Lawyer and author David Berg has written a book claiming Woody Harrelson's father, a convicted criminal, killed his brother. INSIDE EDITION speaks to Berg about his story.
Woody Harrelson plays a hypnotist who teams up with other illusionists to rob banks in his latest movie, Now You See Me.
But Woody's father, Charles Harrelson, was a real-life career criminal. A natural-born killer some say was responsible for 20 murders.
Lawyer David Berg says one of Harrelson's victims was his brother, Alan Berg, and he details the new evidence in a just-published book, Run Brother Run.
Berg told INSIDE EDITION, "He used to carry a card that said 'have gun will travel' and another card that said 'hit man.'
INSIDE EDITION asked what happened that day.
Berg said, "Charles Harrelson took Alan to a deserted road and shot him through the temple and when Alan didn't die, he strangled him to death."
Charles Harrelson was acquitted of that murder-for-hire in 1970 after the testimony of Charles' girlfriend, the only eyewitness, was thrown out.
"The defense was able to prove that she was his common-law wife. And that being the case, the jury had to disregard all of her testimony. Without her testimony there wasn't much of a case. A wife can't testify against her husband," said Berg.
But 10 years later, Charles Harrelson was sentenced to life in prison for a different crime—the first murder of a federal judge in a century.
"I'm not the nicest person you would ever meet as far as the mores of Christianity," said Charles.
A one-time professional gambler who walked out on his family when Woody was seven, Charles talked to INSIDE EDITION about his famous son in an 1989 jailhouse interview.
"I knew he had a lot of drive and a lot of ambition and it didn't surprise me a lot when he made it," said Charles.
Woody Harrelson spent years proclaiming his dad's innocence and trying to win him a new trial. But his father died of a heart attack in prison in 2007.
"I'm not asking them to spring him out of jail. All I'm saying is give him another trial," said Woody at the time.
Now, Berg says he wants Woody to know the truth about his notorious father.
"I hope he reads my book because in Run Brother Run, I lay out the case in pretty detailed fashion against his dad," said Berg.
