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Books > Fiction > True stories > Crime
Named a Best Book of 2018 by the Financial Times and Fortune, this New
York Times-bestseller exposes how a 'modern Gatsby' swindled over $5
billion with the aid of Goldman Sachs in 'the heist of the century'.
Now a #1 international bestseller, Billion Dollar Whale is 'an epic
tale of white-collar crime on a global scale' (Publishers Weekly,
starred review), revealing how a young social climber from Malaysia
pulled off one of the biggest heists in history.
In 2009, a chubby, mild-mannered graduate of the University of
Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business named Jho Low set in motion a
fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude -- one that would come to
symbolise the next great threat to the global financial system. Over a
decade, Low, with the aid of Goldman Sachs and others, siphoned
billions of dollars from an investment fund -- right under the nose of
global financial industry watchdogs. Low used the money to finance
elections, purchase luxury real estate, throw champagne-drenched
parties, and even to finance Hollywood films like The Wolf of Wall
Street.
By early 2019, with his yacht and private jet reportedly seized by
authorities and facing criminal charges in Malaysia and in the United
States, Low had become an international fugitive, even as the US
Department of Justice continued its investigation.
Billion Dollar Whale has joined the ranks of Liar's Poker, Den of
Thieves, and Bad Blood as a classic harrowing parable of hubris and
greed in the financial world.
"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.
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.
By 1966, Hot Springs, Arkansas wasn't your typical sleepy little
Southern town. Once a favorite destination for mobsters like Al
Capone and Lucky Luciano, illegal activities continued to lure
out-of-state gamblers, flim-flam men, and high rollers to its
racetracks, clubs, and bordellos. Still, the town was shaken to its
core after a girl was found dead on a nearby ranch. The ranch owner
claimed it was an accident. Then the rancher was found to be the
killer of another woman - his fourth wife. The story begins when
13-year-old Cathie Ward was found dead after horseback riding at
Blacksnake Ranch on the outskirts of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Frank
Davis, the owner of the ranch, tells authorities Cathie's death is
an accident. He claims her foot caught in a stirrup and she was
dragged to her death despite his pursuit of the runaway horse.
People who know the 42-year-old skilled horseman don't believe his
story, and soon rumors of her rape and murder begin swirling around
town. The rumors reach a crescendo after Davis viciously guns down
his fourth wife and mother-in-law in broad daylight outside of a
laundromat. Davis is arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Soon after, Hot Springs authorities re-open the investigation into
Cathie Ward's death. Snake Eyes is the first book to examine this
decades-old murder and cover-up, and the only in-depth account of
the man who would become the town's most notorious villain.
Featuring personal interviews, crime scene records, court
documents, and Davis' own prison files, author and lifelong Hot
Springs resident Bitty Martin reveals the true story for the first
time.
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.
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.
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.
Serial Killers and the Phenomenon of Serial Murder examines and
analyses some of the best known (as well as lesser) cases from
English criminal history, ancient and modern. It looks at the
lifestyles, backgrounds and activities of those who become serial
killers and identifies clear categories of individuals into which
most serial killers fall.Led by Professor David Wilson the authors
are all experts and teachers concerning the ever-intriguing subject
of serial killing: why, when and how it happens and whether it can
be predicted. Taking some of the leading cases from English law and
abroad they demonstrate the patterns that emerge in the lives and
backgrounds of those who kill a number of times over a period. The
book is designed for those studying the topic at advanced level,
whether as an academic discipline on one of the many courses now
run by universities and colleges or as a private quest for
understanding. It contains notes on key terms and explanations of
topics such as co-activation, Munchausen syndrome, cooling-off
period, psychopathy checklist, social construction, case linkage,
family annihilation, activity space, rational choice theory,
medicalisation and rendezvous discipline. As the first textbook of
its kind it will be an invaluable resource for teachers and
students of serious crime.
