have gun will travel death row

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records

Brimming with murder, mayhem, extortion, and drug use, this history of what was formerly America?s premier gangsta-rap label often reads more like a true-crime story than a music-biz exposé. In truth, it?s a bit of both, an intrepid mass of reportage that clears up much of the chilling apocrypha surrounding the decade?s most successful sociopath, Death Row CEO Marion ?Suge? Knight, and the empire he built on the backs of ghetto kids hungry to rap?in some cases literally for food. For those interested in the genesis of the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop feud, the skinny on Tupac Shakur?s troubled life and early death, or the real story behind Snoop Doggy Dogg?s Doggystyle, it?s all here. And while Ro?s just-the-facts-ma?am style makes for dense going in places, Have Gun is meaty (and bloody) enough to enthrall both pop sociologists and armchair thrill seekers.

Related Articles

We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us!

Internet Archive Audio

• This Just In
• Grateful Dead
• Old Time Radio
• 78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
• Audio Books & Poetry
• Computers, Technology and Science
• Music, Arts & Culture
• News & Public Affairs
• Spirituality & Religion
• Radio News Archive

• Flickr Commons
• Occupy Wall Street Flickr
• NASA Images
• Solar System Collection
• Ames Research Center

• All Software
• Old School Emulation
• MS-DOS Games
• Historical Software
• Classic PC Games
• Software Library
• Kodi Archive and Support File
• Vintage Software
• CD-ROM Software
• CD-ROM Software Library
• Software Sites
• Tucows Software Library
• Shareware CD-ROMs
• Software Capsules Compilation
• CD-ROM Images
• ZX Spectrum
• DOOM Level CD

• Smithsonian Libraries
• FEDLINK (US)
• Lincoln Collection
• American Libraries
• Canadian Libraries
• Universal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Children's Library
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Books by Language
• Additional Collections

• Prelinger Archives
• Democracy Now!
• Occupy Wall Street
• TV NSA Clip Library
• Animation & Cartoons
• Arts & Music
• Computers & Technology
• Cultural & Academic Films
• Ephemeral Films
• Sports Videos
• Videogame Videos
• Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

• Wayback Machine (iOS)
• Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

• Explore the Collections
• Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

• Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

Have gun will travel : the spectacular rise and violent fall of Death Row Records

Bookreader item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

• Graphic Violence
• Explicit Sexual Content
• Hate Speech
• Misinformation/Disinformation
• Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
• Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

499 Previews

12 Favorites

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

No suitable files to display here.

PDF access not available for this item.

IN COLLECTIONS

Uploaded by station27.cebu on October 9, 2021

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience and security.

ISBN: 0385491352

ISBN13: 9780385491358

Have Gun Will Travel

Select Format

Select condition, recommended.

Format: Paperback

Condition: Good

Book Overview

Death Row Records is one of the most successful music labels of all time.??From its inception in 1992, it exploded on the rap music scene with sales climbing to the $125 million mark in just four... This description may be from another edition of this product.

Related Subjects

Customer Reviews

Violently entertaining and informative, real, a must for any rap fan, extremely good read, finally an unbiased look at the death row empire, ronin ro rocks the house, popular categories.

• Teen and Young Adult
• Literature & Fiction
• Mystery & Thriller
• Sci-fi & Fantasy
• Large Print Books
• Rare & Collectible Books
• ShareBookLove
• Educator Benefits
• Librarian Benefits
• e-Gift Cards
• View Mobile Site
• Shopping Cart
• Order History

BOOKS OF THE TIMES; In Gangsta Rap, a Reality as Bad as the Fantasy

• Share full article

By Neil Strauss

• March 3, 1998

HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL

The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records

By Ronin Ro

Illustrated. 372 pages. Doubleday. $23.95.

n the 1990's, music executives have become figures as legendary, compelling and often as scandalous as some of the musicians they make their millions from. Fredric Dannen's best-selling ''Hit Men,'' published in 1990, portrayed the industry as a corrupt, misogynist, double-dealing big business run by temperamental crooks. After that book came a highly visible executive mutiny at Warner Brothers, dozens of lavish record deals worth tens of millions of dollars and a heap of copycat exposes, all of which made the behind-the-scenes shenanigans at record companies and the abuse of executive power a permanent part of the public appetite.

As if to answer this hunger in the 90's, Suge Knight rolled into the music industry, a 315-pound banquet cart of scandal who had eight criminal convictions and five contracts on his life in the six years he was an executive before being imprisoned for parole violations last year. The gangsta-rap label he ran, Death Row (once home to Tupac Shakur, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre), upped the ante of music-industry corruption from a sleazy world of payola and sexual harassment to a dangerous battleground where enemies were pistol-whipped or mysteriously disappeared, the label's own artists were beaten at company meetings and contract negotiations were made with baseball bats instead of pens. Equal parts ''The Godfather,'' ''Scarface,'' ''The Mack'' and ''Colors,'' the rise and fall of Death Row is, along with the suicide of Kurt Cobain, one of the most important and tragic stories of pop music in the 90's, culminating in the drive-by shootings of two top rappers, Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.

