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Books > Fiction > True stories > Crime
When Benny Martinez walks into the offices of the Philadelphia
Daily News in 2008 to speak with reporter Wendy Ruderman, the paper
is on the brink of bankruptcy. What he tells Wendy and her
colleague Barbara Laker is too shocking to ignore: his career as a
confidential informant for a member of the Philadelphia Police
Department's narcotics squad has drawn him into a web of
corruption, and now Benny is afraid for his life. Busted is
Ruderman and Laker's riveting account of their investigation into
the acts committed by powerful rogue members of the narcotics
squad. By dint of perseverance, ingenuity, and good old
shoe-leather reporting, the women unraveled a tapestry of lies.
Starting with the discovery of fabricated search warrants, they
soon find that the scandal encompasses a systematic looting of
immigrant-owned businesses and allegations of brutal sexual
assault. When Ruderman and Laker produce a devastating series of
articles that blows the lid off the scandal, they not only win the
fight for justice. They also win a Pulitzer Prize for Investigative
Reporting, an unthinkable triumph for two city reporters at a
beleaguered local paper.
This is a story that is based on truth. Over forty years ago three
young lives were taken. They never had a chance for justice until
now. But what actually had happened is the wrong man has been
convicted of this heinous crime. The real murderer was never tried
or convicted. He walked through life with this lie and got away
with it. How do I know? He was my father. This is a journey inward
to find the disturbing truth about a man that was a mystery to all.
"America's best true-crime writer" (Kirkus Reviews) presents an
all-new collection of crime stories drawn from her private files
and featuring the riveting case of a fraudulent doctor whose
lifelong deceptions had deadly consequences. The inspiration behind
the upcoming Lifetime movie event Desperate Hours. Dr. Anthony
Pignataro was a cosmetic surgeon and a famed medical researcher
whose flashy red Lamborghini and flamboyant lifestyle in western
New York State suggested a highly successful career. But
appearances can be deceiving-and, for the doctor's wife, very
nearly deadly. Now, the motivations of the classic sociopath are
plumbed with chilling accuracy by Ann Rule. Along with other
shocking true cases, this worldwide headline-making case will have
you turning pages in disbelief that a trusted medical professional
could sink to the depths of greed, manipulation, and
self-aggrandizement where even slow, deliberate murder is not seen
for what it truly is: pure evil.
The Sunday Times Top 10 Bestseller 'There is time and then there is
Broadmoor time.' Broadmoor. Few place names in the world have such
chilling resonance. For over 150 years, it has contained the UK's
most violent, dangerous and psychopathic. Since opening as an
asylum for the criminally insane in 1863 it has housed the
perpetrators of many of the most shocking crimes in history;
including Jack the Ripper suspect James Kelly, serial killers Peter
Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire Ripper), John Straffen and Kenneth
Erskine, armed robber Charles Bronson, gangster Ronnie Kray, and
cannibal Peter Bryan. The truth about what goes on behind the
Victorian walls of the high security hospital has largely remained
a mystery, but now with unprecedented access TV journalist Jonathan
Levi and cultural historian Emma French paint a vivid picture of
life at Broadmoor, after nearly a decade observing and speaking to
those on the inside. Including interviews with the staff, its
experts and the patients themselves, Inside Broadmoor is the most
comprehensive study of the institution to-date. Published at the
dawn of a new era for the hospital, this is the full story of
Broadmoor's past, present and future and a dark but enlightening
journey into the minds of Britain's most dangerous and how they are
treated.
Although they account for only ten percent of all murders, those
attributed to women seem especially likely to captivate the public.
