The French Quarter Killers: The Story of the Protected Witness Murders

In 1976, two witnesses slated to testify in the trial of New Orleans drug kingpin David Sylvester were murdered in a motel in the Crescent City. The slayings were noteworthy because both victims were in a protected federal witness program. Chief detective of the murder investigation, Dillman (Unholy Matrimony) here presents a searching look at the seamy side of life in the French Quarterdrug addicts, male and female prostitutesin showing how Sylvester, who ordered the killings, was implicated by dedicated police work. Although the trial that convicted him was a comparatively brief one, Dillman devotes an overly large portion of the book to what went on in the courtroom, and his characterization of the defense attorney as brilliant is not borne out by the case as related here. (February 3)