Former bank robber turned writer – Born 14th February 1950.
John Kiriamiti is an author best known for his crime fiction novels. He gained significant popularity for his crime and gangster-themed novels in the late 1980s and early 1990s. One of his most famous works is “My Life in Crime,” an autobiographical novel that chronicles his experiences as a criminal in Nairobi, Kenya. The book provides a first-person account of his life of crime, including bank robberies and other illegal activities, before he eventually turned his life around.
“My Life in Crime” and other novels by John Kiriamiti have been widely read in Kenya and other parts of East Africa. His writings often explore the underworld of crime and the challenges faced by those involved in criminal activities. While his work is known for its gritty and often dark themes, it has also been praised for its insight into the criminal world and its impact on society.
John Kiriamiti’s books have had a significant influence on Kenyan literature and have been included in the school curriculum, making him a prominent figure in the country’s literary landscape.
Background
- The novel, My Life in Crime published in 1984, is a fictionalized account of the author’s criminal activities in Kenya during the 1960s and 1970s.
- John Kiriamiti, a real-life criminal, evaded the Kenyan police until his arrest in 1970. He wrote the novel while in jail and was released in 1984.
Synopsis
- Young John Kiriamiti, expelled from school, becomes a pickpocket in Nairobi under the alias Jack Zollo.
- Involved in robberies and a love affair, Jack faces escalating criminal activities, leading to his first arrest.
- Jack escapes jail, flees Kenya, and works in Congo, considering a settled life.
- A love triangle and unforeseen events force Jack to flee through Rwanda, returning to Kenya to find Milly missing.
- Jack reunites with Milly and attempts retirement, but gets involved in more crimes, leading to a bank robbery in Naivasha.
- A skirmish with the police on his wedding day results in Jack’s arrest, trial, and imprisonment for 20 years.
Major Characters
- Jack Zollo (John Kiriamiti): Narrator turned criminal.
- Milly Nyambui: Love interest of Jack.
- Captain Ngugi: Friend who involves Jack in his first big robbery.
- Stephano: Greek millionaire Jack works in Congo.
Themes
- Morality: Explores the morality of criminal actions and Jack’s transformation.
- Life in Postcolonial Nairobi: Examines crime in postcolonial Kenya and its societal impact.
- Other Themes: Postcolonial crime, justice, religion, redemption, classism, representation of Kenyan women, luck, truth vs. lies, role of news, guns and violence, anxiety, and paranoia.
Critical Response and Film Adaptation
- “My Life in Crime” was a best-selling novel in Kenya, with some controversy in schools.
- It has been reprinted multiple times and is part of the urban Kenyan “crime craze” books.
- The novel is being adapted into a movie, directed by Neil Schell, with Jim Iyke as Jack and a budget of KSh35 million.
Premiered on 23 Aug 2020
You must have heard of John Kiriamiti, the author of My Life in Crime. His book came out in 1984 while he was still in prison serving a 28-year jail term for robbery with violence. His book became an instant best seller with Kenyans flooding into bookstores for his book.
His popularity earned him solitary confinement – but Kiriamiti remained unbowed, in prison he continued to write.
Here is an interview of a man who robbed banks in well well-planned manner but looking back he says: I never got anything out of that life because easy comes, easy goes. However, one fact remains: Kiriamiti has remained an inspiration to the tens of thousands who read and re-read his books and feel that they know the man intimately.
“There is this man called Laban Nyutu Muiruri, a man who is a hardcore. To have him reformed would cost the authorities not less than one million Kenyan shillings and that should be kept in his bank account, otherwise, he would still go back to the game. There is this other one called Mike Davis Thiong’o who swears that he will die a millionaire. When you ask him how he will manage it, his eyes turn blood red, his face turns as hard as granite, then with a voice as hard as his face he tells you, ‘A .45 is a master key to every safe in existence. It will be my spoon, my dish, and my meal!’”
Grab a copy and fasten our seat belts.
Young John Kiriamiti is kicked out of secondary school and his family orders him to return to his rural hometown of Thuita. He does not stay for long though, eventually making his way back to Nairobi, where he becomes a pickpocket under the alias Jack Zollo.
Jack becomes involved in his first “big job” when asked by his friend Captain Ngugi to be an accomplice in robbing a white man. Jack walks away with six grand, but not without feeling guilty for his actions. While out to clear his head, Jack runs into his sister Connie, whom he has not seen since running away to Nairobi years ago. Connie invites Jack to her and her husband’s house, where they watch the news and hear a report of the robbery in which Jack was involved. Jack becomes paranoid and leaves Connie’s house.
