Utilizing court transcripts and interviews, this is the gripping account of a courtroom drama that titillated the public during an era of crooked cops and corporate fraud. When the Perth Mint was swindled out of more than a half-million dollars worth of gold, the local police thought they had the culprits: the Mickelberg brothers--Ray, Peter, and Brian. Already accused of defrauding Australian millionaire Alan Bond by manufacturing a phony gold nugget, the Mickelbergs were tried and convicted despite the fact that the gold was never found. A cutting-edge analysis of the legal process and the trials and tribulations of seeking justice in a corrupt system, this chronicle depicts the nearly 30 years the Mickelbergs fought to prove their innocence and the mysterious death of Brian and the violent and untimely ends of two corrupt officers.

Jamaican dons see themselves as leaders, protectors, and nearly God-like figures. They see themselves as bigger than even the Prime Minister; with the resources they have, they are not afraid of anyone. In "The Making of a Jamaican Don," author Clifton Cameron tells the story of these Jamaican dons-their history, and the role they play in the governing of the Caribbean country.

This story is told through the eyes of Spanner and Trinity, two youths from rural Jamaica who leave their homes in Kitson Town and travel to Kingston for a better life. But here, their lives change in ways they could not have imagined. They find themselves embroiled in politics and the world of donship, eventually spending time in Jamaica's notorious General Penitentiary Prison.

A true account of tragedy and death, "The Making of a Jamaican Don" highlights the links between dons, guns, drugs, police, politicians, public officials, and corruption.

Bestselling true-crime author M. William Phelps, star of the new investigative television series "Dark Minds," takes readers to his own backyard in these eight bloodcurdling murder cases. Think New England is all bucolic landscapes and Robert Frost poems? Think again. In Murder, New England, Phelps explores different motives, themes, and community reactions to horrific crimes: ** Murder by Blood: The Strange Death of Rebecca Cornwell (1673, Narragansset Bay, RI). A 73-year-old widow burned to death in front of her bedroom fireplace...** William Beadle: Husband, Father, Murderer (1782, Wethersfield, CT). A man murders his wife and kids before taking his own life... ** The Angry Man: Murder in Manchester (1821, Manchester, NH). A poor widow killed in her home by a "ruffian" looking for food and drink...** Better Off in Heaven: John Kemmler Kills His Three Children (1879, Holyoke, MA). After losing his mill job, a man kills his daughters because he fears they will become prostitutes... ** Birth of the "Big Seven": Gaspare Messina's Mafioso (1917, Boston). An ol' fashioned Mafia murder tale...** Electronic Kill Machine: "Forensic Files" Murder (2001, Somerville, MA). Teenage slackers, the show "Forensic Files," and the murder of a grandmother blamed on TV, youth, drugs, sex, money, and rock-n-roll...** Sings of Life (2006, Lanesborough, MA). A woman employs the help of her cocaine-snorting daughter and Goth son to help her get rid of their step-father.** Sesame Street Murder: Death on Big Bird's Estate (2008, Woodstock, CT). A young woman out for a jog murdered by the groundskeeper of an estate owned by the puppeteer who played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. [Page Two of spread] A chilling scene unfolds on the Woodstock, Connecticut, estate of the Sesame Street puppeteer who played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch: Near the end of the access road was a picnic area with a large pagoda-like structure topped by an A-framed roof. Two paddle boats were stored under the ceiling of the open-air building. The pagoda had that sacred, spiritual look one would expect of a place to relax and meditate. Here was a haven separated from the main living space where one could retreat and disconnect from the world. What upset the serenity of the scene was the trail of blood. It lead from the roadway directly to the pagoda-and yet stopped in the center of the ground under the ceiling. The paddle boats, investigators noticed, had blood spatter and smudge marks on them. But what did it mean that the trail of blood just stopped? As they continued to search, troopers looked above them and spied a set of pull-down stairs. There was a storage area or attic within the pagoda's A-frame. The blood trail had stopped directly beneath the pull-down stairs.

Even among the Mob, the Westies were feared. Out of a partnership between two sadistic thugs - James Coonan and Mickey Featherstone - the gang dominated the decaying slice of New York City's West Side known as Hell's Kitchen in the 1970s and '80s. Excelling in extortion, numbers running, loansharking and drug-peddling, they became the most notorious gang in the history of organized crime. The then prosecutor Rudolf Giuliani called them 'the most savage organisation in the long history of New York street gangs'. Upping the ante on brutality and depravity, their speciality when it came to punishment and killings was dismemberment. Their reign lasted almost twenty - their end would come as their own violent natures got the best of them and precipitated a downfall as infamous as their rise. This revised and updated edition, brings the story of the Westies up to date with 'where are they now' snapshots of the men - and women - of the Westies.

