David Friedman / David Kaye
What would you do if your father and brother had been convicted of sexually molesting young boys? You would probably want to change your name so that their bad acts could not follow you through life as if you had in some way committed them yourself - how many of Charles Manson's multiple children, for instance, actually kept their psychotic father's last name? (None. Every one changed their name even when their die-hard Mansonite follower mothers insisted that they keep the Manson moniker.) David Friedman changed his name to David Kaye in the early 1990s although he insisted that this was so he did not get mistaken for any of the other David Friedmans registered with the Union of Television Performers.
David is the oldest child of Arnold and Elaine Friedman and grew up in Flushing, Queens. Abused by his father as a child, David did not turn into the narcissist that his younger brother Jesse did, He came into contact with the film maker Andrew Jarecki when working as one of the most successful children's party clowns in New York; performing under the "clown name" of Silly Billy, he was popular and in demand. He was particularly adept at performing magic tricks and authored a long-running column in Magic magazine.
Arnold Friedman
Arnold, to all onlookers, seemed like an average middle class family man. He lived with his wife Elaine and their three boys in Flushing, Queens, before moving to Great Neck, where he apparently built up an extensive collection of child pornography that he ordered from Europe, particularly Holland. Arnold admitted to having always had pedophilic urges; as a thirteen year old he molested his younger brother Howard (although this was a claim that Howard always denied). He also admitted to molesting his sons.
Arnold maintained his innocence even after admitting to the crimes he was charged with; portraying himself as a caring father, he believed that if he admitted everything that prosecutors wanted him to admit he would save Jesse from jail. It's not clear whether this was his idea or something that he did at the behest of his wife, whose trust level of him seems low at best.
Arnold was a computer science teacher, a smart man with a way of explaining how computers worked that seemed to reach even the most un-savvy student. Like most pedophiles he managed to find a job that brought him into close proximity with children, offering computer classes in the basement of his home where he and his students would be largely undisturbed. Imprisoned after pleading guilty to all of the charges against him, Arnold committed suicide in jail, leaving his life insurance pay out to Jesse.
Jesse Friedman
Manipulative and convincing, Jesse was the youngest of the Friedman brothers, and also the most like his father. He believed that he did not know sex with a minor was wrong because he grew up a victim of his father's sexual molestation. He never dealt with that tricky question of why he perpetuated this experience and abused others, when his two brothers did not.
Jesse maintained that he only admitted to the charges against him so that he could get a lighter sentence, and avoid serving a long time in prison. With the help of Andrew Jarecki, he filed appeal after appeal and eventually the case was re-heard, although with the evidence that the prosecution presented, it was impossible for a court to overturn his guilty verdict. Still, Jesse managed to develop quite a following of supporters who believed in his innocence. He was released from jail after serving thirteen years of his sentence, and is currently working as an online book seller.
Elaine Friedman
Wife to Arnold and mother to David, Seth and Jesse, Elaine quickly divorced her husband after his prosecution and seemed to believe that he was guilty of the crimes with which he was charged. Although she never said this directly, her indirect urging for Arnold to admit to everything so that Jesse would receive a lighter sentence suggests that she had been suspicious of her husband's innocence for quite some while. She is a devoted mother who wants to protect all of her children but seems to favor Jesse over the others.
