Ovid Demaris was a native of Biddeford, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 and an author of books and detective stories. A former United Press correspondent and newspaper reporter, he wrote more than twenty books and hundreds of newspaper articles.

His most important works were of a historical or biographical nature about the Mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...

 and other gangland characters. He is most noted for The Last Mafioso

The Last Mafioso

The Last Mafioso: The Treacherous World of Jimmy Fratianno is a biography novel detailing the life of American Mafia member Aladena "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno. It chronicles Fratianno's life from a kid in Cleveland to becoming the acting Boss of the Los Angeles crime family...

, his biography of Jimmy Fratianno

Jimmy Fratianno

Aladena "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno was a Cleveland, Ohio, mobster and later acting head of the Los Angeles crime family before becoming a government witness...

, and for "The Green Felt Jungle

The Green Felt Jungle

A 1963 book by Ovid Demaris and Ed Reid, it tells the story of Las Vegas's dark underbelly. It discusses mobsters, prostitution and political influence peddling....

", his expose on Mafia operations in Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

.

Books

• The Last Mafiaoso ISBN 055325474X
• The Green Felt Jungle
• The Director
• The Overlord
• Dirty Business
• Jack Ruby
  Jack Ruby
  Jacob Leon Rubenstein , who legally changed his name to Jack Leon Ruby in 1947, was convicted of the November 24, 1963 murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby, who was originally from Chicago, Illinois, was then a nightclub operator in Dallas, Texas...
  
  
• Brothers in Blood: The International Terrorist Network ISBN 0684151928
• Captive City (1969)