•Reviews
•Excerpt
•2003 TX Bk Fest
Southwestern
Historical Quarterly
Lavergne's historical narrative of this horrific crime and the ensuing
trial was clear, concise, and insightful... The overall strength of the
book is the descriptive and detailed narrative of the events leading up to
the crime and the actual crime itself. His use of the court records and
extensive witness interviews and an easy-flowing writing style provides
almost a perfect re-creation of the night... Worse than Death is an
engaging and informative look into the fields of criminal justice and law
enforcement and provides excellent analysis, research, and writing about
one of the most significant mass murders in Texas history.
International Social Science Review
Even if Worse Than Death does not follow the form of social science
research monographs, it nevertheless tells an interesting story that can
provide the reader with a little more insight about criminology through an
examination of the workings of the mind of one more deranged criminal.
Texas Lawyer
Worse Than Death worth the read: For such a strong book about a
nearly forgotten bit of Texas criminal law history, there's something
off-putting about the screaming three-word title of "Worse Than
Death." East Texas Historical Association Journal
Gary Lavergne... does an excellent job of exploring the unique aspects of these
murders, including capital punishment, the insanity defense, and
Belachhebs's easy entry into the United States... Worse Than Death reads
like a good mystery novel but constitutes an important contribution to the
debate over crime and immigration in the United States. Lavergne once
again proves he is an excellent writer and superb story-teller.
San Antonio Lawyer
Worse Than Death gives the reader a unique view of the criminal mind of a mass murderer, as
well as of the serious problems constantly confronting our immigration
authorities in screening those who seek entrance into the United States.
Gary Lavergne makes us acutely aware of how innocent, unsuspecting people
can be confronted by sudden tragedy and sudden death...
Tales From Early Texas by Jerry Turner
Worse Than Death tells the whole tale.
Lavergne has already written two great books about Texas badmen. If you
like a good book, pick up a copy of Worse than Death. It is an
excellent read that tells a lot about life in today's
Texas.
Brazosport Facts
Worse Than Death is a thoughtful look not
only at this case, but also at the capital punishment issue and the
question of immigration screening.
Midwest Book Review Worse Than Death: The Dallas Nightclub Murders And The Texas Multiple Murder Law
by Gary M. Lavergne (Director of Admissions
Research, University of Texas - Austin) is the straightforward accounting
of a 1984 multiple murder in Texas - when Moroccan national Abdelkrim
Belachheb walked into a restaurant and shot seven people, six of whom
died. The confessed and convicted defendant could not be sentenced to
death due to a quirk in the state law, and could only be given life
imprisonment - arguably "worse than death." House Bill 8, the "multiple
murder" statute, was passed directly in response to the case. Worse Than
Death examines all sides of this horrific incident, including the legal,
political, and cultural debates concerning it. This criminology and
judicial case study has direct relevance to present day concerns about
violent immigrants and our contemporary legal system nationwide.
MobMagazine.com The Dallas Nightclub Murders and The Texas Multiple Murder Law by Gary M. Lavergne is the
straightforward accounting of a 1984 multiple murder in Texas - when
Moroccan national Abdelkrim Belachheb walked into a restaurant and shot
seven people, six of whom died.
The confessed and convicted defendant could not be sentenced to death due to a quirk in the state law,
and could only be given life imprisonment - arguably "worse than
death."
House Bill 8, the "multiple murder" statute, was passed directly in response to the case. Worse Than
Death examines all sides of this horrific incident, including the legal,
political, and cultural debates concerning it.