Jack and Connie continue spending time together. One day when visiting his sister’s home, their mother comes over, and she is overjoyed to see her son. She insists that he return with her for a visit home and that he share with the family part of the money he has been earning. He is broke, though, and resorts to another robbery so as to not disappoint his family. He makes away with 10,000 dollars and goes home with his mother. While out one day after returning to Nairobi, Jack picks up a lost student ID and becomes enamored with the girl pictured, Miriam Nyambui. Jack decides to visit the girls’ school to return her ID. Jack spots Miriam and calls her over to give her the ID, then asks her to lunch. Miriam accepts the offer, and the two begin spending a lot of time together.
Jack becomes involved in another big robbery job, this time with his friend G.G. The two spend a couple of days planning the heist and Jack becomes nervous because he knows he will have to use his gun for the first time. The robbery is successful but ends in a gunfight. Although Jack never talks about the job with anyone, word spreads and he becomes one of Nairobi’s most wanted criminals. Jack stays around his apartment as much as possible, pulls a few small jobs here and there, and falls even more in love with Milly. Jack gets arrested for the first time and is taken to Central Police Station. He spends a few days in jail and plots to escape. Jack eventually makes bail under a false name and flees just as the police are realizing his escape. He returns home, where Milly asks that they finally marry, but Jack refuses, saying that he must instead flee the country for no less than six months. Milly agrees to the plan.
Jack gets everything in order and then begins his getaway journey from Kenya. On his way out of town, Jack runs into his old friends Ndung’u and Njoroge, who join Jack on his trip out of the country. While on the road, police pull the men over for questioning, and the three are taken to the police. Jack, knowing that his fingerprints will incriminate him, decides to take a razor to his hands and peel off the skin. Jack is released and resumes his fleeing from Kenya and drives to Uganda, stopping for a few days every now and then. His final destination is Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where he stays for two months.
Jack seeks a job in Congo and gets a job chauffeuring for a Greek millionaire, Stephano, and his family. He becomes close with the family and even entertains the idea of staying in Congo for the rest of his life instead of returning to Kenya.
In Congo, Jack finds himself in the middle of a love triangle and resolves to leave the country. When Jack boards the plane, he feels that he is in the clear and safely on his way to Uganda, but he is approached by the plane’s captain and told he must get off at the next layover in Astrida, Rwanda. There, Jack is questioned and detained by the Rwandan police. Jack flees the airport and makes his way via cab and foot to the town center, where he is offered help by a shop owner. Once he finally makes it to his home country, he returns home to find Milly is missing.
Jack is finally reunited with Milly but notices that she acts differently toward him than before he leaves Kenya. Jack adjusts back to life in Nairobi and soon feels comfortable again. Jack learns that most of his old criminal friends are dead or in jail, which temporarily convinces him that he himself should no longer be a criminal. Jack soon, however, meets up with his long-lost friend Captain, and gets pulled into another job. The job does not go as planned and Jack returns home empty-handed. Jack takes a two-month break from jobs but then becomes involved in another that he hopes will result in enough money that he can spoil Milly and retire from being a criminal.
He becomes involved in yet another job, this time robbing a bank in Naivasha. Unforeseen circumstances at the bank complicate doing the job as swiftly as Jack and his accomplices would like, but the group soon does the job and flees in the getaway car. They notice, though, that a European is following them. The group comes across an accident between a bus and a car and does not have time to properly stop. The driver tries to circumvent the accident but ends up rolling over multiple times. Civilians from the bus in the accident approach the car to help Jack and the others inside, but Jack fires warning shots and the civilians flee. Jack and Captain run in the same direction away from the scene of the accident. Jack spends a while on the run before finally making his way home to Milly. He lays low and decides to stop being a criminal.
Milly and Jack decide to finally marry, and the two make preparations for the ceremony, which is to take place in Thuita. On the way to Thuita, Jack becomes involved in a skirmish with the police, who successfully shoot and immobilize him. Jack is swiftly arrested and transported to the police car to take him to the station.
On the day he was to be wed to Milly, Jack spent the day in the Central Police Station being questioned and tortured. He is later tried and sentenced to twenty years in prison and forty-eight lashes of the cane. Jack is escorted to prison, where he writes his book and claims that he is a reformed man.
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