Title search results
Showing 1 - 20 of 214 items
An army afire: How the us army confronted its racial crisis in the vietnam era
By Beth Bailey. 2023
By the late 1960s, what had been widely heralded as the best qualified, best-trained army in United States history was…
descending into crisis as the Vietnam War raged without end. Morale was tanking. AWOL rates were rising. And in August 1968, a group of Black soldiers seized control of the infamous Long Binh Jail, burned buildings, and beat a white inmate to death with a shovel. The days of "same mud, same blood" were over, and a new generation of Black GIs had decisively rejected the slights and institutional racism their forefathers had endured. As Black and white soldiers fought in barracks and bars, with violence spilling into surrounding towns within the United States and in West Germany, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan, army leaders grew convinced that the growing racial crisis undermined the army's ability to defend the nation. Acclaimed military historian Beth Bailey shows how the United States Army tried to solve that racial crisis (in army terms, "the problem of race"). Army leaders were surprisingly creative in confronting demands for racial justice, even willing to challenge fundamental army principles of discipline, order, hierarchy, and authority. Bailey traces a frustrating yet fascinating story, as a massive, conservative institution came to terms with demands for changeTake a deep dive into the rise and fall of some of the most notorious serial killers of the &‘80s,…
including Jeffrey Dahmer, Joseph James DeAngelo, Dennis Lynn Rader, and the Night Stalker.Neon leg warmers, big hair, rock band T-shirts, and mix tapes — 1980s&’ nostalgia at its finest. But just below that saccharine facade lurked a seedy underbelly of inconceivable human monsters like no decade before had ever seen. The Golden Age of the Serial Killer brought a sharp increase in violent crime, panic, and terror, which in turn sparked a chaotic race between serial murderers and law enforcement officers tasked with both stopping the killings and delivering justice to victims and their loved ones. The Big Book of 1980s Serial Killers is for the true crime fanatic who wants to investigate these cases and discover the ins and outs of how crimes like these are solved. Drawing from meticulous research, contemporary journalistic accounts, and trial transcripts, this book traces the various ways in which law enforcement cracked some of the most challenging serial killer cases in history. Serial killers included: Doug Clark and Carol Bundy (Sunset Strip Killers) Jeffrey Dahmer Joseph James DeAngelo (The Golden State Killer) Larry Eyler (The Interstate Killer) Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. (The Grim Sleeper) Samuel Little Gary Leon Ridgway (The Green River Killer) Dennis Rader (The BTK Killer) Richard Ramirez (The Night Stalker) Tommy Lynn Sells Arthur Shawcross (The Genesee River Killer) Aileen Wournos Are you ready to hunt the worst serial killers of the 1980s?Bluecoated Terror: Jim Crow New Orleans and the Roots of Modern Police Brutality
By Jeffrey S. Adler. 2024
A searing chronicle of how racist violence became an ingrained facet of law enforcement in the United States. Too often,…
scholars and pundits argue either that police violence against African Americans has remained unchanged since the era of slavery or that it is a recent phenomenon and disconnected from the past. Neither view is accurate. In Bluecoated Terror, Jeffrey S. Adler draws on rich archival accounts to show, in narrative detail, how racialized police brutality is part of a larger system of state oppression with roots in the early twentieth-century South, particularly New Orleans. Wide racial differentials in the use of lethal force and beatings during arrest and interrogation emerged in the 1930s and 1940s. Adler explains how race control and crime control blended and blurred during this era, when police officers and criminal justice officials began to justify systemic violence against Black people as a crucial—and legal—tool for maintaining law and order. Bluecoated Terror explores both the rise of these law-enforcement trends and their chilling resilience, providing critical context for recent horrific police abuses as the ghost of Jim Crow law enforcement continues to haunt the nation.Prescription for Pain: How a Once-Promising Doctor Became the "Pill Mill Killer"
By Philip Eil. 2024
An obsessive true crime investigation of a bizarre and unlikely perpetrator, who&’s serving the opioid epidemic&’s longest term for illegal…
