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Bad Seeds, Betsy Powell’s true-crime story of Toronto’s own Galloway Boys street gang, was maybe my favourite non-fiction book of 2010.

It’s such a smart read, The Wire in book form and local to boot. Powell herself is in it just enough as the narrator, but old-school news reporter that she is, never too much. It’s a gift to be able to walk that line, and she does it perfectly.

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A bonus is that I know so many of the players peripherally — lawyers mostly — that all in all I found it completely great.

One of those I know in that fashion is the criminal defence lawyer David Midanik.

The reader first comes across Midanik, who represented one of the gang members, an accused (and later convicted) killer, on Page 160.

Powell’s portrayal of Midanik was scrupulously fair, empathetic if not sympathetic.

She described him as a gritty, anti-establishment sort of character. She said of him, “He relished a fight.” Quoting a judge who once attributed much of the delay in bringing one high-profile case to trial to Midanik (the judge said Midanik was relentless in his efforts “to scrutinize and attack every component of the administration of justice”), Powell used the reference in the context of the admiration Midanik’s doggedness engenders in the young black men he often represents.