Author Bio

Edmund Benjamin was born in June of 1964 in Heidelberg Germany. His family immigrated to the US a few years later, briefly living in the Bronx before settling in Yonkers NY in 1969.

Growing up in the "city of churches and hills" with New York's five boroughs serving as his backyard and playground, Edmund was a constant truant spending more time in the streets with his friends than in a classroom. Disinterested in education, the young man barely made it out of high school finally graduating from Charles E. Gorton High School in 1982. It was around this time that he was introduced to and began working for the teamsters as a "Yardsman" and truck driver. In 1986 Edmund's father suddenly died at the age of 50 forcing him to take over a small family owned electronics business his father had established in the late seventies. Unfortunately, the young man had been experimenting with drugs and alcohol since grade school and by the end of the 1980s he was a full blown drug addict crossed addicted to heroin and cocaine.

After repeated visits to various detox and rehab facilities, Edmund managed to achieve sobriety via "Cold Turkey" in September of 1994. Shortly after kicking his narcotics habit and in need of money he resumed working for the teamsters on and off throughout the 1990s. It was during this difficult time that he had reconnected with some of his childhood friends who were by then hardened criminals and associated with organized crime.

By the End of the millennium Edmund had decided it was time to try and salvage what was left of his future and for the first time in his life move in a positive direction. Having taught himself how to read and write while kicking his addiction, a now sober and focused Edmund ingeniously used his troubled past and life experiences as inspiration and research. Edmund "Benny" Benjamin wrote his first novel "The Franchise", about his time growing up around and working for what was then the richest, most powerful teamsters local in the country.

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Downtown Yonkers, NY, Circa 1960's

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