prescriptions — four life sentencesWritten in the tradition of I'll Be Gone in the Dark and True Crime Addict, combining Dopesick's heart rending portrayal of the epidemic's victims with Empire of Pain's examination of its perpetratorsThis haunting and propulsive debut follows a journalist&’s years-long investigation into his father's old classmate: former high school valedictorian Paul Volkman, who once seemed destined for greatness after earning his MD and his PhD from the prestigious University of Chicago, but is now serving four consecutive life sentences at a federal prison in Arizona.Volkman was the central figure in a massive &“pill mill&” scheme in southern Ohio. His pain clinics accepted only cash, employed armed guards, and dispensed a torrent of opioid painkillers and other controlled substances. For nearly three years, Volkman remained in business despite raids by law enforcement and complaints from patients&’ family members. Prosecutors would ultimately link him to the overdose deaths of 13 patients, though investigators explored his ties to at least 20 other deaths.This groundbreaking book is based on 12 years of correspondence and interviews with Volkman. Eil also traveled to 19 states, interviewed more than 150 people, and filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration that led to the release of nearly 20,000 pages of trial evidence.The American opioid epidemic is, like this book, a true crime story. Through this one doctor&’s story, an era of unfathomable tragedy is brought down to a tangible, and devastating, human scale.Tripped: Nazi Germany, the CIA, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age
By Norman Ohler. 2009
The author of the New York Times bestseller Blitzed returns with a provocative new history of drugs and postwar America,…
examining the untold story of how Nazi experiments into psychedelics covertly influenced CIA research and secretly shaped the War on Drugs. Berlin 1945. Following the fall of the Third Reich, drug use—long kept under control by the Nazis’ strict anti-drug laws—is rampant throughout the city. Split into four sectors, Berlin's drug policies are being enforced under the individual jurisdictions of each allied power—the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and the US. In the American zone, Arthur J. Giuliani of the nascent Federal Bureau of Narcotics is tasked with learning about the Nazis’ anti-drug laws and bringing home anything that might prove “useful” to the United States.Five years later, Harvard professor Dr. Henry Beecher began work with the US government to uncover the research behind the Nazis psychedelics program. Begun as an attempt to find a “truth serum” and experiment with mind control, the Nazi study initially involved mescaline, but quickly expanded to include LSD. Originally created for medical purposes by Swiss pharmaceutical Sandoz, the Nazis coopted the drug for their mind control military research—research that, following the war, the US was desperate to acquire. This research birthed MKUltra, the CIA's notorious brainwashing and psychological torture program during the 1950s and 1960s, and ultimately shaped US drug policy regarding psychedelics for over half a century.Based on extensive archival research on both sides of the Atlantic, Tripped is a wild, unconventional postwar history, a spiritual sequel to Norman Ohler’s New York Times bestseller Blitzed. Revealing the close relationship and hidden connections between the Nazis and the early days of drugs in America, Ohler shares how this secret history held back therapeutic research of psychedelic drugs for decades and eventually became part of the foundation of America’s War on Drugs.Ben
By Kerry Needham. 2013
‘It’s amazing how some people can light up a room just by stepping into it. Ben was twenty-one months old…
and full of smiles. He spread happiness simply by being there.’In 1991 Kerry and her son Ben followed Kerry’s parents to live on the Greek island of Kos. On 24 July, she was at work when her mum Christine arrived crying uncontrollably. Ben had been playing outside, and then disappeared. Someone had taken Ben.In her heartbreaking memoir, Kerry describes the agony of being initially suspected by the police, which meant the closure of airport and ferry terminals were delayed, the early sightings that raised their hopes and the hoaxes which dashed them completely. And the unbearable pain of knowing her baby boy was alone somewhere without his mum.Back in the UK, the long years of waiting and hoping have been difficult on the whole family. Kerry has raised her daughter, Leighanna, while following up more than 300 leads.In 2011 they had a breakthrough when South Yorkshire Police agreed to work with the Greek authorities to reopen the case. The chance that Ben will read about himself and come home becomes more real every day.All of Kerry's royalties from the sale of this book will go toward the Help Find Ben campaign.Badfellas
By Paul Williams. 2011
Badfellas is the definitive account by Ireland's most respected crime writer and journalist, Paul Williams, of how organized crime evolved…
in Ireland over the past four decades.Drawing on his vast inside knowledge of the criminal underworld, an unparalleled range of contacts and eye witness interviews, Williams provides a chilling insight into the godfathers and events - that have dominated gangland since the late 1960s.Until the explosion of paramilitary violence in the 1970s, Ireland was a criminal backwater. However, petty criminals with dreams of the big time were quick to emulate the ruthless actions of the subversives. Organized crime took hold in Ireland and soon armed robberies, kidnappings and murder became commonplace.After the introduction of heroin to Ireland by Dublin's Dunne family in the late 1970s, there was no going back. Badfellas traces how the hugely lucrative drug trade that then emerged led to the gang wars that have corroded communities and devastated countless lives. Badfellas describes in gripping detail the shocking depths to which the mobsters have sunk. Badfellas is essential reading for anyone who cares about keeping communities safeBad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women
