I ONLY SPIT IN BROOKLYN

Book excerpt: A personal, powerful and shocking testimony of life as a heroin addict in Brooklyn in the 1970s and ‘80s. In this gritty, soul-bearing and honest account, Ronn Costabile takes you into a world of addiction and despair. Ronn tells his story with gripping detail and emotion-jerking reality. There is hope, however, for everyone who believes. After 25 years battling a paralyzing heroin and cocaine addiction, state prison time, and 15 years of organized crime, Ronn experienced a powerful conversion at the hand of God in 1987 while incarcerated. As his life was slowly being restored, he connected with Brooklyn Teen Challenge, a faith-based Drug Rehabilitation Center, where he then began as a volunteer in 1990. Six years later he became intake coordinator and soon afterwards director of the Brooklyn Men’s program.