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Sonny: The Last of the Old Time Mafia Bosses, John "Sonny" Franzese
By S. J. Peddie. 2022
&“Couldn&’t put it down.&” —Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy (Goodfellas) and CasinoThe extraordinary life and times of a legendary crime boss who refused…
to squeal—but who finally agreed to talk to an award-winning New York Newsday reporter shortly before his death at age 103 . . . John &“Sonny&” Franzese reportedly committed his first murder at the age of fourteen. As a &“made man&” for the Colombo crime family, he operated out of his Long Island home specializing in racketeering, fraud, loansharking, and other illicit deeds he would deny to his dying day. His career in organized crime spanned over eight decades—and he was sentenced to fifty years in prison for robbery charges. But even behind bars, Sonny Franzese never stopped doing business . . . This is the true story of an old-school mafioso as it&’s never been told before. Newsday reporter S. J. Peddie interviewed Franzese in prison—and uncovered a lifetime of shocking secrets from the legend himself: * Why FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had a very personal interest in Sonny. * How Sonny managed to juggle numerous affairs with women, including a famous model. * How Sonny spent a third of his life in prison—and still managed to earn untold millions for the mob. * How Sonny accidentally revealed some of his worst crimes—to a &“friend&” wearing a wire. Through it all, Franzese refused to break the Mafia&’s code of silence. Authorities believe he may have murdered, or ordered the murders of, forty to fifty people. Yet he earned a grudging respect from law enforcement and an absolute reverence from his fellow gangsters. Eventually he managed to outlive them all—until his death in 2020 of natural causes, a rare event in the Mafia. Thanks to a series of exclusive firsthand interviews, the astonishing life story of John &“Sonny&” Franzese can be told in all its bold, brutal, and blood-spattered glory. This is a must-read for anyone fascinated with Mafia history—and a rare look inside a criminal mind that has become the stuff of legend.Shamed: The Honour Killing That Shocked Britain – by the Sister Who Fought for Justice
By Sarbjit Kaur Athwal. 2013
In 1998, Sarbjit Athwal was called by her husband to attend a family meeting. It looked like just another family…
gathering. An attractive house in west London, a large dining room, two brothers, their mother, one wife. But the subject they were discussing was anything but ordinary. At the head of the group sat the elderly mother. She stared proudly around, smiling at her children, then raised her hand for silence. ‘It’s decided then,’ the old lady announced. ‘We have to get rid of her.’‘Her’ was Surjit Athwal, Sarbjit’s sister-in-law. Within three weeks of that meeting, Surjit was dead: lured from London to India, drugged, strangled, and her body dumped in the Ravi River, never to be seen again.After the killing, risking her own life, Sarbjit fought secretly for justice for nine long, scared years. Eventually, with immense bravery, she became the first person within a murderer’s family ever to go into open court in an honour killing trial as the Prosecution’s key witness, and the first to waive her anonymity in such a trial. As a result of her testimony, the trial led to the first successful prosecution of an honour killing without the body ever being found.But her story doesn’t end there. Since the trial, her life has been threatened; her own husband arrested after an allegation of intimidation. Shamed is a story of fear and of horror – but also of immense courage, and a woman who risked everything to see that justice was done.Shadows: Inside Northern Ireland's Special Branch
By Alan Barker. 2004
In the early hours of 30 April 2003, twelve armed and uniformed officers accompanied by four plain-clothes detectives burst into…
Alan Barker's house. They stayed for hours, turning over rooms, seizing documents, impounding computers, files and anything else that interested them. The family were treated as terrorist suspects, the operation resembling so many others in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. But Alan Barker was and is no terrorist. In fact, he has spent his adult life fighting terrorism on the streets of his native province. Barker belonged to the Special Branch, the RUC's elite unit dedicated to fighting the IRA, the INLA and loyalist terrorists. He gives a gripping insider's account of life on the frontline and demonstrates how the RUC used sophisticated listening devices and informants, including the notorious supergrass Raymond Gilmour, in their fight to gain the upper hand. After nearly 30 years of loyal service, Barker retired angry and disillusioned about what he views as the government's capitulation to the terrorists. This is the book that Downing Street and the Northern Ireland Office don't want you to read. It is a story of courage under fire, guile, Le Carré-esque plots and treachery.The Seven Ages of Death: ‘Every chapter is like a detective story’ Telegraph
By Dr Richard Shepherd. 2021
The heart-wrenchingly honest new book about life and death from forensic pathologist and bestselling author of UNNATURAL CAUSES, Dr Richard…
