The Biography of Deprivo Devianté
Exerpts from "The Life and Crimes of Deprivo Devianté", the Official Unauthorised Biography of Deprivo Devianté by J G Lightereness
Chapter One - An Early Start - 1943 - 1944
Chapter Two - An Education 1944 - 1962
Chapter Three - A Tour of Duty - 1962 - 1963
It was 1999 when I met Deprivo Devianté for the first time. As a Movie Fan I had, of course, heard of him long before, but this was the first meeting with the man in the flesh. It was at a Movie Memorabilia fair in Glasgow, Scotland. He was there to sign autographs and sell merchandise from his various films.
I had just bought one of the rare promotional posters for his 1973 Police drama, "Bad Cop, Bad Cop". He graciously signed it and asked if I had enjoyed the film. I told him that I believed it was one of the best films he had ever produced. I then went on to ask about some of the difficulties I had heard he had had in getting it made. We talked about the film at some length, and then about some others he had produced. I then told him that I was staring to prepare a film of my own. (This film would later be made under the title "Lump"). He was interested in my ideas, and asked me to send him some details.
We corresponded over the next few months, and developed a very special bond. We would write long letters and have extensive phone calls, where our conversations would stray over a wide range of issues, but we would always come back to films. It was in late 2001 that Deprivo Devianté agreed to produce some of the films I was working on, as long I could guarantee the budgets would remain low. I immediately agreed, excited to be working with a producer as legendary as Deprivo Devianté.
For his support in the early stages of my career, I will be eternally grateful, and I offer this book as a tribute to the man and as an inspiration to others.
Chapter One - An Early Start - 1943 - 1944
New York in December 1943 was an unsettled city. For America, the War had only begun just over a year ago. Military personnel on leave, or preparing to ship out, flooded the city. Emotions of excitement and apprehension were felt in equal measure. Some felt the weight of history on their shoulders, others only felt the cold of the East Coast Atlantic winds.
In an apartment in the notorious Hells Kitchen area of New York, a third generation immigrant family were preparing for the arrival of the fourth generation. Sophia Lorraine Carmina Devianté was about to give birth to twins. In attendance, around the old iron bed, were only her mother, Lucretia, and Sophia's husband, Dargento. The family were too poor to afford the services of a Doctor or Midwife. Dargento was a carpenter by trade, but a drunk by profession. His wife had been the main breadwinner of the family for the last year, sewing flags for the US Navy. But as soon as her pregnancy was obvious, she had been fired. For them, the holiday season held little cheer, as their meagre savings were swallowed by Dargento. Thrown out of their own apartment, for failing to pay three months rent, they had been forced to move in with Sophia's mother. A situation Dargento did not appreciate.
Sophia feared that the squalid surroundings of the rat infested apartment would pose a threat to the health of her children, but she was in no position to make alterative arrangements. And she may have been correct, as infant mortality rates amongst the poor in New York slums were notorious. However, fate took an opportunity to step in.
Sophia went into labour around 9pm on 30th December 1943. As the night wore on her pain and discomfort increased. Soon she was screaming down the apartment. Dargento and Lucretia were out of their depth, and in desperation, at around 5am on the 31st, they took Sophia from the apartment and hailed a cab, a cab they knew they could not pay.
However, the cab driver who stopped for them, was taken with their plight, and agreed to take them to the nearest emergency room, free of charge. In the hospital, medical staff buzzed around Sophia, as Lucretia and Dargento sat and worried in the waiting room.
The medical records do not indicate the exact nature of Sophia's gynaecological issues, but they do show that her first son was born at 11:58pm on the 31st December 1943, and that her second was born three minutes later, at 12:01am on the 1st January 1944. The twin boys were given the traditional family names, of Deprivo and Despero. Both were healthy, and large.Chapter Two - An Education 1944 - 1962
The early lives of Deprivo Deviante, and his twin brother Despero, were unremarkable. They were not overly academic, but both stayed in school. They avoided serious trouble with the law, unlike many of their friends. A next door neighbour of Deprivo's at the time, Leonard "Lefty" Grinole, remembers the boys in the early fifties.
"They….., they was good kids. Didn't get to much trouble from the other kids. I tried to get them to boost some stuff from the local candy store, but they was kind'a squeamish about it. I think they was scared of their Momma. She always had a broom in her hand, and could swing it!"
The boys attended a local state school, Christobel Colon Middle School, which had this comment on Deprivo Devianté's academic career.
"Deprivo Devianté is unremarkable." The same comment was also attached to Despero's permanent record.
The school was not known for its academic success, and the education board tried to shut it down several times, but with no effect. It was rumoured that an Organised Crime syndicate was using the school in some way, but nothing was ever proved. The last investigation of the school coincided with the graduation of the class of 61, of which Deprivo and Despero were both members. However the school burnt down before they received their graduation certificates. A classmate of the Twins was Albert Fredrinks. He remembers the two boys quite clearly;
"There was a bunch of us who hung out together. The two D's, that's what we called 'em, and Fatty Smith, Rico and Me. We'd bunk off school some afternoons, and go to the movies. Sneaking in on a double feature and spending the rest of the day there. That was the worst trouble we got into. Pretty tame for our school, considering.
With their graduation, the two boys were now forced into the real world of the early sixties. It was a time still in the grip of the repression of the Fifties, looking to the future and happy to forget the past of the forties. But, as Albert Fredrinks recalls, Deprivo for one, was looking to the past.