And Ronin Ro, a hip-hop writer known for his work with The Source magazine and a previous book on gangsta rap, is the first to try to tell the story completely. ''Have Gun Will Travel'' is a definitive book chronicling the violent world of Death Row. Never has there been a label quite like it. Mr. Ro writes about the label's offices, where messengers and other visitors were known to be robbed: ''If Suge felt someone was trying to cheat him, the offender would be dragged into a storeroom by his goons and pounded to a bloody pulp. Death Row employees went about their filing and faxing as bloodcurdling shrieks filled the office. They saw the doorknob jerking, knowing that people were desperately trying to escape a beating.''

Later, Mr. Ro describes the fate of a record promoter who refused to divulge the home addresses of Mr. Knight's rival, Puffy Combs, and Mr. Combs's mother: he is beaten with champagne bottles and forced to drink Mr. Knight's urine. A pair of rappers who use the phone in Death Row's offices twice without permission are stripped, pistol-whipped and shot at, and an artist leaves Death Row after representatives of his own label threaten him with a gun after he eats a piece of chicken that doesn't belong to him in his backstage dressing room.

With so many beatings, lawsuits, unsolved murders, million-dollar swindles and gang activity surrounding Death Row, it would be hard to write a book on the label that wasn't a page-turner. ''Have Gun Will Travel'' mixes Mr. Ro's own reporting, which relies heavily on the testimony of a few minor players, and his coverage of Mr. Knight's probation hearings, with mostly unattributed quotations that originally appeared in The Source, Vibe and The Los Angeles Times. It is, for the most part, a straight chronological account that reads like a long, well-researched newspaper article with a few juicy rumors thrown in for spice.

Parts of the book appear to have been quickly written: stories are repeated almost verbatim, typographical errors are common and there are moments of sheer stupidity. For example, Mr. Ro says about the street gang the Avenue Cribs: ''During this period there was nothing glamorous (or marketable) about the group. They did not have identifying colors; they didn't commit drive-by shootings.'' After calling drive-bys glamorous and marketable, he goes on to describe shooting off-duty white police officers as macho and the crying of a male in a courtroom as a ''shocking outburst'' because of its femininity, which it may very well be, but only in the homophobic world of rap.

In chronicling Mr. Knight's path from high school athlete to Los Angeles Rams football player to car thief to bodyguard to record executive to convict, Mr. Ro also offers histories of West Coast gangsta rap, Los Angeles street gangs, the political war against gangsta rap lyrics, Death Row rivals like Mr. Combs and imprisoned drug dealers like Michael Harris, who claims to have given the label its seed money.

More interesting than these previously reported incidents, however, is Mr. Ro's indictment of major corporations that did business with Death Row-Sony and then Interscope Records, owned by Time Warner and later sold in part to Seagram. Mr. Ro claims that they knew about Death Row's violent business tactics, watched as its employees were ''threatened and slapped around'' by Death Row thugs and nonetheless ''turned a blind eye to the violence'' so long as money could be made from the rap label, which took in some $100 million annually.

While Death Row's many critics have called the violence that enveloped the company a case of life imitating art, ''Have Gun Will Travel'' shows that the situation was actually much more complex. Sometimes life did imitate art, and sometimes art imitated life; sometimes success bred greed, and sometimes bad tempers were mistaken for good business sense. But most of the time the problems that plagued Death Row were a result of the street following the label into the corporate world. Mr. Ro traces conflicts to their origins in fighting between rival Los Angeles street gangs, the Crips and the Bloods, which each had members in the entourages of rappers and executives and whose members regularly hung out in the Death Row studio and offices, the Crips on the right side and the Bloods on the left.

What the book lacks is perspective. Death Row records is never placed anywhere in the context of rap music as a whole. There is no evidence of the appreciation of the music that Mr. Ro clearly has, and the label is never put in its place in relation to the corrupt midcentury independent music labels that had mafia and gangster connections themselves. ''Have Gun Will Travel'' is just fact after fact, quotation after quotation, although that has its fascination. But the story is not complete: major characters like Snoop Doggy Dogg have broken their silence on the label since the writing of this book, and others like Suge Knight have yet to come clean. There is still another, better book to be written.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

What can fiction tell us about the apocalypse? The writer Ayana Mathis finds unexpected hope in novels of crisis by Ling Ma, Jenny Offill and Jesmyn Ward .