ShepherdA TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR'Deeply insightful. Unflinching' THE TIMES'A finely-crafted detective story' DAILY TELEGRAPH'Enlightening, strangely uplifting' DAILY MAIL'Fascinating' DAILY EXPRESS_________Dr Richard Shepherd, a medical detective and Britain's top forensic pathologist, shares twenty-four of his most intriguing, enlightening and never-before-told cases.These autopsies, spanning the seven ages of human existence, uncover the secrets not only of how a person died, but also of how they lived.From old to young, murder to misadventure, and illness to accidental death, each body has something to reveal - about its owner's life story, how we age, justice, society, the certainty of death.And, above all, the wonderful marvel of life itself._________Praise for Dr Richard Shepherd'Gripping, grimly fascinating, and I suspect I'll read it at least twice' Evening Standard'A deeply mesmerising memoir of forensic pathology. Human and fascinating' Nigella Lawson'An absolutely brilliant book. I really recommend it, I don't often say that but it's fascinating' Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2'Puts the reader at his elbow as he wields the scalpel' Guardian'Fascinating, gruesome yet engrossing' Richard and Judy, Daily Express'Fascinating, insightful, candid, compassionate' ObserverThe Serial Killers: A Study in the Psychology of Violence
By Colin Wilson, Donald Seaman. 2007
As the number of serial killers worldwide has risen steadily - from the emergence of Jack the Ripper in 1888…
to Harold Shipman and Ivan Milat, the backpacker killer of the Australian outback - the need to understand mass murder is becoming more urgent. Using privileged access to the world's first National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Colin Wilson and Donald Seaman bring you this incisive study of the psychology of serial killers and the motives behind their crimes. From childhood traumas to issues of frustration, fear and fantasy, discover what turns an ordinary human being into a compulsive killer.The Secret: Now a major TV drama
By Deric Henderson. 2011
The killer dentist, his mistress, how they murdered their spouses - and how they almost got away with it. Now…
a major four-part ITV drama starring James Nesbitt:- 'Unswitchoffable' Guardian- 'James Nesbitt is at his magnetic best' The Times- 'The most grown up drama of the week and it's brilliant' Observer- 'Terrific, intensely gripping' Daily TelegraphMay 1991 in the seaside town of Castlerock in Northern Ireland and the bodies of two people - police officer Trevor Buchanan and nurse Lesley Howell - are found in a car filled with carbon monoxide. Their spouses are having an affair and, it appears, the pair are so distraught they have taken their own lives. Their adulterous spouses - Sunday school teacher Hazel Buchanan and dentist Colin Howell - had met in the local Baptist Church. Following the apparent double-suicide, they continued their affair secretly but both later remarried other people.A series of disasters in Howell's life - bereavement, financial disaster, sexual scandal - made him reveal his darkest secrets to the elders of his church. Among other things, he told them that he and Hazel Stewart had conspired to murder their spouses nearly two decades earlier. That confession led to two of the most sensational murder trials ever seen in the United Kingdom, Howell's conviction for murder in December 2010 and Stewart's in March 2011, despite her protestations of innocence.'It was a dance between control and manipulation' - Colin Howell at the trial of Hazel StewartWith The Secret, distinguished journalist Deric Henderson has produced the definitive account of one of the most extraordinary murder cases to hit these islands for decades.Scum Airways: Inside Football's Underground Economy
By John Sugden. 2002
Football is big business and it doesn't come much bigger than Manchester United – commercial giants and the richest club…
in the world. But in the shadow of Old Trafford a black economy is growing to rival the commercial power of the official sales channels. Scum Airways is an inside investigation of the Manchester grafters – touts, black marketeers and shady dealers – who, led by characters like 'Big Tommy', have come up with a remarkably successful money-making venture: Scum Airways. With the expansion of the Champions League came the opportunity for the grafters to move from ticket touting and producing 'unofficial' replica kits into the independent travel business. International Travel is the company for those who, through choice or because of their police records prohibit them, do not travel with the official clubs. Their customers include many 'straight' supporters of Leeds United, arch-rivals of Man U, but Tommy's core clients are the 'Lads' - die-hard 30-something football hooligans. Scum Airways follows the exploits and adventures of Big Tommy and his team of grafters as they continue to build their empire. John Sugden went along for the ride and provides startling insights into professional football's burgeoning black economy. From Munich to Madrid, Amsterdam to Bangkok, through to the streets and bars of Toyko and Sapporo during the 2002 World Cup, and beyond, Scum Airways reveals the dark side of the football business.“A famous account of abduction and escape from hostile Indians in the old West.In July, 1864 hostile Oglala Sioux Indians…
