Marty Arnold (1929-2013)

By Mad Dog
Published: Jun 06, 2013

Marty Arnold was the deputy editor of The New York Times Magazine when I was writing often there. One piece was a murder investigation: the killing of a 13-year-old boy in a suburban schoolyard. Four boys had been arrested; two of them were brothers and had been convicted. I quickly discovered they were innocent, so I asked to interview them. Their father called Marty: “Is Jesse Kornbluth who he says he is?” Marty’s reply: “You better fucking believe it.” When Marty told me about the call, he put his hand on my shoulder and added one line: “If we find your car burning on the side of the road, we’ll know you got the story.” You can go for a long time on support like that.