At 28, the poet Tayi Tibble has been hailed as the funny, fresh and immensely skilled voice of a generation in Māori writing .

Amid a surge in book bans, the most challenged books in the United States in 2023 continued to focus on the experiences of L.G.B.T.Q. people or explore themes of race.

Stephen King, who has dominated horror fiction for decades , published his first novel, “Carrie,” in 1974. Margaret Atwood explains the book’s enduring appeal .

Do you want to be a better reader?   Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

• Film, Kunst & Kultur

Lade die kostenlose Kindle-App herunter und lese deine Kindle-Bücher sofort auf deinem Smartphone, Tablet oder Computer – kein Kindle-Gerät erforderlich .

Mit Kindle für Web kannst du sofort in deinem Browser lesen.

Scanne den folgenden Code mit deiner Mobiltelefonkamera und lade die Kindle-App herunter.

Bild nicht verfügbar

• Herunterladen, um dieses Videos wiederzugeben Flash Player
• 360°-ANSICHT

Dem Autor folgen

Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records Gebundene Ausgabe – 17. Februar 1998

• Seitenzahl der Print-Ausgabe 384 Seiten
• Sprache Englisch
• Herausgeber Doubleday
• Erscheinungstermin 17. Februar 1998
• Abmessungen 16.51 x 3.81 x 25.4 cm
• ISBN-10 0385491344
• ISBN-13 978-0385491341
• Alle Details anzeigen

Produktbeschreibungen

Pressestimmen, klappentext, über den autor und weitere mitwirkende, leseprobe. abdruck erfolgt mit freundlicher genehmigung der rechteinhaber. alle rechte vorbehalten., produktinformation.

• Herausgeber ‏ : ‎ Doubleday; 1. Edition (17. Februar 1998)
• Sprache ‏ : ‎ Englisch
• Gebundene Ausgabe ‏ : ‎ 384 Seiten
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385491344
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385491341
• Abmessungen ‏ : ‎ 16.51 x 3.81 x 25.4 cm
• Nr. 1,195 in Rap
• Nr. 1,350 in Musikgeschäft
• Nr. 6,688 in Geschichten über Morde & Verstümmelungen

Informationen zum Autor

Entdecke mehr Bücher des Autors, sieh dir ähnliche Autoren an, lies Autorenblogs und mehr

Kundenrezensionen

Kundenbewertungen, einschließlich Produkt-Sternebewertungen, helfen Kunden, mehr über das Produkt zu erfahren und zu entscheiden, ob es das richtige Produkt für sie ist.

Um die Gesamtbewertung der Sterne und die prozentuale Aufschlüsselung nach Sternen zu berechnen, verwenden wir keinen einfachen Durchschnitt. Stattdessen berücksichtigt unser System beispielsweise, wie aktuell eine Bewertung ist und ob der Prüfer den Artikel bei Amazon gekauft hat. Es wurden auch Bewertungen analysiert, um die Vertrauenswürdigkeit zu überprüfen.

• Rezensionen sortieren nach Spitzenrezensionen Neueste zuerst Spitzenrezensionen

Spitzenbewertungen aus Deutschland

Derzeit tritt ein problem beim filtern der rezensionen auf. bitte versuche es später erneut..

Spitzenrezensionen aus anderen Ländern

• Karriere bei Amazon
• Pressemitteilungen
• Erfahre mehr über Amazon
• Amazon Science
• Jetzt verkaufen
• Verkaufen bei Amazon Business
• Verkaufen bei Amazon Handmade
• Partnerprogramm
• Versand durch Amazon
• Deine Marke aufbauen und schützen
• Prime durch Verkäufer
• Bewerbe deine Produkte
• Dein Buch mit uns veröffentlichen
• Hosten eines Amazon Hubs
• › Mehr von „Mit uns Geld verdienen“ anzeigen
• Einkaufen mit Punkten
• Finanzierung von Barclays
• Amazon Business Amex Card
• Monatsabrechnung
• Amazon-Währungsumrechner
• Mein Amazon-Konto aufladen
• Amazon vor Ort aufladen
• Amazon und COVID-19
• Lieferung verfolgen oder Bestellung anzeigen
• Versand & Verfügbarkeit
• Amazon Prime
• Rückgabe & Ersatz
• Recycling (einschließlich Entsorgung von Elektro- & Elektronikaltgeräten)
• Verträge kündigen
• Vodafone-Verträge kündigen
• Meine Inhalte und Geräte
• Rückrufe und Warnmeldungen zur Produktsicherheit
• Kundenservice
• Barrierefreiheit
• Datenschutzerklärung
• Hinweise zu Cookies
• Hinweise zu interessenbasierter Werbung

(Stanford users can avoid this Captcha by logging in.)

