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Wicked Sacramento (Wicked)
By William Burg. 2019
In the early 1900s, Sacramento became a battleground in a statewide struggle. On one side were Progressive political reformers and…
suffragettes. Opposing them were bars, dance halls, brothels and powerful business interests. Caught in the middle was the city's West End, a place where Grant "Skewball" Cross hosted jazz dances that often attracted police attention and Charmion performed her infamous trapeze striptease act before becoming a movie star. It was home to the "Queen of the Sacramento Tenderloin," Cherry de Saint Maurice, who met her untimely end at the peak of her success, and Ancil Hoffman, who ingeniously got around the city's dancing laws by renting riverboats for his soirées. Historian William Burg shares the long-hidden stories of criminals and crusaders from Sacramento's past.Making Sense of Marshall Ledbetter: The Dark Side of Political Protest
By Daniel M. Harrison. 2014
Armed with an empty whiskey bottle and wearing a tie-dyed Jimi Hendrix T-shirt, Florida State University dropout Marshall Ledbetter broke…
into the Florida State Capitol early one morning in June 1991. He occupied the Sergeant of Arms suite, demanding an extra-large Gumby’s pizza and 666 donuts for the cops waiting outside. He hoped to garner media attention for his protest of poverty, homelessness, and cuts to higher education.After an eight hour standoff, Ledbetter was betrayed by the very media he had counted on to tell his story; his demands were not broadcast on CNN as he had been promised but streamed into the office on closed-circuit TV. Although he left the building peacefully, the ensuing trial, his trips in and out of the state’s mental health institutions over the following decade, and his eventual suicide in 2003 speak to how difficult it is to untangle addiction, isolation, brilliance, and deviance.Ledbetter’s invasion of the Capitol remains the biggest security breach of the building’s history, but Daniel Harrison’s telling of the Ledbetter saga is about more than one misguided young man’s breaking and entering into the state’s most secure building. Making Sense of Marshall Ledbetter thoughtfully and honestly explores the ways society manages deviant people in real world situations and whether or not our law enforcement and justice systems are adequately equipped to handle mental illness.Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar
By Steve Murphy, Javier Peña. 2019
For the first time, legendary DEA operatives Steve Murphy and Javier F. Peña tell the true story of how they…
helped put an end to one of the world’s most infamous narco-terrorists in Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar—the subject of the hit Netflix series, Narcos.Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s brutal Medellín Cartel was responsible for trafficking tons of cocaine to North America and Europe in the 1980s and ’90s. The nation became a warzone as his sicarios mercilessly murdered thousands of people—competitors, police, and civilians—to ensure he remained Colombia’s reigning kingpin. With billions in personal income, Pablo Escobar bought off politicians and lawmen, and became a hero to poorer communities by building houses and sports centers. He was nearly untouchable despite the efforts of the Colombian National Police to bring him to justice.But Escobar was also one of America’s most wanted, and the Drug Enforcement Administration was determined to see him pay for his crimes. Agents Steve Murphy and Javier F. Peña were assigned to the Bloque de Búsqueda, the joint Colombian-U.S. taskforce created to end Escobar’s reign of terror. For eighteen months, between July 1992 and December 1993, Steve and Javier lived and worked beside Colombian authorities, finding themselves in the crosshairs of sicarios targeting them for the $300,000 bounty Escobar placed on each of their heads.Undeterred, they risked the dangers, relentlessly and ruthlessly separating the drug lord from his resources and allies, and tearing apart his empire, leaving him underground and on the run from enemies on both sides of the law.Manhunters presents Steve and Javier’s history in law enforcement from their rigorous physical training and their early DEA assignments in Miami and Austin to the Escobar mission in Medellin, Colombia—living far from home and serving as frontline soldiers in the never ending war on drugs that continues to devastate America.Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster
By Jonathan Eig. 2010
Drawing on thousands of pages of recently discovered government documents, wiretap transcripts, and Al Capone's handwritten personal letters, New York…
