Editing Edwin Torres (judge) (section)

==Writer of fiction==
Torres' tough upbringing in Manhattan and his work in the criminal justice system enabled him to create realistic [[crime fiction]] characters and plots.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Appelo |first=Tim |date=November 12, 1993 |title=Entertainment Weekly |work=EW |url=https://ew.com/article/1993/11/12/carlitos-ways-judge-character/ |access-date=August 22, 2022}}</ref> [[Richie Narvaez]] called him "the Granddaddy—''¡El Abuelo!''—of Latino crime fiction in the U.S. For a brief while in the 1970s, Torres picked up the mantle of [[Chester Himes]] and [[Miguel Piñero]], keeping the door cracked open for crime fiction writers who happen to be ethnically diverse. Without Torres we might not have gotten Ernesto Quiñonez' ''Bodega Dreams'', Carolina Garcia-Aguilera's Lupe Solano series, or even Walter Mosley's ''Devil in a Blue Dress''."<ref name="Edwin Torres's Way"/>

Torres wrote ''[[Carlito's Way (novel)|Carlito's Way]]'' in 1975 and its sequel ''[[After Hours (novel)|After Hours]]'' in 1979; both novels follow the exploits of Carlito Brigante, a fictional [[Puerto Rican people|Puerto Rican]] drug kingpin and hustler who ends up doing time in [[Sing-Sing]] and struggles to go "straight" after his release. ''The New Yorker'' praised ''Carlito's Way:'' "It is in the grisly tradition of ''[[Little Caesar (novel)|Little Caesar]]'', ''[[The Jones Men]]'', and ''[[The Friends of Eddie Coyle (novel)|The Friends of Eddie Coyle]]'', and it is the equal of any of them."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wolfe |first=Linda |date=January 8, 1990 |title="One Tough Hombre" |pages=14–15 |work=New York Magazine}}</ref>

Another novel, ''Q & A'' (1977), portrays the investigation of a decorated New York City police lieutenant suspected of corruption.<ref name="IGN">{{cite news
  | last = Gilchrist
  | first = Todd
  | title = Edwin Torres: IGN DVD speaks to the scribe responsible for ''Carlito's Way'' and its prequel, ''Rise to Power''.
  | publisher = IGN
  | date = September 23, 2005
  | url = http://dvd.ign.com/articles/653/653491p1.html
  | accessdate = 2008-01-28
  | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120204115553/http://dvd.ign.com/articles/653/653491p1.html
  | archivedate = 2012-02-04
  | url-status = dead}}</ref>
Of the book, ''The New York Times'' noted, "Judge Torres infuses these nearly current events with so much life and style that you can almost smell the musty air of 100 Centre Street."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Levin |first1=Martin |title=Five Novels |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/02/archives/five-novels-novels.html |access-date=22 August 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=September 2, 1979}}</ref>

===Film adaptations===
A film adaptation of ''[[Q&A (film)|Q & A]]'' was released in 1990, directed by Sidney Lumet, and it starred [[Nick Nolte]] and [[Armand Assante]]. ''After Hours'' was filmed in 1993, but used the title ''[[Carlito's Way]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0CE4D71E3AF933A25752C1A965958260|title=Carlito's Way; The Triumph of Atmosphere Over Detail in Spanish Harlem|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Janet Maslin|date=November 10, 1993|accessdate=2012-02-18|author-link=Janet Maslin}}</ref> to avoid being confused with [[Martin Scorsese]]'s 1985 film ''[[After Hours (film)|After Hours]]''. The film starred [[Al Pacino]] and [[Sean Penn]], under the direction of [[Brian De Palma]]. The novel ''Carlito's Way'' was filmed in 2005 and released under the title ''[[Carlito's Way: Rise to Power]]''.<ref name="IGN" />