After barely making it through Rutgers Law School, George Baxter practiced law from his 1975 Oldsmobile, bouncing from court to court taking per diem work from any lawyer who would give it to him. Then he met Bill Snyder who desperately needed a lawyer because he'd been infected with AIDS from a transfusion he received during heart surgery. Racing against time and poorly financed, George began a six-year legal battle against the billion-dollar-a-year blood industry that infected his client- as well as 29,000 other people - with AIDS. EVERY LAST DROP is written in the first person as the plaintiff's lawyer in the landmark trial Snyder v. American Association of Blood Banks. The trial exposed how the United States blood industry disseminated false information, hyjacked the FDA, and conspired to delay AIDS testing to save money, which resulted in the most devastating public health disaster in U.S. history. George's personal struggle surfaces throughout this narrative, alongside the stories of patients who suffered from AIDS but fought to stay alive for their exhausting trials. The case fueled a congressional investigation into dangerous blood industry practices and Federal Food And Drug Administration conflicts of interest that allowed this to happen. EVERY LAST DROP has a David and Goliath paradigm that centers on the universal themes of persistence, friendship, and the importance of trust over money, especially in the wake of a disaster. Dr. Donald P. Francis, formerly with the Centers for Disease Control AIDS Task Force and Dr. Marcus Conant, two of the country's leading Public health and AIDS experts, have written the introductions.

In the late 1970s and early '80s, a cadre of freewheeling, Southern pot smugglers lived at the crossroads of "Miami Vice" and a Jimmy Buffett song. These irrepressible adventurers unloaded nearly a billion dollars worth of marijuana and hashish through the eastern seaboard's marshes. Then came their undoing: Operation Jackpot, one of the largest drug investigations ever and an opening volley in Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs. In "Jackpot," author Jason Ryan takes us back to the heady days before drug smuggling was synonymous with deadly gunplay. During this golden age of marijuana trafficking, the country's most prominent kingpins were a group of wayward and fun-loving Southern gentlemen who forsook college educations to sail drug-laden luxury sailboats across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Les Riley, Barry Foy, and their comrades eschewed violence as much as they loved pleasure, and it was greed, lust, and disaster at sea that ultimately caught up with them, along with the law. In a cat-and-mouse game played out in exotic locations across the globe, the smugglers sailed through hurricanes, broke out of jail and survived encounters with armed militants in Colombia, Grenada and Lebanon. Based on years of research and interviews with imprisoned and recently released smugglers and the law enforcement agents who tracked them down, "Jackpot" is sure to become a classic story from America's controversial Drug Wars. "The adventures, the long-gone economy, and the sting that ultimately brought them down and changed US drug policy are meticulously documented and lucidly spun.... Part "New Yorker" feature-part Jimmy Buffet song. . . . The result is adventuresome, lavish, informative fun." --"GQ" " A] rollicking story, Ryan manages to pack in one amusing tale after another.... "Jackpot" is a rip-roaring good read." --"Charleston"" City"" Paper" "High times on the high seas: Investigative reporter Ryan recounts the glory days of dope smuggling and their terrible denouement.... A well-told tale of true crime that provides a few good arguments for why it should not be a crime at all."" --Kirkus Reviews """ "Reads like an international thriller. . . . chock-a-block with hilarious and hair-raising anecdotes of fast times." --"New York"" Journal of Books" " A] thoroughly researched account of Operation Jackpot, the drug investigation that ended the reign of South Carolina's 'gentlemen smugglers, '.... Ryan recreates the era with a vivid, sun-drenched intensity." --"Publishers Weekly" ""

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A COP AND KEVIN MAHER? KEVIN DOESN'T HAVE A BADGE. AND HE DOESN'T PLAY BY THE RULES.
"Cop Without a Badge" tracks confidential informant Kevin Maher as he helps the NYPD, the FBI, and many other law enforcement agencies solve cases that range from robbery to extortion to homicide. In the process, Kevin becomes the highest paid CI the DEA ever had.
But Kevin's motives are more complicated than simply money. Having been arrested for Grand Theft Auto at the age of sixteen, his felony conviction prevents him from being what he always wanted to be: a police officer. So now he's out to prove to himself he truly is what he could've been. A cop. Even without a badge.

