Biography
Charles Brandt is the author of numerous best-selling true crime novels based on the major crimes Brandt solved through interrogation during his illustrious legal career as a homicide investigator, prosecutor and eventually, Chief Deputy Attorney General of the State of Delaware.
He is the author of "I Heard You Paint Houses," a New York Times best-seller, published in over fourteen countries, and is the definitive work solving the disappearance and murder of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. It is the biography of a colorful hit man, Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, the prime suspect in the F.B.I.'s Jimmy Hoffa case. Brandt's book is based on nearly five years of interviews he recorded on tapes that have since been subpoenaed by the F.B.I. The book forms the basis for Martin Scorsese's film, having the working title, "The Irishman," to be released by Netflix. This blockbuster Mafia movie stars a dream cast of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Anna Pacquin, Bobby Cannavale and other great actors, with a screenplay adapted from Brandt's book by Oscar-winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian.
Brandt is also the author of The Right to Remain Silent a well-reviewed detective novel praised by then President Ronald Reagan for execution of its theme "on behalf of law-abiding citizens". Brandt also wrote two more true crime Mafia books: Donnie Brasco - Unfinished Business, co-authored with undercover F.B.I. agent Joe Pistone, the real life Donnie Brasco, the wrecking ball of the American Mafia; and We're Going to Win This Thing , co-authored with Lin DeVecchio, the F.B.I. supervisory special agent in charge of the Mafia Commission case, which case destroyed the Mafia's ruling Commission and crushed the nationwide Mafia.
Charles Brandt is at work on a new book, Interrogation Interrupted: A Professional Solves "Dallas". It is an explosive true crime thriller that will unravel the intricacies of the decades long mystery of President Kennedy's assassination and its cover-up by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Brandt's work will permanently define one of the most important events in American history. The analysis of "Dallas" is finally in the hands of a professional homicide investigator who knows what he's talking about.
Brandt is a fifty-year practitioner of Tai Chi. He began his studies under the 20th Century Master Cheng Man Ching on Canal St. in N.Y.C. Brandt's talent as a writer comes from his hands-on experience of solving homicides and interrogating witnesses. Before graduating from Brooklyn Law School in 1969, Brandt, a native of New York City, had been a Junior High English teacher in Queens and a welfare investigator in East Harlem. Following law school, Brandt moved to Delaware and worked as a homicide investigator, prosecutor and eventually, Chief Deputy Attorney General of the State of Delaware. Brandt had four men on death row when he left the office.
In private legal practice since 1976, Brandt, at first, defended the major homicides of his state, including the President of the Pagan motorcycle club who was charged with the double murder of witnesses in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Brandt later restricted his practice to plaintiff's medical malpractice and the cross-examination of medical defense experts, such as neurosurgeons. These cases often involved the investigation of wrongful death, a form of homicide. Brandt was named by his trial lawyer peers as one of the "Best Lawyers in America", and one of the "Best Lawyers in Delaware." Brandt was elected president of the Delaware Trial Lawyers Association and the Delaware Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. During his career he taught cross-examination to other trial lawyers and interrogation techniques to police officers.
Brandt is the grandson of Italian immigrants, Rosa and Luigi DiMarco, who had a small family farm in Staten Island. They couldn't read or write in any language, but their examples inspired Brandt his whole life.
Charles Brandt lives in Lewes, Delaware and Sun Valley, Idaho with his wife, Nancy, and has three grown children and four grandchildren.
