MEMOIR OF EX-DRUG KINGPIN CLARK HITS THE STREET

Alf Freddie Clark's book has been released - five years before he will be.

The former drug kingpin, whose enterprise raked in millions in the 1980s
and 1990s, has published an account of his life as it progressed from
Arkansas to Des Moines drug houses to prison.

The book is out now. Clark is expected to be out in 2010.

"This is a dream for him," said Karen Daughenbaugh of Des Moines, a friend
of Clark's who typed the manuscript. "He worked on it for five years."

Clark, 50, wrote the book while serving a 21-year sentence at the Federal
Correctional Institution in Pekin, Ill. for cocaine trafficking. Friends
chipped in about $11,000 to get the manuscript edited and have 1,050 copies
printed in paperback.

The book chronicles the competition Clark faced from gangs, the pressure he
felt from police, and his dealings with drug associates, who lacked loyalty
and smarts.

"In the end, treachery and betrayal broke the back of the most prolific and
violent drug organization in Des Moines' history," Clark writes in "Satan's
Mask, A True Story."

Daughenbaugh said Clark "wants to get out of prison and make it as a
serious writer."

"He knows that people see him as a bad person," she said. "But he has an
intelligent mind."

Sales of the $15 book are expected to cover most of the publishing costs.
Clark won't see a penny, Daughenbaugh said.

"This book is about a young man whose life is messed up," said Ako
Abdul-Samad, who encouraged Clark to write.

Abdul-Samad, a Des Moines school board member and founder of Creative
Visions, a youth services organization, said "Satan's Mask" is
instructional, especially for young readers who might want to imitate the
lifestyle described in the book.

"We have some young people where a life like Freddie's is not the exception
but the rule. We have a targeted young population trying to make that
decision now," Abdul-Samad said. "Is everything in the book true? I don't
know. That's between Freddie and God."

Daughenbaugh said "Satan's Mask" might also have appeal as a "street" book,
one likely read by inmates and others drawn to crime stories. The genre has
"huge appeal these days," she said.

Clark, in an earlier interview, said he became interested in writing after
he read works of Charles Dickens, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow and various
black writers.

He also credited Margaret Cannon, a teacher in Des Moines, who "had taken a
special interest in getting me to school."

[Sidebar]

INFO: "Satan's Mask, A True Story" ($15; 343 pages) will be available at
Central City Liquors, 1460 Second Ave., and Hip Hop Heaven, 2302 University
Ave.

CALL: (515) 633-3020 to order.

EXCERPT: Clark writes about a 1986 incident in which he shot a
knife-wielding man during a drug buy.

"I sidestepped his attack and fired once, hitting him in the lower stomach.
I fired a second time, sending a bullet slicing through both lungs. He
dropped down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. I stood next to the
bed, took careful aim, and fired a third time."

Clark was charged with first-degree murder, but prosecutors determined he
acted in self-defense and the case was dropped.