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GEORGE ANASTASIA: Writer
Goodfella Tapes by George Anastasia is the true story of how the FBI recorded a mob war and brought down a mafia don. A riveting, eye-opening true crime masterwork in the vein of Wiseguy, Underboss, Havana Nocturne, The Valachi Papers, and other bestselling exposés of life in La Cosa Nostra, Goodfella Tapes is an astonishing story of the brutal acts and remarkable blunders of soldiers, capos, and kingpins of the Philadelphia mob and the ingenuity of government agents that, combined, help topple a powerful criminal enterprise.
ALCALA “THE DATING GAME KILLER”: Serial Killer
Rodney Alcala was a man who hid his brutal secret behind a camera lens. A secret that terrorized many parts of America during the 60s and 70s. Stalking young women and girls Alcala used his persuasive charm, striking good looks, and ability to convince his victims that his work as a photographer would launch their careers as models.
Alcala also had an amazing ability to evade the law for many years, despite his arrests and convictions he still managed to carry out his sinister killing spree undetected and beyond suspicion. Something that would lead him to confidently conducting more and more shocking crimes.
Rodney Alcala would also find time during his murder spree to apply for and successfully compete in a television dating program which fed perfectly into his narcissistic personality and his sense of notoriety.
Nobody truly knows the extent of his murderous and lustful campaign. There are many deaths that could still be attributed to Rodney Alcala which will possibly always remain unsolved.
“The Picture Predator” is a must for all true crime fans. A riveting account that tries to lift the lid on what makes such evil exist and how he stalked and ultimately preyed upon his victims.
This is his spine-chilling story.
Caution: The material in this publication has a strong adult theme and is intended for an adult audience. Reader discretion is advised.
What happens when a serial killer hides behind charm and a national spotlight?
In The Dating Game Killer: Charm, Deception, and the Dark Legacy of Rodney Alcala, discover the chilling true story of a man whose charismatic facade concealed a decade-long killing spree. Rodney Alcala’s appearance on The Dating Game shocked America, but the truth behind his TV appearance was far darker. This gripping book dives into Alcala’s double life, the lives of his victims, and how one woman’s instinct saved her from becoming another statistic.
Inside, you’ll find:
- An in-depth exploration of Alcala’s crimes, from his chilling methods of manipulation to the personal stories of the victims and their families.
- First-hand accounts from survivors who narrowly escaped his grasp, shedding light on the psychological warfare behind his charm.
- Unanswered questions as investigators continue to piece together his life, exploring the potential for many more unidentified victims.
This book not only details Alcala’s horrific crimes but also offers crucial insights into the power of intuition and the dangers of manipulation. It highlights the ongoing efforts of law enforcement to identify additional victims and uncovers the cultural impact of the case that still resonates today.
Whether you are fascinated by true crime, interested in psychology, or looking for a cautionary tale about trusting instincts, The Dating Game Killer provides a detailed, heart-stopping narrative of one of America’s most notorious serial killers.
Dive into this haunting story of deception, survival, and justice—grab your copy today and explore the mind of a killer who thrived in the public eye.
In 1978, Cheryl Bradshaw was a contestant on the popular TV matchmaking show, ‘The Dating Game’. From a lineup of eligible bachelors, she selected the handsome daredevil photographer, Rodney Alcala.
As the charmed audience watched the couple embrace, a chilling truth lurked behind the camera lens. Rodney Alcala was a serial killer in the midst of a chilling rampage. Hiding in plain sight.
Alcala lured in his victims by offering them the chance to be a part of his professional photography portfolio, with the promise of launching their modelling careers. But the 1,020 photographs, later found in a secret storage locker by the police, revealed a devastating ulterior motive.
Smile is a chilling account of Rodney Alcala, one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. Ryan Green gives a suspenseful narrative that draws the reader into the real-life horror experienced by the victims with all the elements of a captivating thriller.
CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of abuse and extreme violence. If you are sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further.
Throughout the late 1960’s and 1970’s, a man roamed the streets with a camera. While photography was a “hip “hobby to have at the time, this man was different from the rest. He asked young girls and women to pose for him, often nude, and a few of them he even molested and murdered.It all started with Tali Shapiro, an eight-year-old girl that was saved by a Good Samaritan who witnessed her climb into a vehicle driven by a man. The entire scene seemed off to the man, who called police shortly after he followed the vehicle to an apartment complex. By the time the police arrived on the scene, Tali Shapiro was almost dead, and Rodney Alcala had retreated out the back door. He was apprehended for the rape and torture of Tali Shapiro, but he was released on parole not long after he was convicted and imprisoned.His newfound freedom came at a cost to many women and children.Dubbed the Dating Game Killer because he was on an episode of the Dating Game show in 1978, Rodney Alcala’s body count is still rising. He kept photographs of his victims, and police found over 1,700 in a storage locker Alcala had rented. Some of the pictures Alcala took have been released by NYPD (New York) and the HBPD (California) in hope to identify possible victims of this psychopath.This book is about the victims’ investigators know about, and it gives a small insight into the life of one of the most vicious and active serial killers America has ever known.Many believe that Alcala may have killed over a 100 women and girls.Warning, information found in this book may be too graphic for some to handle.
Unmasking Evil: The Chilling Legacy of Rodney Alcala delves deep into the sinister life of one of America’s most notorious serial killers. Infamous for his appearance on the game show The Dating Game, Alcala’s charm and charisma concealed a darkness that would lead to the brutal murders of at least five young women—though many believe the true number of victims is far greater.
In this gripping narrative, you’ll journey through the twisted mind of Alcala, exploring his early life and the psychological forces that shaped him into a predator. You’ll follow a chilling timeline of confirmed and suspected murders, examining his methods and patterns of killing that left authorities baffled for decades.
Experience the tension of the investigation that culminated in his 1979 arrest, where law enforcement faced daunting challenges as they pieced together the horrific truth. Discover the harrowing stories of his victims and the toll his heinous acts took on their families and society at large.
The book doesn’t shy away from the legal battles that ensued, detailing Alcala’s trials, his shocking manipulations, and the prolonged quest for justice that spanned decades. Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, Unmasking Evil invites readers to confront the unsettling reality of a serial killer who walked among us, masked by the guise of a charming contestant.
As the narrative unfolds, you’ll reflect on Alcala’s lasting impact on society and the evolution of public awareness surrounding serial killers—a legacy that continues to shape our understanding of crime today.
Prepare yourself for a haunting exploration of evil that not only examines the chilling life of Rodney Alcala but also pays homage to the victims whose stories must never be forgotten.
Rodney Alcala was not just any criminal; he was a master manipulator who hid behind charm and sophistication, slipping undetected into the lives of his victims and the homes of millions. Known as The Dating Game Killer, Alcala’s shocking appearance on national television masked a chilling secret: a history of brutal crimes that would haunt America for decades.
Woman of the Hour delves into Alcala’s dual life—one as an aspiring photographer and charismatic bachelor, and the other as a predator capable of unimaginable violence. This gripping true crime account unveils the full scope of Alcala’s crimes, his disturbing manipulation tactics, and the tragic stories of those who crossed his path. Through exhaustive research and chilling insights, this book reveals how Alcala deceived everyone around him and how his charm allowed him to evade justice far too long.
For readers fascinated by the hidden horrors that can lurk behind seemingly innocent facades, Woman of the Hour is a haunting reminder of the thin line between trust and terror.
It took me 50 years to scream
The true story of surviving Rodney Alcala, aka The Dating Game Killer, and the long road to recovery. I was 16 and Tali was just 8 in 1968 when this dangerously charming and horribly vicious man came within seconds of killing us both. We were each rescued by fate, or we wouldn’t be here to tell it. Set in the turbulent, fascinating, all too trusting 60s, this is my story and not his as I examine how I became a victim to this monster and why I kept silent for 50 years after. This book is a cautionary tale for every young girl out there today. It’s also a message of hope for all those who still hold secret violations in their heart. It took 50 years to find my voice to tell this story, but here it is.
Discover the story of the Dating Game Killer, Rodney James Alcala, a serial murderer like no others. This true crime case will leave you speechless…Serial killers seem to be everywhere. There is no state in the US without at least one. There are few countries in the world that haven’t had a serial killer in their midst. We continue to be fascinated by them, what drives them, how can we protect ourselves, and our loved ones against them?This is the true story of one American serial killer who has gained worldwide notoriety. His story is one of clever manipulation, preying on the young and innocent, and the ability to charm almost everyone he met. He was even the winning contestant on a 1970’s game show that gave him his moniker.Behind his outward appearance and his glib tongue, however, lurked an evil that no one suspected. He was able to talk his way out of prison more than once, traveling around the country freely, changing his name to avoid discovery.Finally, once caught, his story continues for years as he tries to gain release from prison and the multiple death penalties still hanging over his head.Rodney Alcala is a dangerous, delusional man who should never be allowed to leave his prison. Perhaps his story will be a cautionary tale for others out there who need help but never quite seem to get it.
Behind every smile lies a secret, but some secrets are darker than others. Rodney Alcala was a man who fooled the world—his charm, his good looks, and his calculated calmness made him seem like just another harmless face. But beneath that disarming exterior lay a cold, calculating killer who left a trail of horror stretching across decades.
Alcala’s appearances on *The Dating Game* made him a household name, but no one knew that the very man who charmed his way into the hearts of television audiences was also a serial killer—a monster hiding behind a smile. In *Rodney Alcala: The Smiles That Hid His Monster*, you’ll step inside the twisted mind of one of the most deceptive and elusive serial killers of all time.
This book pulls you into the dark and chilling world of a man whose cunning allowed him to evade justice for decades. It dives deep into his early life, his psychological makeup, and the horrific crimes that, for far too long, remained hidden. You’ll follow the trail of victims, each one deceived by his charming persona before becoming another lost soul in his web of lies. With each page, you’ll uncover the disturbing truths about how Alcala preyed on his victims and the shocking ways he managed to stay one step ahead of the law.
DALE ANDERSON: Serial Killer
ASSASSINATION:
See JAMES EARL RAY, MURDER RICH AND FAMOUS,
MEL AYTON: Writer
Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1968 seems like it should be an open-and-shut case. Many people crowded in the small room at Los Angeles’s famed Ambassador Hotel that fateful night saw Sirhan Sirhan pull the trigger. Sirhan was also convicted of the crime and still languishes in jail with a life sentence. However, conspiracy theorists have jumped on inconsistencies in the eyewitness testimony and alleged anomalies in the forensic evidence to suggest that Sirhan was only one shooter in a larger conspiracy, a patsy for the real killers, or even a hypnotized assassin who did not know what he was doing (a popular plot in Cold War–era fiction, such as The Manchurian Candidate).
Mel Ayton profiles Sirhan and presents a wealth of evidence about his fanatical Palestinian nationalism and his hatred for RFK that motivated the killing. Ayton unearths neglected eyewitness accounts and overlooked forensic evidence and examines Sirhan’s extensive personal notebooks. He revisits the trial proceedings and convincingly shows Sirhan was in fact the lone assassin whose politically motivated act was a forerunner of present-day terrorism. The Forgotten Terrorist is the definitive book on the assassination that rocked the nation during the turbulent summer of 1968.
This second edition features a new afterword containing interviews and new evidence, as well as a new examination of the RFK assassination acoustics evidence by technical analyst Michael O’Dell.
MICHAEL BENSON: Writer
In The Hands Of A Sadist. . .
First, he bound and beat his girlfriend, a 43-year-old librarian. Then he went after her teenaged daughter–warning her, “Scream and I will kill you both”–before knocking her unconscious. When the teenager awoke, he proceded to rape her. And in a final horrifying act of depravity, he forced the girl to watch as he slit her mother’s throat. But the killing didn’t stop there. . .
In The Crosshairs Of A Killer. . .
Stephen Stanko was described as “a perfect gentleman” who “seemed so pleasant. . .and so normal.” But behind Stanko’s mild-mannered appearance, round spectacles, and quiet intelligence was a coldblooded ex-convict who kept a grisly scrapbook on serial killers–and convinced everyone he was a nice guy–until he killed and killed again.
On The Trail Of A Psycho. . .
A well-orchestrated manhunt caught up with Stanko, who tried to get away with his crimes by pleading insanity. But the jury saw through his ruse and the ruthless killer was sentenced to death.
Case Seen On 48 Hours
ROBERT BERDELLA: Serial Killer
Welcome To Real Crime By Real Killer. This is a series where we explore how normal individuals turned their darkest fantasy into a reality.
One man’s Robert Berdella is another’s Kansas City Butcher.
We may not always see what truly hides within the minds and hearts of certain people, and where we believe is a good, pure individual, lays a terrible murderer capable of the most horrible acts.
Robert Berdella was one such man, a helpful and friendly individual who — in a spree separated by a few years — managed to capture and horrifically torture seven young men, murdering six along the way. Control and dominance were his tools, and pain was his method.
The Kansas City Butcher had no mercy, and his victims soon learned that he had no limits in terms of defiling or humiliating their bodies, minds, and spirits once they were bound and gagged.
Robert Berdella: The True Story of a Man Who Turned His Darkest Fantasies Into a Reality is a book that recounts the tale of the Kansas City Butcher, a man capable of committing the most truly degrading acts on his victims, a monster who will never be forgotten by the families of those young men whose lives he destroyed.
Be warned, reader, you aren’t just about to read about Bob Berdella and his acts.
When Chris Bryson was discovered nude and severely beaten stumbling down Charlotte Street in Kansas City in 1988, Police had no idea they were about to discover the den of one of the most sadistic American serial killers in recent history. This is the true historical story of Robert Berdella, nicknamed by the media the Kansas City Butcher, who from between 1984 and 1988 brutally raped, tortured and ultimately dismembered 6 young male prostitutes in his unassuming home on a quiet street in Kansas City. Based on the actual 720 page detailed confession provided by Berdella to investigators, it represents one of the most gruesome true crime stories of all time and is unique in the fact that it details each grizzly murder as told by the killer himself. From how he captured each man, to the terrifying methods he used in his torture chamber, to ultimately how he disposed of their corpses – rarely has there ever been a case where a convicted serial killer confessed to police in his own words his crimes in such disturbing detail. Horrific, shocking and rarely equaled in the realms of sadistic torture – Berdella was a sexually driven lust killer and one of the most sadistic sex criminals ever captured. Not for the faint of heart, this is the tale of Robert “Bob“ Berdella, the worst serial killer in Kansas City History and for those that are fans of historical serial killers, is a true must read.
On April 2, 1988, a naked man was spotted in the streets wearing a dog collar around his neck and gasping for air as he struggled to walk. He had managed to escape a real house of horrors, located at 4315 Charlotte Street in Kansas City Missouri – later found to be the home of Robert Berdella.
“The Butcher of Kansas City” was an American serial killer who kidnapped, assaulted, tortured, and murdered at least six men after forcing them to endure weeks of captivity and torture.
Bob’s Bazaar Bizarre gives us a unique perspective of Robert Berdella’s life, and includes real never- before-seen crime scene evidence photos!
CHARLIE BRONSON: England’s Most Dangerous Inmate
Charlie Bronson has spent 28 of the last 30 years in solitary confinement, during which time he has gained a fearsome reputation as one of the world’s toughest and most dangerous convicts. He has been locked in dungeons, in iron boxes cemented into the middle of cells, and in a cage much like that used on Hannibal Lecter. Yet Charlie is a man of great warmth and humor who has—despite perpetrating numerous kidnappings—never killed anyone. He lives by a strict moral code and is respected and admired by prison officers and prisoners alike. In this new edition of his bestselling autobiography, Charlie reveals the truth about his extraordinary life behind bars.
Buy my book and I’ll show you how to burn off ugly love handles, firm up your abs, make your arms huge and powerful, build up stamina and help change your life forever! All of this without fancy gym equipment,steroids, steaks, pills or powders. Hey . . . don’t forget the ladies! Not just for the men, this is ideal for anyone of an adult age. Did Samson do drugs, did Hercules need fancy trainers . . . You’re never going to run any faster with £300 trainers!
