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'{{Infobox writer <!-- For more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]]. --> | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = Susan Jane Berman | birth_date = May 18, 1945 | birth_place = [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2000|12|23|1945|05|18}} | death_place = Beverly Hills, California | resting_place = [[Home of Peace Cemetery (East Los Angeles)|Home of Peace Cemetery]] | occupation = Writer | language = English | nationality = | citizenship = U.S. | education = Bachelor's, master's | alma_mater = University of California, L--~~~~''''''Bold text''''''Bold text''''''os Angeles<br />University of California, Berkeley | period = | genre = [[Fiction]], nonfiction | subject = [[Mafia|Mob]], Las Vegas | movement = | notableworks = ''Easy Street'' | spouse = Mister Margulies (divorced) | partner = | children = | relatives = [[David Berman (mobster)|Davie Berman]], father | influences = | influenced = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | portaldisp = }} '''Susan Jane Berman''' (May 18, 1945&nbsp;– December 23, 2000) was an [[United States|American]] journalist and author, the daughter of [[David Berman (mobster)|Davie Berman]], a [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]] [[Organized crime|mob figure]]. She wrote about her late-in-life realization of her father's role in that criminal empire. She was found murdered on Christmas Eve, 2000 in her [[Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California|Benedict Canyon]], California home.<ref name="New York Magazine"/> Fifteen years later on March 14, 2015, Berman's friend [[Robert Durst]] was arrested in [[New Orleans]] in connection to Berman's slaying.<ref name="LATDurstArrest">{{cite news| author =Richard Winton, Matt Hamilton and Shelby Grad| title =Robert Durst arrested in slaying of L.A. writer| quote =| newspaper =[[Los Angeles Times]]| date =March 15, 2015| url =http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-robert-durst-arrested-in-la-murder-case-20150315-story.html| accessdate =March 15, 2015}}</ref> ==Early life== Berman was born in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]], in 1945, the only child of the former Grace Ewald, a travelling dancer,<ref name="StarTribune">{{cite news|title=Robert Durst confidante Susan Berman was only child of Twin Cities mobster|url=http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/296776801.html|author=Paul Walsh|date=March 18, 2015|accessdate=March 19, 2015|work=[[Star Tribune]]}}</ref> and Davie Berman. Her father was born into a [[Jewish]] family in [[Odessa, Ukraine]], during the [[Russian Empire]], the son of a former [[Yeshiva|rabbinical student]].<ref>[http://m.bismarcktribune.com/mobile/news/columnists/article_65709558-143c-11e0-9859-001cc4c002e0.html ''Bismarck Tribune'', "Las Vegas mob boss had ties to N.D.", January 2, 2011]</ref> Berman moved with her parents to [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] in 1946.<ref name="StarTribune"/> She always maintained that her father — a mob figure who replaced [[Bugsy Siegel]] at the [[Flamingo Las Vegas|Flamingo Hotel]] after Siegel's gangland murder — died under mysterious circumstances on an operating table when Berman was 12. She also believed that uncertainty surrounded her mother's presumed suicide by overdose, a year later. Berman grew up in Las Vegas and, later, in [[Hollywood, California]], where classmates included [[Jann Wenner]] and [[Liza Minnelli]].<ref name="VanityFair">{{cite news|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2015/03/robert-durst-murders-wife-susie-berman|title=The Fugitive Heir|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=February 2002|accessdate=March 17, 2015|author=Ned Zeman}}</ref> She received a bachelor of arts degree from the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] in 1967 and a master of arts in journalism from the [[University of California, Berkeley]] in 1969.<ref name="Online Nevada">{{cite web |url=http://www.onlinenevada.org/susan_berman |title=Susan Berman |publisher=''Online Nevada Encyclopedia'' |date=2009-03-20 |accessdate=2012-12-14}}</ref> ==Career== Berman was a novelist and author of two [[memoir]]s. She was a reporter for ''[[The San Francisco Examiner]]'' and also wrote for [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s ''City Magazine'', the [[Westinghouse Evening Show]] on [[KPIX-TV|KPIX]] and the "People" show on [[CBS]]. She was a contributing writer for ''[[New York (magazine)|New York Magazine]]'',<ref name="BermanInterview">{{cite news|url=http://nymag.com/news/politics/49908/|date=November 14, 1977|accessdate=March 18, 2015|author=Susan Berman|work=[[New York Magazine]]|title=Bess Myerson Is One Tough Customer}}</ref> ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'' and ''[[Family Circle]]''. According to ''Online Nevada Encyclopedia'', "Despite neuroses and irrational anxieties, Berman was a versatile writer in many literary genres".