The Onion Field made a real writer. And then I knew it was over, I couldn't be a cop anymore.

I'm sure I took some licks at the system, and at trials and lawyers in general. I've seen enough of them for so many years both as a cop and a defendant in defamation cases.

Probably 95 percent of the things that are written never get on the screen.

The O.J. Simpson case, they had no understanding of that DNA evidence, and didn't want to.

No one I know of has ever had this experience-where you had to sit and wait and wait for a DNA test to come back just so you can write the last page of the book.

It's corruption never been systemic, because a fish rots from the head

The Onion Field, that one got pretty close to me because I was a cop when it happened. I saw some of the indifference that my police department showed to the surviving officer.

The serial arsonist is the most difficult to apprehend because the evidence is burned up.

I enjoy doing the research of nonfiction; that gives me some pleasure, being a detective again.

Today, lawyers are attacking more; they're attacking everything. A good example is the O.J. Simpson case.

Jury selection is strictly an emotional process. They're looking for people they can manipulate. Both sides are.

Many forgiven me for my missteps. I know, I'm BIG mouthed. Thank you for giving me a second chance. Because of you, I also forgive others...

Defense doesn't break down on the help, it breaks down on the recovery.

My boyhood life in New York City has impressed me with the popular ignorance and also with the great need of something better than local lore and weather proverbs.

I try to hold my charisma in check.

Editing is the same as quarreling with writers — same thing exactly.

Everything depends on this: a fathomless sinking into a fathomless nothingness.

You know, its just a matter of working through the pitfalls sometimes and working through the challenges that lie ahead.

If good happens, good; if bad happens, good.

The world knows of a vast stock of epic material scattered up and down the nations; sometimes its artistic value is as extraordinary as its archaeological interest, but not always.

The brain is where most people really screw up.