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Seven Days of Rage
By Paul Larosa, Maria Cramer. 2009
The imminent murder trial of Philip Markoff will bring to light the many mysteries behind the secret life and unconscionable…
acts of the brilliant and well-liked Boston University medical student who came to be known as the Craigslist Killer: How did he conceal his dark side to all who knew him, even his sweet and trusting fiancée? If found guilty of a chain of violent crimes over the course of one week in 2009, including the murder of Manhattan model and masseuse Julissa Brisman in a Boston luxury hotel, what was his motivation? Why did he allegedly use Craigslist, the online bulletin board, to pick out his victims? And what were the clues--pieces of an astonishing puzzle--that led Boston police to arrest the clean-cut, all-American young man with no criminal record who was in reality an out-of-control thrill seeker hiding a lethal sexual life? This "compelling, suspenseful" (Publishers Weekly) day-by-day account from a producer from 48 Hours Mystery and a Boston Globe reporter goes behind the scenes to reveal how Markoff, once described as "a beautiful person inside and out," hid his deadly obsessions from the world--and how the Internet can make any one of us the next victim of the most unlikely killer.at another Boston hotel, and the assault of an exotic dancer in Rhode Island. The Craigslist Killer was arrested by Boston police barely a week after Julissa Brisman's murder. As the public tried to understand why someone with everything to live for would be so reckless, the double life of Philip Markoff began to materialize, and he appeared to be an out-of-control thrill seeker hiding a secret sexual life. With the in-depth analysis that distinguishes TV's 48 Hours Mystery, this penetrating profile of Markoff and his crimes goes well beyond newspaper headlines to reveal how a young man described as "a beautiful person inside and out" hid his dark obsessions from the world -- and how the Internet can make any one of us the next victim of the most unlikely killer.Dancing with the Devil: The True Story of an Undercover Agent's War on Crime
By Louis Diaz, Neal Hirschfeld. 2010
IN AMERICAN GANGSTER, THE FEDS TOOK DOWN INFAMOUS HEROIN DEALER FRANK LUCAS. BUT THE KINGPIN BEHIND LUCAS'S CRIMINAL REIGN, LEROY…
"NICKY" BARNES, REMAINED "MR. UNTOUCHABLE." UNTIL ONE UNDERCOVER AGENT PROVED TOUGH ENOUGH--OR CRAZY ENOUGH--TO INFILTRATE HIS DOMAIN AND NAIL THE MOST DANGEROUS DRUG CZAR IN AMERICAN HISTORY. Growing up in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where physical violence was a daily reality at home, at school, and on the streets, Louis Diaz had what it took to survive--and to one day become what he vowed to be: a man of uncompromising principles who is "compassionate on the inside, fierce on the outside." These were the qualities, along with his street fighter's steely nerves and hair-trigger temper, that drove Diaz from his savage beginnings and early forays in organized crime to become one of the DEA's bravest undercover agents--the man who was instrumental in taking down some of the nation's and the world's most notorious crime rings. In an unforgettable and utterly engaging first-person narrative, Diaz tells his gritty, colorful, painful, and even humorous life story--a story with all the raw emotional power and bare-knuckle action of Wiseguy or Serpico. From his headline-making cases of Nicky Barnes and the Medellín cartel . . . to his account of outwitting a key villain linked to the record-breaking heist known as The Great English Train Robbery . . . to his all-out confrontations with murderous gunrunners and drug dealers on the mean streets of New York . . . to leading commando raids on clan-destine cocaine labs inside the Bolivian jungles, Dancing with the Devil is an explosive memoir that stands as a classic of true-crime literature.New York City Gangland (Images of America)
By Arthur Nash. 2010
Throughout the United States, there is no single major metropolitan area more closely connected to organized crime's rapid ascendancy on…
a national scale than New York City. In 1920, upon the advent of Prohibition, Gotham's shadowy underworld began evolving from strictly regional and often rag-tag street gangs into a sophisticated worldwide syndicate that was--like the chocolate egg crème--incubated within the confines of its five boroughs. New York City Gangland offers an unparalleled collection of rarely circulated images, many appearing courtesy of exclusive law enforcement sources, in addition to the private albums of indigenous racketeering figures such as Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Al "Scarface" Capone, Joe "The Boss" Masseria, "Crazy" Joe Gallo, and John Gotti.Connecticut State Police (Images of America)
By Jerry Longo. 2013
he Connecticut State Police Department was created in 1903 to preserve the peace, arrest convicting offenders, and stay alert to…