By Elaine Farrell, Leanne McCormick. 2023
The Number 1 Bestseller'A captivating account of lives previously ignored' Sunday Independent'An important, impeccably researched though eminently readable book that…
charts new territory' Irish Examiner* * *Ireland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was not a good place to be a woman. Among the wave of emigrants from Ireland to North America were many, many young women who travelled on their own, hoping for a better life. Some lived lives of quiet industry and piety. Others quickly found themselves in trouble - bad trouble, and on an astonishing scale.Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, creators of the celebrated 'Bad Bridget' podcast, have unearthed a world in which Irish women actually outnumbered Irish men in prison, in which you could get locked up for 'stubbornness', and in which a serial killer called Lizzie Halliday was described by the New York Times as 'the worst woman on earth'. They reveal the social forces that bred this mayhem and dysfunction, through stories that are brilliantly strange, sometimes funny, and often moving. From sex workers and thieves to kidnappers and killers, these Bridgets are young women who have gone from the frying pan of their impoverished homeland to the fire of vast North American cities.Bad Bridget is a masterpiece of social history and true crime, showing us a fascinating and previously unexplored world.* * * 'I just loved it!' Ryan Tubridy'Fascinating' Irish Times'Rich in detail and thorough in research' New StatesmanArmed Candy: A True-Life Story of Organised Crime
By Reg McKay. 2002
Armed Candy is the true story of one woman's struggle for survival on Britain's meanest streets. Kay has spent her…
whole life trying to escape. Sexually abused by her grandmother, she pleaded to return to her mother's care. But instead of finding a safe haven, Kay entered a world of drug abuse, swinging and dabbling in the occult. Although still a small child, she was soon buying drugs for her mother and being moved out of her bed as orgies ensued in her home. When she tried to escape, she ended up in a violent marriage, from which she fled in fear of her life. Turning to her mother for help, she was tricked into prostitution, her own mother acting much like a pimp. Kay became a high-class call girl, but then, through a chance meeting, she got involved with the most dangerous criminal gang in Glasgow. Women associated with such gangs are often seen as decorative arm candy, but Kay was admitted to the inner core, where she became involved in making decisions of life and death. She fell in love with the gang's equaliser, a young man feared throughout the country, and together they formed a formidable partnership. But they were too successful, and when they appeared to threaten some powerful interests they had to be taken out. The day that Kay's lover was gunned down in broad daylight saw the beginning of a reign of death in the city, as the organised crime world became paranoid and turned in on itself. For Kay, it was the beginning of her way out.From Ireland's leading crime journalist, Paul Williams, comes the definitive account of the case that gripped the nation.'A book that…
had to be written' Ray D'Arcy, RTÉ Radio 1 For over a year, everyone assumed missing Dublin woman Elaine O'Hara had ended her own life. But after her remains were found, the police discovered that Elaine was in thrall to a man who had spent years grooming her to let him kill her. That man was Graham Dwyer, a married father of three and partner in a Dublin architecture practice. Almost the Perfect Murder details the exhaustive investigation - one of the most complex and chilling in Irish criminal justice history - that allowed gardaí to build a case against Dwyer. And it outlines the twists and turns that happened during the dramatic trial that followed. 'An example of doggedness and tenacious police work, which saw that justice was done, and seen to be done' Irish Independent'Fascinating' Pat Kenny, Newstalk 'It is very rare for murder to involve the degree of calculation revealed in this case' Irish Times1312: A journey with the world’s most extreme fans
By James Montague. 2020
You can see them, but you don't know them.Ultras are football fans like no others. A hugely visible and controversial…
part of the global game, their credo and aesthetic replicated in almost every league everywhere on earth, a global movement of extreme fandom and politics is also one of the largest youth movements in the world. Yet they remain unknown: an anti-establishment force that is transforming both football and politics. In this book, James Montague goes underground to uncover the true face of this dissident force for the first time. 1312: Among the Ultras tells the story of how the movement began and how it grew to become the global phenomenon that now dominates the stadiums from the Balkans and Buenos Aires. With unprecedented insider access, the book investigates how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement, embracing extremes on both the left and right; fighting against the commercialisation of football and society – and against the attempts to control them by the authorities, who both covet and fear their power.Jimmy the King: Murder, Vice, and the Reign of a Dirty Cop