Charles Bronson has served 28 years behind bars and 24 of those years have been in solitary confinement; yet in spite of this he remains fit and strong. What are the secrets to his phenomenal strength and fitness? How can Bronson punch a hole with his bare fist through bullet-proof glass, bend solid steel doors by kicking at them, and do press-ups with two men on his back—all on a prison diet? Without the use of fancy gym equipment, steroids, steaks, supplements, or pills you can pack on pounds of muscle, lose weight fast, and gain superhuman strength.
Charles Bronson is the most feared and the most notorious convict in the prison system. Renowned for serial hostage taking and his rooftop sieges, he is a legend in his own lifetime. Yet behind the crime and the craziness, there is a great deal more to Charlie. He is a man of great warmth and humor; a man of great artistic talent who exhibits his drawings around the country; and a man with an overpowering urge not to let the system get him down. Insanity is a look into the mind of a true individual—a wild, inspired, single-minded, fascinating man, oppressed not only by the workings of his singular mind, but also by the system that confines him.
ANN WOLBERT BURGESS: Writer, Doctor, Researcher
Written by the forensic nurse who transformed the way the FBI profiles and catches serial killers, this thought-provoking book takes an intimate look at the creation of the Behavioral Science Unit–the inspiration for Hulu’s Mastermind documentary.
In the 1970s, the FBI created the “Mindhunters” (better known as the Behavioral Science Unit) to track down the country’s most dangerous criminals. In A Killer By Design, Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess reveals how her pioneering research on sexual assault and trauma helped the FBI capture some of history’s most violent offenders, including Ed Kemper (The Co-Ed Killer), Dennis Rader (BTK), Henry Wallace (The Taco Bell Strangler), and Jon Barry Simonis (The Ski-Mask Rapist).
This book pulls us directly into the investigations as she experienced them, interweaving never-before-seen interview transcripts, crime scene drawings, and her personal insight about the minds of deranged criminals and the victims they left behind.
Haunting and deeply human, A Killer By Design forces us to confront the age-old question that has long plagued our criminal justice system: “What drives someone to kill, and how can we stop them?”
DAVID BUSHMAN: Writer, Publisher
In one of the more notorious cases of police corruption in New York State in recent times, the FBI set its sights on the Schenectady PD in 1999, launching an investigation that would eventually result in the imprisonment of four officers, the suicide of a fifth, and the resignation of Kaczmarek, who himself would wind up behind bars ten years later after copping a plea to criminal possession of cocaine. The events of this period loosely form the basis of the 2012 crime drama The Place Beyond the Pines, which starred Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, and Eva Mendes and was cowritten by Ben Coccio. Article
In 1908, Hazel Drew was found floating in a pond in Sand Lake, New York, beaten to death. The unsolved murder inspired rumors, speculation, ghost stories, and, almost a century later, the phenomenon of Twin Peaks. Who killed Hazel Drew? Like Laura Palmer, she was a paradox of personalities―a young, beautiful puzzle with secrets. Perhaps the even trickier question is, Who was Hazel Drew?
Seeking escape from her poor country roots, Hazel found work as a domestic servant in the notoriously corrupt metropolis of Troy, New York. Fate derailed her plans for reinvention. But the investigation that followed her brutal murder was fraught with red herrings, wild-goose chases, and unreliable witnesses. Did officials really follow the leads? Or did they bury them to protect the guilty?
The likely answer is revealed in an absorbing true mystery that’s ingeniously reconstructed and every bit as haunting as the cultural obsession it inspired.
CANNIBALS:
See ARMIN MEIWES
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT:
The Executioner’s Song follows the true story of cold-blooded murderer Gary Gilmore, who, after being tried and convicted, insisted on being executed for his crimes. To do so, he fought a system intent on keeping him alive long after it sentenced him to death.
Norman Mailer tells Gilmore’s story with impressive authority and compassion. The Executioner’s Song is a trip down the wrong side of the tracks, right into the heart of American loneliness and violence–it is impossible to put down and difficult to forget.
AL CAPONE: Criminal Crime Boss
See also MAFIA, ORGANIZED CRIME
At the height of Prohibition, Al Capone loomed large as Public Enemy Number One: his multimillion-dollar Chicago Outfit dominated organized crime, and law enforcement was powerless to stop him. But then came the fall: a legal noose tightened by the FBI, a conviction on tax evasion, a stint in Alcatraz. After his release, he returned to his family in Miami a much diminished man, living quietly until the ravages of his neurosyphilis took their final toll.
Our shared fascination with Capone endures in countless novels and movies, but the man behind the legend has remained a mystery. Now, through rigorous research and exclusive access to Capone’s family, National Book Award–winning biographer Deirdre Bair cuts through the mythology, uncovering a complex character who was flawed and cruel but also capable of nobility. At once intimate and iconoclastic, Al Capone gives us the definitive account of a quintessentially American figure.
Bergreen shows the seedy and glamorous sides of the age, the rise of Prohibition, the illicit liquor trade, the battlefield that was Chicago. Delving beyond the Capone mythology. Bergreen finds a paradox: a coldblooded killer, thief, pimp, and racketeer who was also a devoted son and father; a self-styled Robin Hood who rose to the top of organized crime. Capone is a masterful portrait of an extraordinary time and of the one man who reigned supreme over it all, Al Capone.
All I ever did was to sell beer and whiskey to our best people. All I ever did was to supply a demand that was pretty popular.
Why, the very guys that make my trade good are the ones that yell the loudest about me. Some of the leading judges use the stuff.
When I sell liquor, it’s called bootlegging. When my patrons serve it on silver trays on Lake Shore Drive, it’s called hospitality.
— Al Capone
CINCINNATI STRANGLER: Serial Killer
Black serial killers aren’t an urban myth: estimates suggest that up to 22% of serial killers are undertaken by black males. From Paul Durousseau, the Jacksonville taxi cab killer to Mark Sappington, the Kansas City Vampire who gained notoriety for eating one of his victim’s legs, this informative book is packed with facts that will have you locking your doors.
Cold cases fascinate us because of the relentless possibilities:
- What if Alice Hochhausler hadn’t driven her daughter home from work while a strangler was running loose?
- What if Linda Bricca hadn’t been so beautiful and tempted by adultery?
See what happens as JT Townsend takes us on a sinister journey through thirteen notorious Cincinnati murder mysteries in his cult classic, Queen City Gothic. Among others, you’ll meet :
- Frances Brady, a pretty bride-to-be gunned down at her own front door.
- Patty Rebholz, a popular cheerleader, bludgeoned in a neighbor’s backyard while walking to break up with her teenage boyfriend.
Townsend’s riveting chapters include previously unpublished details from police files and stunning images of the crime scenes then and now. This book is must reading for all citizen sleuths who believe in the cold case credo: “Let no victim’s ghost say we did not try…”
CIVIL RIGHTS CRIME:
see also LYNCHING
In 1949, Florida’s orange industry was booming, and citrus barons got rich on the backs of cheap Jim Crow labor. To maintain order and profits, they turned to Willis V. McCall, a violent sheriff who ruled Lake County with murderous resolve. When a white seventeen-year-old Groveland girl cried rape, McCall was fast on the trail of four young blacks who dared to envision a future for themselves beyond the citrus groves. By day’s end, the Ku Klux Klan had rolled into town, burning the homes of blacks to the ground and chasing hundreds into the swamps, hell-bent on lynching the young men who came to be known as “the Groveland Boys.”
And so began the chain of events that would bring Thurgood Marshall, the man known as “Mr. Civil Rights,” and the most important American lawyer of the twentieth century, into the deadly fray. Associates thought it was suicidal for him to wade into the “Florida Terror” at a time when he was irreplaceable to the burgeoning civil rights movement, but the lawyer would not shrink from the fight–not after the Klan had murdered one of Marshall’s NAACP associates involved with the case and Marshall had endured continual threats that he would be next.
Drawing on a wealth of never-before-published material, including the FBI’s unredacted Groveland case files, as well as unprecedented access to the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund files, King shines new light on this remarkable civil rights crusader, setting his rich and driving narrative against the heroic backdrop of a case that U.S. Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson decried as “one of the best examples of one of the worst menaces to American justice.
In 1955, white men in the Mississippi Delta lynched a fourteen-year-old from Chicago named Emmett Till. His murder was part of a wave of white terrorism in the wake of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional. Only weeks later, Rosa Parks thought about young Emmett as she refused to move to the back of a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Five years later, Black students who called themselves “the Emmett Till generation” launched sit-in campaigns that turned the struggle for civil rights into a mass movement. Till’s lynching became the most notorious hate crime in American history.
But what actually happened to Emmett Till—not the icon of injustice, but the flesh-and-blood boy? Part detective story, part political history, The Blood of Emmett Till “unfolds like a movie” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), drawing on a wealth of new evidence, including a shocking admission of Till’s innocence from the woman in whose name he was killed. “Jolting and powerful” (The Washington Post), the book “provides fresh insight into the way race has informed and deformed our democratic institutions” (Diane McWhorter, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Carry Me Home) and “calls us to the cause of justice today” (Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, president of the North Carolina NAACP).
HADDEN CLARK: Serial Killer
Homeless and living in his truck, forty-year-old Hadden Clark often drew stares in Bethesda, Maryland. He also slept with a teddy bear, and, dressed as a woman, strolling through town, he carried 28 carving knives, a straight razor, and a gun in his truck. When the reclusive loner was arrested in 1992 for the stabbing murders of two local girls, no one was surprised. It was after his incarceration that the surprises came, popping up like half-buried corpses.
While serving a seventy-year sentence, Hadden confessed to having a split personality, dominated by a psychotic mother and daughter who were vying for attention. He also admitted to murdering at least a dozen more women– the ones he could remember– cannibalizing them, using their leftover body parts as fishing bait, and burying their remains everywhere from a local cemetery to a sand dune on Cape Cod. Authorities didn’t believe him– until Hadden took them on a personal four-state tour.
Adrian Havill’s Born Evil is a terrifying true crime story of split personalities, cannibalism and serial murder.
Meet Hadden Clark, also known as The Rockville Rocket, an American serial killer who confessed to having murdered dozens of people since he was a teenager.
Hadden Clark liked a great many things. He liked dresses, he liked wigs, he liked rollerblading, he liked Teddy bears—and he also liked to kill people. He was a guy who made his own rules. Quite frankly, he was a miscreant who went his whole life thinking the normal rules of society just didn’t apply to him. He was clearly anti-social from a young age. His only real skill was cooking.
He was apparently a great cook. But since he couldn’t get along with anyone and he was constantly “plotting revenge” against his coworkers, he never lasted very long in kitchens. Ultimately, he would live alone and isolated, either camping out in the woods or sleeping in the back of his pickup truck. It was during this isolated existence that his most diabolical thoughts of serial murder would be conceived.
Chuck Colson: Former Criminal, Minister
In 1974 Charles W. Colson pleaded guilty to Watergate-related offenses and, after a tumultuous investigation, served seven months in prison. In his search for meaning and purpose in the face of the Watergate scandal, Colson penned Born Again. This unforgettable memoir shows a man who, seeking fulfillment in success and power, found it, paradoxically, in national disgrace and prison.
In more than three decades since its initial publication, Born Again has brought hope and encouragement to millions. This remarkable story of new life continues to influence lives around the world. This expanded edition includes a brand-new introduction and a new epilogue by Colson, recounting the writing of his bestselling book and detailing some of the ways his background and ministry have brought hope and encouragement to so many.
The sequel to Colson’s best-seller, Born Again, this book reveals how he began a new life and his struggle to begin a new ministry.
CONSPIRACIES:
See also JAMES EARL RAY, GERALD POSNER, CHARLES MANSON,
They were after him and he knew it. He said to his brother, “I’m a dead man. They’re going to kill me, but I have run as far as I am going to run. It’s that Kennedy thing in Dallas.” More Info.
ROBERT RAY COURTNEY: Criminal
On May 27, 2001, a nurse in Kansas City oncologist Dr. Hunter-Hicks’ office placed a five c.c. vial of Taxol chemotherapy medicine in a package and sent it to the National Medical Services laboratory. On June 12, 2001, the lab results arrived back. The Taxol sample from the lab was a bombshell. It had approximately one-third of the amount of Taxol the doctor had ordered. Diluted medication could result in serious, possibly fatal outcomes.
In September 2001, the FBI opened a new case file: Diluted Trust. Overseen by FBI Director Robert S. Muller III, Diluted Trust was the FBI’s highest priority case in the nation until the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
The FBI discovered that pharmacist responsible for the scam, Robert Ray Courtney, had been diluting chemotherapy drugs for years and had brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars. But beyond the crime of overcharging for diluted medication was the human toll it took. At least 4,200 patients were affected with at least 40 known deaths. This was the first case of its kind in American medical history.
Prescription for Evil is the story of Robert Ray Courtney, the FBI case against him, and the devastation he wrought among thousands of patients and their families.
TONY COSTA: Serial Killer
1969: The hippie scene is vibrant in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Long-haired teenagers roam the streets, strumming guitars and preaching about peace and love… and Tony Costa is at the center of it all. To a certain group of smitten young women, he is known as Sire―the leader of their counter-culture movement, the charming man who speaks eloquently and hands out hallucinogenic drugs like candy. But beneath his benign persona lies a twisted and uncontrollable rage that threatens to break loose at any moment. Tony Costa is the most dangerous man on Cape Cod, and no one who crosses his path is safe.
When young women begin to disappear, Costa’s natural charisma and good looks initially protect him from suspicion. But as the bodies are discovered, the police close in on him as the key suspect. Meanwhile, local writers Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer are locked in a desperate race to secure their legacies as great literary icons―and they both set their sights on Tony Costa and the drug-soaked hippie culture that he embodies as their next promising subject, launching independent investigations that stoke the competitive fires between two of the greatest American writers.
Immersive, unflinching, and shocking,Helltown is a landmark true crime narrative that transports us back to the turbulent late 1960s, reveals the secrets of a notorious serial killer, and unspools the threads connecting Costa, Vonnegut, and Mailer in the seaside city that played host to horrors unlike any ever seen before. New York Times bestselling author Casey Sherman has crafted a stunner.
CRIME TRAVEL: Do you add crime sites to your travels? Articles
Are you a true crime fanatic? A real murderino? Would you like to delve into a chilling darkness and explore the minds of some of the most notorious New Jersey killers?
Tread carefully because these stories are not for faint-hearted. They will shock you, they will horrify you and chill you to your very core—a perfect addition to the collection of any true murderino out there.
Take a peek inside and find out what made these cold-blooded killers so devious and ruthless. When? Where? How? Why? These are the answers that will be revealed to you through a narration style you never encountered before.
Forget about boringly and plainly laid out pieces of information and facts. Instead, imagine a scary horror story, except that these ones are infinitely more terrifying because every single word is true.
Inside of Murderers In New Jersey, you will find eight gruesome and most horrifying true stories of the infamous Garden State killers.
Here is what this collection of true crime stories can offer you:
- John List – Family Annihilator
- Richard Kuklinski – The Iceman
- Richard Biegenwald – The Thrill Killer
- Corey Hamlet – The Grape Street Crips
- Robert Reldan – Ten Million Dollar Killer
- Richard Cottingham – The Torso Killer
- Khalil Wheeler-Weaver – Caught by a Dead Woman
- Robert Zarinsky: Caught by a Missing Woman
Will your heart and mind be able to handle the horror that awaits inside? Take a look if you dare!
“State-by-State: The Most Shocking and Brutal Crimes in Every U.S. State” is a gripping true crime journey across America, diving into the darkest chapters of each state’s past. From small-town horrors to high-profile serial killers, this book uncovers the shocking stories that have haunted communities and shaped the nation’s criminal history.
Each chapter focuses on one U.S. state and one unforgettable crime that rocked it to its core. Whether it was a twisted serial killer, a chilling mass murder, a mysterious disappearance, or a high-stakes kidnapping. You’ll read about infamous names like Jeffrey Dahmer in Wisconsin and Richard Ramirez, the “Night Stalker” in California, but also lesser-known cases that are just as haunting, like the Wolf Family Massacre in North Dakota or the David Parker Ray case in New Mexico.