THE TRUE STORY OF A YOUNG METH DEALER WHO GREW UP AND BECAME A MERCENARY DEA INFORMANT. You will be taken into the underworld drug business dominated by the California Hells Angels. Joe Clark graduates from high-school wondering where his path to adulthood will take him. He sees his peers driving expensive cars with expensive women sitting next to them. He is envious and wonders why he cannot be a part of the life that he sees. A life of money, respect, beautiful women and expensive homes. He makes a decision that will affect his future. He soon has what his peers have.....Suddenly the DEA is in his life.

Amidst the turbulence and gaiety existing in American society during the last decade of the 20th century, the paths of two young men and a young woman merge. Each is inexorably drawn to a midnight rendezvous on a lonely road in northern Kentucky, and ghastly and fatal consequences result.

At the end of the Second World War, hundreds of thousands of German children were sent to the front lines in the largest mobilisation of underage combatants by any country before or since. Hans Dunker was just one of these children. Identified as gifted aged 9, he left his home in South America in 1937 in pursuit of a 'proper' education in Nazi Germany. Instead, he and his schoolfriends, lacking adequate training, ammunition and rations, were sent to the Eastern Front when the war was already lost in the spring of 1945. Using her father's diary and other documents, Helene Munson traces Hans' journey from a student at Feldafing School to a soldier fighting in Zawada, a village in present-day Czech Republic. What is revealed is an education system so inhumane that until recently, post-war Germany worked hard to keep it a secret. This is Hans' story, but also the story of a whole generation of German children who silently carried the shame of what they suffered into old age.

Financial crime seems horribly complicated but there are only so many ways you can con someone out of what's theirs. In fact, there are four. A veteran regulatory economist and market analyst, Dan Davies has years of experience picking the bones out of some of the most famous frauds of the modern age. Now he reveals the big picture that emerges from their labyrinths of deceit.

Along the way you'll find out how to fake a gold mine with a wedding ring, a file and a shotgun. You'll see how close Charles Ponzi, the king of pyramid schemes, came to acquiring his own private navy. You'll learn how fraud has shaped the entire development of the modern world economy. And you'll discover whether you have what it takes to be a white-collar criminal mastermind, if that's what you want. (Which you don't. You really, really don't.)

'Nobody knew the truth. For all those years while people judged me, I protected those closest to me. Now it's time for the real story to be told. It's time for healing and forgiveness.' Tressa Middleton made UK history when she became Britain's youngest mum in 2006 aged just 12 years and 8 months. Her case provoked shock and outrage - but the truth behind the headlines was far sadder than anyone could ever have imagined. Born into a life of poverty and neglect, Tressa was forced to grow up fast when she taken into care at just four years old. She was returned to her mother's chaotic world but by the age of seven, she was being abused by her own brother and at 11 years old she fell pregnant with his child. For years she kept his dark secret in an attempt to hold her family together until the truth threatened to destroy her completely. In the years since the birth, Tressa has gone through more pain and turmoil than most adults experience in a lifetime - yet today she survives a brave, strong and compassionate young woman. Now, for the first time, Tressa Middleton tells her own harrowing yet poignant story - a story of hope, forgiveness and above all, love.

In November of 1982, Katherine Ann Longo's life changed forever. Her daughter disappeared. It was a mother's worst nightmare. When the authorities failed to solve the case, Kathy didn't take "we don't know" for an answer. She began her own investigation. In her opinion, she gathered strong supporting evidence that pointed to a viable suspect for the police. But even with what Kathy considered to be proof, the authorities refused to cooperate. The person she deemed responsible for her daughter's disappearance went unquestioned. Even after she supplied them with photographic evidence, she couldn't get anyone to listen to her. What she was forced to endure in the course of her own personal investigation is chilling. Kathy was jailed, fired, and threatened. She was faced with sexual blackmail by those in authority, just for trying to get them to do their jobs. Hers was a terrifying descent into a world of deceit, pornography, child trafficking, and suicide. And for her efforts, she received a trip negotiated by the FBI into a state penitentiary. Her family was threatened, her friends were harassed, and a newscaster actually lost his job for airing her story on TV. Police officials didn't appreciate the bad publicity they received and actively tried to discredit Kathy. But throughout this entire nightmarish event, the residents of Tampa, Florida, assisted Kathy in every possible way imaginable. This book is her thank-you to those people who didn't give up on her-or Jennifer.