liquor and gambling violations, especially those on Sundays. The birth of the department came at time when temperance leagues began forming across the country. Connecticut State Police is an account of a department and its rise to battle, among other things, "demon rum." Today, troopers cover approximately half of the towns in the state of Connecticut and all of its highways. The CSP became successful and developed a reputation among the law enforcement community as one of the best in the nation. Connecticut state police grew in their responsibilities and expectations, taking on the duties of fire marshal, motor vehicle testing, and dozens of other important and influential agency tasks. This collection of photographs covers the many people, events, and tragedies that have shaped this respected department.Hot Springs: From Capone to Costello (Images of America)
By Robert K. Raines. 2013
In the late 1800s, Hot Springs, Arkansas, was a small town with a big attraction: hot thermal water. The federal…
government took possession of the downtown-area springs, and bathhouse row was born, along with the first property that would be considered a national park. Following not too far behind were great entrepreneurs who brought in gambling and prostitution to go with the area's leading industry: moonshining. By the time the 20th century rolled in, Hot Springs was booming with tourists and became America's first resort. In the early 1930s, former New York gangster Owen Madden took up residence in the spa city, and things became very organized. Gangland luminaries from Al Capone to Frank Costello made regular pilgrimages over the next few decades to what was referred to as "the loose buckle in the Bible Belt."New Mexico State Police (Images of America)
By Ronald Taylor. 2014
The New Mexico State Police traces its beginnings to the New Mexico Mounted Police, a statewide law-enforcement agency that was…
disbanded in 1921. No state law enforcement existed until the formation of the New Mexico Motor Patrol in 1933. A year and a half later, the governor of the state of New Mexico and the chief of the patrol saw the need to expand their forces to better serve the citizens of New Mexico. The New Mexico State Police formed in 1935, marking the beginning of what has become many years of tradition and service.Torrance Police Department (Images of America)
By John R. Prins. 2008
The Torrance Police Department dates to May 23, 1921, when city trustees appointed Ben Olsen as city marshal and, shortly…
thereafter, hired Byron Anderson as night watchman. The efforts of these men were devoted to dealing with thieves, keeping the peace, and "declaring war on speedsters." From such humble beginnings, the Torrance Police Department has grown into the fourth largest municipal law enforcement agency in Los Angeles County. Its position as the anchoring police force of the South Bay section of the county and its reputation as an innovator in crime fighting have been firmly established over time. Today, with a total of 242 sworn and 100 support personnel, the highly regarded Torrance Police Department serves more than 142,000 inhabitants in 21 square miles.Redondo Beach Police Department (Images of America)
By Ret. Capt. Skipper, Michael L. Stark. 2011
The Redondo Beach Police Department dates to May 9, 1892, when Marshall S. Rogers was appointed as the city's first…
marshal. One of the first city ordinances prohibited the discharge of firearms within city limits and provided the option for hiring of a deputy "if needed." He was needed, of course, as the city would grow into a major West Coast resort by the 1920s. The department adapted through the changes brought on by the Depression, World War II, and the postwar boom, serving and protecting citizens and fighting crime both unique to beach-city life as well as changing times while enforcing all laws for residents and tourists alike across the dawns of two centuries. In the 21st century, more than 250 sworn officers, support personnel, and volunteers serve one of Southern California's most respected and innovative departments.Chin
By Larry Mcshane. 2016
"Full of astonishment . . . a kind of dark wonder." --Pete HamillThis is the story of Vincent Louis Gigante,…
the Genovese Family crime overlord who ruled a sprawling criminal empire for a quarter century with an iron--and deadly--fist. Vinnie "Chin" Gigante displayed signs of insanity that stunned the public, stymied the police and the FBI, and secured his power for decades. Was he really crazy? Or crazy like a fox?Vincent "Chin" GiganteHe started out as a professional boxer--until he found his true calling as a ruthless contract killer. His doting mother's pet name for the boy evolved into his famous alias, "Chin," a nickname that struck fear throughout organized crime as he routinely ordered the murders of mobsters who violated the Mafia code--including a contract put out on Gambino family boss John Gotti. Vincent Gigante was hand-picked by Vito Genovese to run the Genovese Family when Vito was sent to prison. Chin raked in more than $100 million for the Genovese family, all while evading federal investigators. At the height of his power, he controlled an underworld empire of close to three hundred made men, extending from New York's Little Italy to the docks of Miami to the streets of Philadelphia--making the Genovese Family