This absorbing book examines why that is true and how some women,
literally, get away with murder. Combining compelling storytelling
with insightful observations, the book invites readers to take a
close look at ten high-profile killings committed by American
women. The work exposes the forces that underlie the public's
fascination with female killers and determine why these women so
often become instant celebrities. Cases are paired by motive-love,
money, revenge, self-defense, and psychopathology. Through them,
the authors examine the appeal of women who commit murders and show
how perceptions of their crimes are shaped. The book details both
the crimes and the criminals as it explores how pop culture treats
stereotypes of female murderers in film and print. True crime
aficionados will be fascinated by the minute descriptions of what
happened and why, while pop culture enthusiasts will appreciate the
lens of societal norms through which these cases are examined.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 'A page-turner with
the authority of history' PHILIPPA GREGORY 'As gripping as a novel.
An engaging, unsettling, deeply satisfying read' SARAH WATERS
London, 1938. Alma Fielding, an ordinary young woman, begins to
experience supernatural events in her suburban home. Nandor Fodor -
a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the
International Institute for Psychical research - begins to
investigate. In doing so he discovers a different and darker type
of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss - and the foreshadowing of a
nation's worst fears. As the spectre of Fascism lengthens over
Europe, and as Fodor's obsession with the case deepens, Alma
becomes ever more disturbed. With rigour, daring and insight, the
award-winning pioneer of historical narrative non-fiction Kate
Summerscale shadows Fodor's enquiry, delving into long-hidden
archives to find the human story behind a very modern haunting. 'An
empathetic, meticulous account of a spiritual unravelling; a
tribute to the astonishing power of the human mind - but also a
properly absorbing, baffling, satisfying detective story' AIDA
EDEMARIAM A PICK OF THE AUTUMN IN THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, OBSERVER
AND THE GUARDIAN
These bald facts, horrific as they are, do not begin to scratch the
surface of the truth about Robert Black, a Scottish-born serial
killer who undoubtedly committed further murders for which he was
never tried, both in this country and on the Continent. In this
ground-breaking account, Robert Giles, who has spent years tracing
the killer's movements and sifting through all the evidence,
including transcripts of the trials, convincingly argues that Black
was an habitual serial killer over many years, and quite certainly
responsible for more than the four child murders for which he was
convicted. Co-written with Chris Clark, a former police
intelligence officer whose tireless work into the Yorkshire Ripper
produced convincing new evidence of other murders that went
unnoticed or unrecorded, The Face of Evil shows once and for all
that Robert Black was a serial killer whose crimes went far beyond
what is generally believed. In doing so, it paints a portrait of
human cruelty at its worst.
In February 1983, civil servant Dennis Nilsen was arrested after
body parts were found to be blocking drains at the house where he
lived. As the squad car drove him away, he confessed he had
strangled 15 young men. It wasn't just the crimes that stunned the
police, but the way Nilsen talked. He spoke as if he loved the
young men he killed. His words seemed bizarre. When newspapers
carried stories of how the 37-year-old lured men back to his flat
and why, the nation was shocked by his sheer evil. Yet some
psychiatrists considered him a man of rare, complex, and extreme
psychological problems. Moreover, they had never met a killer who
seemed so keen to understand his own psyche. Whilst on remand in
Brixton Prison, Nilsen filled 55 exercise books with thoughts.
During his subsequent thirty years in prison he has continued to
write, most notably on the first draft of a multi-volume
autobiography. The Home Office has now banned it, calling the work
pornographic and outrageous. Only one journalist has read the book.
Using exclusive access to Nilsen's writing and extensive
independent research, Russ Coffey explains what Nilsen says and how
much of it we can believe. This is a shocking glimpse into the mind
of a killer.
Although much has been written about Al Capone, there has not
been--until now--a complete history of organized crime in Chicago
during Prohibition. This exhaustively researched book covers the
entire period from 1920 to 1933. Author John J. Binder, a
recognized authority on the history of organized crime in Chicago,
discusses all the important bootlegging gangs in the city and the
suburbs and also examines the other major rackets, such as
prostitution, gambling, labor and business racketeering, and
narcotics. A major focus is how the Capone gang -- one of twelve
major bootlegging mobs in Chicago at the start of
Prohibition--gained a virtual monopoly over organized crime in
northern Illinois and beyond. Binder also describes the fight by
federal and local authorities, as well as citizens' groups, against
organized crime. In the process, he refutes numerous myths and
misconceptions related to the Capone gang, other criminal groups,
the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and gangland killings. What
emerges is a big picture of how Chicago's underworld evolved during
this period. This broad perspective goes well beyond Capone and
specific acts of violence and brings to light what was happening
elsewhere in Chicagoland and after Capone went to jail. Based on 25
years of research and using many previously unexplored sources,
this fascinating account of a bloody and colorful era in Chicago
history will become the definitive work on the subject.