• Send to text email RefWorks EndNote printer

Have gun will travel : the spectacular rise and violent fall of Death Row Records

Available online, at the library.

Law Library (Crown)

More options.

• Find it at other libraries via WorldCat
• Contributors

Description

Creators/contributors, bibliographic information, browse related items.

• Stanford Home
• Maps & Directions
• Search Stanford
• Emergency Info
• Terms of Use
• Non-Discrimination
• Accessibility

© Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305 .

Items related to Have Gun Will Travel : Spectacular Rise and Violent...

Have gun will travel : spectacular rise and violent fall of death row records - softcover.

• 3.83 387 ratings by Goodreads

This specific ISBN edition is currently not available.

• About this title
• About this edition

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

"The first informed look at a world the mainstream media still seems unable to penetrate." --New York Post

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

• Publisher Quartet Books Ltd
• Publication date 1998
• ISBN 10  0704381028
• ISBN 13  9780704381025
• Binding Paperback
• Number of pages 304

Convert currency

Shipping: US$ 4.30 Within U.S.A.

Add to Basket

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

Featured edition.

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780385491358 Publisher: Main Street Books, 1999 Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Have gun will travel : spectacular rise and violent fall of death row records.

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0704381028

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0704381028

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0704381028

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0704381028

• Скидки дня
• Справка и помощь
• Адрес доставки Идет загрузка... Ошибка: повторите попытку ОК
• Продажи
• Список отслеживания Развернуть список отслеживаемых товаров Идет загрузка... Войдите в систему , чтобы просмотреть свои сведения о пользователе
• Краткий обзор
• Недавно просмотренные
• Ставки/предложения
• Список отслеживания
• История покупок
• Купить опять
• Объявления о товарах
• Сохраненные запросы поиска
• Сохраненные продавцы
• Сообщения
• Уведомление
• Развернуть корзину Идет загрузка... Произошла ошибка. Чтобы узнать подробнее, посмотрите корзину.

Oops! Looks like we're having trouble connecting to our server.

Refresh your browser window to try again.

Product Identifiers

• Publisher Doubleday Religious Publishing Group, T.H.E.
• ISBN-10 0385491344
• ISBN-13 9780385491341
• eBay Product ID (ePID) 359358

Product Key Features

• Book Title Have Gun Will Travel : the Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records
• Author Ronin Ro
• Format Hardcover
• Language English
• Topic Genres & Styles / Rap & Hip Hop, Genres & Styles / Pop Vocal
• Publication Year 1998
• Genre Music
• Number of Pages 374 Pages
• Item Length 7.8in
• Item Width 5.1in
• Weight 24.3 Oz
• Item Weight 24.3 Oz

Additional Product Features

• Lc Classification Number Ml3790.R6 1998
• Publication Date 1998-02-17
• Reviews "Harrowing and definitive,Have Gun Will Travelsucceeds so spectacularly because Ronin Ro is blessed with a rare combination of street smarts, solid writing skills...and cojones of steel." --Michael Azerrad, author ofCome as Your Are: The Story of Nirvana "The first informed look at a world the mainstream media still seems unable to penetrate." --New York Post
• Target Audience Trade
• Lccn 97-046342
• Dewey Decimal 338.7/61782421649
• Dewey Edition 21

Have gun will travel

The spectacular rise and violent fall of death row records, by ronin ro.

• 4 Want to read
• 1 Currently reading
• 1 Have read

Preview Book

My Reading Lists:

Use this Work

Create a new list

My book notes.

My private notes about this edition:

Check nearby libraries

• Library.link

Buy this book

This edition doesn't have a description yet. Can you add one ?

Previews available in: English

Showing 4 featured editions. View all 4 editions?

Add another edition?

Book Details

Published in, classifications, external links.

• Contributor biographical information
• Sample text
• Publisher description

The Physical Object

Links outside open library.

• New York Times review

Community Reviews (0)

• Created April 1, 2008
• 11 revisions

Wikipedia citation

Copy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help ?

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Rise in US executions masks deep divide between states on use of death penalty

Some of the 27 states that have the death penalty have not executed anyone in years but others still do – and the divide is rooted in history

The execution of Brian Dorsey in Missouri on Tuesday, despite an extraordinary campaign asking for his sentence to be commuted , brought into focus the issue of the death penalty in the US – one of the few countries in the western world that still uses corporal punishment.

Dorsey, 52, was executed for the 2006 murders of his cousin and her husband, after the number of people executed in the US rose to 24 in 2023, from 18 in 2022.

The numbers do little, however, to illustrate how unevenly the death penalty is applied in the country: and the growing opposition to capital punishment among Americans.

“It is an act of state violence that we’re using as a punishment,” said Elyse Max, co-director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty .

“We learn in kindergarten that if you get hit, you don’t hit back. You tell someone. And it’s kind of that basic philosophy of you cannot solve violence with more violence.”

Twenty people were executed in five states in 2023: Missouri , Oklahoma, Florida, Texas and Alabama. Seven states sentenced people to death: Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas.

But states are deeply divided over whether they execute people convicted of crimes. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 states, and in the District of Colombia and Puerto Rico. Some of the 27 states that still have the death penalty have not executed anyone for years.

Others, like Texas and Florida, where the rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a law last year which made it easier for juries to recommend a death sentence, have been responsible for a disproportionate amount of executions in recent years.

Max said the divide has a base in history.

“Missouri is considered the state outside of the south that had the most racial terror lynchings. We can even look and drill down into specific counties in Missouri that are high use death penalty counties, those are counties that had the most racial terror lynchings,” she said.

“And so you see this culture of fear, this culture of hate that’s embedded in certain parts and areas. And that’s how you end up with these types of sentencing.

“Kansas [which neighbors Missouri] was not a slave state: they haven’t executed in 10 years. Missouri was a slave state, and I think some of that is still lingering in our criminal justice system, certainly in our policing and in other systems that were spawned from that time period.”

Even within the 27 states that still have capital punishment, “the death penalty is really local in its application”, said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center , a non-profit organization which researches the death penalty but does not take a position on capital punishment itself.

“Where the death penalty is being used is just in a small number of jurisdictions, where it has been culturally used for a good many years, and where we have elected officials who are making those decisions, not the American public,” Maher said.

There is evidence that Americans’ opinions on the death penalty are changing. A Gallup poll in late 2023 found that 53% of Americans favor the death penalty for a person convicted of murder compared to more than 70% in the 1990s. (In the 2023 Gallup poll 44% were opposed to the death penalty for murder, and 2% had no opinion.)

Prosecutors – who have the ability to push for the death penalty – are elected to their positions, so in some counties may see a benefit in saying they will pursue execution in certain cases.

The same can happen higher up the chain. State governors have the ability to commute death sentences or award clemency, but in Missouri, Mike Parson, the state’s governor, has shown a particular zeal for the death penalty: the state has executed 10 people during his tenure.

Dorsey’s current lawyers have said he was poorly represented in his original case, owing to the public defender system which was in place at Missouri at the time. That system paid Dorsey’s attorneys a flat fee for his representation, which advocates said meant less time was spent on his case.

Dorsey shot his cousin Sarah Bonnie, and her husband to death in 2006 – lawyers later argued that he lacked the intent necessary to be guilty of first-degree murder, which is punishable by death, as he was under a drug-induced psychosis at the time. Parson declined to commute Dorsey’s sentence, despite a petition for clemency from more than 70 correctional officers.

“It should be really very disturbing that we nonetheless executed this, despite understanding fully that he did not get adequate or competent, legal representation at trial,” Maher said.

Despite some improvements in recent years, the amount of money state counties provide for public defense lawyers has been historically underfunded, Maher said.

“We’ve had flat fees, we have had some counties put out contracts for the lowest bid and award all of their defense work to the lowest bidder, [which means] you will almost be guaranteed to get terrible representation with that sort of contract.”

There is also huge racial disparity among those sentenced to death. Since 1976, 34% of the people executed in the US have been Black , despite Black people making up 13.4% of the US population , according to DPIC figures.

As of January 2023, there were 2331 people on death row in the US, according to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund . About 41.9% of those were White, and 41.2% were Black.

Committing a crime against a white person is far more likely to draw a death sentence compared to crimes where the victim is a person of color. In 2023, 79% of the people executed had been found guilty of crimes involving white victims.

Between 1976 and 2022, DPIC reported, there have been 2104 victims in cases which led to the death penalty. About 82% of the victims in those cases were white, 9% were Black, and 7.5% were Latino (2% were identified as other races, according to DPIC).

“So many of these decisions are made by prosecutors who may consciously or unconsciously bring their own biases,” Maher said.

“It’s pervasive, it’s through the entire system. We also know that, you know, because of the way the juries are selected in death penalty cases, many people of color are excluded from juries. And we know that that has an effect on how juries deliberate and how they view defendants of color.”

Over the past decades, states that do practice the death penalty have encountered increasing difficulty in acquiring drugs used in the lethal injection process, amid a boycott by pharmaceutical companies. It has led to experimentation with novel execution methods, with three states authorizing the use of nitrogen gas to execute people.

Alabama was the first to use nitrogen gas, when the state killed Kenneth Smith in January . Despite Alabama claiming the method was “perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised”, the Montgomery Advertiser reported that after the nitrogen was administered “Smith writhed and convulsed on the gurney. He took deep breaths, his body shaking violently with his eyes rolling in the back of his head.”