the most powerful in the U.S. And yet Vincent "Chin" Gigante was, to all outside appearances, certifiably crazy. A serial psychiatric hospital outpatient, he wandered the streets of Greenwich Village in a ratty bathrobe and slippers, sometimes adding a floppy cap to complete the ensemble. He urinated in public, played pinochle in storefronts, and hid a second family from his wife. On twenty-two occasions, he admitted himself to a mental hospital--evading criminal prosecution while insuring his continued reign as "The Oddfather." It took nearly thirty years of endless psychiatric evaluations by a parade of puzzled doctors for federal authorities to finally bring him down. This is an American Mafia story unlike any other--a strange and shocking account of one man's rise to power that's as every bit as colorful and bizarre as the man himself. "A great book about a great subject by a great writer . . . a tale for the ages . . . McShane recreates a world that has largely vanished, bringing it vibrantly alive . . . grabs you with the immediacy of a breaking news story and carries you along as if you were living it." --Michael Daly, New York Daily News"A story that's long overdue. While John Gotti may have been the face of the American Mafia, Vincent Gigante was its heart and soul. McShane pull no punches. A vivid picture of the last American gangster." --George Anastasia, bestselling author of Gotti's Rules"A great book about a great subject by a great writer . . . a tale for the ages . . . McShane recreates a world that has largely vanished, bringing it vibrantly alive . . . grabs you with the immediacy of a breaking news story and carries you along as if you were living it."--Michael Daly, The Daily BeastThe Untold Story Of America's Last MafiosoFor three decades, Vincent "The Chin" Gigante ruled the notorious Genovese crime family, raked in millions of dollars, and made headlines for his alleged bouts of insanity. Now--after thousands of pages of FBI and prison medical records have been declassified--his story can finally be told. . .Chief: My Life in the LAPD
By Diane K. Shah, Daryl F. Gates. 1992
"Chief" is the biographical account of an ex-Police Chief, Daryl F. Gates, giving a birds eye view of the world…
of crime as part of the Los Angeles Police Department. As well as the life and inner conversations in the life of a police man and policing, from being a rookie cop to the life and times of a detective and finally what Gates underwent as the police chief, dealing with the media, petty criminals prostitutes, etc.Jesse James Was My Neighbor
By Homer Croy. 1949
Born in 1883, the year after Jesse James was killed by Bob Ford and buried in his mother's backyard, Homer…
Croy grew up near the James farm in northwest Missouri. He talked with many old-timers who knew Jesse and Frank James and their remarkable mother, Zerelda. Eyewitness accounts (sometimes humorous) and Croy's familiarity with the milieu that produced the outlaw brothers enrich "Jesse James Was My Neighbor." Jesse read the Bible before he went out to rob a bank or train (Frank preferred Shakespeare), and he was honest except for those raids, according to Croy. The author follows the James boys, documenting their criminal activities and their human side while sorting out the growing legend. He adds a necrology of the twenty-eight bandits who rode with the James gang at one time or another.Don Vito
By Francesco La Licata, Massimo Ciancimino, N. S. Thompson. 2010
This is the true story of Vito Ciancimino--Don Vito da Corleone, the "Mayor of the Corleones"--who spent forty years in…
the grip of death, mafia, politics, business deals and the secret service. Don Vito recounts years of clandestine and previously censored contacts between politicians and the mafia--between the Italian State and the Cosa Nostra. The key witness is Massimo, the penultimate and hitherto closest of Don Vito's five children, who has given his personal testament for the first time. His account rewrites some of the most important events of Italy's recent history. If Roberto Saviano's Gomorra revealed the workings of the mafia system from street level, Francesco La Licata and Massimo Ciancimino's Don Vito tells us about the people who held the reins of power. In the words of Attilio Bolzoni of Republica: "This is the portrait of a man who was a key player from post war Italy to our days in one of the most daunting of Italian affairs, a figure who inspired fear, a devil. He was friend with mafia bosses and great politicians, of killers and respectable gentlemen. Vito Ciancimino was the incarnation of power itself, maybe the most hated and feared, the most suspected and worshipped, man of Palermo and of the whole Sicilian society".Daughter of the King: Growing Up in Gangland
By William Stadiem, Sandra Lansky. 2014
The only daughter of Meyer Lansky opens up about her life as a wild child of the 1950OCOs, her heartbreak…
and tragedy u including the insanity of her mother, and the crippling handicap of her baby brother - and her fatherOCOs unexpected tenderness. "Being Oscar: From Mob Lawyer to Mayor of Las Vegas
By Oscar Goodman. 2013
