Matt Birkbeck

Matt Birkbeck (born Brooklyn, N.Y.) is an American investigative journalist and author.

Investigative journalist and author Matt Birkbeck

He wrote the best selling books The Quiet Don (2013), about Mafia boss Russell Bufalino, A Beautiful Child (2004), which told the tragic story of "Sharon Marshall" and her "father" Franklin Delano Floyd, and the sequel Finding Sharon (2018), which is a memoir about his ten-year effort, along with the FBI and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, to find Sharon's true identity. Both books were adapted for the 2022 hit Netflix documentary Girl in the Picture, for which he is the executive producer.

He also authored Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob (2008) about the life of Sammy Davis Jr. and efforts to resolve his debts and his legacy.

A Deadly Secret: The Bizarre and Chilling Story of Robert Durst (2002/2015), about New York real estate scion Robert Durst, who was accused of murdering his wife Kathie Durst and two others. A Deadly Secret is considered the most accurate portrayal of the Robert Durst saga [1] and was adapted into the 2017 Lifetime movie The Lost Wife of Robert Durst. The book was originally published in 2002.

Career

Birkbeck worked at Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly in the mid-1990s, and then as a correspondent for People magazine from 1998 to 2004 covering mostly crime and human interest stories including the 1999 death of John F. Kennedy Jr., the 9/11 attacks in New York, and the Robert Durst investigation. His reporting on the Robert Durst case led to the publication of his first book A Deadly Secret in 2002, which subsequently served as the guide for law enforcement in their pursuit of Durst. Following Durst's arrest in 2015, police found two copies of A Deadly Secret inside Durst's Houston condo.

As a newspaper reporter he wrote a multi-part investigative series A Price Too High that exposed how home builders, appraisers, mortgage companies and major banks conspired to defraud thousands of homebuyers, mostly minorities from the New York area, and forced them into bankruptcy and foreclosure. For his reporting, which spurred numerous state, local and federal investigations, as well as Congressional hearings, Birkbeck received an Investigative Reporters and Editors award in 2002. The New York Times followed up his reporting with a lengthy feature in April 2004.[2] Birkbeck and the Pocono Record were sued for libel by a home builder in 2003, and the case went to trial in Monroe County, Pa. in 2010 before a jury, which ruled in favor of Birkbeck and the newspaper.[3]

From 2004 to 2010 he worked at The Morning Call[4][5][6] where he covered federal courts and wrote investigative stories, focusing on corruption and organized crime.

His lengthy reporting on Pennsylvania's flawed gaming initiative exposed political corruption at the highest levels of state government, including then-Governor Ed Rendell and the state Supreme Court.[7] In 2009 he was subpoenaed to testify before a special prosecutor appointed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to investigate alleged leaks in the prosecution of a businessman with alleged mob ties who was awarded a license to operate a casino.[8] Birkbeck's reporting on the case served as the basis of his bestselling book The Quiet Don: The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino,[9] which was published in 2013 by Berkley/Penguin.

He left The Morning Callin 2010 to join niche business publisher Harrison Scott Publications in Hoboken, N.J. HSP was sold to Green Street in 2020.

Birkbeck has written magazine pieces and features for a variety of publications, including Boston Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, Reader's Digest, Playboy and others.


Books

Film adaptations

Girl in the Picture debuted on Netflix on July 6, 2022, and is based on A Beautiful Child and Finding Sharon. It was directed by Skye Borgman, with Birkbeck serving as executive producer.[10] A day after its release, it was Netflix's number one movie in the world, and remained there for several weeks.[11]

A Deadly Secret was adapted as a TV movie by Lifetime in 2017 as The Lost Wife of Robert Durst. It starred Katharine McPhee as Kathie Durst and Daniel Gillies as Robert Durst.

Deconstructing Sammy was optioned for a feature film, documentary and scripted TV series by Byron Allen for his Entertainment Studios in 2015.[12]

Awards

Birkbeck received an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award in 2002 for his groundbreaking stories on mortgage fraud in the U.S.[13]

References
  1. "Robert Durst Biographer Matt Birkbeck on What the Jinx Got Wrong".
  2. Moss, Michael; Jacobs, Andrew (April 11, 2004). "Blue Skies and Green Yards, All Lost to Red Ink". The New York Times. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  3. "Re: Gene Percudani v. Pocono Record". Morelaw.com. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  4. "Matt Birkbeck". Mcall.com. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
  5. "Matt Birkbeck: About the Author". Harpercollins.com. March 24, 2010. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
  6. "Matt Birkbeck biography". Authors.simonandschuster.ca. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
  7. "DeNAPLES CHARGED ** Four counts of perjury filed over alleged ties to mobster, 3 others ** Casino license suspended, but Mount Airy remains open". Mcall.com. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  8. King, Larry. "Reporter again subpoenaed in DeNaples case". Inquirer.com. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  9. Birkbeck, Matt (October 1, 2013). "The Quiet Don: The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino". Amazon.com. Berkley. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  10. "'Girl in the Picture' makes sense of a senseless, complex crime". July 5, 2022.
  11. Bean, Travis. "The Top 10 Movies And Shows On Netflix: July 8, 2022". Forbes. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  12. Galuppo, Mia (October 28, 2015). "Sammy Davis Jr. Biography 'Deconstructing Sammy' Acquired by Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios". Hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  13. Stevenson, Keith R. "Record reporter wins national award for real estate series". Poconorecord.com.
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