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  Murders in Hollywood - True...

  Eliza Toska

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  When you think of Hollywood, you picture glamour, celebrities and an abundance of sunshine. The Walk of Fame, Hollywood Boulevard, and the Chinese Theatre help make up the opulent attractions. LA is known for the iconic Hollywood sign, the rich diversity of the city, and… murder, obsession, and lies?Los Angeles is an attractive place to be, particularly if you have dreams of being a movie star. However, there is a darker side to Hollywood - one filled with seediness, jealousy, and as laid out in the true stories within this book, an overwhelming lust for power and murder.I'll take you on a macabre tour of LA in this book. We'll head to Leimert Park where Elizabeth Short's body was dumped after it was cut in half and her face was disfigured. We'll also visit Wonderland Avenue, where four people were killed in the drug house belonging to the well-known Wonderland Gang. We will also take a hike in the vast, rolling hills, where the Hillside Stranglers dumped their victims after horrifically torturing them. I'll delve into some of the most horrific and shocking cases of murder in the idylic, mirage-like setting of the Hollywood Hills. In these nine tales of terror in tinseltown, you'll also read about:The Pin Up: A former pin-up was brutally murdered by the same person who'd encouraged her to pursue a career in Hollywood. A tragic tale of jealousy and possessiveness turned fatal.The Hollywood Ripper: A callous killer with a penchant for lurking in the shadows and stalking women who certainly earned the moniker 'The Hollywood Ripper'.The Son of a Hollywood Icon: One of Old Hollywood's leading men, who led a storied life, had a son who would go on to live an even more headline-grabbing life - albeit for all the wrong reasons.The Sinister Photographer: A terrifying tale of how a renowned LA photographer harboured intense feelings of hatred toward one woman - and acted upon them in the most horrific way.

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  Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths...

  Vivien Teasdale

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  Another trawl through the records of dastardly deeds, this time around Yorkshire, taking in the whole of the boundaries of the ancient West Riding, which stretched as far up as Sedbrough in the north-west, just beyond Todmorden in the west, north to Kirkby Malzeard and east to Selby and Goole. Join the Dyon, Stanton and Thornton families if you dare and find out who killed which other member of their family. When the course of true love fails to run smoothly, the result can often be tragic, as it was in the case of star crossed lovers in Leeds and Wakefield or between man and wife as in cases in Doncaster, Thurlstone and Heckmondwike. Nor were children ignored by the law, being both victims and, quite often, perpetrators of foul deeds. Whatever you find in todays newspapers, youll find a parallel here  knife crimes, drink-related crimes, bank robberies and mail robberies, riots and terrorism. Theres nothing new under the sun and these tales prove it.

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  Spies on Trial - True Tales of...

  Cecil C. Kuhne III

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  Cecil C. Kuhne III describes a number of historical, law changing judicial cases, well-publicized criminal trials of those accused of treason against the United States, as well as lawsuits concerning other unusual matters, such as the governmental restrictions on bugging and other surveillance devices that cannot be sold to the general public. The author successfully explores well known espionage cases, such as the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Morton Sobell trial of 1951, as well as more recent cases where the courts have dealt with the activities of the National Security Administration (NSA) as they monitor telephone communications in their efforts to apprehend terrorist organizations.Spies on Trial brings the listener fast-paced stories of foreign spies engaged in daring deeds of sleuthing that undoubtedly have more than their fair share of intriguing moments. But nowhere is this suspense more intense than inside the courtroom, where the drama of intense covert activities is fully unfurled, offering fascinating glimpses into this vast and nefarious underground world of international espionage.

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  Cosa Nostra: The Notorious...