In Being Oscar,one of America's most celebrated criminal defense attorneys recounts the stories and cases of his epic life. The…
Mafia's go-to defender, he has tried an estimated 300 criminal cases, and won most of them. His roster of clients reads like a history of organized crime: Meyer Lansky, Nicky Scarfo, and "Lefty" Rosenthal, as well as Mike Tyson and boxing promoter Don King, along with a midget, a dentist, and a federal judge.After thirty-five years as a defender, he ran for mayor of Las Vegas, and America's greatest Mob lawyer became the mayor of its sexiest city. He was so popular his image appeared on the $5, $25, and $100 chips. While mayor of Vegas, he starred on the screen in Rush Hour 2 and CSI. He is as large a character in the history of organized crime as any of his clients and as legendary a figure in the history of Las Vegas as the entrepreneurs (his friends and clients) who built the city. This is his astonishing story--the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal
By Dick Lehr, Gerard O'Neill. 2012
John Connolly and James "Whitey" Bulger grew up together on the tough streets of South Boston. Decades later in the…
mid-1970s, they met again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Whitey had become godfather of the Irish Mob. Connolly had an idea, a scheme that might bring Bugler into the FBI fold and John Connolly into the Bureau's big leagues. But Bulger had other plans. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger, Black Mass is the chilling true story of what happened between them--a dark deal that spiraled out of control, leading to drug dealing, racketeering, and murder.Scared Silent
By Mildred Muhammad. 2009
In this riveting memoir, Mildred Muhammad, the former wife of convicted "D.C. Sniper" John Muhammad, breaks her silence about the…
domestic violence she suffered during their marriage and the tragic events that occurred after their divorce, which led up to the October 2002 sniper killings in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Mildred witnessed first-hand John's bizarre behavior after he returned from the Gulf War, but no one -- including her family, friends, and local police -- took her warnings seriously. Even when John kidnapped their three children for eighteen months, changed their identities and lived with them on the run in Antigua, or when he threatened to kill Mildred, her pleas for help went unfounded and she was forced to live undercover for eight months in a women's shelter. Everyone knew John as a charming and intelligent man. No one could fathom that he posed a serious threat to Mildred, let alone the ten innocent victims he and his seventeen-year-old accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo would later kill to carry out John's heinous plot to get custody of his and Mildred's children...permanently. What began as a domestic case eventually victimized millions. And it has taken years for Mildred and her children to heal from the fear and psychological trauma they endured. In Scared Silent, Mildred shares her personal story to show how domestic violence devastates entire families, including the children, and hopes that what she reveals will give new insight on this national social ill.The Barefoot Bandit
By Bob Friel. 2012
The Barefoot Bandit tells the riveting true story of Colton Harris-Moore, America's twenty-first-century outlaw. Born into a poor family marred…
by alcohol abuse, Colt had the local sheriff after him before the age of ten. Colt survived by breaking into homes to forage for food, and learned to evade the police by melting into the Pacific Northwest wilds. As a teenager, he escalated to stealing cars, boats, and identities. An extensive manhunt finally caught Colt, but he escaped juvenile prison and fled to nearby Orcas Island, where he assured his place alongside outlaw legends such as D. B. Cooper by stealing an airplane without ever having a formal flight lesson. And that was just the beginning. As a resident of Orcas Island, author Bob Friel witnessed firsthand as local police, FBI agents, SWAT teams, and even Homeland Security helicopters pursued Colt around the island. Colt's crime spree infuriated and terrified many locals, while others sympathized with the barefoot young criminal-the controversy tearing at the formerly quiet community. The story gained international fame, with Time calling Colt "America's Most Wanted Teen" when he stole and crashed his third airplane. After more than two years on the run in the Northwest, Colt fled Orcas and began a spectacular cross-country trek. Friel followed the Barefoot Bandit all the way to the Bahamas, where the chase finally ended in a hail of gunfire at 3 a.m. on a dark sea. Through his personal experiences and hundreds of interviews with witnesses, victims, local authorities, Colt's family, and, indirectly, Colt himself, Friel gives readers an exclusive look at an outlaw legend. Set against the backdrop of the Pacific Northwest's evergreen islands, where Internet millionaires coexist with survivalists and ex-hippies, this is a gripping, stranger-than-fiction tale about a neglected and troubled child who outfoxed the authorities, gained a cult following, and made the world take notice.Harris-Moore. This is an incredible but true story. Bob Friel is a gifted reporter and a very fine writer."