"Deprivo used to like the War movies the best. He would always talk us into sneaking in to some lame combat movie. Despero was keen to see anything with a pretty girl, but for Deprivo it was always the War movies. In fact, I don't think Deprivo was to interested in girls then. Made up for it since I hear."
For Deprivo, this interest in War Movies, and the lure of combat, would lead him away from the family carpentry business, and into the United States Marine Corp. It was 1962.Chapter Three - A Tour of Duty - 1962 - 1963
"The Summer of '62 was hotter than Hell. I should know. I was there." Drill Sergeant Gus Criskin remembers the platoon of men which contained Deprivo Devianté. It was he who trained Deprivo in all manner of combat.
"I don't remember him specifically mind. Which probably meant he followed orders and kept his shorts clean. The ones that do their job you kinda' forget. It's the trouble makers which stick in your head. I don't recall him being a problem in the Platoon. And I think he got along fine with the men. When they are all acting as a unit they all blur together and you can only spot the shirkers and gold bickers."
In the Marines Deprivo made friends, and got on well. He got through basic training, and was sent overseas for the first time. His first posting was the Philippines. His platoon's mission was to guard and protect the vital US Navy presence there. For Deprivo, the Philippines were an astonishing place. Full of sights, and sounds, and beautiful people, and heat. For a simple New York boy, this was a kind of paradise. A member of Deprivo's Platoon, James "Rusty" McNeal, recalls Deprivo's reaction to the country.
"Dee, that's what we called him back them, sounds kinda' corny now, but that was us back then, just a bunch of kids really. Anyway, Dee was blown away by the Philippines. He kept saying that the country was so green. He'd lived in New York for so long that the only green he'd seen before was Central Park. For the first month or so he'd spend a bunch of time just walking round, looking up at the trees and sunbathing. That and going to the movies on the base.
"The CO was a Western nut and would show a Western every second day in the Mess. Dee bitched about there being no war movies, but he soon took to the Westerns. At least they had gunfights in them. After a while he stopped bitching an just watched whatever they were showing. Some nights there was just the CO and Dee in the Mess watching some Randolph Scott flick they had both seen about twenty times before. Some of the guys thought that Dee was kissing ass, but I always knew that it was just him in love with the movies."
It was also in the Philippines that Deprivo first showed signs of being interested in women, a field he had hitherto never seemed concerned with. "Rusty" McNeil again;
"Oh yeah, the shooting story. Well, that all got a bit confused. What I can tell you is that after a couple of months in the base watching those movies, Dee's mind started to wander south, if you know what I mean. Now I don't know if he ever got laid in NY, but he never talked about it. I can't say anything about that. But, about three months in, here comes Dee asking questions. About girls. Where to go, what to do, how to pick them up, that kind of thing. Now there were a lot of bars and cat houses, and the women were young, tender and drop dead…… well, you get the idea. It was a navy base. Lots of Sailors on leave. There are those kind of places in every port. You know. Anyway; Dee asking these questions, and taking heed of the answers. Now, at the time we were getting lots of medical information films as part of our training. You know, it wasn't the AIDS back then, it was just VD, but they made it sound like the end of the world. And I suppose a dose comes pretty close when your 18. Well these films seemed to have an effect on Dee as he kind of shied away from the pick up joints. Then one weekend he tells me he's made up his mind. He's going off to one of the bars in town. A pick up joint. He says he been asking around, and they go the cleanest hookers in town. Seems one of the orderlies from the hospital on the base was supplying Penicillin to the owner in exchange for some free rides. Something I wish I'd thought of. So off goes Dee, in his dress uniform no less, Sword, Rifle, the lot. God knows why, maybe he wanted to impress the girls, I don't know. Anyway, he turns up at the bar and after a couple of drinks, he starts to ask about taking a girl upstairs. Now there's some thin Philippino guy who runs the place, the one getting the boosted penicillin, an he gets a few girls together and lets Dee pick the one he wants. Well, Dee takes his time choosing, and the girls are getting pissed off, but the pimp don't care cause he's getting paid. Right. So finally Dee stops jerking around, picks one of the girls and heads upstairs with a grin on his face the width of the Brooklyn Bridge. Now, what happened next no one really knows. Dee wouldn't talk about it and the other witnesses had so many confused statements that none of it made any real sense. What we do know is that after they went upstairs there was some laughing coming from their room, some shouting, and then a gunshot. The girl bursts out the room laughing like a maniac. The Pimp goes upstairs to see what the hell is going on, and Dee is just sitting on the bed, his pants round his ankles with his barrel of his rifle gently smoking. Now he said that there was someone trying to get in the window of the room, and he was protecting a Philippino National, but the board of inquiry never really bought that. Me?, I got no idea what happened. And that's the truth."
After this incident, Deprivo was confined to base while a Board of Inquiry determined the facts of the case. However, they failed to reach any concrete conclusions. The Board dragged on through the hot summer of 1963. In September it finally produced its recommendations.
In October 1963 Deprivo Devianté was discharged from the USMC. But rather than being given an honourable or dishonourable discharge, Devianté's record indicates that he was "Discharged without Comment", a citation not previously used by the Marine Corp. An indication of the confused nature of the incident which led to his discharge.
Deprivo now returned to a cold October New York, from the sensual hot paradise of the Philippines. With no job, no prospects and question hanging over his service record. And 1963 was going to be a cold winter.
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