By Gus Garcia-Roberts. 2022
An incredible four-decade account of murder, power, and corruption in one of the country&’s largest police departments In 1979, the gruesome…
slaying of a thirteen-year-old boy riveted the suburbs of Suffolk County, New York. As the county hustled to bring the case to a dubious resolution, a wayward local teenager emerged with a convenient story to tell. For his cooperation, Jimmy Burke was rewarded with a job as a cop.Thus began Burke&’s unlikely ascent to the top of one of the country&’s largest law enforcement jurisdictions. He and a crew of likeminded allies utilized vengeance, gangster tactics, and political leverage to become the most powerful and feared figures in their suburban empire.Until a pilfered bag of sex toys brought it all crashing down.Jimmy the King is the story of the rise, reign, and paranoiac fall of a corrupt cop and his regime—a crime family with badges and guaranteed pensions. Novelistic in detail and piercing in its political insight, this book will leave you questioning who modern policing serves, who it protects, and who it preys upon and abandons.Policing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Global Perspective
By Sanja Kutnjak Ivković, Marijana Kotlaja, Jon Maskály, Peter Neyroud. 2024
Providing a global perspective on police adaptations to the COVID-19 pandemic, this book explores the extent of police organizational and…
operational changes in a number of countries as diverse as Brazil, China, South Africa, South Korea, the Philippines, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Bringing together a range of international experts, this book reflects on the changes in the broader social environment during the pandemic, examining the contours of police operational and organizational changes across several countries, analyzes the police enforcement of the government COVID-19 rules and regulations, explores the factors related to the COVID-19 effects on police officer wellness and safety, and studies police administrator, police officer, and citizen views about the potential consequences of organizational and operational changes on the interpersonal relations within police agencies and police–community partnerships. Policing During the COVID-19 Pandemic is essential reading for scholars and practitioners interested in exploring the police organizational adaptations, particularly in the times of emergencies, and the societal, cultural, and legal impacts of such adaptations. Sanja Kutnjak Ivković is Professor at the School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, USA. She is the Co-Editor of Policing: An International Journal. She is past Chair of the Division of International Criminology, American Society of Criminology, and past Chair of the International Division, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Her co-authored and co-edited books on policing include: Exploring Contemporary Police Challenges, Police Code of Silence in the Times of Change, Police Integrity in South Africa, Exploring Police Integrity, Police Integrity across the World, Enhancing Police Integrity, Fallen Blue Knights, and The Contours of Police Integrity. Marijana Kotlaja is Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA. She is involved in evaluation research projects with many organizations, specifically focused on crime and place, and juvenile delinquency. She has led multiple international data collection efforts and has extensive knowledge of advanced quantitative methodology, including structural equation modeling, Bayesian analysis, and hierarchical linear models. She is the Secretary/Treasurer of the Division of International Criminology (American Society of Criminology), as well as the Editor of Around the Globe for the Criminologist. Jon Maskály is Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of North Dakota, USA. He won (with co-authors) the 2016 William L. Simon Outstanding Paper award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. His primary research interests revolve around issues in policing, notably police–community relations, police integrity, and police accountability. He has worked as a subject matter expert in several police reform projects around the nation. He has secured multiple contracts with police organizations to enhance their ability to make data-driven decisions. Peter Neyroud is Associate Professor in Evidence-Based Policing in the Jerry Lee Centre for Experimental Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK. He is the General Editor of the Oxford Journal Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice. He set up and ran the UK National Policing Improvement Agency. He was commissioned by the UK Home Secretary to carry out a fundamental “Review of Police Leadership and Training,” which led to the establishment of the National “College of Policing.” He is the Co-Chair of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Coordinating Group.American Carnage: Shattering the Myths That Fuel Gun Violence
