Other books that might interest you

• 

  The Gunman And His Mother - Lee...

  Steven Beschloss

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The narrative of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has been told from many points of view, most significantly in the wave of books exploring the Warren Commission's findings and the conspiracy theories that followed. But for journalist Steven Beschloss, the story of Lee Harvey Oswald began with the troubled bond with his mother. 
   
   
   
  Drawing on public records, key interviews with Marguerite Oswald and other family members, and Lee's own writing and statements, Beschloss traces the origins of an American tragedy back to the lonely boy who couldn't find a way to belong and the unstable mother. Often left to his own devices, young Oswald read heavily, skipped school, and hatched plans to make his mark on the world. The Gunman and His Mother reveals the complex parental relationship that turned a boy into a killer responsible for a crime that changed American history. 
   
   
   
  This updated edition includes material from never-before-seen files containing Marguerite Oswald's personal writings, as well as a series of lawsuits Marguerite brought against various people. Not only do these documents complete the portrait of Lee's mother, but given her attacks on the media, conspiratorial mindset, and her sense of grievance, their inclusion sheds new light on our current political climate.

  Show book

• 

  Hitmen - The Mafia Drugs and the...

  Scott M. Deitche

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Scott M. Deitche presents an in-depth exposé on East Harlem's notorious Purple Gang whose murderous exploits became a media obsession and Mafia lynchpin. 
   
   
   
  In the late 1970s, a string of seemingly unconnected murders had Harlem police and federal authorities at their wits' end until they realized several commonalities. The victims were all either Mafia members or potential witnesses of Mafia activity and they'd all been shot from .22 pistols traced back to a single private sale in Florida. From these details, the FBI and police were able to build a profile of a rogue sect of Mafia hitmen known as the East Harlem Purple Gang. 
   
   
   
  Starting on the fringes of Mafia families, the Purple Gang members became indispensable and installed members in the highest ranks of the Genovese, Bonanno, and Lucchese families. Often serving as freelance hitmen, kidnappers, and drug traffickers, the Purple Gang's exploits quickly crossed into mythology as media outlets scrambled to keep up with new murders and the law's crusade to bring the gang members to justice. Sifting through the mystery and mythos, author Scott M. Deitche brings readers into Harlem's gritty streets to experience the Purple Gang's reign of terror, the investigators who tried to bring them down, and the gang members who either suffered violent ends or are still at large today.

  Show book

• 

  By the Side of the Road - The...

  Marla Bernard

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  In the early hours of March 22, 1989, two friends—career criminals with violent felony convictions—drove around the eastern Kansas City area in a stolen car committing a series of crimes. The weather was mild for late March in Kansas City; the sky was clear, and there was the pale remnant of a Full Moon that bore the dubious name of Death Moon, the last full moon of winter. 
   
   
   
  A little before 7 A.M., fifteen-year-old Ann Harrison walked to the end of her driveway on Kansas City's east side to wait for the bus to take her to Raytown South High School. Ten minutes later, she disappeared but no one saw what happened. As if waiting for her return, her belongings were still stacked carefully by the side of the road. 
   
   
   
  By the Side of the Road is the true crime story of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Ann Harrison and the long journey forced upon her family who had to wait nearly three decades to see her killers brought to final justice. 
   
   
   
  Contains mature themes.

  Show book

• 

  Vampires Gators and Wackos - A...

  Frank Stanfield

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Teens savagely murder a couple in the name of their vampire cult. A sex-starved teacher cannot get enough of her young male student. The case of a missing child keeps cops awake at night for years after his confounding disappearance.  During his decades-long crime coverage in Central Florida, journalist Frank Stanfield covered every atrocity that man or nature could unleash.  Vampires, Gators, and Wackos: A Florida Newspaperman’s Life recounts some of the frequently craven, and at times downright stupid, crimes Stanfield covered during his time in the field. He somehow made it through without winding up more mental than the crackpots he tracked. However, his unvarnished, no-holds-barred account of news events reveals just how crazy-making a case can be when you are dead set on nailing the truth.  “Here’s a tip for young reporters: Don’t beat the cops to a homicide. Crowds at murder scenes are sometimes wildly angry, drunk, high, confused and looking at a face that is decidedly out of place in their neighborhood. In those days we wore nice clothes, even ties, if not jackets, to a crime scene. ‘Who are you?’ they asked, figuring I must be a cop, because surely, no sane person would show up unarmed in the middle of a melee.” - Frank Stanfield

  Show book

• 

  Death on Ireland's Eye - The...

  Dean Ruxton

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A tragic death, a murder trial and a 170-year-old mystery – but what really happened?
  Shortly after Maria Kirwan died in a lonely inlet on Ireland's Eye, it was decided that she had drowned accidentally during a day spent with her husband on the picturesque island. This inquest verdict appeared to conclude the melancholy events that consumed the fishing village of Howth, Co Dublin, in September 1852.
  But not long afterwards, suspicion fell upon Maria's husband, William Burke Kirwan, as whispers of unspeakable cruelty, an evil character and a secret life rattled through the streets of Dublin. Investigations led to William's arrest and trial for murder.
  The story swelled into one of the most bitterly divisive chapters in the dark annals of Irish criminal history. Yet questions remain: Does the evidence stand up? What role did the heavy hand of Victorian moral outrage play? Was William really guilty of murder, or did the ever-present 'moral facts' fill in gaps where hard proof was absent?
  Now, this compelling modern analysis revisits the key evidence, asking sober questions about the facts, half-facts and fantasies buried within the yellowed pages of the Ireland's Eye case files.

  Show book

• 

  Bizarro - The Surreal Saga of...

  Jordan S. Rubin

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Inside a drug war so screwy that people don't know what's illegal—until it's too late. 
   
   
   
  Bizarro is a must-listen tale of the unprecedented prosecution of Burton Ritchie and Ben Galecki, the Florida-based founders of a sprawling "spice" (synthetic cannabinoid) operation. With this book, journalist and former New York City narcotics prosecutor Jordan S. Rubin exposes a Reagan-era law called the Analogue Act, which targets dealers selling drugs that are "substantially similar" to controlled substances—an unwieldy law that produces erratic results in court. 
   
   
   
  Rubin brings listeners deep inside the synthetic war, exploring how Ritchie and Galecki landed in its crosshairs and why one of the DEA's own chemists may have been their best chance at freedom, until he was arrested too. This stranger-than-fiction narrative is backed by thousands of pages of court records and exclusive interviews with defendants, lawyers, law enforcement, celebrities, and more. Bizarro reveals the world of underground chemists making drugs faster than the government can ban them, dealers making millions in a gray market, and a justice system run amok.

  Show book