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Number one New York Times bestselling author Lorenzo Carcaterra's highly successful career spans more than twenty years of writing for the diverse fields of fiction, non-fiction, television, and film.

Born and raised in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, Carcaterra landed his first job in the newspaper business as a copy boy for The New York Daily News in 1976. He worked his way up to entertainment reporter before leaving the paper in 1982, heading for the green pastures of then-Time Inc. and TV-Cable Week, as senior writer. Nine months later, the magazine folded, leaving him unemployed. A four-month stint at People Magazine was followed by an odyssey of writing for a string of start-up publications - Picture Week, Entertainment Tonight Magazine, Special Reports Magazine - and freelancing for dozens of others - The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Newsday Sunday Magazine, Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, and Twilight Zone Magazine, among them.

In 1988, Carcaterra turned to television as a Creative Consultant for the syndicated weekly series, "Cop Talk: Behind the Shield," produced by Grosso-Jacobson Productions. That led to a job as Managing Editor for the CBS weekly series "Top Cops," also with Grosso-Jacobson Productions. Running for four seasons, from 1990-94, the show is still in syndication today worldwide. In addition, he worked on scores of other pilots, none of which made it to air. It was while at Grosso-Jacobson Productions, that Carcaterra wrote and published his first two books - A Safe Place and Sleepers.

First published in hardcover in 1993, "A Safe Place: The True Story of a Father, a Son, a Murder," attracted widespread critical acclaim, with Newsweek calling it, "Unforgettable - a remarkable book." Currently in its tenth printing, it has been sold to ten foreign countries and has sold close to 200,000 copies.

The 1995 publication of Sleepers, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback, catapulted Carcaterra to national attention. Sold to 32 foreign countries and now in its 30th printing in the United States, the book has sales exceeding 1.4 million copies. In 1996, "Sleepers" was made into a feature film starring Brad Pitt, Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Bacon, Minnie Driver, and Jason Patric. Carcaterra served as co-producer on the project, which was directed by Academy Award winner Barry Levinson. To date, the movie has earned in excess of $500 million worldwide in combined box-office, video, DVD, and TV sales.

Carcaterra made a smooth transition into writing fiction with his first novel, Apaches, a New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback. Published in a dozen foreign countries, the book has sold more than 400,000 copies and been optioned by producer Jerry Bruckheimer, with Carcaterra slated to serve as an Associate Producer on the project.

He followed that book with Gangster, which was published in hardcover in 2001. The book has sold over 300,000 copies since its 2002 release as Ballantine Books Mass Market Paperback and was a bestseller in the UK. The novel has been optioned by producer Joe Roth and Revolution Studios and been sold to a dozen foreign countries.

Carcaterra then wrote Street Boys, a World War II saga inspired by an incident which occurred in Naples, Italy, in the early fall of 1943. Warner Bros. and Bel-Air Entertainment bought the rights to the story in March 2001, before it was written, and are developing the project for director Barry Levinson. Carcaterra wrote the screenplay and will be an executive producer on the movie. The paperback of the book was released in July, 2003 and has sold 180,000 paperbacks and sold to six foreign countries.

In 2004, Carcaterra published PARADISE CITY, a novel featuring a hard-charging Italian detective who returns to his Bronx birthplace and continues his war against the Camorra, the Neapolitan Mafia, this time for very personal reasons. The paperback was published in the spring of 2005 and has thus far sold over 75,000 copies. It has been translated in six foreign languages.

Carcaterra's short stories have appeared in three mystery anthologies thus far: "A Thousand Miles From Nowhere" for dangerous women (2005); "Yellow Mama's Lost Weekend" for murder at the race  track (2006) and the upcoming "Missing the Midnight Bus" for dead man's hand (2007).  He will also have a short story, "The  Girl in the Park," in the spring edition of The Strand Magazine.

Carcaterra has written introductions to three  Modern Library Classics: the count of monte cristo and the knights of  maison-rouge (by his favorite author, Alexandre Dumas) and for Jack  London's the star rover.

chasers, a sequel to apaches, will be in us stores  on April 17 and in the UK on April 16.

Carcaterra has just completed work on the ghost, a script written for  Touchstone Television and producer David Hoberman. He has also completed writing  his first video game, alone in the dark: near death investigation, for  Atari/Eden which will be in stores in the fall of 2007.

In addition to his books, Carcaterra has written a number of feature scripts and teleplays. Among his features are "Dreamer," the story of singer Bobby Darin, for Warner Bros. and director Barry Levinson; "Doubt," a thriller for Robert Lawrence and Touchstone/Disney, and "Street Boys" for producers Steve Reuther and Paula Weinstein and director Barry Levinson. Carcaterra's television writing credits include "The Hall," a pilot for Fox-TV (co-written with Jacqueline Zambrano); "Rounders," an NBC pilot, and "The Force" for the WB network, which Carcaterra executive-produced and filmed in Toronto in the winter of 1999. In 2003-2004, he worked as a writer and producer for the NBC series, "Law & Order."

He also contributes articles to The National Geographic Traveler magazine.

Carcaterra resides in New York; he is married and has two children. He is currently at work on his new novel, midnight angels and the monk, a novella written on deadline for the National Geographic Traveler Magazine. The first installment is scheduled to appear in the March, 2008 issue.

Lorenzo on Writing: Read an essay by Lorenzo on his background, including his family and neighborhood, favorite books, movies and TV shows -- and how they have influenced his writing. Click here.

THE TOUGH ART OF THE STREETS: In September 2003, Lorenzo Carcaterra was invited by The Center for the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis to participate in their Writers Series, where he read from his work and did an audience question and answer session. In addition, he was interviewed about his work by Professor Gerald Early, director of The Center for the Humanities, for their publication, belles lettres -A Literary Review. Click here.

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