Since Smith was executed, three of the largest manufacturers of medical-grade nitrogen gas in the US have barred their products from being used in executions.

The death penalty has not been used in the UK since 1964, while France last used it in 1977, and formally abolished it in 1981 . It has been abolished within the European Union , and in all European countries apart from Russia – which has a moratorium in place and has not killed anyone since 1999 – and Belarus.

The decline in support for the death penalty, has given hope to advocates who believe the US should follow the more than 140 countries that have abolished the practice.

“I think if the current trends are any indication, and the historical data are any indication, the use of the death penalty will continue to decline,” Maher said.

“The public understands that the death penalty is enormously expensive, that it doesn’t provide any deterrent value, and that it doesn’t keep them any safer.”

• Capital punishment

Most viewed

Why US inmates are moving from the largest death row in America, where over 300 inmates wait out their sentences

As the state of California moves to wind down its death row at San Quentin, Sky News was given exclusive access inside the infamous East Block of the complex, and spoke with prisoners.

Thursday 4 April 2024 10:47, UK

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Biden message to Iran: 'Don't'

Car thief almost knocks down mother and children

Tornado damages homes in Florida

Baltimore bridge collapse clean-up

Watch: Key moments in OJ Simpson's life

Whale entangled in fishing net

Trump orders 30 milkshakes at Chick-fil-A

OJ Simpson dead at 76

People react to OJ Simpson's death

OJ: 'It was a nightmare team'

Drowning horse rescued from pond

'We want to address Iranian threat'

• Higher Education Textbooks
• Communication & Journalism

Buy new: ₹18,484.00

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records Hardcover – Import, 17 February 1998

Save extra with 3 offers, 10 days replacement, replacement instructions.

Purchase options and add-ons

• Print length 384 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Doubleday
• Publication date 17 February 1998
• Dimensions 16.51 x 3.81 x 25.4 cm
• ISBN-10 0385491344
• ISBN-13 978-0385491341
• See all details

Product description

Amazon.com review, from booklist, from the publisher, from the inside flap, about the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Doubleday; 1st edition (17 February 1998)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385491344
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385491341
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 680 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.51 x 3.81 x 25.4 cm

About the author

After penning a column for Dance Music Report magazine, Ronin Ro began a groundbreaking run in The Source. From here, Ro contributed to SPIN, Rolling Stone, VIBE, Rap Pages, XXL, Vanity Fair, Playboy, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, and more. The New York City-based Author then went on to write eight Books, including the classic Have Gun Will Travel, the definitive Jack Kirby bio Tales to Astonish, Raising Hell (containing original interviews with Run-D.M.C. and others), Dr. Dre: The Biography, the controversial novella Street Sweeper and Prince: Inside the Music and the Masks.

Customer reviews

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from India

Top reviews from other countries.

• Press Releases
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell under Amazon Accelerator
• Protect and Build Your Brand
• Amazon Global Selling
• Become an Affiliate
• Fulfilment by Amazon
• Advertise Your Products
• Amazon Pay on Merchants
• COVID-19 and Amazon
• Your Account
• Returns Centre
• 100% Purchase Protection
• Amazon App Download
• Netherlands
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Conditions of Use & Sale
• Privacy Notice
• Interest-Based Ads

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Despite widespread support for clemency, Missouri will execute death row inmate

Jason Rosenbaum

Missouri's governor has denied clemency for Brian Dorsey, who is scheduled to be executed Tuesday night. The decision comes as dozens, including prison workers, call for his life to be saved.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Missouri plans to execute a man tonight who shot and killed two of his family members nearly 20 years ago. That's despite an unusual coalition advocating against his execution.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Brian Dorsey pleaded guilty to a crime that shocked the residents of New Bloomfield, a small city in the central part of Missouri. The victim's 4-year-old daughter was found at their home after the shooting. She was unharmed.

FADEL: St. Louis Public Radio's political correspondent, Jason Rosenbaum, has followed this case from its beginning and joins us now.

JASON ROSENBAUM, BYLINE: Hello.

FADEL: So there's no question that Dorsey killed his cousin, Sarah Bonnie, and her husband, Benjamin Bonnie. So what is this group arguing? Is it a push against the death penalty itself?

ROSENBAUM: There are two main issues. The first is that Dorsey's attorneys were paid a flat fee of around $12,000 by the Missouri public defender's office, which his current lawyers say incentivized these other attorneys to do as little work as possible. And they point to how the original attorneys pushed him to plead guilty without trying to get the death penalty off the table.

FADEL: And the second legal issue?

ROSENBAUM: It's whether Dorsey was in a drug-induced psychosis when he committed the murders. And if he was, his attorneys argue he wouldn't fit the confines of first-degree murder and therefore isn't eligible for the death penalty.

