WILBERT RIDEAU: THE REAL STORY
April 27, 2010
These days, famed convict editor Wilbert Rideau says he cut his victim’s throat in a fit of panic in 1961. Or was it the cold-blooded act he describes in this little-known interview in 1981
when he says he “ran out of bullets” so he used a hunting knife to kill his white victim, that the murder was a hate crime, that he believes in the death penalty and that he should have been executed for his crime. Is this the real Wilbert Rideau? For 27 years he edited The Angolite, said to be the only free prison magazine in American penal history, making a career out of twisting the truth.
 |
Larry La Marca said:
May 17, 10 at 8:15 amI agree with you that Rideau is a murdering bastard who should have been executed. I would urge anyone who reads this to boycott his books. He is a pathological liar. I do disagree with you about Sister Prejean, who I think is misguided since her story “dead man walking” I knew this killer, and he was evil incarnate. He deserved to die, actually I think he got off easy with the needle, should have gotten the chair. I won’t mention his name, because it’s not worth mentioning.
thanks for the truth,
Larry La Marca
levi said:
Jul 21, 10 at 7:51 pmMr. Sinclair obviuously has an agenda, and and that is to make himself look good by making Mr. Rideau look like a pathalogical liar. Mr. Sinclair is just another part of the good ol’ boy, institutional racism that exist just under the radar in the country. As a white male, I have met other people like sinclair who refuse to believe that a black man may be a good man. All they see is color, and it sickens me. I read Mr. Rideau’s book, and I believe it. I have followed this case for many years, and can find no credible evididence to prove he lied. And as to the previous poster, people like you just want blood. I hope you never make a mistake like Rideau did, but if you do, you would not deserve to die. Murder is murder, whether by man or by the State. And if you or any one in your family ever winds up on death row, you should pray that someone like Sister Prejean is there as your advocate.
bsinclair said:
Jul 22, 10 at 4:32 amLevi: When the “facts” are ugly, people like you play the “race card.” But it neither intimidates or influences me. Wilbert Rideau is not only a pathological liar but a literary thief. You have not refuted a single fact I have put forth on this website that supports these charges. I have no agenda – and if you read Rideau’s memoir as you claim, you should realize that he made me and my wife a part of his “agenda” which was to malign every one he believes wronged him during his incarceration. And if you read his memoir and my posts on this website, you would know I did “make a mistake like Rideau” – although I would call both mine and Rideau’s actions much more than a “mistake.” But thank you for your comments. Your continued interest is welcomed. Billy Sinclair
stacy said:
Oct 26, 10 at 4:51 pmFind a way to simplify your life. Change your lifestyle.
stacy said:
Oct 26, 10 at 4:56 pmI finally figure out what is wrong with Billy Sinclair!!! I looked you up on the web, and could not find anything about you. Not even the time spent in Angola.
You are too old to be Jealous!!..
Wilbert Rideau is all over the net and you are not!!!!
Get over it, you are a nobody, and nobody knows you!!!! Again I say, come to Dallas and lets go to a Cowboys game!!!!!!!!!! Time to let your hair down, and lets have some fun!!!! Bring your wife!!
bsinclair said:
Oct 27, 10 at 3:50 amThanks for your suggestions about my lifestyle. But I suggest you take care of your own and I will do just fine with my own.
Carl Jordan said:
Nov 07, 10 at 5:46 pm— didn’t know Billy Wayne sinclair nor Wilbert Rideau. I happened to see Rideau when I was having lunch with a friend, ex-employee, Douglas Dennis in Angola prison. I hired J.W. Stevens (Douglas Dennis) and he turned out to be a talented and exceedingly bright man. As a ten year escapee, I did not have any knowledge of his history at Angola or about his crimes. We worked well together and he always had legal opinions about every business situation; I asked him if he was some kind of jail house lawyer. Little did I know.
I was planning another trip to New Orleans and the long drive up to Angola but waited a little too long. After two (I believe) open heart surgeries, peripheral arterial disese, inability to walk at all anymore, he died but did not get buried on Angola Grounds; Abbie Padgett, I’m told, had his ashes shipped out to sea on a model ship that was made for him in Angola. In his younger years, he was a bad ass with no conscience, I suppose. I only knew him as an intelligent, straight ahead guy. He was my friend and I will remember him the rest of my life.
