My first two books were published in 1983. Let me tell you a bit about that to set up this article.

First was The World War II Quiz & Fact Book , originally a hard cover from Harper & Row. It has remained in print continuously ever since, having no less than six reincarnations by other publishers, i.e.: Harper & Row; again, as a trade paperback; Berkeley ; Galahad; Gramercy, Barnes & Noble, and only last week as the most economical edition of all, an Amazon-KINDLE eBook. It will very likely be out again later this year as both a Print On Demand and PDF eBook (which you can read on your computer!).

Even before my nonfiction World War II Quiz & Fact Book was published, I excitedly told my then-agent that I had a novel in progress with the working title Hitler's Daughter. That wasn't a randomly selected title. As an avid reader and visitor to book stores in the 1970s and early 1980s, one couldn't help noticing the plethora of available novels about the Nazis and World War II. It seemed every fourth book had something to do with the war or its aftermath as the basis for their tales. Some of the most successful were by the likes of Ira Levin, Len Deighton, Jack Higgins, Frederick Forsyth, John Le Carre, et al.

My agent pooh-poohed the idea with some snooty comment that I should stick to non-fiction, because writing a novel was extremely difficult and only a few authors have successfully made the crossover. Well, never one to accept ‘no' for an answer I persevered and within six weeks of inking the deal for my first book, I landed a deal for Hitler's Daughter , as a paperback original published by Pinnacle Books. It went on to win The West Coast Review of Books Porgie Award as one of the three best original novels of the year and a decade later became the first novel made into a Movie of The Week for USA Network.

But back in 1983 I was feeling pretty good about having made the grade as both an author and novelist. So when Randy Levine, a literary publicist I had met along the way, invited me and my wife to a cocktail party in her spacious New York apartment, I couldn't resist the chance to mingle with other authors and novelists. I no longer recall what the specific occasion was for the get-together, but Randy's place was almost wall-to-wall people.

At one point, while mingling, smiling, and nodding to total strangers I did not recognize, Randy came over and advised me that the gentlemen I was back to back with was Ira Levin, author of such blockbusters as The Boys from Brazil, Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, and A Kiss Before Dying , among others. All had been made into movies. I waited for the right lull in the conversation he was having with a small group, and introduced myself, mentioning my recently published Hitler's Daughter and telling him how much I enjoyed The Boys from Brazil . He was polite, but apparently not impressed since someone else caught his attention and he drifted away.

However, one of the people who had been in his circle was a gregarious and chatty songwriter named Eddy White, who is best remembered for the 1940s era ditty “Goodbye Momma, I'm Off to Yokahama.” We struck up a conversation which was mainly him asking a lot of questions about my two books. After some time he came around to popping the question.

He told me he was a good friend of former Middleweight Champion Jake LaMotta and asked if I would be interested in talking to Jake about writing a sequel to Raging Bull ? What would you have said? What do you think I said? Eddy set up the meeting at Jake's apartment on West 57 Street in Manhattan .

LaMotta and I had a half a dozen meetings during which I tape recorded his comments, thoughts, and remarks about his life after the last scene in the book and movie. I asked why he needed me, or anyone else, to write the sequel and why the two authors who worked with him (Joe Carter and Pete Savage) were not writing the sequel?

Jake gave me some double-talk about them being busy with other projects and how he wanted to get the sequel done now, quickly. Somewhere along the way he asked me if I had seen the nude spread of his ex-wife, Vicki, who was 51 when she did the Playboy spread. Recalling from the movie how jealous and violent this man sitting on the couch next to me could be, I seriously considered lying and even asking “What's Playboy ?” But I confessed to being aware of the spread, though quickly adding that I had not seen it. Without hesitation Jake moved some magazines on the coffee table in front of us and produced the issue. He flipped to Vicki's nude spread and proudly handed it to me. “Whatta bout that, huh? She's 51 years old and gorgeous. She has the body of a 20 year old.” If that isn't a verbatim quote it is as close as I can come to one now.

One of our meetings was for lunch at LaMotta's favorite watering hole, Gallagher's, in mid-Manhattan. Since it my daughter, Susan, was attending acting school at HB Studios in the city, and our lunch meeting was on April 19, her 19th birthday, I invited her to stop buy, meet “the champ” and have lunch with us. Which she did. But there was another celebrity added to the mix.

Before Susan arrived another former Middleweight Champion, Rocky Graziano came in. He spotted LaMotta and decided to join our table. Graziano, you may recall, was portrayed by actor Paul Newman in the film about Graziano's life Somebody Up There Likes Me . In Raging Bull LaMotta has been played by Robert De Niro. It was a memorable lunch, to say the least, for a 19-year-old taking acting lessons.

The cheesecake of the former Mrs. LaMotta, and the lunch with the two former middleweight champs aside, our meetings to write a sequel were very disappointing. It became painfully obvious that there was no real story, with even a hint of the excitement in the original book, to tell about Jake LaMotta in retirement. He was just that: retired. I think Jake saw the handwriting on the wall as well and we eventually parted on friendly terms.

But talk about a ‘breakout book,' one that had the potential to make the author a household name, this one “ could have been a contender ” (with a bow to Marlon Brando's Terry Malloy character in On The Waterfront ).

In the years since my 1983 meetings with LaMotta, I've written a dozen other books. The sequel to Raging Bull has never been written. Jake is 87 years old at this writing. Vicki LaMotta died at 75 in 2005.