FADEL: So tell us about this group that's trying to get his sentence commuted to life without parole. Who were they? What were their arguments?

ROSENBAUM: A former Missouri Supreme Court judge, some corrections officials who oversaw Dorsey in prison and several GOP lawmakers opposed to the death penalty are trying to stop his execution. And they say that Dorsey was a model prisoner and even was trusted enough to cut some corrections officers' hair. And this dovetails with the argument that he's rehabilitated and just doesn't deserve the death penalty. And they wanted his sentence commuted to life without parole.

FADEL: So knowing Dorsey did, in fact, kill these people, I imagine this entire debate might be painful for Sarah and Benjamin Bonnie's family members.

ROSENBAUM: Oh, absolutely. And some of their family members have found the arguments about his rehabilitation deeply off-putting and have argued no amount of good behavior in prison can erase the wave of trauma Dorsey inflicted. And State Representative Tony Lovasco, a Republican who wanted the governor to commute Dorsey's sentence, says he understands why those arguments wouldn't resonate with people who knew and loved the Bonnies.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TONY LOVASCO: They don't probably care all that much about someone's rehabilitation because they're still hurting. I understand that completely. I don't minimize that. But I think it's important that we focus on the technical aspects of the case and the criminal justice system and really how this fits into public policy at large.

FADEL: But Dorsey is set to be executed tonight, right? So these arguments haven't worked?

ROSENBAUM: No. And the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously rejected an attempt to stop Dorsey's execution, pointing out how some of his actions during the murders, including loading and reloading a shotgun and stealing some of the Bonnie's belongings, showcased intent.

FADEL: And what about Missouri's governor, Mike Parson? Where did he land on this? Did the group want him to intervene?

ROSENBAUM: Yes. He's a Republican with an extensive law enforcement background, but he denied pleas to commute Dorsey's sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He said in a statement the pain Dorsey brought to others can never be rectified, and carrying out Dorsey's sentence according to Missouri law and the court's orders will deliver justice and provide closure. So Dorsey is set to be executed in Bonne Terre tonight at 6 p.m., and the death penalty remains an option in Missouri for the foreseeable future.

FADEL: St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum. Thank you, Jason.

ROSENBAUM: You're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROBOHANDS' "ODYSEA")

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

• Arts & Photography

Buy new: £15.72

Amazon global store.

• International products have separate terms, are sold from abroad and may differ from local products, including fit, age ratings, and language of product, labeling or instructions.
• Manufacturer warranty will not apply. Please review Amazon’s return policy, which usually offers free returns within 30 days of receipt.
• Learn more about Amazon Global Store.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Have Gun Will Travel: The Spectacular Rise and Violent Fall of Death Row Records Paperback – 16 Mar. 1999

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 372 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group
• Publication date 16 Mar. 1999
• Dimensions 13.97 x 2.57 x 20.57 cm
• ISBN-10 0385491352
• ISBN-13 978-0385491358
• See all details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Product description

About the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group; Main Street Books ed. edition (16 Mar. 1999)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 372 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385491352
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385491358
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 2.57 x 20.57 cm
• 1,223 in Rap Music
• 1,970 in Music Business

About the author

After penning a column for Dance Music Report magazine, Ronin Ro began a groundbreaking run in The Source. From here, Ro contributed to SPIN, Rolling Stone, VIBE, Rap Pages, XXL, Vanity Fair, Playboy, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, and more. The New York City-based Author then went on to write eight Books, including the classic Have Gun Will Travel, the definitive Jack Kirby bio Tales to Astonish, Raising Hell (containing original interviews with Run-D.M.C. and others), Dr. Dre: The Biography, the controversial novella Street Sweeper and Prince: Inside the Music and the Masks.

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• UK Modern Slavery Statement
• Sustainability
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell on Amazon Business
• Sell on Amazon Handmade
• Sell on Amazon Launchpad
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect and build your brand
• Associates Programme
• Fulfilment by Amazon
• Seller Fulfilled Prime
• Advertise Your Products
• Independently Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Make Money with Us
• Instalments by Barclays
• Amazon Platinum Mastercard
• Amazon Classic Mastercard
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Payment Methods Help
• Shop with Points
• Top Up Your Account
• Top Up Your Account in Store
• COVID-19 and Amazon
• Track Packages or View Orders
• Delivery Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Amazon Mobile App
• Customer Service
• Accessibility
• Netherlands
• United Arab Emirates
• United States
• Conditions of Use & Sale
• Privacy Notice
• Cookies Notice
• Interest-Based Ads Notice

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• March Madness
• AP Top 25 Poll
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Georgia city rules that people must lock empty vehicles when guns are inside

FILE - Savannah Mayor Van Johnson speaks at the Savannah Civic Center in Savannah, Ga., on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. Johnson says a new city ordinance requiring people to lock empty vehicles with guns inside is meant to cut down on gun thefts (Savannah Morning News via AP, file)

• Copy Link copied

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Coastal Georgia’s largest city will require guns left in empty vehicles be securely stored, an effort that Savannah Mayor Van Johnson says is meant to cut down on gun thefts from unlocked cars.

