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Here is the 1997 Vanity Fair piece about Richard Jewell, by Marie Brenner. Jewell, you may recall, was a wrongly named suspect in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta that killed one and wounded many others.

A security guard working the Olympics site on the day of the bombing, Jewell was a hero too good for the FBI to believe.  Calling attention to a suspicious bag eventual confessed bomber Eric Rudolph planted in the park, Jewell and other security helped clear the area for 13 min. until the bomb finally exploded.

Jewell saved countless lives, but he FBI suspected he was a "lone hero" searching for affection, a "failed cop" seeking a name for himself.

The Atlanta Constitution carried the story into the mainstream.

Brenner's piece is working its way to the big screen.  Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill, who teamed together most recently on The Wolf of Wall Street, are set to star.

Jewell was pretty much tried and sentenced for the crime in the court of public opinion before the FBI cleared him the following year.  He subsequently sued a lot of people and institutions, winning a great deal of money which he said went mainly to his attorneys.

Richard Jewell died a decade after the Olympics bombing.  He was 44.


TS