By Thomas Gabor, Fred Guttenberg. 2023
Shooting Down Gun Violence Misinformation"Don't tell me there's no such thing as gun violence. It happened in Parkland." ―Fred Guttenberg#1…
Best Seller in School Safety, Education Policy, and Law Enforcement PoliticsFred Guttenberg, who lost his beloved daughter Jaime in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, and International gun policy consultant Thomas Gabor team up in American Carnage to dismantle some of the most common myths about guns and gun violence.A national disgrace. In America, over 40,000 die each year as a result of gun violence. Relative to other advanced countries, the U.S. has a dismal gun violence record. Gun law reforms could reduce the number of gun deaths, but many political challenges stand in the way. A widespread multi-year misinformation assault on truth by the gun lobby and gun-extremists sows doubt about the dangers of pervasive gun ownership, gun carrying, and potential effectiveness of gun laws.Debunking popular gun myths. Countering with strong evidence-based research the many slogans and myths repeated incessantly by spokespersons for the gun lobby and its surrogates is essential if we are to have a society where kids can attend school safely and people can work and enjoy life without fear of being shot. Over the last 30 years, the NRA’s campaign to achieve an armed society has succeeded in persuading many Americans that having a gun in the home or carrying a gun makes them safer. The evidence is overwhelming this is not the case. Guns in the home are far more likely to be used against a family member or in a suicide attempt than against an intruder. Tackling this and other myths is critical.Myths and slogans exposed as false in American Carnage include:Gun owners frequently use firearms to fend off attackersAn armed society is a safer societyGuns don’t kill people, people kill peopleIf you have read Trigger Points, The Violence Project, Warning Signs, or Fred Guttenberg’s Find the Helpers, American Carnage is a must read.Crimes of Famous & Infamous Criminals (The Best New True Crime Stories)
By Mitzi Szereto. 2023
Infamous Criminals Caught in True Crime Cases "A fascinating read that will haunt you, that will keep you up at night.”…
―Aphrodite Jones, author of Cruel Sacrifice and host of the ID series, True Crime with Aphrodite Jones#1 New Release in Mass Murder Biographies & MemoirsActors, musicians, TV personalities, and other public figures in the spotlight aren’t always who they appear to be. You might be surprised by just how many have led nefarious, double lives, and have become infamous criminals!Power, status, and a rich lifestyle aren’t barriers to criminal behavior. Yes, people from all walks of life commit crimes. But the people featured here are not your typical neighbors or subway passengers—they are household names and Hollywood stars. Get the stories behind these public figures, both contemporary and historical, who have traveled down the murky pathway toward criminal activity. After committing their crimes, the world may have kept on turning, but their legacies as infamous criminals remain strong worldwide. This book offers a fascinating assortment of true crime cases from around the world and from various time frames. Like the previous anthologies in The Best New True Crime Stories series, this volume contains all new and original nonfiction accounts penned by international writers from across the literary spectrum, including true crime, crime fiction, and journalism.Inside, you’ll find:True crime cases that would make any true crime addict scream in delightful horrorThe stories of Hollywood stars and famous criminals who went down the wrong pathEncounters that feature the cases of infamous criminals like Robert Blake, Jimmy Savile, Fatty Arbuckle and moreIf you enjoyed Mitzi’s last book in her series, The Best New True Crime Stories: Unsolved Crimes & Mysteries, and books like American Predator, and The Family Next Door, then you’ll love The Best New True Crime Stories: Crimes of Famous & Infamous Criminals.Better to be Feared: Jail Life in the Raw
By Sean Bridges. 2008
Better To Be Feared is the true story of a 48-year-old businessman who, having pled guilty to perpetrating a fraud…
involving a fake business contract, was plunged into the dark world of life inside some of Britain's hardest jails.Never having had any contact with criminal justice previously, Sean Bridges' adjustment to life behind bars raised many questions and forced him to confront the daily round of violence and drugs abuse within these maximum-security prisons. His life inside exploded when he witnessed another con being badly beaten by three fellow prisoners. He planned revenge and exacted it in spectacular fashion. Bridges became a problem by challenging the inadequacies of an antiquated system which effectively feeds itself - never to be short of repeat customers.This is not the story of another white-collar criminal's time inside. It is a shocking personal account of the reasons why the criminal justice system fails society today. That system has changed Sean Bridges forever.When he retired in 2018 Pat Marry had been instrumental in solving dozens of serious crimes, including many murders.But as…