<ref name="Online Nevada"/><ref>[http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/susan-berman#sthash.G5a2ELbi.dpuf Susan Berman | ''ONE - Online Nevada Encyclopedia''<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Berman wrote ''Driver, Give a Soldier a Lift!'' and ''Lady Las Vegas'', accompanying the 1996 release of an A&E documentary, for which she was a co-writer and nominated for a [[Writers Guild of America]] award.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://articles.nydailynews.com/2001-01-05/news/18178471_1_david-berman-bugsy-siegel-writers-guild |title=Mobster's Kin Killed: Writer was daughter of Bugsy's partner |date=5 January 2001 |accessdate=2012-12-14}}</ref> Known affectionately as a "Jewish Mafia Princess", Susan Berman published the 1981 memoir ''[[Easy Street (book)|Easy Street]]'' about life as a mobster's daughter. While representing her in the 1970s, the [[William Morris Endeavor|William Morris Agency]] talked with several Hollywood producers interested in adapting her book into a screenplay. The movie rights were ultimately sold for $350,000, but no film project ever got off the ground.<ref name="LATimesLiterary">{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-the-literary-life-and-death-of-susan-berman-robert-durst-victim-20150316-story.html|title=The literary life (and death) of Susan Berman, alleged Robert Durst victim|accessdate=March 17, 2015|date=March 17, 2015|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|author=Carolyn Kellogg}}</ref> At the time of her death, she was working on a project for [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] with attorney [[Kevin and Don Norte#Kevin Norte|Kevin Norte]]. Entitled ''Sin City,'' it was being planned as Showtime's version of the [[HBO]] hit ''[[The Sopranos]]''. ==Personal life== Berman lived just off the [[Sunset Strip]] on Alta Loma Road in [[West Hollywood, California|West Hollywood]] for several years prior to her final residence in [[Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California|Benedict Canyon]]. Nyle Brenner, her manager, told the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' days after her murder that "many details of Ms. Berman's personal life are unclear" and added "she had been married once in the 1980s, and later helped rear the two children of a boyfriend". Her only husband, Mister Margulies, would die of a heroin overdose in 1986;<ref name="New York Magazine"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Mister Margulies|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15652705|website=FindAGrave|accessdate=18 March 2015}}</ref> at their June 1984 wedding, held at the [[Hotel Bel-Air]], Robert Durst had walked Berman down the aisle.<ref name="LATimesLiterary"/><ref name="TimesJinx">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/16/nyregion/robert-durst-subject-of-hbo-documentary-on-unsolved-killings-is-arrested.html|title=On HBO's 'The Jinx,' Robert Durst Says He 'Killed Them All'|work=[[New York Times]]|author=Charles V. Bagli, Vivian Yee|date=March 15, 2015|accessdate=March 15, 2015}}</ref> Berman kept close ties to friends on Alta Loma Road where she once lived, the [[Las Vegas Strip]] and in [[New York City]], including Durst. ==Murder== She was found murdered [[Execution-style murder|execution style]] with a nine-millimeter hand gun on Christmas Eve, 2000 in her [[Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California|Benedict Canyon]], California home, and presumed to have been dead at least a day.<ref name="New York Magazine"/> On March 14, 2015, Berman's friend [[Robert Durst]] was arrested in [[New Orleans]] on a [[first degree murder]] warrant issued out of [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]]. Although Durst's presumed victim was not immediately named by authorities, the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' first reported that Durst had been detained in connection to Berman's slaying.<ref name="LATDurstArrest"/> Three days after his arrest, Los Angeles District Attorney [[Jackie Lacey]] said that if convicted, Durst could face the death penalty for "special circumstances of murder of a witness and lying in wait".<ref name="USATodayDeathPenalty">{{cite news|title=Prosecutors charge Durst with murder; death penalty possible|url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/16/durst-hbo-murder-hearing/24837005/|date=March 17, 2015|accessdate=March 18, 2015|author=John Bacon and William M. Welch|work=[[USA Today]]}}</ref> Various published accounts, including ''[[Murder in Beverly Hills]]'' by author [[Cathy Scott]], have reported possible connections between Berman's murder and the 1982 disappearance of [[Kathleen McCormack|Kathie Durst]]. Berman became a confidante of [[Robert Durst]],<ref name="StarTribune"/> an heir to a New York real estate fortune, at UCLA in the late 1960s,<ref name="New York Magazine"/> and came to know Kathie after later moving to New York.<ref>[http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/crime-she-writes/201311/book-probes-new-evidence-in-mob-daughters-murder Book Probes New Evidence in Mob Daughter's Murder | ''Psychology Today''<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In a review of Scott's book, ''True Crime Zine'' wrote that "detectives came to suspect one of (Susan's) long-time friends but have never been able to charge him with murder".