As Judge Robert Clive Jones enters the courtroom, plaintiff
Frank Romano takes a deep breath. Finally, after all this time, his
opportunity to seek justice has arrived. As Judge Jones bangs his
gavel, a trial to determine the responsibility for the largest
cheating scandal in Nevada Gaming History begins.
Several years earlier, beneath the neon lights of Las Vegas,
Romano became a partner in the American Coin Company. In the 1980s,
as the company grew to be the third largest slot company in Nevada,
Romano was content with his challenging and profitable work,
despite regularly being at odds with his partners over the
operating principles of the business. But in 1989, Romano's world
changed forever when American Coin was seized and closed by the
Gaming Control Board for rigging programs. In his gripping story of
white collar crime, Frank shares the incredible details of his fall
from grace and how he dedicated the rest of his life to recovering
his monetary losses and professional reputation.
"American Coin" provides an unforgettable glimpse behind closed
doors of Nevada's biggest gaming scandal as one man embarks on a
road to redemption lined with betrayal, deception, and murder.
The first full account of the Slenderman stabbing, a true crime
narrative of mental illness, the American judicial system, the
trials of adolescence, and the power of the internetOn May 31,
2014, in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wisconsin, two
twelve-year-old girls attempted to stab their classmate to death.
Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier's violence was extreme, but what
seemed even more frightening was that they committed their crime
under the influence of a figure born by the internet: the so-called
"Slenderman." Yet the even more urgent aspect of the story, that
the children involved suffered from undiagnosed mental illnesses,
often went overlooked in coverage of the case.Slenderman: Online
Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern
Girls tells that full story for the first time in deeply researched
detail, using court transcripts, police reports, individual
reporting, and exclusive interviews. Morgan and Anissa were bound
together by their shared love of geeky television shows and
animals, and their discovery of the user-uploaded scary stories on
the Creepypasta website could have been nothing more than a brief
phase. But Morgan was suffering from early-onset childhood
schizophrenia. She believed that she had seen Slenderman long
before discovering him online, and the only way to stop him from
killing her family was to bring him a sacrifice: Morgan's best
friend Payton "Bella" Leutner, whom Morgan and Anissa planned to
stab to death on the night of Morgan's twelfth birthday party.
Bella survived the attack, but was deeply traumatized, while Morgan
and Anissa were immediately sent to jail, and the severity of their
crime meant that they would be prosecuted as adults. There, as
Morgan continued to suffer from worsening mental illness after
being denied antipsychotics, her life became more and more
surreal.Slenderman is both a page-turning true crime story and a
search for justice.
How a series of violent Amish-on-Amish attacks shattered the peace
of a peace-loving people and led to a new interpretation of the
federal hate crime law. On the night of September 6, 2011, terror
called at the Amish home of the Millers. Answering a late-night
knock from what appeared to be an Amish neighbor, Mrs. Miller
opened the door to her five estranged adult sons, a daughter, and
their spouses. It wasn't a friendly visit. Within moments, the men,
wearing headlamps, had pulled their frightened father out of bed,
pinned him into a chair, and-ignoring his tearful protests-sheared
his hair and beard, leaving him razor-burned and dripping with
blood. The women then turned on Mrs. Miller, yanking her prayer cap
from her head and shredding it before cutting off her waist-long
hair. About twenty minutes later, the attackers fled into the
darkness, taking their parents' hair as a trophy. Four similar
beard-cutting attacks followed, disfiguring nine victims and
generating a tsunami of media coverage. While pundits and
late-night talk shows made light of the attacks and poked fun at
the Amish way of life, FBI investigators gathered evidence about
troubling activities in a maverick Amish community near Bergholz,
Ohio-and the volatile behavior of its leader, Bishop Samuel Mullet.