Written in a clear and accessible style for high school readers and adults alike, this book doesn’t just focus on the criminals. It tells the story of some of the victims, the communities left shaken, and the dedicated investigators who worked to bring justice. Readers will gain insight into the motives, methods, and consequences of some of the most disturbing crimes in American history.
Whether you’re a true crime enthusiast, a student researching major U.S. criminal cases, or someone curious about the secrets hidden in your own state, State-by-State delivers an unforgettable and well-researched look into real-life horror. Every page is packed with facts, timelines, and emotional depth, reminding us that behind every headline is a human story.
This book is perfect for fans of true crime documentaries, podcasts, and investigative journalism. Prepare to be shocked, saddened, and deeply intrigued as you explore the deadliest and most notorious crimes across all fifty states.
Hopes have been crushed. Fortunes gained. Lives celebrated while others were snuffed out too soon. In the shadows, where corners are cut, and ambition unchecked – that is where the notorious stories live. Step into the dark alleyways, back rooms and even board rooms with me, as I recount Pittsburgh’s seedier past. Notorious Pittsburgh features more than 20 stories, including Pittsburgh’s first bank robbery, a famous jailbreak, as well as several stories from our former red-light district and the prohibition era.
Murder in Washington: Notorious Crime Sites is a visual return to over 95 infamous murder scenes profiling the shocking and detailed narratives behind each tragedy.
The State of Washington has been the residence of three internationally prominent serial killers including Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway (The Green River Killer), Kenneth Bianchi (Hillside Strangler) and Lee Boyd Malvo (DC Sniper). Many of the narratives defy believability, yet they are true. Long after the screaming headlines and sensationalism has subsided, these bizarre, infamous and obscure murder sites and stories remain buried awaiting rediscovery.
The Murder in Washington edition is segmented into eight categories including assassinations, historical legacies, premeditated homicides, chance encounters and impulse killings, law enforcement fatalities and controversies, unsolved murders, rampage and serial killers.
The edition provides the precise location of each crime site, fatality victims, perpetrators and for those still living, the penal institution where they are incarcerated.
JOSEPH JAMES DeANGELO Jr.: Serial Killer
see GOLDEN STATE KILLER
DETECTIVES:
See LAW ENFORCEMENT
In 1958 Jean Ellroy was murdered, her body dumped on a roadway in a seedy L.A. suburb. Her killer was never found, and the police dismissed her as a casualty of a cheap Saturday night. James Ellroy was ten when his mother died, and he spent the next thirty-six years running from her ghost and attempting to exorcize it through crime fiction. In 1994, Ellroy quit running. He went back to L.A., to find out the truth about his mother–and himself.
In My Dark Places, our most uncompromising crime writer tells what happened when he teamed up with a brilliant homicide cop to investigate a murder that everyone else had forgotten–and reclaim the mother he had despised, desired, but never dared to love. What ensues is a epic of loss, fixation, and redemption, a memoir that is also a history of the American way of violence.
DRUGS:
Back in the 90’s, a new drug named ecstasy swept the nation, especially on the party scene. a young man got involved with selling this latest sensation, and the lure of fast money was just too much to resist. When the authorities caught up with him, he fled to Mexico. South of the border, he resumed his operations and amassed a fortune, started a family and life was good. Until it wasn’t. Disasters, betrayal, and fighting his own personal demons was taking a heavy toll. With the law hot on his heels, and his life literally hanging in the balance, the time for big decisions was barreling towards him like a freight train.
Methamphetamine, commonly referred to as crystal meth, is one of the most addictive drugs in the world. Heavy users can destroy themselves in just a few months. Originally given by the Nazis to their troops to fight the blitzkrieg, it has now conquered the whole world and is used at sex parties in Amsterdam and Antwerp, by former hippies in Prague, by the underclass in the slums of Harare, Cape Town, and Peshawar, by truck drivers in Thailand, and by workers in the sweatshops in Bangladesh.
Researcher Teun Voeten traveled the globe for two years to investigate all sides of this diabolic drug, exploring the bizarre history and pharmacological effects. He talked to homeless addicts in Tijuana and Los Angeles, cartels in Mexico, international drug experts in Bangkok and Kabul, and more. Voeten also interviewed numerous authorities, judges, and social workers who are trying to stop the meth epidemic.
JOHN DOUGLAS: Writer, FBI Agent
In chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, fascinating, and challenging cases—and into the darkest recesses of our worst nightmares.
During his twenty-five year career with the Investigative Support Unit, Special Agent John Douglas became a legendary figure in law enforcement, pursuing some of the most notorious and sadistic serial killers of our time: the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, the Atlanta child murderer, and Seattle’s Green River killer, the case that nearly cost Douglas his life.
As the model for Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, Douglas has confronted, interviewed, and studied scores of serial killers and assassins, including Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Ed Gein, who dressed himself in his victims’ peeled skin. Using his uncanny ability to become both predator and prey, Douglas examines each crime scene, reliving both the killer’s and the victim’s actions in his mind, creating their profiles, describing their habits, and predicting their next moves.
GLENNON ENGLEMAN: Serial Killer
The Story of the Killer Dentist. Read more HERE.
FAMILY MURDER:
On November 8, 1985, 18-year-old Tom Odle brutally murdered his parents and three siblings in the small southern Illinois town of Mount Vernon, sending shockwaves throughout the nation. The murder of the Odle family remains one of the most horrific family mass murders in U.S. history. Odle was sentenced to death and, after seventeen years on death row, expected a lethal injection to end his life. However, Illinois governor George Ryan’s moratorium on the death penalty in 2000, and later commutation of all death sentences in 2003, changed Odle’s sentence to natural life.
The commutation of his death sentence was an epiphany for Odle. Prior to the commutation of his death sentence, Odle lived in denial, repressing any feelings about his family and his horrible crime. Following the commutation and the removal of the weight of eventual execution associated with his death sentence, he was confronted with an unfamiliar reality. A future. As a result, he realized that he needed to understand why he murdered his family. He reached out to Dr. Robert Hanlon, a neuropsychologist who had examined him in the past. Dr. Hanlon engaged Odle in a therapeutic process of introspection and self-reflection, which became the basis of their collaboration on this book.
Hanlon tells a gripping story of Odle’s life as an abused child, the life experiences that formed his personality, and his tragic homicidal escalation to mass murder, seamlessly weaving into the narrative Odle’s unadorned reflections of his childhood, finding a new family on death row, and his belief in the powers of redemption.
As our nation attempts to understand the continual mass murders occurring in the U.S., Survived by One sheds some light on the psychological aspects of why and how such acts of extreme carnage may occur. However, Survived by One offers a never-been-told perspective from the mass murderer himself, as he searches for the answers concurrently being asked by the nation and the world. REVIEW and True Crime Article
FINANCIAL CRIME:
Now a #1 international bestseller, Billion Dollar Whale is “an epic tale of white-collar crime on a global scale” (Publishers Weekly), revealing how a young social climber from Malaysia pulled off one of the biggest heists in history.
In 2009, a chubby, mild-mannered graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business named Jho Low set in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude–one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. Over a decade, Low, with the aid of Goldman Sachs and others, siphoned billions of dollars from an investment fund–right under the nose of global financial industry watchdogs. Low used the money to finance elections, purchase luxury real estate, throw champagne-drenched parties, and even to finance Hollywood films like The Wolf of Wall Street.
By early 2019, with his yacht and private jet reportedly seized by authorities and facing criminal charges in Malaysia and in the United States, Low had become an international fugitive, even as the U.S. Department of Justice continued its investigation.
FORENSICS:
A fascinating Jazz Age tale of chemistry and detection, poison and murder, The Poisoner’s Handbook is a page-turning account of a forgotten era. In early twentieth-century New York, poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. Science had no place in the Tammany Hall-controlled coroner’s office, and corruption ran rampant. However, with the appointment of chief medical examiner Charles Norris in 1918, the poison game changed forever. Together with toxicologist Alexander Gettler, the duo set the justice system on fire with their trailblazing scientific detective work, triumphing over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice.
JOSEPH PAUL FRANKLIN: Serial Killer
Believing himself to be on a “God-given mission,” Joseph Paul Franklin was the only racially motivated serial killer ever pursued by the Justice Department. Mel Ayton examines his murderous life, from his poverty-stricken youth in a backward Alabama suburb to his indoctrination by militant Nazis and southern racists to his eventual capture by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ayton’s exhaustive report uncovers the truth behind Franklin’s three-year undertaking to murder Jews and African Americans.
White supremacist Franklin was, by his own admission, an outlaw, a racist, and weird. As a neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klansman, he violently enforced his views by embarking on a “lone hunter” mission to kill. He saw African Americans and Jews as subhuman and knew no moral obstacle to racial violence, invoking the Bible to support his criminal acts. As Franklin’s 1977–80 killing spree was contemporaneous with other racially charged incidents that other Klansmen and neo-Nazis wrought throughout the United States, his story also exposes how hate organizations have made killers out of disaffected and bitter young men.
In this first full-length book about Franklin, Ayton reveals a shocking and unsavory side of American society.
Worshippers stream out of an Midwestern synagogue after sabbath services, unaware that only a hundred yards away, an expert marksman and avowed racist, antisemite and member of the Ku Klux Klan, patiently awaits, his hunting rifle at the ready.
The October 8, 1977 shooting was a forerunner to the tragedies and divisiveness that plague us today. John Douglas, the FBI’s pioneering, first full-time criminal profiler, hunted the shooter—a white supremacist named Joseph Paul Franklin, whose Nazi-inspired beliefs propelled a three-year reign of terror across the United States, targeting African Americans, Jews, and interracial couples. In addition, Franklin bombed the home of Jewish leader Morris Amitay, shot and paralyzed Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt, and seriously wounded civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. The fugitive supported his murderous spree robbing banks in five states, from Georgia to Ohio.
Douglas and his writing partner Mark Olshaker return to this disturbing case that reached the highest levels of the Bureau, which was fearful Franklin would become a presidential assassin—and haunted him for years to come as the threat of copycat domestic terrorist killers increasingly became a reality. Detailing the dogged pursuit of Franklin that employed profiling, psychology and meticulous detective work, Douglas and Olshaker relate how the case was a make-or-break test for the still-experimental behavioral science unit and revealed a new type of, determined, mission-driven serial killer whose only motivation was hate.
A riveting, cautionary tale rooted in history that continues to echo today, The Killer’s Shadow is a terrifying and essential exploration of the criminal personality in the vile grip of extremism and what happens when rage-filled speech evolves into deadly action and hatred of the “other” is allowed full reign.
The publisher of “Hustler” magazine recounts his professional and personal career, the shooting that left him severely injured, and his courtroom struggles to secure his First Amendment rights
JOHN WAYNE GACY: Serial Killer
“Sam, could you do me a favor?” Thus begins a story that has now become part of America’s true crime hall of fame. It is a gory, grotesque tale befitting a Stephen King novel. It is also a David and Goliath saga—the story of a young lawyer fresh from the Public Defender’s Office whose first client in private practice turns out to be the worst serial killer in our nation’s history.
Sam Amirante had just opened his first law practice when he got a phone call from his friend John Wayne Gacy, a well-known and well-liked community figure. Gacy was upset about what he called “police harassment” and asked Amirante for help. With the police following his every move in connection with the disappearance of a local teenager, Gacy eventually gave a drunken, dramatic, early morning confession—to his new lawyer. Gacy was eventually charged with murder and Amirante suddenly became the defense attorney for one of American’s most disturbing serial killers. It was his first case.
This new edition of John Wayne Gacy, which contains updated material about the case that has come to light since the book’s original publication, recounts the gruesome killings and the famous trial that shocked a nation.
John Wayne Gacy, the “Killer Clown,” was a suburban Chicago businessman sentenced to death in 1980 for a string of horrific murders after the bodies of his victims were found hidden in a crawl space beneath his Des Plaines, Illinois, home. The serial killer had preyed on teenagers and young men—at the same time entertaining at children’s parties and charitable events dressed as “Pogo the Clown.”
Drawing on exclusive interviews and previously unreported material, journalist Tim Cahill “offers the stuff of wrenching nightmares” (The Wall Street Journal): a harrowing journey inside the mind of a serial killer. Meticulously researched and graphically recounted, Buried Dreams brings to vivid life the real John Wayne Gacy—his complex personality, compulsions, inadequacies, and torments—often in the murderer’s own words.
Called “an absorbing and disturbing story” by Publishers Weekly and “surprisingly graceful” by the New York Times, this is a journey to the heart of human evil that you will never forget.
As investigators brought out the bagged remains of several dozen young men from a small Chicago ranch home and paraded them in front of a crowd of TV reporters and spectators, attention quickly turned to the owner of the house. John Gacy was an upstanding citizen, active in local politics and charities, famous for his themed parties and appearances as Pogo the Clown. But in the winter of 1978–79, he became known as one of many so-called “sex murderers” who had begun gaining notoriety in the random brutality of the 1970s.
As public interest grew rapidly, victims became footnotes and statistics, lives lost not just to violence, but to history. Through the testimony of siblings, parents, friends, lovers, and other witnesses close to the case, Boys Enter the House retraces the footsteps of these victims as they make their way to the doorstep of the Gacy house itself. Amid the ragged streets of the Uptown neighborhood, Samuel Stapleton and Randy Reffett play out a boyhood rivalry across gangs and girls that turns into a long-lasting friendship. Frank “Dale” Landingin and Billy Carroll attempt to break free of turbulent family lives, but find themselves navigating the gay underworld to get ahead. On the eve of starting their own lives, Gregory Godzik and Johnny Szyc juggle jobs and relationships as their paths gradually lead them to the home at 8213 Summerdale Avenue.
He was a model citizen. A hospital volunteer. And one of the most sadistic serial killers of all time. But few people could see the cruel monster beneath the colorful clown makeup that John Gacy wore to entertain children in his Chicago suburb. Few could imagine what lay buried beneath his house of horrors—until a teenaged boy disappeared before Christmas in 1978, leading prosecutor Terry Sullivan on the greatest manhunt of his career.
Reconstructing the investigation—from records of violence in Gacy’s past and DNA evidence confirming the identities of additional victims, to the gruesome discovery of 29 corpses of abused boys in Gacy’s crawlspace and four others found in the nearby river—Sullivan’s shocking eyewitness account takes you where few true crime books ever go: inside the heart of a serial murder investigation and trial.
GOLDEN STATE KILLER: (Joseph James DeAngelo Jr.) Serial Killer
For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area.
Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called “the Golden State Killer.” Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.
I’ll Be Gone in the Dark—the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death—offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman’s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Utterly original and compelling, it has been hailed as a modern true crime classic—one which fulfilled Michelle’s dream: helping unmask the Golden State Killer.
H.H. HOLMES: Serial Killer
Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds—a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium.
Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake.
The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. Erik Larson’s gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.
HILDEBRAND: Civil War Bushwhacker
Most Civil War historians now agree that the guerrilla conflict shaped the entire war in significant ways. Some of these “bushwhackers”―Nathan Bedford Forrest, William Clarke Quantrill, John Singleton Mosby―have become quite infamous. Illiterate Sam Hildebrand, one of Missouri’s most notorious guerrillas―often compared to “Rob Roy,” and the subject of dime novels―was one of the few to survive the war and have his story taken down and published. Shortly after this he was killed in a barroom brawl. “I make no apology to mankind for my acts of retaliation; I make no whining appeal to the world for sympathy. I sought revenge and I found it; the key of hell was not suffered to rust in the lock while I was on the war path.” ―Sam Hildebrand Hildebrand’s reign of terror gave the Union army fits and kept much of the Trans-Mississippi, especially Missouri, roiling in the 1860s. Over seven years of fighting he and his men killed dozens of soldiers and civilians, whites and blacks; he claimed to have killed nearly one hundred himself. He was accused of many heinous acts. The historical significance of Hildebrand’s story is substantial, but his bloody tale is eminently readable and stands quite well on its own as a cold-blooded portrait of a violent time in American history. Like the nightmarish and depraved world of the Kid in Cormac McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian, Hildebrand’s world is truly ruthless and his story is brutally descriptive in its coolly detached rendering of one man’s personal war. Published in 1870, Hildebrand’s autobiography has long been out of print and has been a rare and highly prized acquisition among Civil War
Infamous Crime:
See also LINDBERGH BABY KIDNAPPING
Charles Bannon was the last man lynched in North Dakota. This book has been made into a movie. See the review HERE.
Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt’s sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.
It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this true-crime book has become a modern classic. Movie Review
Reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and both their children. In this title, the author’s study of the killings and subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those
John Kapoor had already amassed a small fortune in pharmaceuticals when he founded Insys Therapeutics. It was the early 2000s, a boom time for painkillers, and he developed a novel formulation of fentanyl, the most potent opioid on the market.
Kapoor, a brilliant immigrant scientist with relentless business instincts, was eager to make the most of his innovation. He gathered around him an ambitious group of young lieutenants. His head of sales—an unstable and unmanageable leader, but a genius of persuasion—built a team willing to pull every lever to close a sale, going so far as to recruit an exotic dancer ready to scrape her way up. They zeroed in on the eccentric and suspect doctors receptive to their methods. Employees at headquarters did their part by deceiving insurance companies. The drug was a niche product, approved only for cancer patients in dire condition, but the company’s leadership pushed it more widely, and together they turned Insys into a Wall Street sensation.
But several insiders reached their breaking point and blew the whistle. They sparked a sprawling investigation that would lead to a dramatic courtroom battle, breaking new ground in the government’s fight to hold the drug industry accountable in the spread of addictive opioids.
In Pain Hustlers, National Magazine Award–finalist Evan Hughes lays bare the pharma playbook. He draws on unprecedented access to insiders of the Insys saga, from top executives to foot soldiers, from the patients and staff of far-flung clinics to the Boston investigators who treated the case as a drug-trafficking conspiracy, flipping cooperators and closing in on the key players.
With colorful characters and true suspense, Pain Hustlers offers a bracing look not just at Insys, but at how opioids are sold at the point they first enter the national bloodstream—in the doctor’s office. Movie Review
Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God; some 40,000 people still practice polygamy in these communities.
At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.
Malcolm deftly analyzes the real-life lawsuit of Jeffrey MacDonald, a convicted murderer, against Joe McGinniss, the author of Fatal Vision. At the heart of this masterfully crafted narrative is McGinniss’s controversial portrayal of MacDonald, a former Green Beret convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters. While writing the true crime book Fatal Vision, McGinniss ingratiated himself with MacDonald under the guise of supporting his innocence, only to portray him as guilty in the final publication. The resulting libel case put McGinniss’s methods on trial, sparking a gripping examination of the ethics governing the writer-subject covenant.
Through probing interviews with the key players – the principals, their lawyers, members of the jury, and expert witnesses – Malcolm provides an atmospheric retelling of the sensational trial. But her true subject is the treacherous territory writers must navigate when trying to objectively chronicle the lives of others.
With piercing self-awareness, Malcolm examines her own role and motivations, laying bare the inherent conflicts and power dynamics that arise when a journalist pursues a story. Her candid, rueful reflections transform a seemingly straightforward work of reportage into a profound exploration of journalistic ethics and the limits of factual truth.
Bob Leach was a throwback to an era of legendary Texas desperados. He was a conman, a kidnapper, a cattle rustler, a stickup man, and more. But far from practicing his depredations in the Wild West heyday of the 1880’s, Leach was a modern-day badman who became one of the most sought-after criminals in Texas history; from landing in a Comanche County courtroom on charges of larceny to ending up in a Callahan County Jail where he later escaped.
After his capture, Leach was carted off to prison where he met and married his then wife. The pair ran a larceny scheme raking in millions while blackmailing guests at a party ranch. According to witnesses, guests enjoyed ranch style amenities during the day light hours and running around bareass from one orgy to another at night, and everyone was being videotaped in the process just to be blackmailed for it later.
Everything came to an abrupt end when one of Bob’s girlfriends blew the whistle on them. The wife turned herself into a Texas Ranger and Bob went on the run. Once he was captured he was then taken to the Grayson County Jail, but it seemed his escapades were not over yet.
He and four other inmates broke out of the tiny jail located in Sherman and were soon labeled by the media as “The Grayson County Five”. They led a massive posse of Texas lawmen on a state-wide chase. The reign of terror lasted for four days, including taking a husband and wife hostage in their home, before ending in a shootout against law enforcement. Bob released the couple and surrendered peacefully to authorities, but not before turning the gun on his compadre.
The real story about the “Modern Day Cattle Rustler” has yet to be told as new evidence has been uncovered that would warrant reopening the old cases.
The holidays are supposed to be a time of peace and family togetherness. But in 1987, nearly every member of the Simmons family — including the children — was slaughtered by Ronald Gene Simmons. He took the lives of 14 of his family members (and two of his former co-workers), making it the worst family massacre in US history. Unlike the more sensational “civil reputable” type of family annihilator like John List, Simmons was the more common type: the “livid coercive,” a dominating domestic abuser who is threatened by losing control over his family. For Simmons, slaughtering his family was more about his need to possess them than to spare them from humiliation or poverty. In fact, he made sure his family lived in crushing poverty and isolation. But Simmons’s psychopathic nature was far more deviant than most domestic abusers. This book from the perspective of Ronald Gene Simmons. It’s a shocking true story about dominance, intimidation, and extreme violence. If you are especially sensitive to accounts of the suffering of children, it might be advisable not to read any further. If, however, you seek to understand the darker side of human nature by coming face to face with it, then this book is written for you.
The definitive account of the O. J. Simpson trial, The Run of His Life is a prodigious feat of reporting that could have been written only by the foremost legal journalist of our time. First published less than a year after the infamous verdict, Jeffrey Toobin’s nonfiction masterpiece tells the whole story, from the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman to the ruthless gamesmanship behind the scenes of “the trial of the century.” Rich in character, as propulsive as a legal thriller, this enduring narrative continues to shock and fascinate with its candid depiction of the human drama that upended American life.
A fresh and fascinating look at the Evelyn Dick murder trial and the intriguing mystery of her disappearance.
The “torso” murder trial of young attractive Evelyn Dick grabbed headlines in 1946 and 1947. Her husband John’s head and limbs had been sawed from his body and burned up in her furnace. After she was sentenced to hang, up-and-coming lawyer J.J. Robinette appealed her case, won her a new trial and then an acquittal. But, when police found the decayed remains of Evelyn’s newborn baby encased in cement in a suitcase in her attic, the best Robinette could do for her was a manslaughter conviction and eleven years in prison.
Evelyn Dick was released with a new identity in 1958. Since then, rumors, stories and sightings have abounded. Where did she go and what happened to her? Writer producer Brian Vallée, after crisscrossing the country, conducting several dozen interviews and tirelessly researching old newspaper files and thousands of pages of transcripts and police reports, answers many of the questions that surround this mysterious case. The result is a lively, spine-tingling account of the case itself and Evelyn Dick’s surprising new life. With much of the material never before published, The Torso Murder is a captivating, chilling true story.
LESLIE IRVIN: Serial Killer
In the mid-1950s, six chilling murders tightened the grip of fear on the residents of southwest Indiana and northwest Kentucky. Victims and locations were random: a pregnant woman working in the family store, a filling station attendant, a rural housewife, and three members of one family. There was one significant common factor in all the murders. Each victim was made to kneel, their hands tied behind their backs, and shot once in the head with a .38 caliber weapon. Newspapers dubbed the slayings ‘The Kneeling Corpse Murders.’With no leads, no suspects, and virtually no clues to point to one, police were stymied in their attempts to identify the murderer. A chance encounter would bring the break they needed. After he was apprehended, it would be a long time before the tumult caused by Mad Dog Irvin was finally over. The relaxed and trusting days before the killings would be forever altered and the case would go on to the U.S. Supreme Court producing a decision that affects legal journalism to this day.
KANSAS CITY MASSACRE: Organized Crime
The Union Station Massacre tells the story of how a bloody shoot-out in Kansas City in 1933 became the lynchpin for J. Edgar Hoover’s successful tranformation of the FBI from a powerless subagency into a law-enforcement juggernaut. Using dubious authority and outright lies, Hoover’s FBI turned the massacre case into a witch-hunt for “Pretty Boy” Floyd and Adam Richetti. Floyd was gunned down in a field in Ohio, and Richetti was convicted of murder and executed, based on perjured testimony and manipulated evidence. All the while, the FBI scrupulously avoided the truth. The Union Station Massacre strips away years of legend to reveal what truly happened that June day in 1933. The story it tells will change the way Americans look at J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.
This narrative is separated into two parts for some very critical reasons. Book One will deal with this event, as it was reported that time, through the news releases of the day. I will exhibit what was known in 1933 about the Union Station Massacre and the events leading up to the incident. The timeframe of the first book will encompass May 1933 through June of 1935 or to the “official” end of the case. I will, however, point out some facets of this investigation that were not common knowledge at the time…. Book Two will deal with what has been added to the original yarn over the years by various newspapers and novelists. This portion, equally important as the first, will untangle the whole story and add depth to what has already been written. There have been, over the last 60+ years, attempt to alter this story and these changes will, for the first time, be documented. What you will discover is that the transformation of the original account began the same day as the event itself. Some of these changes were planned, and executed, by some very powerful people of the time and, for the most part, have never been revealed to the public. We will see, through countless examples, who fashioned this myth known as The Union Station Massacre and, with this insight, appreciate who benefited from these modifications. The second book will deal with what actually took place on and about the 17th of June 1933, then for months and years after. — excerpts from book’s Foreword
On June 17, 1933, thirty seconds of gunfire covered the parking lot of Kansas City’s Union Station with blood and bodies. To a nation reeling from depression and a decade of prohibition-fueled gang violence, the “Kansas City Massacre” was one outrage too many. Congress empowered J. Edgar Hoover and his G-Men to find and punish the enigmatic former sheriff turned outlaw, Verne Miller, who was responsible for the slaughter. The book tells a story of the paradoxical life of Verne Miller, of his mysterious death, and, for the first time, the story of Vi Mathis, Verne’s beautiful and devoted lover.
Desperadoes like Frank and Jesse James earned Missouri the nickname of the “Outlaw State” after the Civil War, and that reputation followed the region into the Prohibition era through the feverish criminal activity of Bonnie and Clyde, the Barkers and Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd. Duck into the Slicker War of the 1840s, a vigilante movement that devolved into a lingering feud in which the two sides sometimes meted out whippings, called slickings, on each other. Or witness the Kansas City Massacre of 1933, a shootout between law enforcement officers and criminal gang members who were trying to free Frank Nash, a notorious gang leader being escorted to federal prison. Follow Larry Wood through the most shameful and savage portion of the Show-Me State’s history.
ED KEMPER: Serial Killer
If there ever was a human monster that walked this earth, it was the highly intelligent, psychotic, 6’9” killer Edward “Big Ed” Kemper. As a troubled 15-year-old, Kemper shot and killed his grandparents. Eight years later, he went on an 11-month reign of terror slaughtering and dismembering six college co-eds in California, brutally killing his mother with a hammer, and breaking her best friend’s neck. Kemper, 71, remains alive at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, more intimidating now than ever. Masterful crime writer Dary Matera tells Kemper’s full, shocking story, interweaving insights from the killer himself.
American serial killer Edmund Kemper III stalked co-eds in California at the height of the era of peace and free love, dismembering his victims and tossing their body parts in remote areas around Santa Cruz. As pieces of young women began washing up on shore and turning up alongside rural highways, female residents – especially college students – were decidedly on edge. A lust killer who savored the act of decapitating his victims – and often used their severed heads for sexual pleasure – Kemper’s story is particularly twisted among historical serial killers. Still, the true crime tale of Edmund Kemper is particularly fascinating, because the man many people called “a gentle giant” was a near genius whose cunning manipulation of others made him particularly depraved and dangerous. This true crime story, a detailed biography of one of the most psychopathic serial killers of our time, shares some insight into the troubled childhood and awkward nature that led the American serial killer to take 10 lives, including those of six pretty co-eds, his paternal grandparents, his calculatingly cruel mother and his mother’s best friend. Among historical serial killers, Kemper is especially depraved, since he included necrophilia and cannibalism in his gruesome mix of sordid criminal activity. Ultimately, Kemper’s murderous inclinations and urges to kill were satisfied after he bludgeoned to death his mother, a woman he’d hated since he was eight years old, and he turned himself in. But if he hadn’t finally acted on his long-held fantasy to end his mother’s life, he might still be trolling California highways, getting away with murder.
ISRAEL KEYES: Serial Killer
Ted Bundy. John Wayne Gacy. Jeffrey Dahmer. The names of notorious serial killers are usually well-known; they echo in the news and in public consciousness. But most people have never heard of Israel Keyes, one of the most ambitious and terrifying serial killers in modern history. The FBI considered his behavior unprecedented. Described by a prosecutor as “a force of pure evil,” Keyes was a predator who struck all over the United States. He buried “kill kits”–cash, weapons, and body-disposal tools–in remote locations across the country. Over the course of fourteen years, Keyes would fly to a city, rent a car, and drive thousands of miles in order to use his kits. He would break into a stranger’s house, abduct his victims in broad daylight, and kill and dispose of them in mere hours. And then he would return home to Alaska, resuming life as a quiet, reliable construction worker devoted to his only daughter.
When journalist Maureen Callahan first heard about Israel Keyes in 2012, she was captivated by how a killer of this magnitude could go undetected by law enforcement for over a decade. And so began a project that consumed her for the next several years–uncovering the true story behind how the FBI ultimately caught Israel Keyes, and trying to understand what it means for a killer like Keyes to exist. A killer who left a path of monstrous, randomly committed crimes in his wake–many of which remain unsolved to this day.
American Predator is the ambitious culmination of years of interviews with key figures in law enforcement and in Keyes’s life, and research uncovered from classified FBI files. Callahan takes us on a journey into the chilling, nightmarish mind of a relentless killer, and to the limitations of traditional law enforcement.
TIMOTHY KRAJCIR: Serial Killer
Article
Thirty years ago, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, became the hunting ground for a predator. Women were being brutally raped and murdered in a series of savage-and seemingly unconnected-crimes.
Not until 2007 would the truth come to light, when DNA evidence pointed the finger at Timothy Krajcir, a convicted sex offender who’d never even appeared on a suspect list. He was a man who had pursued a degree in criminal justice and psychology-alongside the very investigators who would later use those same criminal sciences to finally stop him.
The horrifying true story of Timothy Krajcir, a serial killer who terrorized the Midwest for three decades, claiming at least nine victims before he was finally convicted. This story has been
covered by numerous major media outlets including CNN, The New York Times, and USA Today. The subject of Walker’s book inspired multiple television shows.
A mother and daughter – brutalized, murdered, and left to rot in the summer heat. A young college student – killed with a.38 handgun at a remote highway rest stop. These were just a few of the victims of Timothy Krajcir, a sexual predator with an unquenchable appetite for violence…He would travel to towns where nobody knew him, break into a woman’s home, and wait for her. It started when he was still in his teens, when a rape conviction landed Krajcir in jail. After that, he spent much of his adult life behind bars for various sex crimes. By the time he was in his early 30s, he was a free man. Free to stalk, rape, and kill. But in 2007, new DNA testing finally linked Krajcir to another college girl’s murder. Ultimately, Krajcir confessed to killing nine women – five in Missouri and four in Illinois and Pennsylvania. But his three-decade reign of terror has never been forgotten – and the full range of his predatory crimes never revealed – until now.
“All crime connoisseurs should read Steven Walker’s account of this clever and deviant predator.” –Katherine Ramsland, author of The Human Predator and The Devil’s Dozen
KRAYS:
A journey through London’s criminal underworld with the infamous Kray twins.
An updated edition of the bestselling autobiography of Charlie Kray, elder brother of the Kray twins, Ronnie and Reggie, who are brought to the screen this autumn in a major motion picture.Charlie Kray was the only person who knew the truth behind the terrifying violence of his notorious twin brothers, Ronnie and Reggie.In his dying days, reflecting on how the Kray name destroyed his life, Charlie reveals what he really thought about the twins – and why they treated him so badly.Today, 40 years after the arrests that ended their so-called reign of terror, the power the Krays wielded is part of criminal folklore – and the fascination with them lives on.Charlie knew them better than anyone – from the extortion racket that provided riches beyond their dreams and the sexual liaison that took them into the corridors of power to the murderous mayhem the twins embarked on as they came to see themselves as beyond the law.In this fully updated edition of his best-selling autobiography, Charlie Kray reveals a side of Ronnie and Reggie that not even their closest henchmen ever saw.
