Release date

[Randy Burt]

My Book " Fifth Commandment Atrocity " is now available from Barnes & Nobel you can purchase on there website or in there stores. I will be doing book signings in the Barnes & Nobel Warwick location on the 4th, Middletown on the 10th, and Smithfield store, I will not have the date for Smithfield till Tuesday. I hope to see you there thanks.

Quick summary of my book.

I was raised in Pawtucket and Cumberland, Rhode Island and

my life never seemed spectacular or out of the ordinary growing

up. I guess that’s because all of the horrible things my family

did just became a natural way of life. To me, at least until I

hit the age where I was old enough to start to know any better,

my childhood was somewhat normal. I had a father, a mother,

two older brothers, a younger sister and a younger brother.

From the outside looking in, anyone who didn’t know the details

would say that the Burts were a close-knit family, because

from all appearances, we had a lot—we did a lot—we were

wealthy and in so many people’s mind, people with money just

weren’t involved in the kind of large-scale, awe and shockinspiring

level of crime that we were behind closed doors. To

them, we had it all--we had a large family home, took vacations

in our motor home, had a summer house on a lake, and a

Springer Spaniel dog. The Burts lived the life.

However, closer inspection would reveal a little more--

My parents took in eight foster kids, adopted a daughter – one

of whom they stole from her mother. The Burts had hired help,

if you want to call being hired keeping two adults against their

will in our basement. They ran a shoplifting ring, an arson-forprofit

scheme, sexually abused many, and tortured all of us.

That was my understanding of normal, I had no other family

life to compare anything to. And the more the public learned

about the details of what was going on in our house, the more

we became public enemy #1. And for good reason, too.

When I say I was in the middle of it all—I mean that literally.

I was lost in the shuffle of this family that grew and grew

and added more layers of trauma with each passing year. From

my vantage point in the middle I saw a lot—too much.

I was born to Walter and Frances Burt in 1966 and was

raised in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island in a coercive

and illicit family. In 1993 my parents, most of my siblings, some

of their spouses and a few family associates were indicted on

158 counts of criminal charges by a Providence County Grand

Jury. The charges and accusations ranged from kidnapping, to

arson, to racketeering, to conspiracy and to sexual assault. In

1994 my family received suspended sentences for the crimes

they committed, in part due to my cooperation with the police

and Grand Jury testimony. In 1994, I was set free from the hold

my family had over me. I never did any prison time, but I am

very much aware today that in essence, I am serving a life sentence.

I am guilty of bearing the name of my family.

I have tried to escape my past and at times, my identity.

I have moved a few times to different states, and started my life

over – and no matter where I run, my history creeps up behind

me. The story of the Burt’s just won’t go away. In 2004, CBS

aired a movie entitled “Family Sins” and claimed it was based

on my family. In 2009, Lifetime re-aired the movie - the depiction

of our life in that movie bared little resemblance to the one I

lived.

I cannot run from my past any longer and I cannot stay

silent. I will always be a Burt, but my past will no longer define

me. It is time to set the record straight about who we were and

what we did. I tell this story not for revenge or out of hatred of

my family. I don’t tell this story because I necessarily want to. I

tell this because I need to. I need to tell it for my wife and for

my children and grandchildren and for the generations of Burts’

to come. I need to set them free of this life sentence.

My children have been implicated by my past. They

have received calls and hateful emails asking how their parents

could do the things they did? Like they were somehow implicated

and guilty by who they were born to. I refuse to let them

live the way I have been forced to live. My children have no

way to respond, they open their eyes wide and attempt to speak

but lack the words to do it. I do not always have the answers

they seek. It seems like a sad, weak excuse to tell them that it

was impossible to resist what had become a “normal” way of

life—the theft, the violence. It seems like it is not enough to tell

them that while I am also guilty of some atrocious crimes, I felt

that what I was doing was wrong. You see, my mother in particular

never felt wrong—they took as much as they could get

with her at the helm and being unable to break free, I had no

choice but to go along. We were, all of us kids, beaten into submission

and driven to obedience through the machinations of

one of the most cunning and bold criminals in modern times.

So I will speak for them. A voice needs to be given. No

fictionalization for a genteel made for television audience is necessary.

The truth is vital for my sake and the sake of my family.

I am not my past. My children are not my past. My

grandchildren must understand what happened so this foul legacy

can come to an end.

I am Randy Burt and this is my life story.

[Susan Monteiro]

Randy, welcome. I've tried to comment on your wall but the site won't let me.
Your interview is awe-some. Living out of the US I knew nothing about this story, but now I'm so intrigued. I'll be looking on Amazon for your book. Thank you for friending me.

Sue

[Randy Burt]

you can buy the book now at www.edgepublishingcompany.com if you want

[Susan Monteiro]

OK - thanks, got it.
Sue