[Marxism] Fwd: Crime Writer James Patterson Is Obsessed With Jeffrey Epstein’s Penis - The Daily Beast

[Louis Proyect]

The story of Jeffrey Epstein—a bizarre, self-described billionaire who 
bought his way out of trouble after police uncovered a sexual assault 
ring operating from his Florida mansion—has fascinated the public for 
over a decade. So it makes sense that best-selling uber-rich crime 
writer, James Patterson, is, like the rest of us, obsessed with the 
mystery of his Palm Beach neighbor.

And so, Patterson, the 69-year-old book mill owner and operator who 
holds the record for most No. 1 New York Times best sellers, has taken a 
rare swoop into nonfiction territory to give us Filthy Rich: The 
Shocking True Story of Jeffrey Epstein. As with most Patterson novels, 
Epstein’s tale is co-written—a generous characterization of the 
situation where Patterson employs dozens of ghostwriters and publishes 
their work under his brand—with John Connolly, a former New York police 
detective, Vanity Fair editor, and current Florida private eye, who (it 
has been rumored) at one time allegedly worked for the Church of 
Scientology.

full: 
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/10/crime-writer-james-patterson-is-obsessed-with-jeffrey-epstein-s-penis.html

This year Epstein is in the news again because one of the women who have 
launched a civil suit seeking damages has identified Prince Andrew and 
Alan Dershowitz as two of the men that were serviced by Epstein’s harem. 
I will have something to say about Prince Andrew and Dershowitz after 
putting Epstein under a microscope. He, like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 
symbolizes the affinity between economic power and sexual domination 
that rarely gets discussed in a mainstream media, which sees such 
scandals as the failings of an individual rather than an economic system.

The best all-round article on Epstein can be found in New York Magazine, 
a weekly geared to the lifestyles of the middle class and that is 
ubiquitous to the waiting rooms of doctors and dentists. On December 8, 
2007 Philip Weiss’s “The Fantasist” appeared. It was subtitled: “Accused 
of paying underage girls for sex, superrich money manager Jeffrey 
Epstein is finding that living in a dream world is dangerous—even if you 
can pay for it.” Does the name Philip Weiss ring a bell? It should. He 
is our estimable comrade from Mondoweiss who made his living as a 
journalist for glossy magazines before taking on the Israeli lobby.

Epstein had a mansion on 71st street between Fifth and Madison of 
gargantuan proportions. At one time it was a private school but after 
Epstein took it over, its 9 stories and 51,000 square feet became 
devoted to his vulgar Playboy tastes. In addition to Weiss, I recommend 
Vicky Ward’s March 2003 profile on Epstein in Vanity Fair, a magazine 
with the same sort of gossipy fare as New York, where she revealed a 
nouveau riche middle-aged man whose tastes would remind you of MTV 
Cribs, the show in which rock stars or professional athletes walk you 
through their garish McMansions.

Her article was shrewdly titled “The Talented Mr. Epstein”, a nod to 
Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” that took aim at a lower 
middle-class youth’s homicidal ambitions to break into the world of the 
superrich. Like Ripley, Epstein came from a humble background in 
Brooklyn and became consumed with the desire to live like royalty. As we 
shall see, a crime far less serious than murder allowed him to break 
into the bourgeoisie.

full: 
https://louisproyect.org/2015/02/03/the-divine-right-of-the-bourgeoisie/