She was young, very beautiful, and had everything to live for—but the life of Frances Shea, briefly married to Reggie Kray, remains one of the most tragic stories of the Swinging Sixties. Courted by Reggie as a schoolgirl, her eight year relationship with him drew Frances into a world of nightclubs, fast cars, beautiful clothes, and showbiz parties. Yet as time passed, she struggled to cope with the horrific world of the Kray twins, full of violence, drink, drugs—and sheer terror. By the time of her marriage, she had become inextricably linked with the Krays and their downward spiral from gangland extortion and brutality into senseless murder and mayhem. Reggie, obsessed by his wife from the day he met her, was never prepared to let her go. Despite her attempts to break free, two years after their wedding, Frances was found dead from a drug overdose. She was 23. Only now can the truth about Frances Shea and her marriage to Reggie Kray finally be revealed, along with the long-hidden story behind his obsession with her. Unseen until now, documents and diaries reveal the reality of their life together—and how their tragic, doomed relationship continued to haunt the lives of those closest to Frances right to the end.
LINDBERGH BABY KIDNAPPING: Infamous Crime
Article
When Charles A. Lindbergh landed outside of Paris on May 21, 1927, completing the first successful solo trans-Atlantic fight, he immediately became the most famous person in the world. But his celebrity would lead to tragedy. In the dark of the night on March 1, 1932 without warning, the unthinkable happened. Twenty month old Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the first born son of the famed aviator and his wife, author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was taken from his crib in the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey. On May 12, 1932 the baby boy was found lying in a shallow grave in the woods five miles from home, hideously murdered. The global outrage that resulted was overwhelming.
Following a two year investigation, on September 19, 1934, an illegal German immigrant and unemployed carpenter with a criminal past, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, was arrested in New York and charged with the crime. A spectacular trial followed in the sleepy little rural town of Flemington, New Jersey that resulted with the conviction and execution of Hauptmann in New Jersey’s electric chair on April 3, 1936. However until this very day a debate has endured over the verdict in the trial. The debate is based in part, on the fact Hauptmann was convicted on circumstantial evidence.
Charles Lindbergh was known for many things during his lifetime. He was a famous aviator, the first person to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, winner of the Orteig Prize, and a young American hero. But despite his honors and achievements, his name will forever be associated with the infamy of one of the Trials of the Century. The Lindbergh Kidnapping.
On a dreary March night, Charles Lindbergh’s 20-month-old son was abducted from his crib. The baby’s kidnapper left behind muddy footprints, a broken ladder, and a ransom note demanding $50,000. Weeks later, Charles Lindbergh Jr. was found … dead. Everyone was a suspect in this investigation, even the Lindberghs. After a six-week trial, Bruno Richard Hauptmann was named the ultimate culprit, but he claimed he was innocent even up to his execution day.
Astonishingly more key evidence is accessible today than was presented at the death penalty trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the kidnap/murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. Viewing documents and photos that the jury never saw and forensic analysis never before published, you get to judge for yourself who committed the “crime of the century.” Experts and enthusiasts alike are calling award-winning author Lise Pearlman’s shocking new exposé on the Lindbergh kidnapping:
SAMUEL LITTLE:
“Sam Little is the monster in this story and Jillian Lauren is the slayer. She is the one who stuck her nose into it, saw something was not right, was dreadfully wrong, in fact, and did something about it.” ―Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times bestselling author
He was sitting right across the table… and he would have killed her if he could
Jillian Lauren had no idea what she was getting into when she wrote her first letter to prolific serial killer Samuel Little. All she knew was her research had led her to believe he was good for far more murders than the three for which he had been convicted. While the two exchanged dozens of letters and embarked on hundreds of hours of interviews, Lauren gained the trust of a monster. After maintaining his innocence for decades, Little confessed to the murders of ninety-three women, often drawing his victims in haunting detail as he spoke. How could one man evade justice, manipulating the system for over four decades?
As the FBI, the DOJ, the LAPD, and countless law enforcement officials across the country worked to connect their cold cases with the confessions, Lauren’s coverage of the investigations and obsession with Little’s victims only escalated.
New York Times bestselling author and lead of the Starz docuseries Confronting a Serial Killer Jillian Lauren delivers the harrowing report of her unusual relationship with a psychopath. But this is more than a deep dive into the actions of Samuel Little. Lauren’s riveting and emotional accounts reveal the women who were lost to cold files, giving Little’s victims a chance to have their stories heard for the first time.
“Jillian Lauren’s devastating portrait of Sam Little and his innumerable victims is a journey into a darkness that is almost unfathomable; as well as an indictment of a failed justice system and the social decay that created a serial killer in the first place. Utterly gripping, this book will tear you apart.” ―Janelle Brown, New York Times bestselling author
LEONARD LAKE:
see Charles NG
LAW ENFORCEMENT:
“I went into lots of fights by myself, and I came out by myself, too!” said Captain Manuel T. “Lone Wolf” Gonzaullas of the Texas Rangers. In this lively biography, Brownson Malsch describes Gonzaullas’s career, first as a major in the Mexican Army and then as an agent of the U.S. Treasury Department, before he joined the Rangers in 1920.
Although trained as an “old-style” Texas Ranger, Gonzaullas was an early advocate of scientific crime-detection methods and was instrumental in setting up the state’s first modern crime-detection facility. His many cases included the Santa Claus bank robbery in Cisco, the famous courtroom burning and lynching in Sherman, the race riots in Beaumont, and the Phantom Killer episode near Texarkana. Following his retirement in 1951, Gonzaullas developed a career as a Hollywood technical adviser.
Illustrated with many photographs of Gonzaullas, his associates, and his weaponry, this edition also includes a new introduction by Texas Ranger historian Harold J. Weiss, Jr.
LYNCHING:
See also Infamous Crime
In this profound and fascinating book, the authors revisit an overlooked Supreme Court decision that changed forever how justice is carried out in the United States.
In 1906, Ed Johnson was the innocent black man found guilty of the brutal rape of Nevada Taylor, a white woman, and sentenced to die in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Two black lawyers, not even part of the original defense, appealed to the Supreme Court for a stay of execution, and the stay, incredibly, was granted. Frenzied with rage at the decision, locals responded by lynching Johnson, and what ensued was a breathtaking whirlwind of groundbreaking legal action whose import, Thurgood Marshall would claim, “has never been fully explained.” Provocative, thorough, and gripping, Contempt of Court is a long-overdue look at events that clearly depict the peculiar and tenuous relationship between justice and the law.
Ginzburg compiles vivid newspaper accounts from 1886 to 1960 to provide insight and understanding of the history of racial violence.
Chattanooga 1906. The town erupts when a young white woman is assaulted in a dark cemetery. After a quick, flawed trial, a black man named Ed Johnson is convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. Despite a direct order from the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution, a mob lynches Johnson. The infuriated high court holds Captain Joseph Shipp, the ambitious county sheriff, responsible for the outrage and charges him with contempt.
As the sheriff’s case progresses, another crime rocks Chattanooga. The body of a beautiful young woman is found murdered on Lookout Mountain and her killer slips through the sheriff’s fingers.
Desperate to save his career, Captain Shipp makes a wild gamble on Dave Edwards, a charming but notoriously insane inmate in the county jail. Dave is released and deputized to apprehend the fugitive killer but his madness soon manifests, with dreadful consequences.
In the post-civil war American south, the despicable act of lynching was commonplace and considered to be a form of vigilantism that was used to murder African Americans for alleged “crimes” ranging from acting suspiciously to “insulting whites”. In “The Red Record”, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett records statistics concerning instances of lynching and offers vivid descriptions of the extrajudicial killings in an attempt to galvanise the public into action and put an end to such horrifying practices. Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) was an American educator, investigative journalist, and leading figure of the civil rights movement. Having been born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells was freed in 1862 during the American Civil War by the Emancipation Proclamation. From then on she dedicated her life as a free woman to fighting prejudice and violence, founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and becoming the most famous African American of her time. Contents include: “The Case Stated”, “Lynch-Law Statistics”, “Lynching Imbeciles (An Arkansas Butchery)”, “Lynching of Innocent Men (Lynched on Account of Relationship)”, “Lynched for Anything or Nothing (Lynched for Wife Beating)”, “History of Some Cases of Rape”, “The Crusade Justified (Appeal from America to the World)”, “Miss Willard’s Attitude”, “Lynching Record for 1894”, and “The Remedy”. Other notable works by this author include: “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases” (1892) and “Mob Rule in New Orleans” (1900). Read & Co. History is proudly republishing this classic work now in a brand new edition complete with introductory chapters by Irvine Garland Penn and T. Thomas Fortune
OWNEY MADDEN: Organized Crime
Owney Madden lived a seemingly quiet life for decades in the resort town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, while he was actually helping some of America’s most notorious gangsters rule a vast criminal empire. In 1987, Graham Nown first told Madden’s story in his book The English Godfather, in which he traced Madden’s boyhood in England, his immigration to New York City, and his rise to mob boss. Nown also uncovered a love story involving Madden and the daughter of the Hot Springs postmaster. Before his arrival in Hot Springs, Madden was one of the most powerful gangsters in New York City and former owner of the famous Cotton Club in Harlem. The story of his life shows us a world where people can break the law without ever getting caught, and where criminality is so entwined in government and society that one might wonder what is legality and what isn’t.
Owney “The Killer” Madden, declared America’s most dangerous public enemy, was one of the most infuential godfathers of 20th century organized crime. The author has spent more than 4 years researching his subject, traveling a total of 10,000 miles to interview Madden’s widow, friends and former business associates. By studying Madden’s voluminous FBI files, searching through government archives and newpaper libraries, and persuading Agnes Madden to allow complete access to her private collection of letters, diaries and photographs, he has pieced together this thrilling account of Owney Madden’s life.
Hot Springs, Arkansas—famous for its steamy bathhouses, healing mineral waters, and hidden corridors of crime. While tourists came seeking relaxation, gangsters came seeking refuge. At the heart of it all was Owney Madden, a ruthless former New York crime boss who turned this quiet Southern town into one of the most lucrative gambling havens in America.
From his early days as a street brawler in Hell’s Kitchen to his rule over Hot Springs’ thriving underworld, Madden was a master of charm and menace. He rubbed elbows with mob legends like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, bribed local law enforcement into submission, and built an empire where illegal casinos thrived in plain sight. The town became a shimmering oasis for gangsters on the run, complete with high-stakes gambling, secret whiskey shipments, and a police force that conveniently looked the other way, for a price.
But the golden age of Hot Springs’ underworld couldn’t last forever. As federal agents closed in and alliances began to crumble, Madden’s iron grip started to slip. Could he outmaneuver the law one last time, or was the king of the Spa City destined to fall?
Spa City Kingpin pulls back the velvet curtain on a world of vice, scandal, and larger-than-life characters, blending true crime with the dazzling excess of an era where the law was just another game to play. Packed with shocking stories, untold secrets, and a cast of gangsters, politicians, and corrupt cops, this is the true story of how Owney Madden built, and lost, one of America’s most infamous hidden empires.
Step inside the world of steam and shadows, where the stakes were high, and the house always won.
From BooklistWalsh, author of As Time Goes By (1998) and Exchange Alley (1997), offers a compelling novel in the guise of the autobiography of Irish gangster Owen (“Owney”) Madden, raised in New York’s infamous Hell’s Kitchen (though born of lrish parents in England). Early on, Madden set his mind on becoming the first among the gangsters and, thus, to have the city at his feet. In the age of Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Dutch Schultz, Meyer Lansky, and Frank Costello, Madden carved out a turf that included ownership of the famed Cotton Club. A major influence with Tammany Hall and even Hollywood (he was one of Mae West’s lovers and was responsible for George Raft’s success), Madden later devoted his “talents” to making Hot Springs, Arkansas, a major center of gangsterism. By allowing Madden to present his own tale, Walsh offers an unusual perspective of one man’s lifetime pursuit to be the best gangster of all. Fittingly, Walsh’s novel is reminiscent of Roddy Doyle’s novel A Star Called Henry (1999), a first-person narrative of a fictionalized underground figure. Allen WeaklandCopyright American Library Association. All rights reserved
FICTION
MAFIA: Organized Crime
For more than a hundred years, the Red Hook section of Brooklyn was Ground Zero for organized crime. Whoever controlled the piers controlled everything. From the infamous Irish gang known as The White Hand at the turn of the century, to the notorious Italian Gallo brothers who ran President Street—and everything else—generations later, the blood-soaked history of Red Hook is the story of American crime at its most powerful, corrupt, and coldly efficient.
It’s all here: the brutal mob hits, bullet storms, and backstabbings of the most colorful cutthroats to ever terrorize the streets. A rogue’s gallery of killers with nicknames like “The Mad Hatter,” “The Executioner,” “Wild Bill,” and “Peg Leg.” The Brooklyn bar fight that gave Al “Scarface” Capone his legendary scars. The godfather of America’s first Sicilian crime family whose gruesomely mangled hand could scare men half to death. And, to bring it all home, the author’s own eyewitness account of multiple shootings growing up as the son of a Mafia bodyguard.
Packed with jaw-dropping stories of public violence and personal vengeance, vivid insights into the Mafia’s way of life, and shocking portraits of America’s most wanted crime families, Red Hook is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the history of organized crime in America.
The Mafia is usually described as hierarchical, with capos and soldiers reporting to a boss. IN OUR BLOOD proceeds from a different view: that the Mafia’s principal organizational units are the mafioso and his immediate family. Pivotal figures in Mafia history, including present-day mafiosi, have direct genealogical ties to one another and to the earliest recorded Mafia gangs in Corleone. Organizing around the sacred bonds of blood, marriage, and godparenthood has proven vital to the success of the Sicilian Mafia in the United States. This fully referenced genealogical history of the Mafia families of Corleone names dozens of gangsters and their relationships to one another. The conclusions drawn from sociological and historical evidence are striking and have implications for Mafia families — and the rest of us. Whether your interest in the organization, migration, psychology, and family systems of the Mafia is personal or academic, this book is for you.
Charley “Lucky” Luciano was instrumental to the development of the American Mafia and supervised the attempt to dominate prostitution in New York City. Not surprisingly, he has been the subject of numerous biographies, exposes, and various works of urban folklore since his death in 1962. This book takes scholarship on Luciano to a new level, using fresh research on the investigation, arrest, and conviction of Lucky Luciano to delve deep into the sexual and criminal underworld of New York City. Topics include the complex structure of the New York City bordellos and the takeover that resulted in Luciano’s 1936 arrest; his considerable role in the expansion of the international heroin trade; and the shocking attempt to sexually frame a member of prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey’s staff in a desperate bid to overturn Luciano’s conviction.
This is the true-crime bestseller that was the basis for Martin Scorsese’s film masterpiece GoodFellas, which brought to life the violence, the excess, the families, the wives and girlfriends, the drugs, the payoffs, the paybacks, the jail time, and the Feds…with Henry Hill’s crackling narration drawn straight out of Wiseguy and overseeing all the unforgettable action. “Nonstop…absolutely engrossing” (The New York Times Book Review).
Read it and experience the secret life inside the mob—from one who’s lived it.
Focusing on Chicago bookie Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and his partner, Anthony Spilotro, and drawing on extensive, in-depth interviews, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Mafia classic Wiseguy—basis for the film Goodfellas—Nicholas Pileggi reveals how the pair worked together to oversee Las Vegas casino operations for the mob. He unearths how Teamster pension funds were used to take control of the Stardust and Tropicana and how Spilotro simultaneously ran a crew of jewel thieves nicknamed the “Hole in the Wall Gang.”