“We are not trying to take anybody’s guns — that is a constitutional right granted by the Second Amendment,” Johnson, a Democrat, told reporters. “But we do think with the right comes a responsibility to maintain and secure this right. I am still going to carry my gun. But I am also going to lock my gun up.”

The ordinance passed Thursday will also require people to report gun thefts to police within 24 hours. City officials plan to begin enforcement after a 90-day educational campaign. No one spoke against the ordinance during public comment, while it was supported by members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

The move is part of a focus by gun control advocates on keeping guns secured. They unsuccessfully pushed in Georgia’s legislative session earlier this year to give people a $300 state income tax credit to pay for gun locks, gun safes and safety classes. The focus on safety partly reflects that more restrictive measures are blocked because Georgia’s state government is controlled by Republicans and because recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have left many gun control measures on shaky legal footing.

Minnie Gilbert, whose grandson was shot to death in 2020 and daughter was shot to death in 2023, said Savannah’s new law will help cut down access to illegal weapons. The law comes with maximum penalties of a $1,000 fine and 30 days in jail.

“With this ordinance, lock up your weapons otherwise you’re going to be held responsible,” Gilbert said. “This should make more people more conscious and more self-aware of what’s happening.”

Savannah police reported 244 guns stolen from vehicles last year in the city of 148,000. Of those thefts, 203 came from unlocked cars. The trend is similar so far this year, with 56 of 69 thefts coming from unlocked cars.

Under the ordinance, guns left in vehicles must be securely stored in a glove compartment, console, locked trunk, or behind the last upright seat of a vehicle without a trunk. People will also be required to keep unoccupied vehicles locked when there’s a gun inside.

“Every gun thief knows that guns are under these seats, they are in center consoles, and that is not hiding it,” said Johnson, who introduced the ordinance on April 2. “That is certainly not securing it. When you leave your car, you take it with you. Because it is supposed to be in defense of you — it is not in defense of the car. The car can’t defend itself.”

Among supporters was Savannah Alderwoman Linda Wilder-Bryan, who entered politics after her son was shot and killed in 2015.

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

TSA officers prevent local man from bringing gun onto flight at Long Island McArthur Airport

RONKONKOMA, N.Y . – Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Long Island McArthur Airport (ISP) prevented a Sayville, N.Y., man from bringing his handgun onto a flight yesterday (April. 7). The 9mm firearm was loaded with 10 bullets.

The weapon was caught as the man entered the security checkpoint and the X-ray unit alerted on his carry-on bag. It was the first firearm that TSA officers have intercepted at the airport checkpoint this year.

When the firearm was detected, TSA officers notified law enforcement. The Long Island McArthur Police and Suffolk County Police allowed the man to return the firearm to his vehicle. However, the individual now faces a stiff federal financial civil penalty. Civil penalties for carrying weapons can reach a maximum of $15,000.

“I would like to acknowledge my appreciation to the TSA officers at Long Island who acted to ensure that this traveler did not retain control of his weapon,” said Robert Duffy, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport. “Bringing a gun to an airport security checkpoint introduces unnecessary delays to fellow travelers and of course represents a security risk. Our TSA officers remain vigilant during this busy spring break season to help ensure everyone can travel safely.”

Firearms are not permitted through a security checkpoint because passengers should not have access to a firearm during a flight. This even applies to travelers with concealed carry permits or are enrolled in the TSA PreCheck® program, who will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges if they bring a gun to a checkpoint.  

Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms only in checked baggage if they are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided locked case. Then the locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website .

Last year, 6,735 firearms were caught at airport security checkpoints nationwide, of which 93 percent were loaded. 

Bringing a gun to an airport checkpoint carries a federal civil penalty because TSA reserves the right to issue a civil penalty to travelers who have guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a gun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating circumstances. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online . Additionally, if a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.

Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality and passengers should do their homework to make sure that they are not violating any local firearm laws. Travelers should also contact their airline as they may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.

Unsure if an item should be packed in a carry-on bag, checked bag, either or neither? Download the free myTSA app , which has a handy “What can I bring?” feature that allows you to type in the item to find out if it can fly. Or ask on Twitter or Facebook Messenger at @AskTSA . Travelers may send a question by texting “Travel” to AskTSA (275-872).