Wilbert is finally a freeman. Good. Nobody should ipso facto be killed by legal decision.
randy said:
Jan 14, 11 at 6:56 pmMr.Sinclair….i read your excellent book and was impressed by your extraordinary ability to survive such brutal conditions…..i did not understand certain things, such as when you were on the run from police after committing the crime, why would you seek out your father in san diego, (the man who had tormented and abused you as a child,) for help….i find it odd that you did not explore that at all in the book…
also….your anger at Wilbert Rideau is mystifying to me…..this man went out of his way on numerous occassions to help you, even save your life, (when you were on death row together and when he pushed the administration to bring you aboard the Angolite)… putting his own safety and reputation on the line in the process….
whatever journalistic squabbles/competition you may have had while working together at the Angolite, even if Rideau occassionally acted like a jerk, is far outweighed by the fact that Rideau went out on a serious limb for you when it really counted….
what would be a truly great story is if you two got together and made a documentary about how Angola was back then and how it has changed since….that would definetly be worth the price of admission and i’m sure there are a lot of great documentary filmmakers who would love to make it….
bsinclair said:
Jan 15, 11 at 7:27 amRandy: I was 20 years of age when I turned to my father for help and on the run from a serious charge. I had nowhere else to go, really. If I had been blessed with good sense back then, I would not have tried to rob the store in the first place.
As for Rideau, he did one significant thing to help me – in the parish jail and I gave him full credit for that. But when he assisted me in getting assigned to The Angolite, that was not an altrustic decision. He had no support from the white inmate population and very little with the black population in 1977. He brought me on board because I had skills he need along with inmate credibility. It was through our combined talents (not his alone as he has already projected) that the magazine became such a journalistic success.
When I left the Angolite in federal protective custody, the last thing I told Rideau was to stay neutral, not to involve himself in it. What did he do? He launched a media blitz to destroy my journalistic reputation, labeling me the “snitch” who betrayed the magazine. Rideau and The Angolite was knee-deep in the “pardons-for-sale” corruption. He was trying to cover up and protect his own interests by trying to undermine my credibility.
He engage in the same behavior with his memoir. All he had to do was simply tell the truth once he chose to criticize me and my wife. The truth has never been Rideau’s long suit. He chose to lie about us and misrepresent events connected to us. I have laid it all out in this website.
I wanted Rideau completely out of my life. He is a cancer–always had been, always will be. And as long as he continues to promote his memoir (which is nothing more than a literary fraud), I will maintain this website. Do you really think I enjoy having to deal with this guy? I don’t. But lies and misrepresentations left uncheck become the truth and facts. I am protecting my own interests and the interests of the public record with the Rideau “real story.”
Thank you for you interest and observations. I hope you will read all the posts on this website. You will perhaps then understand why there is a need for the “real story.” Billy Sinclair
randy said:
Jan 23, 11 at 8:09 amMr. Sinclair…no doubt that it was your combined talents that made the Angolite successful and your contribution was huge and should have been more fully recognized….
but the fact that Rideau would try go get that lion’s share of credit for its success is typical behavior in journalism, business, or anywhere…people are always trying to grab as much credit as they can….it may not be right but its fairly typical behavior…
with regard to the pardons for sale scandal….Marcellus represented and opportunity for Rideau and a lot of other prisoners to get out….if i was locked up and someone told me that for 10 grand i could get out…..i’d be on the phone with anyone i knew telling them to beg, borrow do whatever they could to get me that 10 grand so i could get the hell out….again, it may not be right but its understandable that many inmates, including Rideau, would respond that way….
i admire your integrity and your strength…but i think that sometimes you placed too much faith in the legal process as opposed to the political process, which is really what pardons and clemency (and just about everything else) is based upon….keep up the good work and good luck to you…
bsinclair said:
Jan 24, 11 at 4:28 amRandy: You go out of your way to excuse Rideau’s behavior in two areas. First, his credit hogging. It is not a practice in journalism for one journalist to steal credit for another’s work or pass someone else’s work off as their own. Rideau is an “award-winning” journalist. A greater responsibility attaches when you achieve that status. And it’s not just the credit hogging, it’s the lies Rideau has placed in the public record about my wife and I that created the need to correct that record. As for the pardons-selling, Rideau cast himself as the “nation’s most rehabilitated prisoner” – someone who obeyed the rules and who would never do anything criminal. “Pardons-selling” is criminal. Sure, Rideau would have bought a pardon if he could – the man was corrupt enough to do that. Please read my latest post about his conduct with parole board chairwoman Dot Henderson. But you can’t be the “nation’s most rehabilitated prisoner” if you endorse, protect, or participate in crime and corruption. Rideau has the “right,” if you want to call it that, to present himself anyway he wants but once he does that he creates the right of someone else to point out the lie. As for the pardons-selling, those inmates who bought a pardon were criminal, just as those inmates like Rideau who knew about it, protected it, and encouraged it were criminal. Thank you for your continued interest in this debate – I do respect your point of view. You think and see things clearly. Billy Sinclair