Times bestselling author Jonathan Eig tells the dramatic story of the rise and fall of the nation's most notorious criminal in rich new detail. From the moment he arrived in Chicago in 1920, Capone found himself in a world of limitless opportunity. He was an impetuous, affable young man of average intelligence, ill prepared for fame and fortune, whose most notable characteristic was his scarred left cheek. Yet within a few years, Capone controlled an illegal bootlegging business with annual revenue rivaling that of some of the nation's largest corporations. Along the way he corrupted the Chicago police force and local courts while becoming one of the world's first international celebrities. A furious President Herbert Hoover insisted that Capone be brought to justice because the criminal was making a mockery of federal law. Legend credits Eliot Ness and his "Untouchables" with apprehending Capone. But it was the U. S. attorney in Chicago and little-known agents working on direct orders from the White House who compromised their ethics - and risked their lives - to get their man. The most infamous crime attributed to Capone was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, a crime that Capone insisted he didn't commit. Using newly discovered FBI records, Eig offers a surprising explanation for the murders. Get Capone explores every aspect of the man called "Scarface," paying particular attention to the myths that have for so long surrounded and obscured him. Capone emerges as a worldly, emotionally complex man, doomed as much by his ego as by his vicious criminality. This is the real Al Capone.If Looks Could Kill
By M. William Phelps. 2008
On a day like any other in Akron, Ohio, in a parking lot like so many across America, a black-clad…
motorcyclist rode up to an occupied vehicle and fired a gun--and didn't miss. The shock rippling through the community led to former beauty queen Cynthia George, a respected church member and devoted mother. Married to a wealthy businessman, she seemed to lead a charmed life. But did her beauty mask a heart cold enough to kill? M. William Phelps, award-winning master of the non-fiction thriller, updates this gripping saga of illicit love and murder with startling, unforgettable new insights. Praise for M. William PhelpsHost of Investigation Discovery's Dark Minds"Phelps ratchets up the dramatic tension."--Stephen Singular "Phelps exposes long-hidden secrets and reveals disquieting truths."--Kathryn CaseyIncludes 16 Pages Of PhotosCon Game: Bernard Madoff and His Victims
By Lionel S. Lewis. 2012
Bernard Madoff's financial fraud was global, an enormous amount of money was involved, and thousands of people and hundreds of…
institutions were swindled. Madoff's con game was a Ponzi scheme—an investment that pays returns to early investors from money acquired from subsequent investors.This case study of the Madoff scheme looks at the effects of his crimes on the victims. Elements from a theoretical framework put forward by Erving Goffman provide a perspective for understanding the development and the aftermath of Madoff's con. For example, as Goffman would have put it, Madoff's marks were not cooled out. Many did not accept the fact that they were victims of a con game and publicly clamored for sympathy, restitution, and for public officials to share their perspective.Inside men, ropers, outside men, and victims are at the core of con games. Lionel S. Lewis emphasizes that it is important to understand a con game's characteristics so as to grasp how it operates. The Madoff fraud includes elements of a variety of con games. For a comprehensive study of this economic crime, the case study must be seen as part of the broader social system. Considerably more is known about the dynamics of con games than about Ponzi schemes, and this fact frames this book's approach. To better understand what Madoff did, who was central in keeping his scheme alive, whom he defrauded, and how they reacted, this work is as invaluable as it is illuminating.Wicked St. Augustine
By Ann Colby. 2020
When Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in 1565, his New World survival kit included gambling, liquor and ladies…
for hire. For the next four hundred years, these three industries were vital in keeping the city financially afloat. With the cooperation of law enforcement and politicians, St. Augustine's madams, bootleggers and high-rollers created a veritable Riviera where tourists, especially the wealthy, could indulge in almost every vice and still bring the family along for a wholesome vacation picking oranges and gawking at alligators. Join historian Ann Colby's tour of spots not on the standard tourist map to discover hidden-in-plain-sight bordellos, speakeasies, casinos and the occasional opium den.Broken Faith: Inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, One of America's Most Dangerous Cults
