Eugene Izzi

This is a post in our a Author of the Week series.

Eugene Izzi was born in 1953 in Chicago. As a child Eugene was a troubled youth, with an alcoholic father who spent time in prison. Eugene himself dropped out of high school and instead enlisted in the army. He earned a high school equivalency diploma while in the military and when he finished his service he returned to Chicago.

While in Chicago he lived an ordinary life working in the steel mills. Though he married and had children he still began to drink and gain his own criminal record, just like his father.

He began writing as a form of therapy and it would occupy his time between layoffs at the steel mill. The writing eventually ended his drinking problems and lead to happier relations with his wife. Though his books were rejected for years, in 1987 the St. Martin's Press published The Take. This was quickly followed by two more novels.

Izzi's books began to gain popularity and that led him to sign a very lucrative deal with Bantam Books to publish Tribal Secrets. The book had poor sales and it lead to a dispute between Izzi and Bantam Books because Izzi claimed they did not market his book correctly. The two reached a deal with Izzi being allowed to keep his advance as long as he did not published under his own name for three years.

Izzi adopted the name Nick Gaitano and published three books under that name.

He became most well known in 1996 when he was found hanging outside the window of his office on the 14th floor. The death was ruled a suicide but strange circumstances have led to some conspiracy theories. Izzi was found wearing a bullet proof vest and with brass knuckles, disabling spray and a CD with an unfinished book in his pockets. Many believed he was performing research for his unfinished book while others thought he might have been trying to expose a white supremacist ring.

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