attacked the wagon train of the pioneering Kelly and Larimer families approximately 80 miles west of Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Several people were killed or wounded but Sarah Larimer and Fanny Kelly, together with some of their children, were taken into captivity by the Indians. On the second night of their captivity Sarah Larimer and her son managed to escape from the Indian camp and after many difficulties and privations they reached the Deer Creek telegraph station and safety. This book is Sarah Larimer’s story of her ordeal. Fanny Kelly’s captivity with the Sioux lasted longer and on her release she also wrote a book about her experiences. She also sued Sarah Larimer over her memoir and several trials took place over ten years before the matter was settled. [This Book] provides fascinating insights into the westward passage of pioneer families in North America, and those interested in the Indian tribes of the Great Plains during their struggle to maintain their traditional way of life will also find much to interest them in the pages of these books.”-Print ed.“With Crook in pursuit of Geronimo and his band.The author of this book was a U.S. soldier in addition to…
being a well known and highly regarded author on the Apache Wars of the later nineteenth century-in which he was an active participant. He maintained an interest, respect for and in some measure an affection for the Apaches and he also made a serious study of and wrote notable works on their customs and culture. He is perhaps best known for his classic account of the Apache Wars, 'On the Border with Crook.' This small account was written prior to his larger and more expansive work. It originally appeared as a series of articles in the Boston published 'Outing Magazine.' Bourke decided to bring his earlier writings back into print in book form, at a time when the Apaches had once again taken the war trail, to provide the American public with context to then current events. This fascinating account, which centres on the events of the Spring of 1883, concerns Crook's pursuit of the Chiricahua Apaches who broke out of San Carlos reservation to raid through Arizona and Mexico before vanishing into the fastness of the Sierra Madre. Those with any interest or knowledge in this subject will find themselves familiarly introduced to the corps of Apache Scouts, Al Sieber (Zieber), the scout and interpreter, Crook, Gatewood, Chato and of course the renowned Geronimo, as well as other names long associated with this remarkable time in the history of the Apaches and Arizona.”-Print ed.“A great river and those who sailed it.This well known and highly regarded classic of the opening up of the…
American West concentrates on the great rivers of North America and the Missouri in particular. Focus is, of course, placed to the iconic paddle-steamers, their captains and crews, that plied its waters and that have become emblematic of river navigation in 19th century America. The scope of the narrative is significant. Events are described from the mid-1850s and through the American Civil War. However, the book principally deals with the post Civil war period of westward expansion and the role of the vessels and the river itself in the wars against the plains Indians. The transportation of troops and materials played a significant part in these campaigns and this is, of course, is recounted here in some detail. Readers will learn about the exploits of boats including the 'Far West, ' 'Key West, ' Rosebud, ' 'Luella' and 'North Alabama' in this fascinating account of the American frontier afloat.”-Print ed.Following the Drum: A U. S. Infantry Officer's Wife on the Texas Frontier in the Early 1850's
By Teresa Griffin Viele. 2024
“A view of the early Texan frontier from a female view pointTeresa Viele was a strong minded woman with clear…
cut views. Fate would dictate that her life would not be defined by her experiences as an army wife, but in this book she has left us a significant insight into the activities of the officers, soldiers and families of a United States Infantry regiment on the Texas frontier in the pre-Civil War period. Her account encompasses everything that came under her eye and into her active mind-from travel, landscape, flora, fauna and food. Less domestically, she turned her thoughts and pen to the subject of Mexicans and United States political relations with Mexico, the omnipresent threat of Comanche raiders and the ability and capacity of the army to fulfil its border protection duties. Viele also provides an interesting perspective on Jose Maria Jesus Carbajal and the Merchants War. This is an unusual female viewpoint on life on the early South Western American frontier and is an important chronicle of a woman in Texas during the pioneer period.”-Print ed.Red Eagle and the Wars with the Creek Indians of Alabama 1812-1814
By George Cary Eggleston. 2024
“Red Sticks, White Sticks and the war in AlabamaThe Creek Indian War, also known as the Red Stick War, took…
place between 1813-1814 and has been considered by many historians as part of the War of 1812. The Creek—or Muscogee—Indians of Alabama were effectively waging a civil war among themselves. One militant faction, the so called Red Sticks, proposed an aggressive return to the traditional life of their forebears and an end to treaties with and concessions to pioneer settlers represented by the United States government. The White Sticks, opting for peace, inevitably took the opposing view. Although the conflict began as one between the indigenous Indians, American forces, under the soon to be famous Andrew Jackson among others, were drawn into the conflict because much of the animosity was focussed on pioneer settlements. The conflict started in the usual manner of American Indian Wars—with the murder of settler families. The inevitable revenge and retribution that followed—and an escalation of the kind of merciless savagery the Americans had come to expect—culminated in the massacre of 500 