James Neff is an American

nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

author and

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

. He is deputy managing editor for the

Philadelphia Media Network The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC (formerly Philadelphia Media Network (PMN)) is an American media company. It owns ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' and '' Philadelphia Daily News''. The company is owned by The Philadelphia Foundation, a nonprofit orga ...

. His most recent work, ''Vendetta:

Bobby Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...

versus

Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975; declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 until 1971. F ...

'', was published by

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

in July 2015.

Early life and education

Neff is a graduate of the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

and has a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

American Civilization The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Career

Neff was a reporter at the

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internation ...

and at the

Cleveland Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

in his hometown. He was a local

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

at the Plain Dealer from 1981 to 1986. Some of his columns were collected into ''City Beat: Stories from the Heart of Cleveland.'' His 1989 biography of

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the u ...

president

Jackie Presser Jackie Presser (August 6, 1926 – July 9, 1988) was an American labor leader and president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1983 until his death in 1988. He was closely connected to organized crime, and allegedly became presiden ...

, ''Mobbed Up:

's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI'', was adapted into the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

movie ''Teamster Boss.'' In 1995, Neff's third book, ''Unfinished Murder: The Capture of a Serial Rapist'' was published. This account of the investigation, capture, and conviction of serial rapist

Ronnie Shelton Ronald Shelton (October 1, 1961 – September 25, 2018), better known as The West Side Rapist, was an American convicted serial rapist. He was convicted of raping over 30 women in Cleveland, Ohio, over a 6-year period. He may have raped up to 50 ...

, known in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

as the West Side Rapist, was praised for its insight into the damage inflicted upon the victims of this violent man. Neff was the Willard M. Kiplinger Chair in Public Affairs Reporting in

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

School of Journalism and Communication from 1994 to 1999. In this position, he supervised the Kiplinger Mid-Career Program in Public Affairs Reporting, an interdisciplinary year-long program awarding master's degrees to journalists who break from their careers for an intensive study of public affairs reporting. Neff spent several years re-investigating the Dr.

Sam Sheppard Samuel Holmes Sheppard, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, D.O. ( – ) was an American Neurosurgery, neurosurgeon. He was exonerated in 1966, having been convicted of the 1954 murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard. The case was con ...

murder case for his next book, ''The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case''. He located police reports and

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

transcripts from the 1950s that were previously unavailable. He concluded that Dr. Sam Sheppard did not kill his wife Marilyn in July 1954. When, in 2000, Sam Reese Sheppard, son of the late Dr. Sheppard, sued the state of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

claiming his father was wrongfully imprisoned for Marilyn Sheppard's murder, county prosecutors in

, Ohio, subpoenaed all of Neff's research for his book in an attempt to shore up its case that Sheppard was guilty. The subpoena was successfully defeated with the help of First Amendment lawyer David Marburger. Neff was interviewed on the cable program, "A Crime to Remember: The Wrong Man," a retrospective look at the Marilyn Sheppard murder which aired in December, 2015, on the Investigations Discovery Channel. Neff has been a board member and past president of

Investigative Reporters and Editors Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the quality of journalism, in particular investigative journalism. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences and training ...

, Inc. (IRE) from 1991 through 2002. Through IRE, he has published several "

tip sheets A tip sheet is a publication containing the latest information, tips or predictions for a particular industry. Tip sheets are commonly published to impart business or stock market information, music industry songwriter leads, and tips on horse rac ...

" for investigative reporters on finding information in a hurry, backgrounding, and finding and using archival documents. In 2001, Neff became the investigations editor at the

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...

. In March, 2016, Neff was named assistant managing editor of investigations. On June 1, 2016, Neff became the assistant managing editor for Investigations/Projects for the

. In 2017, Neff was named deputy managing editor. In 2016, Neff served on the jury selecting the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

for Public Service reporting. In 2017, Neff served as chair of the jurors selecting the Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting.

Personal life

James Neff lives in the

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

area with his family.

Works

* ''City Beat: Stories from the Heart of Cleveland'' (Zubal, 1984) * ''Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI'' (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989) * ''Unfinished Murder: The Capture of a Serial Rapist'' (Pocket Books, 1995) * ''The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case'' (Random House, 2001) * ''Vendetta: Bobby Kennedy versus Jimmy Hoffa'' (Little, Brown and Company, 2015)

Awards

''Mobbed Up'', published by

Atlantic Monthly Press Grove Atlantic, Inc. is an American independent publisher, based in New York City. Formerly styled "Grove/Atlantic, Inc.", it was created in 1993 by the merger of Grove Press and Atlantic Monthly Press. As of 2018 Grove Atlantic calls itself "A ...

(1989), won the Thomas Renner award from Investigative Reporters & Editors for the year's best reporting on organized crime. In 1996, Neff was an

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

nominee for Best Fact Crime Book for ''Unfinished Murder''. Neff was lead writer for the 18-part series, “The Terrorist Within", which was a finalist for the

for investigative reporting in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neff, James Living people Year of birth missing (living people)