A native of Thunder Bay, Canada, Ron Chepesiuk is a full-time freelance journalist and film producer based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA, which is located just outside Charlotte, North Carolina. His areas of journalism specialization include the environment, technology, business, politics, international relations, travel, true crime and transnational crime, among other subjects. He has a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) degree from Minnesota State University in Moorhead, Minnesota, a Masters degree in library science (M.L.S) from Atlanta Clark University and a post-graduate diploma in archival administration from the National University of Dublin in Ireland. Before freelancing full-time, he was a professor of library service for twenty-five years at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Currently, Ron teaches online courses in the journalism program of UCLA’s Extension Division.
In all, Ron has published 25 books and more than 4,000 original articles in FHM, USA Today, Black Enterprise, Woman’s World, Modern Maturity, The Rotarian, New York Times Syndicate, Toronto Star, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Collier´s Encyclopedia, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the New York Daily News and more than 400 other print publications. His original articles have also appeared on 60 plus web sites, including americanmafia.com, Crime Magazine, the Chicagosyndicate.com, Global Politician and the New Criminologist, Given the viral nature of the Internet, his articles have been published at least 12,000 to 15,000 times in cyberspace.
His book, Drug Lords: The Rise and Fall of the Cali Cartel (paperback, Milo Books in England and Maverick Books in Ireland), originally publisher in hardback by Praeger Publishing as The Bullet or the Bribe, is an investigation of history’s most powerful drug trafficking mafia. A new and expanded edition was published in August 2007. In November 2008, McFarland Publishing released in paperback Ron’s oral history, Sixties Radicals, Then and Now: Candid Conversations with Those Who Shaped an Era, which was originally published in 1994.
Ron is currently working as executive producer on a documentary that will bring Drug Lords to the screen. He has also produced another documentary titled Superfly: The True Untold Story of Frank Lucas, American Gangster.
His other recent books on organized crime include Gangsters of Harlem: The Gritty Underworld of New York City’s Most Famous Neighborhood (Barricade Books, 2007), which came out in Britain as American Gangster, and Black Gangsters of Chicago (Barricade Books, 2007). Gangsters of Miami came out in November 2009. Two other books, The Trafficantes and Sergeant Smack: The Legendary Life and Times of Ike Atkinson, Kingpin, and his Band of Brothers.
Ron has reported from more than 35 countries, including Cuba, Northern Ireland, Colombia, Kenya, Colombia, Hong Kong, Nepal and Czechoslovakia, and his 16,000 plus interviews include such luminaries as Gerry Adams, Yasser Arafat, Russell Simmons, John Kerry, Dave Barry, Andie McDowall, Jimmy Carter, Abbie Hoffman, Noam Chomsky, Frank Lucas (the subject of the movie, ¨American Gangster¨), a former president of Nicaragua and three former presidents and two vice presidents of Colombia, South America. In November 2008, McFarland Publishing released in paperback my oral history, Sixties Radicals, Then and Now: Candid Conversations with Those Who Shaped an Era, which was originally published in 1994.
He serves as a consultant to the History Channel´s ¨Gangland¨ series and has been interviewed by NBC´s Dateline, the Biography Channel’s “Mobsters”, The Discovery Channel’s “Undercover” and Black Entertainment Television´s ¨American Gangster¨ Ron has also been interviewed or quoted on radio by the CBC, BBC, CBS, NPR, XM Satellite Radio, and numerous Irish radio stations, among other outlets, and by such newspapers as Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, The Weekly Standard, New York Times, St Petersburg Times, Associated Press, the Guardian (United Kingdom) and the Dallas Morning News.
In addition to teaching previous courses through UCLA extension, Ron has also taught courses, lectures and workshops for Winthrop University, York Technical College (Rock Hill, SC) the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Writer’s Digest School, Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, The Society of Environmental Journalists, the Sleeping Giant Writer´s Festival in Thunder Bay, Ontario, as well as for The Daily Star, Holiday, The New Age and other newspapers in Bangladesh.
In 2002 Ron was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in Journalism to Bangladesh. For 11 months in 2003, he was a visiting professor of journalism at Chittagong University in Bangladesh, a rank he still holds. He currently serves as a lecturer and research associate at the National Defense College in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and is a member of the advisory board of the Bangladesh media think tank, The Forum for Development Journalism. For three years, he wrote a bi-weekly column on international relations and politics titled “Inside America” for The Daily Star, Bangladesh’s largest English language newspaper. Ron was also a contributing writer to Asian Week magazine for three years. In all, he has been a contributing writer and/or editor to more than 30 magazines. Currently, he writes a regular bi-monthly column for NSGA Retail Focus magazine, the publication of the National Sporting Goods Association, titled “Bookshelf” and as a contributing writer to The Business Trade Magazine, Charlotte Construction News and Pet Business Magazine. He is also a contributing writer to the New Criminologist web site and Americamafia.com website. As a contributing editor to the New Criminologist, he writes a bi-monthly column.
He is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Association of Journalists and Authors, the International Association for the Study of Organized Crime, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Florida Freelance Writers Association and the Professional Writers Association of Canada.
