About The Book
What does it really mean to be a Kingpin?
Forget what you think the word means.
Kingpin: A Memoir is not a story about crime, street mythology, or a man chasing power. It is the true coming-of-age story of Curtis Ingram and the pressures that began shaping him long before he understood what they were preparing him to become.
Growing up in Philadelphia as the oldest of ten children, Curtis learns early how to carry weight. Family instability, poverty, responsibility, football, wrestling, brotherhood, failure, survival, and leadership become parts of an education no classroom could provide.
Years later, he would understand the connection.
A kingpin is the load-bearing piece. It holds weight. It absorbs pressure. It helps keep everything connected when the structure around it begins to strain.
But becoming that person comes with a cost. Kingpin goes beyond what Curtis accomplished to examine something far more revealing: How did he become capable of carrying it? This is not a book about a title. It is a book about how one gets made.
About Curtis Ingram
Experience earned in places where decisions have consequences.
Curtis Ingram's life after Philadelphia has taken him from college athletics to military service, law enforcement, investigations, executive security, safety leadership, and international work.
At Virginia State University, Curtis competed in both football and wrestling while participating in Army ROTC and serving in the United States Army Reserve. His leadership extended beyond athletics. He served as president of his fraternity chapter and founded Black Students Against Drugs (BSAD), organizing students around a direct message of responsibility, leadership, and protecting the future of their community.
His professional career would eventually place those principles in environments where judgment mattered.
Curtis served in the United States Army, including two deployments to Bosnia. He later entered law enforcement, graduating first in his police academy class before serving as a police officer and investigator.
Over the decades that followed, he built a career in security and safety leadership, investigations, personal protection, team development, and operational risk. His work has taken him throughout the continental United States and, more recently, into Asia.
Today, Curtis brings more than 30 years of real-world experience to organizations and individuals who need mature leadership, sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to remain effective under pressure.
And after spending decades protecting, leading, coaching, and mentoring others, he finally turned his attention backward.
Kingpin: A Memoir is where he tells the story of what came before the résumé.
Not the Wins. The Coming Back.
That is what Kingpin is really about.
Not the trophies. Not the rankings. Not the titles people remember years later.
It is about what happens after the loss, after the disappointment, after the mistake, after life puts you somewhere you never expected to be.
Anybody can feel strong when things are going right. The real test is what you do when they are not.
My life has had victories, but it has also had failures, wrong turns, pain, pressure, and moments when starting over was the only option left.
I kept coming back. That is the lesson I hope readers carry from Kingpin: A Memoir.
You do not have to be undefeated. You just have to refuse to stay down.
Media & Contact
Let's Start a Conversation.
Curtis Ingram is available for interviews, podcast appearances, media features, book discussions, speaking opportunities, professional consulting inquiries, and conversations surrounding Kingpin: A Memoir.
For review copies, media requests, professional opportunities, or general inquiries, contact the Curtis Ingram Author Office below.
Readers are welcome too. If Kingpin connected with you, Curtis would like to hear from you.
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© 2026 Curtis Ingram. All rights reserved. Kingpin: A Memoir and related content may not be reproduced or distributed without permission.
© 2026 Curtis Ingram. All rights reserved. Kingpin: A Memoir and related content may not be reproduced or distributed without permission.