Drawing on extensive interviews and correspondence with many of Tann's surviving victims, Barbara Raymond shows how Tann not only popularised adoption - which until then had been feared and discouraged - but also commercialised and corrupted it. She tells how Tann abducted babies or coerced women to leave their children in her care and then sold them. To cover her kidnapping crimes she falsified birth certificates, a practice that was approved by legislators who believed it would spare adoptees the taint of illegitimacy - an one that still holds today in the form of 'amended' birth certificates and closed adoption records. Uncovering many life-shattering stories along the way, Raymond recounts how Tann openly sold more that 5,000 children, and killed so many through neglect that Memphis's infant mortality rate soared to the highest in the country. She explores how Tann's operation was able to thrive in a Tennessee governed by 'Boss' Ed Crump and the political network that allowed her to operate with impunity. And she portrays the lack of options available to women, affecting not only the birth mothers she robbed, but also Tann herself, who turned to social work after having been barred for a 'masculine profession' - the law. Written by an adoptive mother, The Baby Thief is part social history, part detective story, and part expose. It is a riveting investigative narrative that explores themes that continue to reverberate in the modern era, when baby sellers operate overseas. It is particularly relevant at this time in the UK, amidst heated national debate over the controversial adoption targets that seem to provide a perverse incentive to remove babies from birth parents.

Lawman or outlaw? Black-hatted "villains" and white-hatted "good guys" of the Old West walk the streets of our imagination. Hollywood draws a convenient line in the Western dirt, differentiating between the two. But in reality, at times it was difficult, if not impossible to distinguish who was who. Shadowy faces roamed the West. When Outlaws Wore Badges explores the world of lawman and outlaw wrapped into one person. At times the badge speaks, other times-the gun. Living in the Old West was not easy. Often, law and justice were left behind in the east, when men migrated to the open lands of the West. Some men took advantage of fluid regulations while others found themselves helping to invent and enforce law and order. A few men did both.

During the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century a growing number of ordinary citizens had the feeling that all was not as it should be. Men who were making money made prodigious amounts, but this new wealth somehow passed over the heads of the common people. As this new breed of journalists began to examine their subjects with scrutiny, they soon discovered that those individuals were essentially "simple men of extraordinary boldness." And it was easy to understand how they were able to accomplish their sinister purposes: "at first abruptly and bluntly, by asking and giving no quarter, and later with the same old determination and ruthlessness but with educated satellites who were glad to explain and idealize their behavior."[i] "Nothing is lost save honor," said one infamous buccaneer, and that was an attitude that governed the amoral principles and extralegal actions of many audacious scoundrels. Relying on secondary sources, magazine and newspaper articles, and personal accounts from those involved, this volume captures some of the sensational true stories that took place in the western United States during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century. The theme that runs through each of the stories is the general contempt for the law that seemed to pervade the culture at the time and the consuming desire to acquire wealth at any cost-what Geoffrey C. Ward has called "the disposition to be rich." ------------------------------------------------------------ End Notes Introduction [i]Louis Filler, Crusaders for American Liberalism (Yellow Springs, OH: Antioch Press, 1964), 14.

In the digital era, the Internet has evolved into a ubiquitous aspect of modern society. With the prominence of the Dark Web, understanding the components of the Internet and its available content has become increasingly imperative. The Dark Web: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice is an innovative reference source for the latest scholarly material on the capabilities, trends, and developments surrounding the secrecy of the Dark Web. Highlighting a broad range of perspectives on topics such as cyber crime, online behavior, and hacking, this book is an ideal resource for researchers, academics, graduate students, and professionals interested in the Dark Web.

Now a major motion picture starring Johnny Depp A New York Times Bestseller A Boston Globe Bestseller An ABA Indie Bestseller James Whitey" Bulger became one of the most ruthless gangsters in US history, and all because of an unholy deal he made with a childhood friend. John Connolly a rising star in the Boston FBI office, offered Bulger protection in return for helping the Feds eliminate Boston's Italian mafia. But no one offered Boston protection from Whitey Bulger, who, in a blizzard of gangland killings, took over the city's drug trade. Whitey's deal with Connolly's FBI spiraled out of control to become the biggest informant scandal in FBI history. Black Mass is a New York Times and Boston Globe bestseller, written by two former reporters who were on the case from the beginning. It is an epic story of violence, double-cross, and corruption at the centre of which are the black hearts of two old friends whose lives unfolded in the darkness of permanent midnight.

On November 21, 1992, Thomas Monfils, an employee at the James River paper mill in Green Bay, Wisconsin, disappeared. After an intensive search, his body was found the next evening, submerged in a pulp vat. The police called it murder. In 1995, six of Monfils' coworkers were wrongfully convicted of his death, the result of a preordained theory and a reckless prosecution.

Highly detailed and meticulously researched, "The Monfils Conspiracy" reveals the true story of a botched case that landed six innocent men in prison. Through extensive interviews, court documents, police reports, and other documentation, Denis Gullickson and John Gaie present a powerful look at the troubling events surrounding the death of Thomas Monfils and the mistake-riddled investigation that followed.