Ten men and six women from the Bergholz community were arrested and
found guilty a year later of 87 felony charges involving
conspiracy, lying, and obstructing justice. In a precedent-setting
decision, all of the defendants, including Bishop Mullet and his
two ministers, were convicted of federal hate crimes. It was the
first time since the 2009 passage of the Matthew Shepard and James
Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act that assailants had been
found guilty for religiously motivated hate crimes within the same
faith community. Renegade Amish goes behind the scenes to tell the
full story of the Bergholz barbers: the attacks, the investigation,
the trial, and the aftermath. In a riveting narrative reminiscent
of a true crime classic, scholar Donald B. Kraybill weaves a dark
and troubling story in which a series of violent Amish-on-Amish
attacks shattered the peace of these traditionally nonviolent
people, compelling some of them to install locks on their doors and
arm themselves with pepper spray. The country's foremost authority
on Amish society, Kraybill spent six months assisting federal
prosecutors with the case against the Bergholz defendants and
served as an expert witness during the trial. Informed by trial
transcripts and his interviews of ex-Bergholz Amish, relatives of
Bishop Mullet, victims of the attacks, Amish leaders, and the jury
foreman, Renegade Amish delves into the factors that transformed
the Bergholz Amish from a typical Amish community into one
embracing revenge and retaliation. Kraybill gives voice to the
terror and pain experienced by the victims, along with the deep
shame that accompanied their disfigurement-a factor that figured
prominently in the decision to apply the federal hate crime law.
Built on Kraybill's deep knowledge of Amish life and his contacts
within many Amish communities, Renegade Amish highlights one of the
strangest and most publicized sagas in contemporary Amish history.
There are other manifestations of greatness than to relieve
suffering or to wreck an empire. Julius Caesar and John Howard are
not the only heroes who have smiled upon the world. In the supreme
adaptation of means to an end there is a constant nobility, for
neither ambition nor virtue is the essential of a perfect action.
How shall you contemplate with indifference the career of an artist
whom genius or good guidance has compelled to exercise his peculiar
skill, to indulge his finer aptitudes? A masterly theft rises in
its claim to respect high above the reprobation of the moralist.
The scoundrel, when once justice is quit of him, has a right to be
appraised by his actions, not by their effect; and he dies secure
in the knowledge that he is commonly more distinguished, if he be
less loved, than his virtuous contemporaries. While murder is
wellnigh as old as life, property and the pocket invented theft,
late-born among the arts. It was not until avarice had devised many
a cunning trick for the protection of wealth, until civilisation
had multiplied the forms of portable property, that thieving became
a liberal and an elegant profession. True, in pastoral society, the
lawless man was eager to lift cattle, to break down the barrier
between robbery and warfare. But the contrast is as sharp between
the savagery of the ancient reiver and the polished performance of
Captain Hind as between the daub of the pavement and the perfection
of Velasquez.
The Mossad is widely recognized today as the best intelligence
service in the world. It is also the most enigmatic, shrouded in
secrecy. Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret
Service unveils the defi ning and most dangerous operations that
have shaped Israel and the world at large from the agency's more
than sixty-year history, among them: the capture of Adolf Eichmann,
the eradication of Black September, the destruction of the Syrian
nuclear facility, and the elimination of key Iranian nuclear
scientists.
Through intensive research and exclusive interviews with Israeli
leaders and Mossad agents, authors Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim
Mishal re-create these missions in riveting detail, vividly
bringing to life the heroic operatives who risked everything in the
face of unimaginable danger. In the words of Shimon Peres,
president of Israel, this gripping, white-knuckle read "tells what
should have been known and isn't--that Israel's hidden force is as
formidable as its recognized physical strength."
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