A few years ago somebody asked about Uncle Watty (Watt Espy) after watching one of his interviews. I responded.
Watty was 50 then. At that stage, he had received a large federal research grant - not employed by the university.
He was a master storyteller with an incredible memory.
While stationed with the US Navy in Naples, Italy, Watty walked into a hotel and recognized "Lucky" Luciano, a mafia godfather who was the chairman of the board of all the major mob families in NYC. Walked right up to him and introduced himself. Luciano invited Watty to dinner that evening. Now that's quite a story.
Another person, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, was ten years or so ahead of Watty initially in this death penalty field. One day he got a letter from "this man in Alabama." In the letter, Watty told him he's intrigued by his work, admires it....but... "I found a number of mistakes I can help you correct." This professor went back and double-checked some of his research, and sure enough. That letter led to a phone call to one of the bigwigs at the ALCU, and together they concluded that they needed to quickly go down to Alabama to meet this guy. The rest is history.
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