Gullickson and Gaie trace the futile twenty-nine month investigation between the time of Monfils' death and the conviction, one pock-marked with dead end leads and overlooked evidence. Using solid facts, they lay bare the weaknesses, inconsistencies, and secrets in the prosecution's case and the jury's erroneous rush to judgment. As recently as 2001, a federal judge ordered the release of one of the men, citing a lack of evidence, and further suggesting the original proof as unsound.

Fifteen years after Monfils' death and a dozen years after his coworkers' convictions, "The Monfils Conspiracy" shatters the myths surrounding this case and opens the door to justice-and the truth.

On the face of it, author Tim Daly was an unlikely candidate for undercover agent. Not only had he lived in America for less than a decade, but his strong Scottish accent was unintelligible to many Americans. At age fiftythree, he should have been looking forward to a peaceful retirement rather than a dangerous new career. But when they approached him in 1985, US Customs knew that what he lacked in youth, he more than made up for in experience.

In "The British Connection," Daly, a seasoned sailor, provides a firsthand account of the extremely murky underworld of drug deals in a variety of places, including Florida, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Belize, and Venezuela as he worked as an undercover agent for five years to help bust Central and South American drug cartels. His detailed story tells how he played a major role in operations involving thousands of kilos of cocaine and thousands of pounds of marijuana. Daly recalls hobnobbing with Colombian racketeers, setting up deals with Cubans in Miami and elsewhere, meeting with senior members of the Medellin and Cali Cartels in their own countries-and living to tell about it.

More than a thrilling memoir of action and adventure, "The British Connection "exposes the chaos and treachery behind the war on drugs from a man who transported drugs around the Carribean and Latin America and mixed with the world's most powerful and ruthless criminals.

Beyond the Sphere of reasonable Doubt part 3. Diary for the years 2007, 2008, 2009. " To some the world is merely an optical illusion created by aliens and extra-terrestrial forces and the world is all part of a virtual game." The diary started on the first of January 2000 as the Y2KDiary.com. The name was later changed to DiaryUnlimited in 2001 and has grown under that name ever since. The diary has been written by one man or alien: V.A. Virtual Alien with contributions from various users, sometimes from big corporations and governments' representatives responding to a recent comment, request or criticism. The diary exists online in images, games and video format. The diary has been conceived Tom Norwood and V.A. (Nick Peterson/Virtual Alien). It all started in London and progressively moved in the U.S. and the language -spelling- reflects this half way through the diary. The date however remained within a British format. The diary started on 01.01.01 (first of January 2001) and remained so until 31.12.09 (31st of December 2009) and beyond. The 00 years are perhaps the scariest decade in human history that saw 9/11, the war on terror, web commerce, MP3/MP4, WW3, The Banking collapse, the biggest corporate frauds in history, the Eurozone, organized religions, gay weddings, Data Protection and ID thefts, electronic viruses, spam, The pollution in London, binge drinking, BSE mad cow disease, Foot and Mouth, life on credit, recycling, the Polish invasion, HD, the Hygiene problem, Lady Gaga, human trafficking, living in New York and L.A., the constant abuse of children, the army of homeless, the first black president in the history of the Western world, the eighties revival with the seventies and nineties hang-over, Facebook, the obesity pandemic, Money Laundering (a guide to), How to Kill someone from a distance, Crime and Punishment (our lawless society). The diary has often been dubbed the diaries of Virtual Alien or the devil as no one can escape the acerbic and vitriolic language often used throughout this decade. V.A. Virtual Alien commenced his journey into outer space at the age of 14 in the late eighties with a brief music career often dubbed -a virtual one- and morphed into the world of interactive films and documentaries in the 00 years and this journey can be traced throughout this diary. The diary of the aughties/noughties/Y2K/00 years.

Sports heroes are typically held up as role models, even though some of their behavior away from the game can be a bit unheroic. The athletes in this book did more than just party hard and sleep around...they became murderers. This book profiles 15 cases of athletes who brought the violence from the game into their homes. Some hired hitmen to kill off someone, while others did the job themselves. Some were at the top of their game while others were washed-out and struggling to get by. All fell victims to their own rage and lost everything. Some may think that OJ Simpson was an isolated case. This short book shows otherwise.

After high school graduation, Seely is forced to move out on her own. She reluctantly decides to move to Hawaii and stay with her sister until she can find a place of her own. She is offered a job with a well-known nightclub in Waikiki serving cocktails. There, she is introduced to the dark side of life.

One evening on her shift, she hears ominous words directed at Mark, the assistant manager. When she turns to see who said these words-no one is there. Then the next morning tragedy strikes. Mark is found in a cane field shot to death. Seely suspects the Hawaiian Mafia is involved, but has no solid proof.

When the Mafia starts coming after her, believing Seely knows of the murder, she finds herself plunged into a nightmare. Why are they targeting her? Could she have seen or heard something that she was unaware of? Seely knows her life is in grave danger and decides to leave Hawaii, hoping to escape their clutches-except they are informed of her moves. After many years of trying to figure out her connection with Mark's murder, Seely faces the truth.

From the glistening sands of Hawaii to the white mountains of Alaska, The Kennedy Half-Dollar delivers an eclectic and unconventional true crime memoir of nonstop action and suspense-with background music to set the mood.