This piece is a sneak peek from the "Reading, Writing & Richmond" feature in our September issue.
Many writers have been known to get lost in their research. Usually, though, they mean years and not decades in search of telling details. But Roben Farzad says he spent 22 years gathering material for his debut book, “Hotel Scarface,” an account of the coke- and crime-ridden Miami of the 1980s, out in October.
Roben Farzad
Why so long?
Largely because of Farzad’s own circuitous path in life. He began his career at Goldman Sachs, spent nine years with Bloomberg Businessweek and, when marriage and family brought him to Richmond, reinvented himself as a business news broadcaster.
All the while, however, he fantasized about capturing the glamour and the gore of the Miami he grew up in. “It’s the collision of the Cold War and the drug war.”
Even the most unbelievable parts of the book, he says, are true: like the hit men whose weapon of choice is tattooed on the inside of their lips.
He hedges when asked about his hopes for its success: “As hot as I suspect my book may be, I have to be on the sidelines with a bullhorn. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll open up Richmond’s first Persian food truck.”
