James "Jim" Dubro (born July 12, 1946) is a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

writer of many books, articles and investigative television shows.

Early life

Born in 1946 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Dubro earned an undergraduate degree (

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

) from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. He received his master's degree from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and did graduate work at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He moved to Toronto from his native Boston to teach English literature at Victoria College at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

.Wade Rowland, ''Making Connections'' (Gage, 1979), and Cecil Rosner, ''Behind the Headlines'' (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Career

In 1973- January 9, 1974 when it aired, he researched a news-breaking hour-long documentary on espionage in Canada for

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

's entitled ''The Fifth Estate: The Espionage Establishment.'' The title of "the fifth estate" was used 19 months later by CBC TV for its now long-running investigative TV magazine show. He then became one of the producers of '' Connections'', a series on organized crime broadcast on CBC Television in 1977 and 1979. It won the Anik and ACTRA awards for best documentary and the

Michener Award The Michener Award is one of the highest distinctions in Canadian journalism. The award was founded in 1970 by Roland Michener, who was Governor General of Canada at the time, and his wife Norah. The idea for the award was developed in 1969 with Bi ...

. Dubro then became a researcher and associate producer for ''The Fifth Estate''. After leaving the CBC to work as a freelancer, Dubro wrote five books on organized crime in Canada and its international connections. He has also researched, written, or produced documentaries on organized crime, Cuba, the KGB and the CIA that have appeared on CBC,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

, A&E,

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...

and CTV. He co-authored the definition of "organized crime" for all editions of ''

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available fo ...

''. He was president of the

Crime Writers of Canada {{primary sources, date=January 2015 Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) is a national, non-profit organization, founded in 1982 by Derrick Murdock and other professional crime writers. Its mandate is to promote crime writing in Canada and to raise the p ...

(CWC) for two years and has been awarded its 2002 "Derrick Murdoch" award for his non-fiction crime writing and his many years of CWC work. In more recent years, Dubro, a longtime activist on policing issues in the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community, has written on crime and policing matters for ''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...

'' In 2016 he was awarded the "lifetime Achievement" award by Inspire Awards in Toronto. He has also acted as consultant and interview subject on the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

TV series ''Mob Stories''. He is now a freelance crime journalist based in Toronto.The Crime Writers of Canada website. Also Xxtra MAgazine website.

Published works

*''Mob Rule: Inside the Canadian Mafia'' (Macmillan, 1985) *''King of the Mob:

Rocco Perri Rocco Perri (; born Rocco Perre; December 30, 1887 – disappeared April 23, 1944) was an Italian-born organized crime figure in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was one of the most prominent Prohibition-era crime figures in Canada, and was sometim ...

and the Women Who Ran His Rackets'', co-authored with Robin Rowland (Penguin, 1987) *''Mob Mistress'' (Macmillan, 1988) *''Undercover: The Cases of the RCMP's Most Secret Operative'', co-authored with Robin Rowland (Octopus, 1991) *''Dragons of Crime: Inside Asian Mobs in Canada'' (Octopus and M & S, 1992, 1993), national Film Board and A & E
CBC documentary
* "Introduction" to Morley Callaghan's ''Strange Fugitive'' (Toronto: Exile Editions, 2004), originally published 1928 *Preface to ''The Toronto You are Leaving'' by Gordon Anderson (Untroubled Heart Public, 2006)

Radio play

'' Morningside, King of the Bootleggers'', starring

Bruno Gerussi Bruno Santos Gerussi (7 May 1928 – 21 November 1995) was a Canadian stage and television actor, best known for the lead role in the CBC Television series '' The Beachcombers''. He also performed onstage at the Stratford Festival, worked in rad ...

and

Barbara Budd Barbara Budd (born May 23, 1951) is a Canadian actress, narrator and radio announcer. Between 1993 and April 30, 2010, she was the co-host of CBC Radio One's ''As It Happens''. Early life Budd was born in St. Catharines, Ontario. She studied th ...

, the story of

, co-authored with Robin Rowland

References

External links

* Cecil Rosner
''Behind the Headlines''
(Oxford Press, 2008)
The Crime Writers of Canada website
* Wade Rowland
''Making Connections''
(Gage, 1979) * Xtra/Pink Triangle Press web page -- "stories by James Dubro"
James Dubro
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dubro, James 1946 births Living people Canadian non-fiction writers American investigative journalists Canadian investigative journalists American non-fiction crime writers Canadian documentary film directors American documentary film directors LGBT film directors Canadian gay writers American LGBT writers Journalists from Massachusetts Journalists from Toronto Organized crime writers Film directors from Massachusetts Film directors from Toronto Writers from Boston Writers from Toronto American radio writers American television writers Canadian radio writers Canadian television writers Screenwriters from Massachusetts American male television writers Male non-fiction writers