Title: The Sing Sing Files
Author: Dan Slepian
Genre: nonfiction, true crime, sociology
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 2024
StoryGraph* Moods: informative, reflective, tense
How I Stumbled Upon This Book: Armchair Expert interview
Other Books by Slepian: none at the moment, though Slepian has a large body of work as a journalist and working on Dateline
*StoryGraph also offers content warnings.
Description: In his work on Dateline, Dan Slepian had the opportunity to ride shotgun with a couple homicide detectives in the Bronx. Through this relationship, Slepian learned of a 1990 murder case for which two men were serving twenty-five years. However, the detective believed the wrong men were serving time (at this point, they had already served twelve years). Slepian began his own investigation into what happened and to find out whether or not these men who claimed to be innocent really were. One of the men in this case, Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez becomes the spine of the book, bringing to Slepian’s attention other men he believed were innocent of the crimes they were convicted of.
While hitting a number of roadblocks (i.e. flaws in the justice system), these men maintained their innocence, and one by one, they were proven to be telling the truth.
This is not an easy read, by any means – but it is a necessary one.
Why I recommend this book: I will start by saying agreeing with a number of reviews about the book – there is a lot in this that paints Slepian as a hero and talks a lot about his own life. This is not a straight nonfiction story about these six men. It is written more as a memoir of the time Slepian spent with them. If that’s not your thing, I get it.
That being said, I do think it is an important read regarding the lives of these specific six men and the ways their journeys point out incredibly serious flaws in the judicial system. There are many books out there that do similar things – this is just the one that crossed my path first.
“A remarkable, moving account about the lives of people who have been too easily discarded, forgotten, and condemned. These compelling narratives help us understand why we should do better when it comes to punishment and justice in America.”
~ Bryan Stevenson, New York Times bestselling author of Just Mercy
Ami Maxine 