For years, these gangsters kept a stranglehold on Sin City’s brightly lit nightspots, skimming millions in cash for their bosses. But the elaborate scheme began to crumble when Rosenthal’s disproportionate ambitions drove him to make mistakes. Spilotro made an error of his own, falling for his partner’s wife, a troubled showgirl named Geri. It would all lead to betrayal, a wide-ranging FBI investigation, multiple convictions, and the end of the Mafia’s longstanding grip on the multibillion-dollar gaming oasis in the midst of the Nevada desert.
Casino is a journey into 1970s Las Vegas and a riveting nonfiction account of the world portrayed in the Martin Scorsese film of the same name, starring Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone. A story of adultery, murder, infighting, and revenge, this “fascinating true-crime Mob history” is a high-stakes page-turner (Booklist).
For half a century, the American Mafia outwitted, outmaneuvered, and outgunned the FBI and other police agencies, wreaking unparalleled damage on America’s social fabric and business enterprises while emerging as the nation’s most formidable crime empire. The vanguard of this criminal juggernaut is still led by the Mafia’s most potent and largest borgatas: New York’s Five Families.
Five Families is the vivid story of the rise and fall of New York’s premier dons, from Lucky Luciano to Paul Castellano to John Gotti and others. This definitive history brings the reader right up to the possible resurgence of the Mafia as the FBI and local law-enforcement agencies turn their attention to homeland security and away from organized crime.
This updated tenth-anniversary edition features a new preface by the author.
CHARLES MANSON: Serial Killer
n the summer of 1969, in Los Angeles, a series of brutal, seemingly random murders captured headlines across America. A famous actress (and her unborn child), an heiress to a coffee fortune, a supermarket owner and his wife were among the seven victims. A thin trail of circumstances eventually tied the Tate-LeBianca murders to Charles Manson, a would-be pop singer of small talent living in the desert with his “family” of devoted young women and men. What was his hold over them? And what was the motivation behind such savagery? In the public imagination, over time, the case assumed the proportions of myth. The murders marked the end of the sixties and became an immediate symbol of the dark underside of that era.
Vincent Bugliosi was the prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, and this book is his enthralling account of how he built his case from what a defense attorney dismissed as only “two fingerprints and Vince Bugliosi.” The meticulous detective work with which the story begins, the prosecutor’s view of a complex murder trial, the reconstruction of the philosophy Manson inculcated in his fervent followers…these elements make for a true crime classic. Helter Skelter is not merely a spellbinding murder case and courtroom drama but also, in the words of The New Republic, a “social document of rare importance.”
Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader’s every order — their crimes lit a flame of paranoia across the nation, spelling the end of the sixties. Manson became one of history’s most infamous criminals, his name forever attached to an era when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia — or dystopia — was just an acid trip away.
Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O’Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the “official” story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents. When a tense interview with Vincent Bugliosi — prosecutor of the Manson Family and author of Helter Skelter — turned a friendly source into a nemesis, O’Neill knew he was onto something. But every discovery brought more questions:
MASS MURDER:
So begins a new epilogue, illustrating how Columbine became the template for nearly two decades of “spectacle murders.” It is a false script, seized upon by a generation of new killers. In the wake of Newtown, Aurora, and Virginia Tech, the imperative to understand the crime that sparked this plague grows more urgent every year.
What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we “know” is wrong. It wasn’t about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world’s leading forensic psychologists, and the killers’ own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors.
MEDICAL MURDER:
After Hurricane Katrina struck and power failed, amid rising floodwaters and heat, exhausted staff at Memorial Medical Center designated certain patients last for rescue. Months later, a doctor and two nurses were arrested and accused of injecting some of those patients with life-ending drugs.
Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink, unspools the mystery, bringing us inside a hospital fighting for its life and into the most charged questions in health care: which patients should be prioritized, and can health care professionals ever be excused for hastening death?
Transforming our understanding of human nature in crisis, Five Days at Memorial exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals how ill-prepared we are for large-scale disasters—and how we can do better.
ARMIN MEIWES:
Armin Meiwes, a German computer repair technician, who murdered and cannibalized a lover he met in an online chatroom named The Cannibal Cafe. Driven by a desire for internet pornography involving torture and pain, Armin’s fetish for human flesh led him to post an internet message that said, “I am looking for a young, well-built man aged 18 to 30 to slaughter.” Interestingly, the last man to respond to the message would become Armin’s first victim, Bernd-Jürgen Brandes. Brandes, a bisexual engineer, under the username “cator99” agreed to be mutilated and eaten. The shocking crime would lead to Armin’s comparison as the real-life Hannibal Lecter.
Zackery Bowen, a twenty-eight-year-old former U.S. Army soldier, who strangled his girlfriend, Addie Hall, and then went on to dismember her body in the bathtub. After jumping from the seventh floor of a New Orleans Hotel, police found a note inside his pocket that read, “This is not accidental. I had to take my own life to pay for the one I took.” Inside the couple’s apartment, investigators found the burned head of Addie in a pot on the stove. Her hands and feet were in another pot, her legs and arms had been seasoned and placed into the oven, and her torso was wrapped inside the refrigerator. The Jeffrey Dahmer style murder would lead to questions involving domestic abuse, mental health issues, and extreme lifestyles in the wake of a natural disaster.
Kevin Ray Underwood, a “single, bored, and lonely” man who murdered his ten-year-old neighbor, Jamie Bolin, after canvassing the internet for death and gore involving cannibalism. Luring the young girl into his apartment to play with his pet rat named Freya and watch cartoons, Kevin smashed Jamie’s skull in with a wooden cutting board and strangled her. Once she was dead, he sexually assaulted her corpse and attempted to decapitate her inside the bathtub. Investigators would uncover a twisted sexual fantasy involving torture, rape, and cannibalism through his online blog where he posted under the username “Subspecies23.”
Brothers Raymond and Donald Duvall murdered two best friends, David Tyll and Brian Ognjan, on a snowy night in Michigan in 1985. For two decades, there were no answers, and the two men were never seen again. However, in 2003, a witness came forward and recounted a terrifying story that had been overheard in the small town of Mio, Michigan. During a night of drunken rowdiness, Raymond and Donald had beaten the two men with an aluminum bat, pushed their bodies through a tree-chipping machine, and then fed the bloody, chopped up remains to their pigs. The Duvall brothers were known for their brutality and instilled fear around those closest to them using one simple reminder, “Pigs have to eat too.”
In all criminal cases investigators strive to find the motive to better under the mind of the criminal. However, not all cases present a clear, defined motive and sometimes investigators are forced to gather evidence, examine the circumstances surrounding the crime, and piece together the psychological profile of the perpetrator. When there is no motive, is the only plausible explanation that some people are just born evil?
Close-up accounts of three of the weirdest and most disturbing cases of cannibalism in the twentieth century.
The Murder Files is a series of individual titles, giving condensed accounts of some of the most appalling and notorious killers of all time.
German native Armin Meiwes placed this ad in an internet chatroom catering to cannibals. He received 430 responses. Among them was Bernd Juergen Brandes, who arrived at Meiwes’s isolated country home literally to be eaten alive. Escorted to the “slaughtering room”—equipped with meat hooks, a cage, and a butcher’s table—Meiwes assisted Bernd in a gourmet candlelight dinner of his own cooked flesh. Meiwes then stabbed his victim in the throat—bringing the ghastly videotaped ordeal to an end.
From a childhood perverted by unhealthy obsessions to his notorious trial that ended in a stunning verdict, Cannibal discloses for the first time the true story of a real-life Hannibal Lecter and his victim. And with details never before divulged to the public, it takes readers step-by-step through the unspeakable crime that fascinated and revolted the world.
If you saw him in the street, he wouldn’t rate a second glance. Armin Meiwes looks ordinary, but he’s not — Meiwes is a cannibal. In March 2001, he killed a man and ate him with a glass of fine red wine. When a shocked worldwide public learned of this inconceivable crime, they had one simple question: Why? In Interview With A Cannibal, we begin to understand how two hitherto respectable and intelligent men, Armin Meiwes and Bernd Brandes, made an unwritten agreement in which one of them butchered the other, at his request, and consumed him piece by piece.
Between two world wars, in a country undermined by political tensions and a lingering feeling of defeat, several lust murderers emerged from the slums of Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Berlin to prey upon the homeless and the vulnerable. The press called them “vampires”, “werewolves” or “beasts”, but they were just human. Their crimes were horrifying and inspired many other German serial killers from the second part of the 20th century and thereafter.
Illustrated with more than 110 photographs, Germany’s Worst Killers follows the stories of 19 cannibals, madmen and devil-worshipping maniacs who have made the headlines under such names as “The Butcher of Hanover”, “The Deathmaker” or “The Monster of the Black Forest.”
Ein Kriminalfall, der das Denken über Schuld, Einwilligung und Menschlichkeit für immer verändert hat.
Armin Meiwes tötete – auf Wunsch. Was wie ein perfides Gedankenspiel klingt, wurde im hessischen Rothenburg Realität: Ein Mann sucht im Internet nach jemandem, der ihn töten und verspeisen soll. Ein anderer antwortet. Es kommt zum Treffen. Es kommt zur Tat.
Was trieb Meiwes zu dieser Grenzüberschreitung? Was brachte sein Opfer dazu, dem Tod entgegenzulaufen – freiwillig?
Dieses Buch rekonstruiert in packender Romanform den gesamten Fall: von der Kindheit des Täters, der Entstehung seiner Obsession, über die digitale Spurensuche bis zur Tat und den Prozessen, die ganz Deutschland erschütterten.
Basierend auf authentischen Ermittlungsakten, Berichterstattungen und psychologischen Gutachten, taucht der Leser tief ein in eine Realität, die so absurd wie real ist. Dabei bleibt der Ton immer packend, fesselnd, aber respektvoll – ein düsterer Blick in die Abgründe menschlicher Psyche.
„Kriminalfall Armin Meiwes“ ist mehr als ein True Crime Buch – es ist eine Chronik des Unfassbaren. Es stellt Fragen, die wehtun:
Was ist Schuld, wenn das Opfer zustimmt?
Wie weit darf Freiheit gehen?
Und was passiert, wenn der Wunsch nach Nähe zum Alptraum wird?
Erlebe den verstörendsten Fall der deutschen Kriminalgeschichte neu – erzählt wie ein düsterer Roman, mit der Kraft einer wahren Geschichte.
Du wirst dieses Buch nicht aus der Hand legen können. Doch am Ende wirst du dich fragen:
Wie nah ist das Abgründige wirklich?
BILLY MILLIGAN:
Billy Milligan can be anyone he wants to be . . . except himself.
Billy Milligan was a man tormented by twenty-four distinct personalities battling for supremacy over his body—a battle that culminated when he awoke in jail, arrested for the kidnap and rape of three women. In a landmark trial, Billy was acquitted of his crimes by reason of insanity caused by multiple personality—the first such court decision in history—bringing to public light the most remarkable and harrowing case of multiple personality ever recorded.
Twenty-four people live inside Billy Milligan.
Philip, a petty criminal; Kevin, who dealt drugs and masterminded a drugstore robbery; April, whose only ambition was to kill Billy’s stepfather; Adalana, the shy, lonely, affection-starved lesbian who “used” Billy’s body in the rapes that led to his arrest; David, the eight-year-old “keeper of pain”; and all of the others, including men, women, several children, both boys and girls, and the Teacher, the only one who can put them all together. You will meet each in this often shocking true story. And you will be drawn deeply into the mind of this tortured young man and his splintered, terrifying world.
MISSING PEOPLE:
Ashley Pond was only twelve years old when she vanished from a school bus stop in a town south of Portland, Oregon. As a shocked community came together and police began a frantic search, another tragedy was just about to take place.
Miranda Gaddis was Ashley’s best friend. Just two months after Ashley’s disappearance, Miranda was on her way to school when she, too, was abducted. Nobody knew the scandalous, unspeakable secret that the two girls shared…except for one man who lived just one block away.
The police and FBI managed to overlook the girls’ neighbor whose daughter was a friend of Miranda and Ashley’s―and who had a catalog of sexual-assault allegations behind him. Author Linda O’Neal was a private investigator intimately involved in this shocking case. Now, she and her co-authors―also participants in the case―tell the chilling story of one town’s devastating loss…and how the murderer was finally found.
Jennifer Keese
Are you caught in the grip of despair? Discover powerful insights for overcoming trauma and finding hope that will inspire you to begin healing.
Do you find yourself grappling with circumstances beyond your control, struggling to find hope each day? You’re not alone. Bill Gilmour, who endured his own agony and used it as a catalyst for change over seventeen years, is here to share his story. His journey is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, offering a path to emerge from suffering and find peace, hope, and joy.
Aftermath of Jennifer Kesse’s Abduction is a raw and honest journey of a man who bought into the lies that vulnerability equates to weakness. It’s for those struggling with trauma and grief, seeking healing and hoping to become a better version of themselves.
Bill draws on the unspeakable and still unresolved abduction of his niece to provide practical advice, relatable examples, meaningful quotes, reference topics, and reflection points. He equips you with the tools to overcome your struggles and guides you toward a preferred future. By applying these hard-won truths, you, too, can brush away the tears and press on with renewed purpose and hope.
With a refreshing conversation tone, Bill addresses questions, eases doubts, and offers empathy-filled lessons to bolster your spirit. You’ll feel deeply understood and comforted as you journey through the pages, leaving you feeling empowered.
If you’re feeling alone, Aftermath of Jennifer Kesse’s Abduction is the must-have resource for in-the-trenches wisdom and seeking interpersonal reconciliation.
Podcast report
MOTORCYCLE GANGS:
See ORGANIZED CRIME
MURDER AMONG THE RICH AND FAMOUS:
By all accounts, Thomas Gilbert Jr. led a charmed life. The son of a wealthy financier, he grew up surrounded by a loving family and all the luxury an Upper East Side childhood could provide: education at the elite Buckley School and Deerfield Academy, summers in a sprawling seaside mansion in the Hamptons. With his striking good looks, he moved with ease through glittering social circles and followed in his father’s footsteps to Princeton.
But Tommy always felt different. The cracks in his façade began to show in warning signs of OCD, increasing paranoia, and―most troubling―an inexplicable hatred of his father. As his parents begged him to seek psychiatric help, Tommy pushed back by self-medicating with drugs and escalating violence. When a fire destroyed his former best friend’s Hamptons home, Tommy was the prime suspect―but he was never charged. Just months later, he arrived at his parents’ apartment, calmly asked his mother to leave, and shot his father point-blank in the head.
Journalist John Glatt takes an in-depth look at the devastating crime that rocked Manhattan’s upper class. With exclusive access to sources close to Tommy, including his own mother, Glatt constructs the agonizing spiral of mental illness that led Thomas Gilbert Jr. to the ultimate unspeakable act.
On the morning of July 3, 1915, John Pierpont Morgan Jr., one of the most famous names in finance, was entertaining guests at his sprawling Long Island estate when the doorbell unexpectedly rang. An armed man forced his way inside. At the same time, authorities in Washington, DC, were investigating a shocking bombing at the US Capitol. While no one had been killed, the blast had destroyed the reception room, and DC citizens were on edge.
Nine years earlier, in 1906, Leone Krembs Muenter had fallen ill and died shortly after giving birth. Her husband, Harvard professor Erich Muenter, blamed his wife’s Christian Science religious beliefs, which prohibited medical intervention, for the death, but an investigation suggested something more sinister: arsenic poisoning. As suspicions mounted, Muenter vanished.
In Texas, a mysterious man calling himself Frank Holt wooed Leona Sensabaugh, and after their marriage, they moved to Ithaca, New York, as he pursued a career at Cornell. But some of Holt’s colleagues found he reminded them of someone they’d worked with before, a man who had been suspected of murdering his wife. Could Frank Holt and Erich Muenter be the same person? What were they to make of it, later, when they saw a familiar face in the papers following a bizarre attempt on a finance tycoon’s life?The Man Who Shot J. P. Morgan is a riveting tale of false identities, radical political beliefs, and ambitious criminal schemes set during the tumultuous time shortly before the United States entered World War I.