settlers, friendly Indians, mixed blood Creeks and soldiers at Fort Mims in an attack led by the Red Stick war leader, Red Eagle. Other forts were also attacked. Panic spread through the region exacerbated by the inability of the Federal government to provide ready aid since it was engaged against the British and their Indian allies to the east. As a consequence much of the fighting was undertaken by militias from Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi supported by White Stick allies. National hero, Davy Crockett, also served in this conflict. The war ended in a victory for the Americans and put Andrew Jackson on a path to the presidency and the White House. It was a disaster for the entire Creek Indian tribe—irrespective of their allegiances—who paid for the conflict through the confiscation of vast tracts of their traditional lands.”-Print ed.Thrilling Days in Army Life: Experiences of the Beecher's Island Battle 1868, the Apache Campaign of 1882, and the American Civil War
By George Alexander Forsyth. 2024
“A highly regarded memoir of the Indian and Civil Wars.The author of this book, George A. (Sandy) Forsyth was a…
career soldier who served with distinction in the American Civil War and subsequently upon the western frontier against the Plains Indian tribes as they fought a losing battle to stem the inexorable advance of 'Manifest Destiny'—essentially 'the survival of the fittest'—'the law' as Forsyth writes, 'that has obtained since the dawn of creation.' Forsyth's career was varied and full of incident, though in his biography he has elected to concentrate on just four outstanding episodes in which he took part. The first, and certainly the one for which has remained famous to this day concerns the Battle of Beecher's Island. In 1868 in command of just 50 'scouts' Forsyth pursued a thousand Indian warriors of the Northern Cheyenne and other tribes under the war chief, Roman Nose, and found himself besieged on a small island in a creek of the Republican River. This incredible story of endurance has become one of the iconic episodes of the Plains Indian Wars. Here Forsyth tells his experiences in his own words before recounting a lesser known incident from his time on the Mexican border in conflict with and pursuit of Chiricahua Apaches. The final two accounts concern Forsyth's experiences as an aide to Sheridan during the Civil War, first during the Shenandoah campaign and finally at Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House after the last shots of the war were fired. Forsyth intends to grip his reader from first page to last by the exclusion of the routine of drudgery of military life and by focusing on its moments of high action. He succeeds and has created a highly entertaining account of military adventure of the United States Army of the nineteenth century which will satisfy every reader.”-Print ed.One Child at a Time: Inside the Police Hunt to Rescue Children from Online Predators
By Julian Sher. 2007
From a renowned investigative reporter, the true story behind a horrifying Internet abuse epidemic–and the heroes who are out to…
stop it. The Internet has helped make child abuse terrifyingly common–it is the new face of crime in the 21st century. There are tens, probably hundreds of thousands of children whose sexual abuse has been electronically recorded and distributed on the Internet. As Julian Sher reveals, the men perpetrating these crimes include lawyers, priests, doctors and politicians. They pick their victims from the streets of Bangkok to Boy Scout troops in England, while the police–from a crack image analyst with the Toronto police to an FBI agent who poses as a 13-year-old girl online–work desperately to nab the predators. One Child at a Time goes behind the headlines to show how law officers are fighting back against this tide of abuse, from daring rescues in homes to the seizures of millions of dollars in the offshore bank accounts of the porn merchants. In riveting detail, Julian Sher shows how clue by clue, and image by image, investigators are using cutting edge tools, turning the technology of the Internet against the perpetrators as they race to find and rescue the victims–children who otherwise have no voice. This important book explores the ramifications of a worldwide struggle, from the need for updated legal powers to the unexpected effects the Internet has had on our social fabric. It also includes a full list of resources for concerned parents. Though sometimes harrowing, One Child at a Time is also inspiring–and never less than absolutely relevant.A Rusty Gun
By Noel 'Razor' Smith. 2010
As a gun-wielding bank robber, Noel 'Razor' Smith was top of the criminal tree, enjoying the excitement and benefits of…
a dangerous and adrenalin-filled career. But he'd also spent the greater part of his adult life in prison, an environment where respect and basic survival were guaranteed only to those prepared to use the most brutal violence. In his new book, Smith takes the story on from his highly acclaimed memoir A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun, and describes how he came to realize that the game wasn't worth the candle. In his mid-forties he applied to enter Grendon, then the only prison in Britain offering intense therapeutic treatment to hardened criminals. He went from a brutal high-security prison, HMP Whitemoor, to an institution where he was encouraged to investigate just why his life had been given over to violence and crime. Smith paints an unforgettable portrait of the hardened and severely damaged inmates of Grendon, many of them guilty of famous crimes, and their attempts to turn round their lives. And in particular his own arduous five-year journey to re-enter society as a straight citizen.Running with the Firm
