By Greg Reeves
With one former and one current NFL player up on criminal charges here in KC, we're trying to get sports-crime expert Jeff Benedict (left, we assume he's the big one) on the phone to talk about it.
Benedict co-authored a chilling 1998 book (Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL) alleging a fifth of NFL players had been arrested or indicted for serious crimes.
The book's main allegation: The NFL doesn't look the other way when recruiting players with rap sheets; it investigates them with private eyes, then recruits them:
- "NFL teams are recruiting a new breed of criminal players, the likes of which should disturb all NFL fans. Gone are the good old days (of minor offenses). In are the days of lethal violence, rape, armed robbery, home invasion, kidnapping and drug dealing."
Has it gotten better or worse since then? Crime Scene KC wants to know.