This criminology and judicial case study has direct relevance to present day concerns about
violent immigrants and our contemporary legal system nationwide. Dallas Morning News
A night of gunfire that still echoes Book looks at nightclub murders and how they changed Texas law
Sunday, June 27, 2004
By DAN R. BARBER / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
In Texas, the name Abdelkrim Belachheb stands ignominiously with those of Charles Whitman and
George Hennard, like bodies of Old West badmen on public display in open
pine-box caskets. It's been most of 20 years since that summer night when Mr. Belachheb walked into a North
Dallas nightclub and killed six people, but longtime Dallas residents –
and many Texans – will likely remember his name. Shortly after midnight
on June 29, 1984, the Moroccan-born wig-wearing and self-proclaimed
ladies' man entered Ianni's Restaurant and Club with a semiautomatic
pistol and a sociopath's score to settle. Gary M. Lavergne, a university researcher and author of A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles
Whitman Murders, has resurrected that night's horror – six dead, one
wounded – in his newest book, Worse Than Death: The Dallas Nightclub
Murders and the Texas Multiple Murder Law. Worse Than Death is an engrossing, heavily footnoted (though inelegantly written) account of
how one twisted man changed lives and the Texas criminal code. The murders
in the club at Midway Road and LBJ Freeway exposed the inconsistency in
the state's capital punishment statutes. Before the slayings, a mass
murderer did not automatically face the death penalty unless he killed
during commission of another felony. Worse Than Death is a graphic
tale with bloody crime scene photos of the dead – though redacted and in
black and white. Victims' portraits in happier times provide a sad
memorial to the mostly forgotten names of Mr. Belachheb's victims: Janice
Smith, Marcell Ford, Linda Lowe, Ligia Koslowski, Frank Parker, Joe Minasi.
More recognizable names, at least to Dallas residents, also fill the pages
of Worse Than Death: Dallas County District Court Judge Gerry
Holden Meier, a no-nonsense judge known to some as the Iron Maiden, and
later, Attila the Honey; Norm Kinne, one of the county's best prosecutors
who later in his career displayed a replica wooden shark fin, an admirer's
gift, in his office; Dallas homicide detective Bill Parker, who arrested
Mr. Belachheb two hours after the slayings; and defense attorney Frank
Jackson, a former professional football player. Worse Than Death details how Mr. Belachheb came to the United States and Texas, how he felt
victimized by the world, what precipitated the slayings and their place
alongside mass murders by Charles Whitman, who in 1966 killed 15 people on
the University of Texas at Austin campus, and George Hennard, who killed
23 in a Killeen restaurant in 1991. But perhaps the most startling
revelation is that Mr. Belachheb, who remains in an Amarillo prison, is
eligible for parole on June 29, 2004, the 20th anniversary of the
slayings. According to his prison "datasheet," however, his
projected release date is 99 99 9999. According to the author, that's computer code for "never." Freelance writer Dan R. Barber lives in Forney.
The cryptic title seems to suggest that the book is no better than the
rest of the pulp usually found on the aisles of the true-crime section at
a local bookstore. Most of those are usually breathless tales of bloodlust
or crusading bits of pseudo-journalism bent on indicting the use of
capital punishment.
But to assume either about Gary M. Lavergne's latest work would be a big
mistake... Lavergne is the director of admissions research at the
University of Texas and a veteran author of books on Texas murderers,
including works featuring mass murderer Charles Whitman, "A Sniper in
the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders," and serial killer Kenneth
McDuff, "Bad Boy From Rosebud: The Murderous Life of Kenneth Allen
McDuff."
The words in his latest title are taken from the last line of the book in
which Lavergne sums up the current existence of prisoner Abdelkrim
Belachheb. Lavergne eloquently describes Belachheb, a lesser-known Texas
murderer, as a megalomaniac... fortunately for the reader, Lavergne does a
good job explaining Belachheb's impact on the Texas Penal Code.
Even without an interview with his subject, Lavergne manages to paint a
three-dimensional portrait of Belachheb, using the trial transcript,
interviews with the people involved in the trial, legislative hearing
records and even the trial judge's personal notes on the case...
But for anyone who practices criminal law in Dallas, the detail Lavergne
provides about Belachheb's trial is especially interesting. He describes
the courthouse veterans who tried Belachheb -- including former 291st
District Judge Gerry Meier, former Dallas County assistant district
attorneys Norman Kinne and Rider Scott, and defense attorney Frank Jackson
-- using a wealth of vignettes from the trial to illustrate each of the
trial participants.
(See
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ibw/dec_03.htm#crime)
(See:
http://www.mobmagazine.com/managearticle.asp?C=70&A=7411)
| Gary's Bio |Before Brown| Worse Than Death| Bad Boy From Rosebud | Sniper in the Tower | Cajuns |
