Altered States of America

Richard Stratton
October 2005     ISBN: 1560257776

Whether talking to Norman Mailer or a prison guard, Hunter S. Thompson or a drug smuggler, Sean Penn or a CIA agent, Stratton has an uncommon, empathetic understanding of his subjects. He mines the heart of another America, a place far removed from suburbs and brightly lit main streets.

Among the dramatic subjects outlaw-turned-journalist Stratton takes on in Altered States of America are Greg Scarpe, a murderous Columbo mob hitman who was secretly an FBI informant; Bonecrusher, a guard at Corcoran penitentiary who witnessed bloody gladiator fights between convicts; the top-secret MK-ULTRA program in which the CIA secretly dosed unsuspecting civilians and its own agents with LSD; and Joe Stassi, America's oldest living gangster, who was ordered to murder his best friend.

Richard Stratton was arrested and convicted in 1982 under the Kingpin Statute for importation of marijuana. Originally sentenced to twenty-five years without parole, Stratton became a jailhouse lawyer and had his sentence voided. His novel, Smack Goddess, was published in 1990, the same year that he was released from prison. Stratton co-wrote and produced the feature film Slam, which won the Camera d'Or at Cannes and Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, the Emmy Award-winning Thug Life in DC and many other documentaries, and created the Showtime series "Street Time," based on his own life. He is the founding editor of Prison Life, and has written for GQ, Esquire, Newsweek, Details, Penthouse and Story. Stratton lives in New York City.