Bancroft Press in the MediA

It's Showtime!
Bancroft's Live By the Sword optioned by Showtime for TV mini-series

BALTIMORE (January 13, 1999)-Last fall, Baltimore's Bancroft Press was issuing press releases describing its upcoming book, Gus Russo's Live By the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK, as "the most important book [they'll] ever publish."

Less than three months since its publication, a deal with major cable outfit Showtime has been reached for a two to four part mini-series based on the mammoth book.

"It's a great moment for Bancroft," says Publisher Bruce Bortz, "because their interest and passion for the project solidifies what I've felt all along: that this is an incredibly significant book whose answers to the JFK mysteries are answers people deserve. Our nation has waited thirty-five years for this book."

Author Gus Russo will be hired by Showtime as part of the screen-writing team, which is a wonderful opportunity for this first-time author. "For twenty years, I've been researching this book, and to finally have it in my hands was amazing. Now, more and more people will have access to this information through Showtime's mini-series. I hope it encourages viewers to read the book, and I, frankly, can't wait to see my work on screen."

Live By the Sword chronicles the events leading up to JFK's 1963 assassination, and delves deeply into the events following it-into what is perhaps our nation's largest coverup. Russo's book is not a who-dunit-Oswald did it, and he did it alone; it's a why-dunit, and, Russo points out, the ensuing coverup was created in order to cover up the whys behind Oswald's actions.

Showtime's mini-series will tentatively air in spring 2000. Live By the Sword is currently on sale in bookstores nation-wide. A Book-of-the-Month Club and History Book Club selection for March and April, respectively, it's a word-of-mouth title that will likely come to be regarded as the definitive account of what happened on, and the ramifications of, November 22, 1963.

The prestigious Book of the Month Club and the History Book Club have selected Gus Russo’s "Live by the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK" as a featured alternate for the months of March and April 1999. Pat Connolly, of Connolly Associates, negotiated the deal, which was agreed upon in New York on November 12, 1998.

Russo, author of Live by the Sword, began his 8-city national tour November 30 and completed it December 10. He was a hit everywhere he went. Highlights included New York visits to both "The O'Reilly Factor" on the Fox News Channel (the producer said it generated an abnormally high volume of mail), and the "Bob Grant Show" on WOR, to an hour on the nationally syndicated "The Connection with Christopher Lydon" in Boston at WBUR, where Lydon agreed with Kirkus that "Live by the Sword" was probably the "last book we'll need to read about the Kennedy assasination."

In most stores on the tour, the book had either sold well (one-half or more of stock) or sold out. Areas of special interest were, as expected, Dallas, Miami, and New Orleans, probably in that order.