By Mitch Weiss, Holbrook Mohr. 2020
A PopSugar Best True Crime Book of 2020“I can’t imagine a more important book.”—Jeff Guinn, New York Times bestselling authorAn…
explosive investigation into Word of Faith Fellowship, a secretive evangelical cult whose charismatic female leader is a master of manipulationIn 1979, a fiery preacher named Jane Whaley attracted a small group of followers with a promise that she could turn their lives around.In the years since, Whaley’s following has expanded to include thousands of congregants across three continents. In their eyes she’s a prophet. And to disobey her means eternal damnation.The control Whaley exerts is absolute: she decides what her followers study, where they work, whom they can marry—even when they can have sex.Based on hundreds of interviews, secretly recorded conversations, and thousands of pages of documents, Pulitzer Prize winner Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr’s Broken Faith is a terrifying portrait of life inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, and the harrowing account of one family who escaped after two decades.The Adventurer's Son: A Memoir
By Roman Dial. 2020
“A brave and marvelous book. A page-turner that will rip your heart out.” —Jon KrakauerIn the tradition of Into the Wild comes…
an instant classic of outdoor literature, a riveting work of uncommon depth: The Adventurer’s Son is Roman Dial’s extraordinary account of his two-year quest to unravel the mystery of his son’s fate.In the predawn hours of July 10, 2014, the twenty-seven-year-old son of preeminent Alaskan scientist and National Geographic Explorer Roman Dial, walked alone into Corcovado National Park, an untracked rainforest along Costa Rica’s remote Pacific Coast that shelters miners, poachers, and drug smugglers. He carried a light backpack and machete. Before he left, Cody Roman Dial emailed his father: “I am not sure how long it will take me, but I’m planning on doing 4 days in the jungle and a day to walk out. I’ll be bounded by a trail to the west and the coast everywhere else, so it should be difficult to get lost forever.”They were the last words Dial received from his son.As soon as he realized Cody Roman’s return date had passed, Dial set off for Costa Rica. As he trekked through the dense jungle, interviewing locals and searching for clues—the authorities suspected murder—the desperate father was forced to confront the deepest questions about himself and his own role in the events. Roman had raised his son to be fearless, to be at home in earth’s wildest places, travelling together through rugged Alaska to remote Borneo and Bhutan. Was he responsible for his son’s fate? Or, as he hoped, was Cody Roman safe and using his wilderness skills on a solo adventure from which he would emerge at any moment?Part detective story set in the most beautiful yet dangerous reaches of the planet, The Adventurer’s Son emerges as a far deeper tale of discovery—a journey to understand the truth about those we love the most. The Adventurer’s Son includes fifty black-and-white photographs.Yesterday's Monsters: The Manson Family Cases and the Illusion of Parole
By Prof. Hadar Aviram. 2020
In 1969, the world was shocked by a series of murders committed by Charles Manson and his "family" of followers.…
Although the defendants were sentenced to death in 1971, their sentences were commuted to life with parole in 1972; since 1978, they have been regularly attending parole hearings. Today all of the living defendants remain behind bars. Relying on nearly fifty years of parole hearing transcripts, as well as interviews and archival materials, Hadar Aviram invites readers into the opaque world of the California parole process—a realm of almost unfettered administrative discretion, prison programming inadequacies, high-pitched emotions, and political pressures. Yesterday’s Monsters offers a fresh longitudinal perspective on extreme punishment.Encubierto; Operación Julie - La Verdadera Historia
By Stephen Bentley. 2019
En marzo de 1978, en la culminación de Operación Julie quince acusados, incluyendo doctores, químicos investigadores, un escritor y vendedores…