<ref>[http://truecrimezine.com/susan-berman-book-cathy-scott/ Susan Berman book: Murder in Beverly Hills by Cathy Scott | ''True Crime Zine''<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Durst was considered a prime suspect in his wife's disappearance but was never charged in the case. Berman initially acted as a media spokesperson for Durst and is believed to have supplied the press with his alibi.<ref name="SFGate">{{cite news|author=Kevin Fagan|title=Durst case slaying victim had titillating Bay Area history|url=http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Durst-case-slaying-victim-had-titillating-Bay-6137835.php|date=March 16, 2015|accessdate=March 19, 2015|work=[[SFGate]]}}</ref> After the disappearance of Durst's wife, Berman remained his friend and received large cash gifts from him in the months before her death.<ref name="New York Magazine">{{cite journal |first=Lisa |last=DePaulo |url=http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/crimelaw/features/4459/index.html |title=Who Killed the Gangster's Daughter? |journal=[[New York Magazine]] |date=March 12, 2001}}</ref> Almost two decades after Kathie Durst's disappearance, [[New York State Police]], at the request of [[Jeanine Pirro]], the district attorney at the time in [[New York]]'s [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]], contacted Berman to interview her about the Durst case. She was killed within a few days of the query. Durst's March 2015 arrest warrant mentioned a previously undisclosed typewritten letter, mailed from New York on January 9, 2001 to the west Los Angeles Police Station, titled "Possible motive for Susan Berman murder". The letter said Berman suspected Durst was involved in his wife's disappearance.<ref name="NBCflightrisk">{{cite news|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/robert-durst-had-mask-fake-id-42-000-cash-when-n325961|work=[[NBC News]]|author=Andrew Blankstein and Hannah Rappleye|date=March 18, 2015|accessdate=March 19, 2015|title=Robert Durst Had Latex Mask, Fake ID and $42,000 Cash When Arrested}}</ref> Berman was interred at Home of Peace Memorial Park in East Los Angeles, California.<ref>{{cite web|title=Susan Berman|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15652705|website=FindAGrave|accessdate=18 March 2015}}</ref> ==Books== ===Nonfiction=== *''Easy Street: The True Story of a Mob Family'' (The Dial Press, 1981), ISBN 978-0385271851 *''Lady Las Vegas: The Inside Story Behind America's Neon Oasis'' (TV Books, 1996), ISBN 978-1575000206 ===Fiction=== *''Driver, Give a Soldier a Lift'' ([[G. P. Putnam's Sons|Putnam]], 1976), ISBN 978-0399117046 *''Fly Away Home'' (Avon Books, 1996), ISBN 978-0380781799 *''Spiderweb'' ([[Avon Books]], 1997), ISBN 978-0380781805 ==In popular culture== In 2010, [[Lily Rabe]] played the character Deborah Lehrman, inspired by Susan Berman, in the film ''[[All Good Things (film)|All Good Things]]''. ==References== <references/> ==External links== *[http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%22susan+berman%22+mafia&ei=UTF-8&fr=sbc-web&fl=0&x=wrt/ Links to articles on Susan Berman] *''[[This American Life]]'' [http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=681 episode 76: "Mob"]; linked [[RealAudio]] file includes a reading by Berman from ''Easy Street''. *[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805076948 Homicide Special: A year with LAPD's Elite Detective Unit, Miles Corwin (2003) Chapter 14] *{{cite web |url=http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2004/02/25/cover_story/cover.txt |title=Cold Case: Who Killed Susan Berman? |first=Cathy |last=Scott |publisher=Las Vegas ''CityLife'' |date=February 2004}} *''[[A Deadly Secret: The Strange Disappearance of Kathie Durst]]'' (2003) by [[Matt Birkbeck]] *''[[Murder of a Mafia Daughter|Murder of a Mafia Daughter: The Life and Tragic Death of Susan Berman]]'' (2002) by [[Cathy Scott]] *{{Find a Grave|72067665}} {{Authority control|VIAF=18541622}} {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> | NAME =Berman, Susan | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American writer | DATE OF BIRTH = May 18, 1945 | PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]] | DATE OF DEATH = December 23, 2000 | PLACE OF DEATH = Beverly Hills, California }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Susan}} [[Category:1945 births]] [[Category:2000 deaths]] [[Category:Organized crime memoirists]] [[Category:American memoirists]] [[Category:American murder victims]] [[Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent]] [[Category:History of Clark County, Nevada]] [[Category:Murdered writers]] [[Category:American women writers]] [[Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni]] [[Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni]] [[Category:People murdered in California]] [[Category:The San Francisco Examiner people]] [[Category:Unsolved murders in the United States]] [[Category:Deaths by firearm in California]] [[Category:Women memoirists]] [[Category:20th-century women writers]]'