a newly qualified garda in 1985, Marry had no idea how to become a detective. He soon realised he would have to learn on the job - put himself forward and show that he had what it took.Taking initiative, following up hunches (even far-fetched ones), obsessing about details, trying new investigative techniques, thinking laterally - these were essential. In addition, you had to be a bit of a psychologist.The Making of a Detective follows Pat Marry's path from rookie to Detective Inspector through the stories of key cases he worked on and investigations he led. It includes high profile cases like Rachel Calally's murder by her husband Joe O'Reilly. But there are also stories that have faded from public memory, such as the 1995 murder of Marilyn Rynn, which involved the first use of DNA evidence to solve a crime in Ireland. Or the 2001 murder of Mary Gough, a case solved mainly by scrutinizing her husband's internet use - then a new investigative tool.The Making of a Detective is a unique and gripping insight into the work of a dedicated garda operating at the very top of his profession.'An absolutely fascinating book ... Really interesting stories and insights' Sean O'Rourke, RTÉ Radio 1'An absolute must-read . . . as page turning as a crime novel' Irish ExaminerThe Krays: The Prison Years
By David Meikle, Kate Beal Blyth. 2017
In the 60s, Ronnie and Reggie Kray were Britain’s most notorious gangsters. With violence and intimidation they were the kings…
of London. They sipped champagne with celebrities and rubbed shoulders with politicians. They were untouchable. Until they weren’t. After an undercover operation, the Kray twins were found guilty of murder and were sentenced to life in prison. They were just 35 years old. But once inside, the twins were determined to make their stay truly historic. The Twins began earning more money inside than they ever did on the streets. They sold branded t-shirts and memorabilia and they allowed books and films to be published about their lives. They didn't stop. Whilst locked up, their mother died as did their brother Charlie, and their associates and friends all fell away. But while Britain changed as a nation, the brothers continued to operate as the gangsters they once were. Their violence ingrained so deep that they couldn’t leave it behind. The Krays: The Prison Years explores the fascinating and largely untold story of the Kray twins following their imprisonment.The Krays were a product of their age, nurtured by a doting mother and created by their community, the East…
End of London. Their name alone conjures up images of power, violence and greed - and even brother Charlie couldn't steer the twins Ron and Reg clear of murder mayhem as they killed their way to the top of the criminal tree. They lived by their own rules. And they died by them. The three brothers will never be forgotten. They are an indelible part of our history, whether we like it or not. And from media manipulation to control freak paranoia, The Krays were masters of deception. Even at the end Reg Kray was still portraying himself as just an ordinary East Ender - mistreated by the Home Office and the police, misunder-stood and mistakenly labelled `Godfather of Crime' by the media. The Kray Anthology traces their history from childhood and early adolescence to manhood and death. This book explores the brothers' fantasy lives, full as they were of mind games and false memories. Whatever you want to know about the Krays and the real reasons behind their success, you can read it here for the first time. Only now can the truth be revealed - without fear of intimidation, retribution or revenge. The Krays are dead and buried, but the myth lives on.The Kray Files: The True Story of Britain's Most Notorious Murderers
By Colin Fry. 1998
When Ron and Reg Kray were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1968, most people thought that was the last they'd…
hear of two of the most notorious and vicious criminals Britain has ever produced. Instead, the twins and their evil doings have since achieved almost iconic status. Simultaneously, they have become 'Ronnie and Reggie', cuddly Robin Hood characters, little more than a couple of bad lads who loved their mum. The Kray Files is an explosive investigative work which strips away the myths that have grown up around the brothers. It examines why the twins were put away, the true extent of their crimes and the truth about the last 30 years, which Ron and Reg spent at the expense of the country while making a quiet fortune through duplicitous dealings from behind bars. It looks at why their brother Charlie turned to drugs as his only way out of a life of deprivation and misery, and tries to discover the reason why some women have found the Krays fatally attractive. For the first time ever, The Kray Files goes behind the scenes, painting a vivid picture of the brothers' world through psychological profiling, studying the sociology of the East End of London with the help of academics, and investigating the violent legacy the brothers have left behind.