de drogas “profesionales” fueron sentenciados a un total combinado de ciento veinticuatro años de prisión. La Operación Julie es, hasta el momento, el punto de referencia para todas las operaciones encubiertas y entrenamiento británico. En 2011, la BBC dijo que esta operación policíaca única y masiva fue el comienzo de la guerra a las drogas. Stephen Bentley fue uno de cuatro detectives encubiertos que trabajó en la Operación Julie, una de las redadas contra las drogas más grandes en el mundo. Junto con su compañero encubierto, infiltró a la banda que producía alrededor del 90 por ciento del LSD en el mundo y descubrió un complot para importar grandes cantidades de cocaína boliviana al Reino Unido. El bajo mundo conocía al autor como Steve Jackson. ¿Cómo logró infiltrar las dos pandillas con éxito? ¿Tuvo que tomar drogas, y de qué manera “vivir una mentira” lo afectó? Descubra las respuestas y penetre en la mente de Steve Jackson, detective encubierto. “Una perspectiva desde adentro sobre el tráfico de drogas, escrito con encanto, inteligencia y a veces humor, por un hombre talentoso, calificado de manera única para contar la historia.” –Extracto de una Revisión. “No hay drama televisivo en donde los buenos tipos y los malos tipos se pueden identificar fácilmente y donde el crimen se resuelve en una hora de tiempo al aire. En la historia de la vida real de Operación Julie, las líneas que la definen no son tan claras y me encontré intriguido por la amistad que se desarrolló entre el Sr. Bentley y uno de los hombres que estaba investigando, preguntándome cómo resolvería esta difícil situación cuando el desenlace final llegara.” -- Extracto de una Revisión. “Visión fascinante al turbio mundo del trabajo policial encubieThe thrilling career of ATF agent Cynthia Beebe is told through the lens of six-high profile cases involving bombings, arson,…
and the Hell's Angels. Boots in the Ashes is the memoir of Cynthia Beebe's groundbreaking career as one of the first women special agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, (ATF). A smart and independent girl growing up in suburban Chicago, she unexpectedly became one of the first women to hunt down violent criminals for the federal government.As a special agent for 27 years, Beebe gives the reader first-hand knowledge of the human capacity for evil. She tells the story of how, as a young woman, she overcame many obstacles on her journey through the treacherous world of illegal guns, gangs, and bombs. She battled conflicts both on the streets and within ATF. But Beebe learned how to thrive in the ultra-masculine world of violent crime and those whose job it is to stop it.Beebe tells her story through the lens of six major cases that read like crime fiction: four bombings, one arson fire and a massive roundup of the Hell's Angels on the West Coast. She also shares riveting never before revealed trial testimonies, including killers, bombers, arsonists, victims, witnesses and judges.¿Qué pasó con mi padre?: El caso Branca contado por su hija
By Victoria Branca. 2020
Una hija investiga la misteriosa muerte de su padre, en la que estuvo involucrado el almirante Massera durante la última…
dictadura militar. Combinando el tono confesional con el relato policial y judicial, Victoria Branca reconstruye, a través de expedientes y encuentros con amigos, la vida de su padre Fernando, un empresario de los setenta, casado con Martha Rodríguez McCormack, una mujer que, a su vez, habría mantenido una relación con el temible almirante Massera. Este caso, resonante durante la dictadura militar, permaneció perdido en un juzgado. Pero la fuerza y la necesidad de una hija de saber lo que pasó con su padre rescataron del olvido esta historia que ocurrió en el período más oscuro de la Argentina. "Me llevó tiempo animarme a decir lo que pretendía dejar en el anonimato para siempre -dice la autora-. A darle voz a mi propia alma, estaqueada entre el deseo de liberarme de las garras del dolor de una vez por todas y el temor de ser incomprendida y marginada. Por los míos. Por los cercanos y próximos. Porque los de afuera, los que eran ajenos a esta historia de silencio forzado, me alentaban a que contara, por fin, mi propia versión de los hechos".Medianoche en México: El descenso de un periodista a las tinieblas de un país en guerra
By Alfredo Corchado. 2013
Un periodista sigue la pista de diversos cárteles de la droga en México, hasta que su propia vida es puesta…
