As it turns out, Alex Haley, the author of "Roots," had to pay an IMMENSE fortune to Frank Yerby, the author of "Mandingo." It seems that Haley swiped lengthy passages and plots from Yerby's book .... verbatim. Good typist, though.
The cost of plagiarism was well worth it, as "Roots," became a billion-dollar industry, and Frank Yerby's only place in literary history is on the dusty bookshelves of thrift shops.
Just BTW, the other great plagiarist of the age is Andrew Lloyd Weber, whose haunting melodies always seem familiar to fans of their original composers. He's paid through the nose as well. Part of the deal is silence, no info afterward.
Haley I can forgive (a little because he is retired USCG)...but this Weber ... he stole from Rudolph Friml ... from Humperdinck ... from von Suppé ... half the obscure composers in Naples ... and 3/4 of the Austrians in Vienna. Wadda guy. Massive fraud! Massive billionaire!
Actually it was a book called "The African," by Harold Courlander that Haley was found to have ripped off. Haley settled for $650,000.
And Frank Yerby didn't write "Mandingo." Kyle Onstott did.