--Nelson DeMille, New York Times bestselling author of The Gold Coast and The Lion "Something about Colton Harris-Moore--crafty stealer of cars, boats, and airplanes--captured the fascination of our fast-moving country. But it took Bob Friel, a plucky reporter with a pitch-perfect story sense--to chase down the legend and make it real. In Friel's fine telling, the Barefoot Bandit emerges as both villain and folk hero in a thrilling modern fugitive tale."--Hampton Sides, author of Hellhound on His Trail "A Dillingeresque tale for our current Great Recession era. Friel not only gives a brilliantly clear-eyed look at a bandit's adventures but also the effects they had on his peaceful community."--Matthew Polly, bestselling author of American Shaolin and Tapped Out "Riveting, thorough, and deeply human, this terrific read doesn't just tell the story--it brings it to life."--Marcus Sakey, bestselling author of The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes and The Blade Itself "Friel offers a thrilling portrait of a bright and neglected teen trying to outrun authorities and his own troubled past." --Booklist "This highly entertaining story of a modern-day Huck Finn will be enjoyed by lovers of adventure stories as well as true crime." --Library Journal "It is Friel's ability to spin a great yarn that draws the reader in from the start and never lets up. And he does it with deft reporting and a breezy and entertaining style that enlivens a tale as incredible as it is true." --Associated PressIn "The Vendetta," author Alston Purvis recounts the story of his father, Melvin Purvis, the iconic G-man and public hero…
made famous by his remarkable sweep of the great Public Enemies of the American DepressionOCoJohn Dillinger; Pretty Boy Floyd, and Baby Face Nelson. PurvisOCOs successes led FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover to grow increasingly jealous, to the point where he vowed to bring down Purvis. Hoover smeared PurvisOCOs reputation, and tried to erase his name from all records of the FBI's greatest triumphs. This book sets the record straight, and provides a grippingly authentic new telling of the gangster era, seen from the perspective of the pursuers. "Trial and Error: The Education of a Courtroom Lawyer
By John C. Tucker. 2003
Trial and Error is a legal memoir that gives an unvarnished account of life as one of America's leading trial…
lawyers; detailing the path from nervous novice to the top of the legal profession. In 1958, John C. Tucker began a legal career that would lead the Chicago Tribune to call him "one of Chicago's finest and most idiosyncratic trial lawyers. " Now, in a book reminiscent of Scott Turow's classic One L, Tucker employs painstaking honesty and fascinating detail to illuminate the difficult steps in learning the trial trade and the reality of life as one of the country's leading civil and criminal trial lawyers. Free of the impenetrable language and self-congratulation found in the memoirs of many trial lawyers' memoirs, Tucker skillfully chronicles an extraordinary variety of engrossing cases. From the infamous 1969 trial of the "Chicago Eight" war protesters—including Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden and Bobbie Seale, heard before the notorious Judge Julius Hoffman—to one of the most important civil rights cases of the era, the Supreme Court decision that spelled the death knell for the corrupt political patronage system in Mayor Daley's Chicago, Tucker's career spanned three decades of legal landmarks. In Trial and Error Tucker becomes the star witness whose crisp prose and penetrating voice carries readers rung by rung up the legal ladder, altering common misconceptions of lawyers and their craft. Relating both the highs and lows, while also recounting tales from the trial of a giant Mafia gambling ring to a legal showdown with heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, Tucker gives aspiring young attorneys, law students, recent graduates, and all fans of courtroom drama—and comedy—the chance to see it all through the eyes of the man in the middle of the ring.Cell 2455 Death Row: A Condemned Man's Own Story
By Caryl Chessman. 1954
In June 1948, 27-year-old petty criminal Caryl Chessman was sentenced in California on two counts of sexual assault, receiving two…
death sentences as punishment in a case that remains one of the most baffling episodes in American legal history. Maintaining his innocence of these crimes, Chessman lived in Cell 2455, a four-by-ten foot space on Death Row in San Quentin for the twelve years between his sentencing and eventual execution. He spent this time, punctuated by eight separate stays of execution, writing this memoir ? a moving and pitiless account of his life in crime and the early life that produced it. ChessmanOCOs clarity of mind and ability to bring his thoughts directly to the page, even within the stifling walls of San Quentin, help make this work the most literate and authentic expose ever written by a criminal about his crimes. "