Charlie told me about some of this when I was up there in 2005. In fact, we saw Ben at a club that week, and I talked with him about it very briefly. He had recently come back from a trip to meet with Andre Jackson. If even just the little bit that Charlie told me is in the book, there will really be a shit storm erupting from this. I mean major shit storm.
According to Charlie, Ben’s problem at the time was finding a credible outlet for the story, as opposed to just posting it on the internet. I think the major news outlets didn’t want to touch it, so that’s probably why he went with a publisher. Yes, the publisher might be on the line in terms of potential legal liability, but that’s the point. Ben now has a credible publishing name that’s willing to put its reputation on the line for his story. It lends credibility to his story. That’s one of the functions of publishers. Of course, as Lyle pointed out, they extract a hefty tax for that credibility.