Other books that might interest you

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  ‘Ndrangheta: The History of...

  Charles River Editors

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  The word “mafia,” Sicilian in origin,[1] is synonymous with Italy, but Italy is home to several different mafias, with three being particularly notorious. While the Cosa Nostra of western Sicily is the most infamous, other powerful groups include the ferocious ‘Ndrangheta of Calabria and the Camorra, the third-largest mafia, which is active in Naples and the Campania region.[2] A “mafia” is loosely defined as a criminal organization that is interested in social, economic and political power, combining elements of a traditional secret society with those of a business, but further levels of nuance are necessary in order to understand these groups.[3] In a general sense, this is because each mafia creates a myth about the development of the organization, which becomes like an unquestionable truth. In essence, part of what makes its members so completely loyal to it is also what makes outsiders so utterly afraid of it.[4]    
  	The ‘Ndrangheta (pronounced an-drang-et-ah) is a close neighbor of the Cosa Nostra and currently considered the most powerful (and difficult to spell) criminal organization in Italy. The ‘Ndrangheta is centered around Calabria, the most southwestern region of Italy, almost touching the Sicilian city of Messina. Though it began as far back as the late 19th century, it was not until the 1950s that the ‘Ndrangheta started to spread its tentacles throughout Italy and then across the entire globe, forming an empire that now ranges from Australia and Turkey to Chile to Canada.  
  	The fact that the ‘Ndrangheta is overshadowed by the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, as well as by the Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra, allowed it to grow and develop outside of the public eye. For years, people actually considered the Calabrian mafia to be part of the Cosa Nostra as a mere appendage, rather than its own entity.

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  Stealing Manhattan - The Untold...

  Burl Barer, Punch Stanimirovic

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  Punch Stanimirovic insists: "My father, known as Mr. Stan, is the greatest gentleman thief who ever lived—a true genius." Punch was raised to be an exceptional diamond thief. He could work magic on a safe that would have sent Mandrake the Magician back to the novelty store, and Dr. Strange back to medical school. He and his family risked it all to make the patriarch, Mr. Stan, proud. Punch's pop culture sensibilities, his father's proven skills, and his mother's artistic input merged to create cinema-style capers—elaborately planned and executed, including a spectacular 1992 New York mega-heist of over one billion dollars in diamonds, gold, and precious gems—and they got away with it. Many of the crew members went on to invest in real estate, helping to "build the New York skyline," while others moved to Europe and became the Pink Panthers. They had one rule: No One Gets Hurt. From daring heists to the ultimate escape, discover the true story of Punch, his extraordinary crew, and his high-society family. Edgar Award winner and New York Times bestselling author Burl Barer brings to light the remarkable story of four decades and two generations of America's First Family of kind and generous "altruistic outlaws" in Stealing Manhattan: The Untold Story of America's Billion Dollar Gem Heist Masterminds.

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  The Killing Game - The True...

  Alan R. Warren

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  The “compelling true story” of “The Dating Game Killer” by the radio host and bestselling author of Drinks, Dinner & Death (Burl Barer, Edgar Award-winning author). Beginning in 1968 and continuing into the 1970s, a predator stalked California and New York, torturing, raping and murdering young girls and women. But who was the monster behind these tragedies? Eventually, a suspect emerged, but he didn’t look like a monster. Indeed, Rodney Alcala was a handsome, charming photographer who’d once studied film at New York University under director Roman Polanski. With his wit and easy self-confidence and humor, he’d even been selected as the “winner” on the popular television show “The Dating Game.” But his real game was much more sinister. In 2010, Alcala was convicted of murdering five women in California during the 1970s; then in 2013, as he waited on Death Row, he confessed to the murder of two more in New York. Yet, that might not be the end of the nightmare he caused. At his arrest, police found his “portfolio” with thousands of nude and erotic photographs of women and boys, who may also be among his victims.  In The Killing Game, bestselling true crime author and radio show host, Alan R. Warren reveals the shocking details of Alcala’s brutal crimes, as well as the trials and appeals that stretched on for decades and may still not be over.

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  City of Devils - The Two Men Who...

  Paul French

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  By Paul French, New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Peking—winner of both the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime and the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction—comes a rags-to-riches tale of two self-made men set against a backdrop of crime and vice in the sprawling badlands of Shanghai. City of Devils is a dynamic audiobook that will captivate listeners everywhere. 
  Shanghai, 1930s; it was a haven for outlaws from all over the world: a place where pasts could be forgotten, fascism and communism outrun, names invented, and fortunes made—and lost. 
  "Lucky" Jack Riley was the most notorious of those outlaws. An ex-U.S. Navy boxing champion, he escaped from prison and rose to become the Slots King of Shanghai. "Dapper" Joe Farren—a Jewish boy who fled Vienna's ghetto—ruled the nightclubs. His chorus lines rivalled Ziegfeld's. 
  In 1940, Lucky Jack and Dapper Joe bestrode the Shanghai Badlands like kings, while all around the Solitary Island was poverty, starvation, and war. They thought they ruled Shanghai, but the city had other ideas. This is the story of their rise to power, their downfall, and the trail of destruction left in their wake. Shanghai was their playground for a flickering few years, a city where for a fleeting moment even the wildest dreams could come true.

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  Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths...

  Martin Easdown, Linda Sage

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  Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths Around Folkestone takes the reader on a sinister journey through the annals of crime in Folkestone, Hythe and the surrounding area. Along the way we meet villains, murderers and victims of many kinds, including cut-throat soldiers, a 'baby farmer', a Jack the Ripper imposter, two inexplicable suicides and five individuals who died violent deaths in the 'House of Horror'.There is no shortage of harrowing and revealing incidents of evil to recount, many of which will be unfamiliar to the reader. Infant murders were once so rife in Folkestone it was termed the 'infanticide capital of Kent'. This fascinating book recalls many such grisly events, as well as sad or unsavoury individuals who have darkened this otherwise pleasant corner of the Garden of England.

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  Babes in the Wood

  Graham Bartlett, Peter James

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  On 9 October 1986, nine-year-olds Nicola Fellows and Karen Hadaway went out to play on their Brighton estate. They would never return home; their bodies discovered the next day concealed in a local park. This devastating crime rocked the country. 
  With unique access to the officers charged with catching the killer, former senior detective Graham Bartlett and bestselling author Peter James tell the compelling inside story of the investigation as the net tightens around local man Russell Bishop. The trial that follows is one of the most infamous in the history of Brighton policing – a shock result sees Bishop walk free. 
  Three years later, Graham is working in Brighton CID when a seven-year-old girl is abducted and left to die. She survives . . . and Bishop’s name comes up as a suspect. Is history repeating itself? Can the police put him away this time, and will he ever be made to answer for his past horrendous crimes? Both gripping police procedural and an insight into the motivations of a truly evil man, Babes in the Wood by Graham Bartlett with Peter James is a fascinating account of what became a thirty-two year fight for justice.

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