of a pretty interesting story" - and who's life in the Witness Protection Program Copeland wrote about it in his latest book.
Last month publishing company Barricade Books released Copeland's book, "Blood and Volume: Inside New York's Israeli Mafia." Yesterday, at Amherst Books, Copeland held a book signing.
Before writing about the Israeli mafia, Copeland was an undergraduate student at UMass, working towards a degree in Sociology because as he claims, "I wasn't allowed in the Journalism department."
While at UMass, Copeland interned at the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton and wrote for the Opinion/Editorial section of the Daily Collegian. After graduating in 1996, Copeland worked for a chain of weekly newspapers before moving on to The Dow Jones & Co. in Newark, New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Daily Tribune in Pennsylvania was the last paper he worked for before pursuing his book endeavors.
Copeland quit the Pittsburgh Daily Tribune because he was "completely burnt out by newspapers." He enrolled in a two-year narrative nonfiction program at Goucher College, which is where he came up with the idea for his book.
"A lot of it is dumb luck," Copeland said about obtaining a good story. "I could have easily dismissed that Craigslist ad as a hoax."
Copeland maintained a two-year correspondence with his main character, Ron Gonen, who according to Copeland, was a part of the biggest gold heist in the history of the Manhattan diamond district.
Gonen is now being kicked out of the Witness Protection Program because of his association with a journalist and is being deported back to his home country of Israel.
"You try to be objective," Copeland explained, "but on the flipside if he gets deported and killed in Israel I am going to have some issues to deal with."
Another one of Copeland's sources for his book, Ran Ephraim, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tel Aviv, Israel.
"I'm coming to grips with the impact of what you write, what you publish, what you produce has on other people's lives," Copeland said.
He hasn't had any death threats but has received strange e-mails from Israel.
"A lot of times I try to rationalize it's not a big deal," Copeland said. "It's the stories that you don't think will get you into trouble that cause the most outrage."
Besides publishing a book, Copeland is also the subject of a documentary by Noah Forrest about the process of making a book.
"Every time I tell people I wrote a book about the Israeli mafia they say, 'I didn't know there was an Israeli mafia,'" Copeland said. "It is a blessing and a curse."
Copeland is now working on a book about marathon runners.
"Part of what drives me in journalism is trying to find out why people do the things they do," Copeland said. He decided to take on this challenge because of a group called Team in Training, who raises money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and claimed they could train anyone to run a marathon.
"I don't want to be pegged as a true crime writer," Copeland said.
The author will be holding another book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Hadley on May 19.
Melissa Garber can be reached at Mhgarber@student.umass.edu.
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