en predicamento. Es medianoche en México, 2007. Alfredo Corchado recibe una llamada telefónica de su fuente principal para informarle que hay un plan para asesinarlo por parte de un poderoso capo. Pronto averigua que lo quieren matar porque uno de sus artículos en el Dallas Morning News afectó los sobornos que los narcotraficantes entregan a policías, militares y funcionarios del gobierno mexicano. Así comienza el viaje en espiral de un hombre que busca descifrar la compleja situación del país mientras lucha por salvar su vida. A pesar de recorrer un camino de múltiples encrucijadas, desigualdad y violencia extrema, Corchado, "infectado con la enfermedad incurable del periodismo", no se resigna a abandonar la esperanza en tiempos turbulentos. Ahora, el líder del brutal cártel que lo perseguía, el Z-40, está detenido, pero la historia no haterminado de escribirse. "Este libro habla sobre las sangrientas fronteras que dividen los dos países de Alfredo Corchado -México y Estados Unidos- y que han regido su propia vida. Con el telón de fondo de la terrible y violenta guerra contra las drogas que ha convertido a México en una tierra de sepulcros, Corchado comparte su propia historia y la de su familia de manera conmovedora, honesta y aguda." -JON LEE ANDERSON, autor de Che Guevara, una vida revolucionaria "Un sutil y conmovedor testimonio que servirá a cualquiera que desee entender a México desde sus profundidades y cómo es afectado -legal e ilegalmente- por Estados Unidos." -JOHN WOMACK JR., autor de Rebelión en Chiapas "Alfredo Corchado es el tipo de reportero y escritor que nos hace recuperar la fe en el periodismo." -TRACY KIDDER, Premio Pulitzer, autor de La fuerza de lo que quedaJohn Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father's Fight for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial
By David Fisher, Dan Abrams. 2020
The New York Times bestselling author of Lincoln’s Last Trial and host of LivePD Dan Abrams and David Fisher tell…
the story of a trial that would change history. History remembers John Adams as a Founding Father and our country’s second president. But in the tense years before the American Revolution, he was still just a lawyer, fighting for justice in one of the most explosive murder trials of the era.On the night of March 5, 1770, shots were fired by British soldiers on the streets of Boston, killing five civilians. The Boston Massacre has often been called the first shots of the American Revolution. As John Adams would later remember, “On that night the formation of American independence was born.” Yet when the British soldiers faced trial, the young lawyer Adams was determined that they receive a fair one. He volunteered to represent them, keeping the peace in a powder keg of a colony, and in the process created some of the foundations of what would become United States law. In this book, New York Times bestselling authors Dan Abrams and David Fisher draw on the trial transcript, using Adams’s own words to transport readers to colonial Boston, a city roiling with rebellion, where British military forces and American colonists lived side by side, waiting for the spark that would start a war. A New York Times BestsellerLa reina del pacífico: es la hora de contar
By Julio Scherer García. 2009
Un extraordinario reportaje que muestra a la mujer-mito del narco mexicano tal cual es: explicando lo que significa nacer, crecer…
y vivir en ese mundo, contando sus experiencias con los grandes capos y los narcopolicías, revelando las entrañas de ese infierno y también su intimidad... todo ello gracias al enorme oficio del mejor periodista de México. Resultado de una larga serie de entrevistas a Sandra Ávila, la Reina del Pacífico, contiene el primer testimonio sobre lo que significa nacer, crecer y vivir dentro de la mafia del narcotráfico. Esta mujer-mito le platica a Julio Scherer su historia, en la cual se manifiesta directamente, con todas sus contradicciones, temores y arrebatos. Su voz, ante el periodista y la opinión pública, retumba poderosa, aunque por momentos se exprese a la defensiva, lacónica y desalentada. Gracias al enorme oficio narrativo de quien es considerado el mejor periodista de México, Sandra Ávila nos presenta las entrañas de ese mundo gobernado por la muerte, pero también habla de su intimidad. "Y en la lucha por mostrarse dueña de sí misma" -como escribe Scherer-, resulta contundente. "Me he emborrachado con la vida y he padecido crudas de las que me he levantado. Ahora tropiezo con los muros de mi celda entre la depresión y el ánimo, medio muerta y medio viva, caída y vuelta a levantar..." Libro único en muchos sentidos, La Reina del Pacífico: Es la hora de contar se publica en el momento más trascendental de la guerra contra el narcotráfico. Suministra a los lectores piezas cardinales que le permiten descifrar el rompecabezas de esta violencia sin antecedentes que sufre nuestro país y que parece no tener fin.País narco: Tráfico de drogas en Argentina: del tránsito a la producción propia
By Mauro Federico. 2011