  Charles River Editors

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  Over the course of the 19th century, the people of Sicily found themselves at the center of a struggle for freedom, one that ended up being long and often very bloody. It was during these crucial years of struggle that the Sicilian mafia, La cosa nostra (“Our thing”), started to take shape. The original word “mafia” was a part of Palermitan slang, and although the origins of the word are not completely certain, some linguistic historians believe it originally meant “flashy.” One historian of the mafia, Salvatore Lupo, helpfully suggests that it was used in its earliest iterations to vaguely refer to a “pathological relationship among politics, society and criminality.” 
  In response to the rise of the mafia, the Italian state propagated a doctrine of Sicilian backwardness, which they used to introduce martial law and suspend civil liberties, under the pretext that they were not “ready” for the freedoms enjoyed by other Italian regions.[6] Northerners and foreigners mistakenly (and snobbishly) believed that the mafia was just a relic of the primitive, peasant culture that had dominated the island for centuries, and that it was destined to die out once the island had been properly absorbed into the dominant, mainland culture. Others hypothesized that the corruption in Sicilian culture was just a holdover from the Bourbon government and would soon be extinguished once a formal transition was completed. 
  Of course, they proved to be dead wrong. The Sicilian mafia was not a criminal underworld or a form of political rebellion, but more of a kingdom within a kingdom. In other words, according to historians of the mafia, it was a network of hidden power, an alternative hierarchy that sometimes worked in concert with and sometimes superseded official forms of law and order.

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  Tough Guys in the Room

  Howard Jackson

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  ‘WEAK IS NOT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO REMEMBER ABOUT ME.’Al Capone.Back then, hot headed gangsters, not so gentle dames and bullet riddled corpses filled the newspaper headlines. And some of the stories below the headlines were even true. The 1920s was a period in American history when even the respectable were unwilling to stay sober. And not so fast cars carried assassins across Chicago, a city that for many captures the essence of the USA.In TOUGH GUYS IN THE ROOM, the story of Al Capone and his rivals is told in separate and stand-alone topics that cover key figures and events. The crimes and conflict are remembered, and the context that shaped those events and protagonists is explained. The police and the law abiding that made a doomed attempt to impose Prohibition also make an appearance. TOUGH GUYS IN THE ROOM offers a detached and impartial perspective on what happened between the Chicago gangs of the 1920s. There are also some surprises.TOUGH GUYS IN THE ROOM is a must for fans of gangsterdom. This account of what happened in Chicago is kept simple but that does not prevent author Howard Jackson from taking an independent line on the St Valentine’s Day massacre and the character of Al Capone.

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  The Good Rat - A True Story

  Jimmy Breslin

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  A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist reveals a history of the American mob with “perfect diabolical detail. . . . A master at transforming crookery into opera” (New York Times Book Review). 
   
  In his inimitable New York voice, New York Times bestselling author Jimmy Breslin gives us a look through the keyhole at the people and places that define the Mafia—characters like John Gotti, Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso (named for his weapon of choice), and Jimmy “the Clam” Eppolito—interwoven with the remarkable true-crime saga of the good rat himself, Burt Kaplan of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the star witness in the trial of two NYPD detectives indicted for carrying out eight gangland executions. Through these unforgettable real-life and long-forgotten Mafia stories, Jimmy Breslin captures the moments in which the mob was made and broken. 
   
  “The ineffable Breslin, the mob’s Homer, may not have done much to ensure Kaplan’s longevity, but he has surely granted him immortality.” —Boston Globe 
   
  “Bad cops, good crook, great story.” —USA Today 
   
  “Breslin is a writer of the heart. It’s hard to name another author who demonstrates a better understanding of the passions of urban misrule.” —Playboy 
   
  “Completely sure of what he’s doing, the author knows how to hook a reader.” —New York Observer 
   
  “Brilliant . . . a colorfully nuanced depiction of Burt Kaplan.” —New York Daily News 
   
  “Jimmy Breslin at his best.” —New York Times 
   
   “The Good Rat tells us about the corkscrew workings of the criminal mind where Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment left off.” —Nicholas Pileggi, New York Times bestselling author of Wiseguy 
   
  “Smart and stinging . . . a winner.” —Kirkus Reviews 
   
  “[Breslin’s] writing, like the Mafia itself, breezily transitions from humorous to horrifying.” —Publishers Weekly

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