Hollywood has long fascinated the masses. Not just with blockbuster films, but also by way of the Hollywood lifestyle. The lives of the rich and famous stars who strut down Sunset Boulevard hold us mesmerized. One can’t help but wonder about what being a celebrity must really be like. And the same goes for Hollywood tragedy. When tragedy occurs, people can’t help but find themselves drawn to the spectacle. Cases of celebrities being murdered in particular are bound to get attention.
Some of the cases mentioned in this book are rather clear-cut instances of murder, while others still remain a complete mystery to this very day. It was quite obvious for example, who the culprits were in the deaths of aspiring actresses Rebecca Schaeffer and Dominque Dunne, since the killers of these two aspiring actresses, readily admitted to doing the killing. These tragic instances have shown that even the rich and famous are just as vulnerable as the rest of us. Then again, for Hollywood screenwriter Gary Devore, there was no such luck. In fact, when the celebrated writer was found with his hands cut off, no one seemed to have a clue as to what had happened to him.
Frank Lloyd Wright
The most pivotal and yet least understood event of Frank Lloyd Wright’s celebrated life involves the brutal murders in 1914 of seven adults and children dear to the architect and the destruction by fire of Taliesin, his landmark residence, near Spring Green, Wisconsin. Unaccountably, the details of that shocking crime have been largely ignored by Wright’s legion of biographers—a historical and cultural gap that is finally addressed in William Drennan’s exhaustively researched Death in a Prairie House: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Murders.
In response to the scandal generated by his open affair with the proto-feminist and free love advocate Mamah Borthwick Cheney, Wright had begun to build Taliesin as a refuge and “love cottage” for himself and his mistress (both married at the time to others).
Conceived as the apotheosis of Wright’s prairie house style, the original Taliesin would stand in all its isolated glory for only a few months before the bloody slayings that rocked the nation and reduced the structure itself to a smoking hull.
Supplying both a gripping mystery story and an authoritative portrait of the artist as a young man, Drennan wades through the myths surrounding Wright and the massacre, casting fresh light on the formulation of Wright’s architectural ideology and the cataclysmic effects that the Taliesin murders exerted on the fabled architect and on his subsequent designs.
August 15, 1914, Julian Carlton a servant went on a rampage, which ended in the death of Frank Lloyd Wright’s live-in lover, Mamah, her two children and four workers. There is never an excuse to commit such a heinous act, but there is always a reason, at least for the perpetrator. In this work, the author envisioned life events that might have caused Julian to become enraged to the point that he massacred these people.
MYSTERIOUS MURDER:
For over two decades the identity of Melissa Witt’s murderer has been hidden among the dense trees and thorny undergrowth rooted deeply in the uneven ground of a remote mountaintop in the Ozark National Forest.
Determined to find answers, LaDonna Humphrey has spent the past seven years hunting for Melissa’s killer. Her investigation, both thrilling and unpredictable, has led her on a journey like no other.
The Girl I Never Knew is an edge-of-your-seat account of LaDonna Humphrey’s passionate fight for justice in the decades-old murder case of a girl she never met in person. Her unstoppable quest for the truth has gained the attention of some incredibly dangerous people, some of whom would like to keep Melissa’s murder a mystery forever.
“LaDonna Humphrey restores my faith in all of humanity. The Girl I Never Knew is a painstaking labor of love, masterfully woven together to create a riveting page-turner that describes her hunt for a killer and the traction she is gaining to solve this cold case.”
-Joshua Kessler, twice Emmy nominated Television Producer and Director, Unsolved Mysteries and Drug Lords (Netflix), Breaking Homicide and Unusual Suspects (Investigation Discovery
We Know Who Did it.
We Know His Name.
Connected by Fate unfolds against the haunting backdrop of the Ozark National Forest, where the unresolved murder of Melissa Witt has cast a long shadow over the dense woodlands for almost three decades. The mystery, woven into the fabric of the remote mountaintop, has become a part of the lore of the land, with the true identity of the murderer eluding capture, concealed by the forest’s imposing presence.
Enter LaDonna Humphrey, driven by a profound sense of justice and a personal commitment to uncovering the truth, despite never having met Melissa Witt. LaDonna’s connection to the case transcends the ordinary, fueling her with a relentless determination that has defined her life for almost a decade.
LaDonna’s investigation is a riveting narrative of courage, resilience, and an unwavering pursuit of truth in the face of overwhelming odds. Each breakthrough and setback, each clue unearthed and lead followed, draws her deeper into a web of intrigue that extends far beyond the initial crime.
Connected by Fate is more than a true crime story; it’s a testament to the power of human spirit and determination fueled by the knowledge that solving Melissa’s murder is not just about bringing a killer to justice—it’s about restoring dignity to a life cut tragically short, and offering closure to a community haunted by the specter of an unsolved crime.
The facts are brutally straightforward. On December 6, 1991, the naked, bound-and-gagged, burned bodies of four girls—each one shot in the head—were found in a frozen yogurt shop in Austin, Texas.
Grief, shock, and horror overtook the city. But after eight years of misdirected investigations, only two suspects (teenagers at the time of the crime) were tried; their convictions were later overturned and detectives are still working on what is now a very cold case. The story has grown to include DNA technology, coerced false confessions, and other developments in crime and punishment.
But this story belongs to the scores of people involved, and from them Beverly Lowry has fashioned a riveting saga that reads like a novel, heart-stopping and thoroughly engrossing.
MICHAEL NEWTON: Writer
Organized crime has played a significant social role in cultures all over the world. This is the first book to establish a timeline of global organized criminal activity, which spans eight millennia. Entries are arranged chronologically and represent many facets of the criminal underground, including the birth of major players in crime as well as law enforcement officials, the discovery or invention of drugs and weapons, the creation of law enforcement agencies, and the passage of statutes relevant to the control of criminal activity. A broadly useful examination of organized crime, this book encompasses all nations, races, religions and political philosophies.
CHARLES NG and LEONARD LAKE: Serial Killers
A Letter from Sheri is a story inspired by the 1986 California serial killer murders executed by Charles Ng and Leonard Lake. I began writing a book in 2001 about how it felt to be adopted. As a child, I was led to believe that my biological mother was murdered by my biological father. When I was a teenager, I dove deep into a seemingly endless search that spanned a decade, searching for answers. As an adult, my biological Aunt found me and confirmed that my mother had been a victim of the Calaveras County, California Charles Ng and Leonard Lake serial killings, in 1985. After reaching out to the since retired detective on her case, he sent me an eleven-page letter written by my mom that had somehow been gleaned from a sea of evidence left at the crime scene. It answered almost every question that I had. After learning everything through her letter, my biological father, and my adoption files, I finally concluded that she never had a voice or a chance in life. My attempt to become her voice gave way to a passion to tell a whole new story. A story once about my search for answers as an adoptee, had been transformed to the harrowing story of a victim; “A Letter from Sheri”. The details accounted in the letter, tell the story of a life of trauma that started at an early age, and culminates with Sheri’s life in the hands of ruthless serial killers when she took her last breath.
“No kill. No thrill.” The macabre mantra of Charles Ng shocked coworkers, but nobody really believed the soft-spoken ex-marine really meant it, even as those coworkers began disappearing. It was his favorite expression–and it also led to his undoing.
No Kill No Thrill draws upon meticulous research to tell the true story of two violent psychopaths who plotted to capture and confine women as sex slaves and to kill friends and strangers alike for their coveted property.
This book, now the basis for the NBCUniversal Oxygen true crime TV documentary series Manifesto of a Serial Killer follows Ng from childhood, through his heinous killing spree, arrest, and trial and follows the search for justice by family members of the victims.
“I have seldom read a finer, more intimately revealing book on crime, policing and the law.”
—R. JOHN HAYES, EDMONTON JOURNAL
“Anyone who wants to know the full story of Charles Ng will find No Kill No Thrill not only informative, but an exciting read as well. Be warned though – this book is not for the faint of heart. While they never stoop to tawdy sensationalism, Henton and Owens pull no punches in delivering what is essentially the story of a sadistic, soulless killer.”
—LETHBRIDGE HERALD
“In No Kill No Thrill, the authors downplay the gory facts and instead focus on the real stories. And that’s what makes this book worth reading.”
—GLOBE AND MAIL
“This is likely as comprehensive a tome as could be written about the life and times of Charles Ng.”
—CALGARY STRAIGHT
When a shoplifting arrest leads to the shocking discovery of six bodies, a bag of bone fragments, a child’s liver, and a videotape revealing horrifying murders, Charles Ng and Leonard Lake, two twisted psychopaths whose orgy of sex crimes, torture, and murder claimed the lives of at least sixteen victims, are apprehended, in a disturbing true story. Original.
GREG OLSEN: Writer
Every once in a great while a genuine murder mystery unfolds before the eyes of the American public. The tragic story of Susan Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden, is the only case that rivals the Jon Benet Ramsey saga in the annals of true crime. When the pretty, blonde Utah mother went missing in December of 2009 the media was swept up in the story – with lenses and microphones trained on Susan’s husband, Josh. He said he had no idea what happened to his young wife, and that he and the boys had been camping in the middle of a snowstorm.
Over the next three years bombshell by bombshell, the story would reveal more shocking secrets. Josh’s father, Steve, who was sexually obsessed with Susan, would ultimately be convicted of unspeakable perversion. Josh’s brother, Michael, would commit suicide. And in the most stunning event of them all, Josh Powell would murder his two little boys and kill himself with brutality beyond belief.
In and out of hospitals since birth, angelic nine-month-old Morgan Reid finally succumbed to what appeared to be Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Morgan’s Texas-born mother Tanya, a nurse and devoted wife, pulled up stakes with her grieving husband Jim, and moved on. It was the best way to put the past behind them. Until their son Michael, a boy who by all accounts was terrified of his mother, began showing signs of the same affliction that stole the life of his baby sister…
First, the suspicion: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Then, Tanya was charged and convicted with felony child abuse of her son. She was later tried and ultimately convicted for first degree murder of Morgan. It would become a landmark trial that unfolded in a series of reversals and bizarre twists of fate as it gradually revealed another side of Tanya Reid–of her own troubling childhood and the dark secrets that drove a woman to the cruelest deception of all.
Colorado, 1976. When Reverend Mike Fuller and his beautiful wife Sharon arrive in the sleepy town of Rocky Ford, local residents think something’s off about the new couple. The God-fearing minister is gruff and cold, while charismatic Sharon has her husband wrapped around her finger.
It isn’t long before Sharon is charming her husband’s congregation, and finds herself in a tryst with local, married optometrist Perry Nelson. After the affair ends both their marriages, Sharon and Perry tie the knot. But shortly afterwards, Perry disappears. When his body is shockingly discovered the bottom of a canyon, his death is ruled an accident, allowing grieving widow Sharon to claim his substantial life insurance.
Trying to move on from the tragedy, Sharon soon remarries fireman Glenn Harrelson. But when the charred remains of Glenn’s body are discovered with two bullet holes in his skull, the police can’t help but question if both men dying in such mysterious circumstances is one coincidence too many…
ORGANIZED CRIME:
see also MAFIA, MOTORCYCLE GANGS, GEORGE ANASTASIA
“It’s over. You’d have to be Ray Charles not to see it.” —former New Jersey capo Ron Previte, on the mob today As a cop, Ron Previte was corrupt. As a mobster he was brutal. And in his final role, as a confidential informant to the FBI, Previte was deadly. The Last Gangster is his story—the story of the last days of the Philadelphia Mob, and of the clash of generations that brought it down once and for all. For 35 years Ron Previte roamed the underworld. A six–foot, 300–pound capo in the Philadelphia–South Jersey crime family, he ran every mob scam and gambit from drug trafficking and prostitution to the extortion of millions from Atlantic City. In his own words, “Every day was a different felony.” By the 1990s, Previte, an old–school workhorse, found himself answering to younger mob bosses like “Skinny Joe” Merlino, who seemed increasingly spoiled, cocky, and careless. Convinced that the honor of the “business” was gone, he became the FBI’s secret weapon in an intense and highly personalized war on the Philadelphia mob. Operating with the same guile, wit, and stone–cold bravado that had made him a force in the underworld—and armed with only a wiretap secured to his crotch—Previte recorded it all; the murder, the mayhem, and even the story of mob boss Ralph Natale’s affair with his youngest daughter’s best friend. Previte and his FBI cronies eventually prevailed, securing the convictions of his nemeses, “Skinny Joey” Merlino and Ralph Natale.
Back in the days before Vegas was big, when the Mob was at its peak and neon lights were but a glimmer on the horizon, a little Southern town styled itself as a premier destination for the American leisure class. Hot Springs, Arkansas was home to healing waters, Art Deco splendor, and America’s original national park―as well as horse racing, nearly a dozen illegal casinos, countless backrooms and brothels, and some of the country’s most bald-faced criminals.
Gangsters, gamblers, and gamines: all once flocked to America’s forgotten capital of vice, a place where small-town hustlers and bigtime high-rollers could make their fortunes, and hide from the law. The Vapors is the extraordinary story of three individuals―spanning the golden decades of Hot Springs, from the 1930s through the 1960s―and the lavish casino whose spectacular rise and fall would bring them together before blowing them apart.
Hazel Hill was still a young girl when legendary mobster Owney Madden rolled into town in his convertible, fresh off a crime spree in New York. He quickly established himself as the gentleman Godfather of Hot Springs, cutting barroom deals and buying stakes in the clubs at which Hazel made her living―and drank away her sorrows. Owney’s protégé was Dane Harris, the son of a Cherokee bootlegger who rose through the town’s ranks to become Boss Gambler. It was his idea to build The Vapors, a pleasure palace more spectacular than any the town had ever seen, and an establishment to rival anything on the Vegas Strip or Broadway in sophistication and supercharged glamour.
In this riveting work of forgotten history, native Arkansan David Hill plots the trajectory of everything from organized crime to America’s fraught racial past, examining how a town synonymous with white gangsters supported a burgeoning black middle class. He reveals how the louche underbelly of the South was also home to veterans hospitals and baseball’s spring training grounds, giving rise to everyone from Babe Ruth to President Bill Clinton. Infused with the sights and sounds of America’s entertainment heyday―jazz orchestras and auctioneers, slot machines and suited comedians―The Vapors is an arresting glimpse into a bygone era of American vice.
In The Devil’s Town, Philip Leigh, a rising star among American historians, tells the unique and colorful story of the small resort city of Hot Springs, Arkansas—how it became a theater for New York and Chicago mobs during the gangster era. This is a richly detailed tale of a significant part of Southern history— exploitation of a people’s poverty, crime, evasion of law, and local and state corruption. The author names names, some of them of national importance including, among others, Frank Costello, Al Capone, Myer Lansky, “Jelly” Nash, Nick the Greek, Thomas Dewey, J. Edgar Hoover, and presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, and Clinton. *** Even as an author of four Hot Springs books, The Devil’s Town entertainingly amplified insight into my hometown —Ray Hanley, author of A Place Apart: A Personal History of Hot Springs *** Comments on Southern Reconstruction “Leigh’s Southern Reconstruction is a refreshing anecdote to politically acceptable versions of the story.” * “Leigh’s latest work Southern Reconstruction is an excellent study of a critical and too often misunderstood part of American history. It is a no nonsense tour de force….” * “I applaud Philip Leigh, and think his book will be historographically significant . . .”
More than any other sport, boxing has a history of being easy to rig. There are only two athletes and one or both may be induced to accept a bribe; if not the fighters, then the judges or referee might be swayed. In such inviting circumstances, the mob moved into boxing in the 1930s and profited by corrupting a sport ripe for exploitation.
In Boxing and the Mob: The Notorious History of the Sweet Science, Jeffrey Sussman tells the story of the coercive and criminal underside of boxing, covering nearly the entire twentieth century. He profiles some of its most infamous characters, such as Owney Madden, Frankie Carbo, and Frank Palermo, and details many of the fixed matches in boxing’s storied history. In addition, Sussman examines the influence of the mob on legendary boxers—including Primo Carnera, Sugar Ray Robinson, Max Baer, Carmen Basilio, Sonny Liston, and Jake LaMotta—and whether they caved to the mobsters’ threats or refused to throw their fights.
“California, Labor Day weekend . . . early, with ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levis roll out from damp garages, all-night diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur. . . The Menace is loose again.”