Los episodios de narcotráfico más resonantes de la última década endetalle, e inquietantes conclusiones que apuntan a una preguntarecurrente: ¿por…
qué la Argentina dejó de ser un país de tránsito paratransformarse en una factoría de distribución regional e internacional? En 2008, el fusilamiento de tres empresarios que pretendieron meterse enel negocio de la efedrina y la ejecución de dos colombianos -al mejorestilo Medellín años ochenta- fueron las violentas cartas depresentación local de los carteles que manejan la droga a nivel mundial,una historia que suma episodios día a día, y en la que el narcoavión con944 kilos de cocaína requisado en España no es un dato aislado sino eleslabón lógico de una cadena de acontecimientos.Colombia, Brasil y Argentina son los países elegidos por organizacionesnarcos a la hora de triangular la mercadería que se comercializa enEuropa, África y Oceanía. Puestos fronterizos permeables y ausencia deradarización son claves para el crecimiento exponencial del negocio y lamodificación radical de su matriz. Todo esto agravado por un escenarioen el que no faltan policías sorprendidos con cargamentos de cocaína,jueces que limpian órdenes de captura internacionales, políticosinvolucrados en asesinatos de narcos, combates entre bandas que selibran en las calles y falta de controles sobre el dinero sucio.Mujeres asesinas 2
By Marisa Grinstein. 2012
Tras la amplia repercusión del primer volumen y la primera temporada dela serie televisiva, «Mujeres asesinas 2» retoma la idea…
original connuevos y alucinantes casos. Sin juicios fáciles, sin las estridencias de la crónica roja, estascatorce historias nos cautivan y nos inquietan al mismo tiempo; setrata, al fin y al cabo, de mujeres llevadas al límitede tener que suprimir una vida para seguir viviendo. «Es raro, pero yono podía vivir si ella también estaba viva», dice una de ellas, asesinade su madre. En esas palabras simples, inapelables, yace la respuesta aun interrogante: por qué vieron en la eliminación del otro la únicasalida.La prosa de Marisa Grinstein -magistral en la construcción de unsuspenso que no cesa hasta el final- realimenta así la perturbadorafascinación que ejerce la figura de la mujer criminal y procuradescifrar un enigma femenino y, en definitiva, humano.Los chicos malos del barrio
By Gavin Knight. 2006
Tres historias reales y tres ciudades que podrían ser cualquier otra... La violencia y el tráfico de drogas son dos…
de los grandes problemas sociales a nivel mundial. Los chicos malos del barrio se acerca a ellos a través de tres ciudades del Reino Unido: Manchester, Londres y Glasgow. Tres historias independientes, con personajes y visiones del problema de lo más diversas. En Manchester tenemos a Anders Svenson, un policía obsesionado con atrapar a Merlin y Flow, principales capos de la droga en la ciudad. En Londres, Pilgrim es un chico de ascendencia jamaicana que se mete en líos con pandillas. Esto lo lleva a participar en el robo de un camión y a acabar en un reformatorio. Pero, lejos de reformarse, la dureza del ambiente lo lleva a formar su propia banda para sobrevivir. En Glasgow, Karin McCluskey es detective y ha sido ascendida para controlar el número de crímenes violentos. Sus estudios descubren que la tasa de crimen real es el triple del que aparece en los informes. Busca ayuda en políticos y gente influyente, pero todos piensan que la violencia está demasiado arraigada para invertir su dinero y su tiempo en programas para solventarla. Estos y otros personajes construyen una novela coral que, con un estilo directo y objetivo, muestra al lector la realidad de la violencia, sus causas y sus consecuencias, basándose en historias reales y situaciones que podrían darse en cualquier ciudad del mundo.Mujeres asesinas 3
By Marisa Grinstein. 2012
«Él se la buscó. Yo le avisé, pero él igual me siguió mintiendo. Y ojaláque otros hombres se enteren de…
lo que yo hice, para que vayanaprendiendo». «Catorce nuevos casos completan aquí la serie de Mujeres asesinas que,desde la crónica literaria y su posterior adaptación televisiva, seinstaló con total naturalidad entre nosotros. Desplazando los temaspolíticos o económicos, conversaciones de hombres y mujeres en casa o enla oficina reflejan el efecto demoledor de este verdadero fenómeno,surgido de una premisa sencilla pero de difícil logro: contar buenashistorias. Logro que Marisa Grinstein confirma magistralmente en estaentrega.Las mujeres asesinas de estos relatos son una herida, nos muestran elabismo doméstico de lo que somos y podemos ser. Sin dejar de servictimarias, todas ellas son víctimas. Sin dejar de ser culpables, sonde algún modo perturbadoramente inocentes».Jorge Fernández Díaz