By James Bannon. 2013
'Of course I'm a f**king hooligan, you pr**k. I am a hooligan...there I've said it...I'm a hooligan. And, do you…
know why? Because that's my f**king job.'In 1995, a film called I.D., about an ambitious young copper who was sent undercover to track down the ‘generals’ of a football hooligan gang, achieved cult status for its sheer brutality and unsettling insight into the dark and often bloody side of the so-called beautiful game.The film was so shocking it was hard to believe the mindless events that took place could ever happen in the real world. Well, believe it now...Almost twenty years on, the man behind the film has explosively revealed that the script was largely a true story. That man, James Bannon, was the ambitious undercover cop. The football club was Millwall F.C. and the gang that he infiltrated was The Bushwackers, among the most brutal and fearless in English football. In Running with the Firm, Bannon shares his intense and dangerous journey into the underworld of football hooliganism where sickening levels of violence prevail over anything else. He introduces you to the hardest thugs from football’s most notorious gangs, tells all about the secret and almost comical police operations that were meant to bring them down, and, how once you’re on the inside, getting out from the mob proves to be the biggest mission of all.A disturbing but compelling read, this is the book that proves fact really is stranger than fiction.***Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, 2020 - the inside story of the Russian doping programme…
by the man behind it all***One of the Financial Times's 'Fifty people who shaped the decade' 'The biggest sports scandal the world has ever seen'In 2015, Russia's Anti-Doping Centre was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following revelations of an elaborate state-sponsored doping programme at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Involving a nearly undetectable steroid delivery system known as 'Duchesse cocktail', tampering and switching of urine samples, and a complex state-sanctioned cover-up, the programme was masterminded by Grigory Rodchenkov.The Rodchenkov Affair tells the full, unadulterated story that was first glimpsed in Bryan Fogel's award-winning documentary and still continues to captivate and shock the world. Charting the author's childhood growing up under the Iron Curtain, his first encounter with doping as a 22-year-old student athlete at Moscow State University, and his subsequent career working for the Soviet Olympic Committee, this breathtakingly candid journey reveals a rigged system of flawed individuals, brazen deceit and impossible moral choices.Remembering Rachel: A True Story of Betrayal and Murder
By Rose Callaly. 2009
The day Rose Callaly found her daughter Rachel's battered body was only the start of her nightmares.Shortly afterwards Rose became…
certain that the person who had killed her beautiful daughter was Rachel's husband, Joe O'Reilly. After what seemed like an eternity, O'Reilly was charged. But that was the start of another ordeal - the revelation of just how much he despised his wife and the unfolding of his ingenious plan to kill her, a plan that set Rose up to discover the murder scene.Remembering Rachel is the shocking and heart-breaking story of Rachel Callaly's short life and brutal death. It is also a remarkable account of what it is like to be at the heart of a sensational and tragic murder case. And finally, it is a touching portrait of motherly love and the bond that survives death.Raiders: Robbing Banks With Britain's Hardest B****rds
By Noel 'Razor' Smith. 2007
Over the years, both inside and out (though mainly in) he met and associated with many armed robbers, and in…
Raiders he tells their amazing stories. Like Big Bad Bob, the Scotsman who raided bureaux de change 'armed' only with a water-pistol; Steve the Saint, who risked the best relationship of his life on one last big one in the West End and ended up getting a life sentence; and the members of the Little Firm who terrorized south London till their addictions got the better of them. The heyday of the armed bank robber may have passed as security has become all but watertight and sentences draconian. But there are some still prepared to risk it, for the thrills as well as the money. But be warned: if you are stupid enough to take up bank robbery as a career, you will be going to prison. It's odds on. Just read this book.Pure Evil: Inside the Minds and Crimes of Britain’s Worst Criminals
By Geoffrey Wansell. 2016
As featured in Geoffrey Wansell's UPCOMING TRUE CRIME TV series, Murder By The Sea on CBS Reality . . .…
A fascinating exposé of the country's most violent murderers and their horrifying crimes, based on years of original research and intimate interviews.Pure Evil takes a close look at the country's deadliest criminals, from those who horrified the nation to those less famous but equally brutal; they are all serving life sentences behind bars, but what made them do it? Delving deeper into the stories of lifers such as Jeremy Bamber, Joanna Dennehy and Ian Huntley, Pure Evil asks whether they are just that...or something more complex.In this shocking, chilling and powerful book Geoffrey Wansell exposes killers' motivations and remorse, but also seeks out an answer to the vital question: should life always mean life?