A two-month manhunt for a murdering writer came to an end as Jack Henry Abbott was captured in the oil fields of Louisiana.
At the time of the murder, Abbott, who wrote “In the Belly of the Beast” while behind bars, had been released to work as a literary researcher, after Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer convinced authorities that Abbott was a great writing talent.
Six weeks after his parole, Abbott, who found himself more comfortable among the small-time crooks living in the New York’s Lower East Side, fatally stabbed waiter Richard Adan at the Bonibon restaurant in New York. After his capture, Abbott got the minimum sentence for Adan’s death — 15 years to life — partly because Mailer urged the court to be lenient. According to Mailer, “culture is worth a little risk.” Abbott committed suicide in prison in 2002.