Hells Angels turned 50 in 1998. It is now a sophisticated,
technology proficient and aggressive supplier of illegal drugs. In
order to expand its control, the Hells Angels must eradicate rival
biker gangs. Yves Lavigne, known for his investigative journalism
and inside knowledge of the Angels, is triggering a wake-up call
for law enforcement agencies everywhere to understand the menace
that is currently ripping apart Quebec, Scandinavia and South
America in its ascendancy to become drug lords to the world..
Forget Breaking Bad, this is the extraordinary story of the 1970s
Welsh LSD ring that supplied the world, told by a cop in deepest
cover on the case. Life undercover was one great adrenaline rush
fuelled by copious amounts of alcohol, hash, weed and some cocaine.
I was off the leash. In the mid-1970s, at the age of 29, Stephen
Bentley, a fresh-faced detective, turned himself into Steve
Jackson, a dope-smoking, hard-drinking hippie. His time spent
undercover with a gang making and distributing LSD helped bring
down two criminal networks - but the operation also led to deep
personal aftershocks felt long after the case closed. As we get
up-close-and-personal with the people who were the operators of the
drug supply chain that fuelled 70s counter-culture, the story
becomes laden with heavy drug-taking, blurred lines between cop,
criminal and friend, and creeping doubts about who Steve really is.
Taking us into the unlikely setting of the rural Welsh valleys and
infiltrating the gang that was responsible for about 90% of the LSD
production in the UK, Steve Bentley's insider account shows what it
really takes to go undercover - to befriend, to betray and to bury
your sense of self. Now in development as an 8-part TV series.
The bestselling author and true crime master Ann Rule presents her
fifteenth volume of the acclaimed Crime Files series focusing on
disturbing stories of people in danger,. Walking home on a dark
night, you hear footsteps coming up behind you. As they get closer,
your heart pounds harder. Is it a dangerous stranger or someone you
know and trust? The answer is as simple as turning around, but
don't look behind you...run. With her signature in-depth research
and compelling writing, Ann Rule chronicles fateful encounters with
the secret predators hiding in plain sight. First in line is a
stunning case that spanned thirty years and took one determined
detective to four states-ending, finally, in Alaska-where he
unraveled not one but two murders. A second case appears to begin
and end with the hunt for the Green River Killer, focusing on a
Washington State man who was once cleared as a suspect in that
deadly chain of homicides. In another true story, a petite woman
went to a tavern, looking only for conversation and fun. Instead,
she met violent death in the form of a seven-foot tall man who had
seemed shy and harmless. You'll feel a chill as you uncover these
and numerous other cases of unfortunate victims who made one tragic
mistake: trusting the wrong person-even someone they thought they
knew.
"Profiling the Criminal Mind" is, as the subtitle indicates, is a
text and reference on behavioral science and criminal investigative
analysis for investigators, forensic scientists, prosecutors,
behavioral scientists, and academics. This compilation combines
crime scene forensics and experience with behavioral science to get
into the criminal's mind and interpret crime scenes.
A practical guide to applied criminology, the author brings
together his years of experience as a detective/investigator and
professor of criminology and criminal justice to outline an
inter-disciplinary approach to analyzing crime scenes and crime
scene behavior.
Multi-discipline sleuths and researchers into the criminal mind
will find this combined approach to analysis a valuable strategic
approach to the study of violent criminal behavior.
MONEY, MURDER, AND MACHIAVELLIAN MAYHEM ... CONTAINS A NEW EPILOGUE
Mafia Prince is the first person account of one of the most brutal
eras in Mafia history, Little Nicky" Scarfo's reign as boss of the
Philadelphia family in the 1980s,written by Scarfo's underboss and
nephew, Crazy Phil" Leonetti.The youngest-ever underboss at the age
of 33, Leonetti was at the crux of the violent breakup of the
traditional American Mafia in the 1980s when he infiltrated
Atlantic City after gambling was legalized, and later turned
state's evidence against his own. His testimony led directly to the
convictions of dozens of high-ranking men including John Gotti,
Vincent Gigante, and the downfall of his own uncle, Nick
Scarfo,sparking the beginning of the end of La Cosa Nostra (the
insiders' term for the Mafia, translated as This Thing of Ours").
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