Run, Brother, Run: a Memoir of a Murder in My Family by David Berg
Run, Brother, Run is
a true tale of murder and how it affects a family. The book is written by David Berg, whose
older brother was murdered under mysterious circumstances by hit man Charles
Harrelson (father of actor Woody Harrelson).
While a good portion of the book deals with the crime, police
investigation and the aftermath of the court case surrounding Alan Berg’s
murder, much of the story is about the Berg family. It is a story about memory and how tragic
events can alter the way you see the past and the future.
Berg begins with memories from his childhood using wit and
honesty to portray life in a very stressful home. Here is one example:
“That was 1946, the year our father met Dorothy Heinrich in
a Kalamazoo diner. She would one day
become his wife, but for now, she was his waitress. “Dot” was five ten, with the sultriness of
Rita Hayworth. Mom was four ten, with
the temperament of Henry VIII- so there you have it. It wasn’t the first time Mom had caught Dad
cheating, but it was the last. Our
parents would scream at each other for what felt like hours. Alan would cry in bed beside me, and then, to
my astonishment, get up and go down the hall to intervene. Mom would shriek, Get out of here, Mr. Buttinski, this is not your business! Get back in that bed! “(4).
Berg talks a lot about growing up in the Berg
household. A big part of that time was
David and Alan’s father wanting his sons to go to medical school. Alan took quite a few detours before getting
there (including leaving the Navy due to holding a floating crap game) but Alan
finally made it into the medical program at the University of Texas. After a fight with his father, Alan took off
instead of registering for classes. The
hopes of having a physician in the Berg family had died yet another death.
David becomes a lawyer much to his father’s dismay. When Alan disappears in May of 1968, David
admits to being busy starting his new career.
But it is clear that certain things don’t add up. Alan had been involved in gambling, but he
was also very in love with his wife who was then pregnant with their third
child. The police refused to start an
investigation, insisting that Alan must have just taken off. But David and his father knew different. They began hunting for leads which took them
down a whirlwind of different paths, most of which involved paying a fee of
some kind. When Alan’s body was finally
found six months later, questions surrounding Charles Harrelson and a business
associate of Alan and David’s father swirled in earnest.
There isn't a happy ending to this tale. There is no justice for the dead, and none for the surviving family. David berg tries his best to use his knowledge of the law to lay out the facts surrounding his brother's murder and subsequent trial. It is a stark tale of true crime in America in the 1960s.