Thus begins Hunter S. Thompson’s vivid account of his experiences with California’s most notorious motorcycle gang, the Hell’s Angels. In the mid-1960s, Thompson spent almost two years living with the controversial Angels, cycling up and down the coast, reveling in the anarchic spirit of their clan, and, as befits their name, raising hell. His book successfully captures a singular moment in American history, when the biker lifestyle was first defined, and when such countercultural movements were electrifying and horrifying America. Thompson, the creator of Gonzo journalism, writes with his usual bravado, energy, and brutal honesty, and with a nuanced and incisive eye; as The New Yorker pointed out, “For all its uninhibited and sardonic humor, Thompson’s book is a thoughtful piece of work.” As illuminating now as when originally published in 1967, Hell’s Angels is a gripping portrait, and the best account we have of the truth behind an American legend.
THE PHANTOM KILLER: Serial Killer
In 1946, years before the phrase “serial murder” was coined, a masked killer terrorized the town of Texarkana on the Texas-Arkansas border. Striking five times within a ten-week period, always at night, the prowler claimed six lives and left three other victims wounded. Survivors told police that their assailant was a man, but could supply little else. A local newspaper dubbed him the Phantom Killer, and it stuck. Other reporters called the faceless predator the “Moonlight Murderer,” though the lunar cycle had nothing to do with the crimes.
Texarkana’s phantom was not America’s first serial slayer; he certainly was not the worst, either in body count or sheer brutality. But he has left a crimson mark on history as one of those who got away. Like the elusive Axeman of New Orleans, Cleveland’s Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, and San Francisco’s Zodiac Killer, the Phantom Killer left a haunting mystery behind. This is the definitive story of that mystery.
The salacious and scandalous murders of a series of couples on Texarkana’s “lovers lanes” in seemingly idyllic post-WWII America created a media maelstrom and cast a pall of fear over an entire region. What is even more surprising is that the case has remained cold for decades. Combining archival research and investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize nominated historian James Presley reveals evidence that provides crucial keys to unlocking this decades-old puzzle.Dubbed “the Phantom murders” by the press, these grisly crimes took place in an America before dial telephones, DNA science, and criminal profiling. Even pre-television, print and radio media stirred emotions to a fever pitch. The Phantom Killer, exhaustively researched, is the only definitive nonfiction book on the case, and includes details from an unpublished account by a survivor, and rare, never-before-published photographs.Although the case lives on today on television, the Internet, a revived fictional movie and even an off-Broadway play, with so much of the investigation shrouded in mystery since 1946, rumors and fractured facts have distorted the reality. Now, for the first time, a careful examination of the archival record, personal interviews, and stubborn fact checking come together to produce new insights and revelations on the old slayings.
GERALD POSNER: Writer, Conspiracies
Discusses the growing menace of Chinese youth gangs and their usurpation of power from traditional crime organizations, using undercover investigations to trace these groups’ power organization, and insidious role in today’s crime wave
PRISON:
The most dreaded facility in the prison system because of its fierce population, Leavenworth is governed by ruthless clans competing for dominance. Among the “star” players in these pages: Carl Cletus Bowles, the sexual predator with a talent for murder; Dallas Scott, a gang member who has spent almost thirty of his forty-two years behind bars; indomitable Warden Robert Matthews, who put his shoulder against his prison’s grim reality; Thomas Silverstein, a sociopath confined in “no human contact” status since 1983; “tough cop” guard Eddie Geouge, the only officer in the penitentiary with the authority to sentence an inmate to “the Hole”; and William Post, a bank robber with a criminal record going back to when he was eight years old—and known as the “Catman” for his devoted care of the cats who live inside the prison walls.
Pete Earley, celebrated reporter and author of Family of Spies, all but lived for nearly two years inside the primordial world of Leavenworth, where he conducted hundreds of interviews. Out of this unique, extraordinary access comes the riveting story of what life is actually like in the oldest maximum-security prison in the country.
In July 1983 James Morgan Kane returned home in the evening to find a corpse in his living room. Fearing that he would be blamed and sensing that his wife was somehow involved, he wanted to do all to protect his young family. Jamie worked through the night to dispose of the body all the while disbelieving the situation he found himself in. His luck ran out days later as he was arrested and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Jamie entered the U.S. prison system and was to stay there for 34 years with stints in San Quentin, Folsom State Prison and the notorious Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) in California. He would rub shoulders with some of the world’s most infamous serial killers such as Charles Manson, Edmund Kemper, Charles Tex Watson and Herbie Mullin as well as gangs such as the Aryan Brotherhood and Mexican cartels. This book tells of his time: locked up with no hope of release, living the brutality of the unforgiving penitentiary system and finding his new purpose in life, as well as tales of his many run-ins with some of the world’s most dangerous inmates.
PROSTITUTION AND PIMPS:
Iceberg Slim’s autobiographical novel sent shockwaves throughout the literary world when it published in 1969. Groundbreaking for its authentic and oft-brutal account of the sex trade, the book offers readers an unforgettable look at the mores of Chicago’s street life during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. In the preface, Slim says it best, “In this book, I will take you, the reader, with me into the secret inner world of the pimp.” With millions of copies sold, Pimp has become vital reading across generations of writers, entertainers and filmmakers alike, making it a timeless piece of American literature. Article
GEORGE HOWARD PUTT: Serial Killer
Article
RAILROAD KILLER: (Angel Maturino Resendez) Serial Killer
Reverend Norman Sirnic and his wife Karen were found in their bloodstained bed with their heads smashed inWhile her husband and daughters were away, pediatric neurologist Claudia Benton received 19 fatal blows to the headJoseph Konvicka, a grandmother of six who loved to garden, was found dead in her home from a blow to the head Angel Maturino Resendez is described by most who know him as a quiet, polite, soft-spoken man, a loving husband and father to a baby daughter. But law enforcement officials suspect that he might be responsible for upwards of eight grisly and random killings in the span of two years, all of which occured near the southwest railroad line that the killer is believed to have ridden on his twisted murder spree. In each case, the same mode of attack–resulting in the same slow and painful death–appears to have been used, pointing to the methodical slayings of a serial killer. Is Angel Maturino Resendez the ruthless Railroad Killer–a sadistic slayer who led police on one of the longest manhunts in history? Bestselling true crime author Wensley Clarkson digs deep into the heart of a horrifying murder case to uncover some stunning answers.
“He was one of the most vile, evil persons that I had ever dealt with. It was like every time you turn around there’s another murder.” – FBI Agent Mark YoungThey called him the ‘Railroad Killer.’Angel Resendiz earned the nickname because of his penchant for committing his crimes near railroads, using the rail cars as his own personal get-away system.Committing murder after murder, he was able to elude both American and Mexican authorities for over a decade.
On August 28, 1997, just as she was starting her junior year at the University of Kentucky, Holly Dunn and her boyfriend, Chris Maier, were walking along railroad tracks on their way home from a party when they were attacked by notorious serial killer Angel Maturino Reséndiz, aka The Railroad Killer. After her boyfriend is beaten to death in front of her, Holly is stabbed, raped, and left for dead.
In this memoir of survival and healing from a horrific true crime, Holly recounts how she lived through the vicious assault, helped bring her assailant to justice, and ultimately found meaning and purpose through service to victims of sexual assault and other violent crimes. She has worked as a motivational speaker and activist and founded Holly’s House, a safe and nurturing space in her hometown of Evansville, Indiana.
JAMES EARL RAY: Assassin
Article
One of the most infamous and devastating assassinations in American history, the murder of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., was also one of the most quickly resolved by authorities: James Earl Ray was convicted of the crime less than a year after it occurred. Yet, did they catch the right person? Or was Ray framed by President Lyndon B Johnson and FBI Director J Edgar Hoover?
In Who REALLY Killed Martin Luther King, Jr.?, Phillip F. Nelson explores the tactics used by the FBI to portray Ray as a southern racist and stalker of King. He shows that early books on King’s death were written for the very purpose of “dis-informing” the American public, at the behest of the FBI and CIA, and are filled with proven lies and distortions.
As Nelson methodically exposes the original constructed false narrative as the massive deceit that it was, he presents a revised and corrected account in its place, based upon proven facts that exonerate James Earl Ray. Nelson’s account is supplemented by several authors, including Harold Weisberg, Mark Lane, Dick Gregory, John Avery Emison, Philip Melanson, and William F. Pepper. Nelson also posits numerous instances of how government investigators—the FBI originally, then the Department of Justice in 1976, the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigators in 1978 and the DOJ again in 2000—deliberately avoided pursuing any and all leads which pointed toward Ray’s innocence.
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis, Tennessee, by a single assassin’s bullet. A career criminal named James Earl Ray was seen fleeing from a rooming house that overlooked the hotel balcony from where King was cut down. An international manhunt ended two months later with Ray’s capture. Though Ray initially pled guilty, he quickly recanted and for the rest of his life insisted he was an unwitting pawn in a grand conspiracy. In Killing the Dream, expert investigative reporter Gerald Posner reexamines Ray and the evidence, even tracking down the mystery man Ray claimed was the conspiracy’s mastermind. Beginning with an authoritative biography of Ray’s life, and continuing with a gripping account of the assassination and its aftermath, Posner cuts through phony witnesses, false claims, and a web of misinformation surrounding that tragic spring day in 1968. He puts Ray’s conspiracy theory to rest and ultimately manages to disclose what really happened the day King was murdered.
Including previously undisclosed information on one of the most significant and mysterious events in modern American history, this account debunks the myth that James Earl Ray was a racist and documents his actual location on one of the critical days leading up to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The memoir also reveals photographs of James Earl Ray when he was ill in prison and gives the key to a code used by the brothers in planning a prison break. Presenting a mesmerizing perspective on the manipulation of the media in reporting on race relations, the working middle class, and the U.S. criminal justice system, this account broadcasts an urgent call to action to correct some of the many injustices that surround these events, such as the U.S. government’s refusal to rigorously test the alleged murder weapon, and encourages support for new federal legislation.
With a blistering, cross-cutting narrative that draws on a wealth of dramatic unpublished documents, Hampton Sides, bestselling author of Ghost Soldiers, delivers a non-fiction thriller in the tradition of William Manchester’s The Death of a President and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. With Hellhound On His Trail, Sides shines a light on the largest manhunt in American history and brings it to life for all to see.
PAUL DENNIS REID: Serial Killer
He was evil personified.In the Spring of 1997, a serial killer held Nashville, Tennessee in an icy grip of terror. In February, he murdered two employees at a Captain D’s restaurant. In March, he struck a McDonalds just miles away, killing three people and maiming one. In April, he kidnapped and slaughtered two Baskin-Robbins employees.They called him “The Fast Food Killer” but his real name is Paul Dennis Reid, Jr. When he was caught and sentenced to seven death sentences, yet a new chapter began in the saga of one of the most heinous serial killers in our time, and the people whose lives he cut short.The victims were reduced to being called “the victims of Paul Reid.” Until now. Here, for the first time, and with the approval of the family and friends, are the stories of those innocent, young people whose lives were ended far too soon. It is also the story of how a crime ripped a city apart.
ROBERT K. RESSLER: Writer, FBI Agent
Face-to-face with some of America’s most terrifying killers, FBI veteran Robert K. Ressler learned how to identify the unknown monsters who walk among us — and put them behind bars. In Whoever Fights Monsters, Ressler―the inspiration for the character Agent Bill Tench in David Fincher’s hit TV show Mindhunter―shows how he was able to track down some of the country’s most brutal murderers.
Ressler, the FBI Agent and ex-Army CID colonel who advised Thomas Harris on The Silence of the Lambs, used the evidence at a crime scene to put together a psychological profile of the killers. From the victims they choose to the way they kill to the often grotesque souvenirs they take with them―Ressler unlocks the identities of these vicious killers. And with his discovery that serial killers share certain violent behaviors, Ressler goes behind prison walls to hear bizarre first-hand stories from countless convicted murderers, including Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy; Edmund Kemper; and Son of Sam. Getting inside the mind of a killer to understand how and why he kills is one of the FBI’s most effective ways of helping police bring in killers who are still at large.
Join Ressler as he takes you on the hunt for the world’s most dangerous psychopaths in this terrifying journey you will not forget.
RIVERSIDE KILLER:
See WILLIAM SUFF
ANN RULE: Writer
A new edition of the iconic, best-selling account of America’s most fascinating serial killer, “perhaps the most unnerving true-crime book ever published” (Victoria Beale, The New Yorker), with a foreword by Georgia Hardstark.
In 1971, while working the late-shift at a Seattle crisis clinic, true-crime writer Ann Rule struck up a friendship with a sensitive, charismatic young coworker: Ted Bundy. Three years later, eight young women disappeared in seven months, and Rule began tracking a brutal mass murderer. But she had no idea that the “Ted” the police were seeking was the same Ted who had become her close friend and confidant. As she put the evidence together, a terrifying picture emerged of the man she thought she knew―his magnetic power, his bleak compulsion, his double life, and, most of all, his string of helpless victims. Bundy eventually confessed to killing at least thirty-six women across the country.
Forty years after its initial publication, The Stranger Beside Me remains a gripping, intimate, and unforgettable true-crime classic, “as dramatic and chilling as a bedroom window shattering at midnight” (New York Times).
In July 2011, billionaire Jonah Shacknai’s Coronado, California, mansion was the setting for two horrifying deaths only days apart—his young son’s plunge from a balcony and his girlfriend’s ghastly hanging. What really happened? Baffling questions remain unanswered, as these cases were closed far too soon for hundreds of people; Rule looks at them now through the eyes of a relentless crime reporter. The second probe began in Utah when Susan Powell vanished in a 2009 blizzard. Her controlling husband, Josh, proved capable of a blind rage that was heartbreakingly fatal to his innocent small sons almost three years later in a tragedy that shocked America as the details unfolded. If anyone had detected the depth of depravity within Josh Powell, perhaps the family that loved and trusted him would have been saved. In these and seven other riveting cases, Ann Rule exposes the twisted truth behind the façades of Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors.
These doomed relationships are the focus of queen of true crime Ann Rule’s sixteenth all-new Crime Files collection. In these shattering inside views of both headlined and little-known homicides, Rule speaks for vulnerable victims who relied on the wrong people. She begins with two startling novella-length investigations.
ROD SADLER: Writer
“Rod Sadler takes us through the twisted world of a serial killer, in a labor of love that pays respect to those lives the monster destroyed and reminding us why they should never be forgotten and he should never be free.” —DAVE SCHRADER, host of Darkness Radio and True Crime Tuesday, and host of The Travel Channel’s ‘The Holzer Files’
Will A Serial Killer Soon Walk The Streets Again?
Don Miller was quiet and reserved. As a former youth pastor, he seemed a devout Christian. No one would have ever suspected that the recent graduate of the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice was a serial killer.
However, when Miller was arrested for the attempted murder of two teenagers in 1978, police quickly realized he was probably responsible for the disappearances of four women. Offered a still-controversial plea bargain, he led police to the bodies of the missing women.
Now, after forty years in prison, Miller has served his time and is due to be released into an unsuspecting population. In KILLING WOMEN, author Rod Sadler examines the crimes, the “justice” meted out, and the impending freedom of a man nationally renowned psychiatrist Dr. Frank Ochberg wrote:
“… is a member of a small, deadly, dangerous population: murderers who stalk, capture, torture and kill; murderers who derive sexual and narcissistic gratification from their predation; murderers who maintain a ‘mask of sanity’ appearing normal and harmless.”
When widow Frances Lacey was murdered in July 1960 on Mackinac Island, only a few meager clues were found by police, and the case soon turned cold. But more than sixty years later, will those same clues finally solve the mystery?
On July 24, 1960, the quaint charm and serenity of Mackinac, nestled between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, was shattered by Lacey’s brutal death. Despite a massive manhunt and thousands of pages of police reports, her killer was never caught.
Now, in GRIM PARADISE, true crime author Rod Sadler (Killing Women) delves into the secrets of one of Michigan’s most perplexing murder cases. Offering an in-depth and suspenseful account of the long-standing mystery, he poses the question:
Could advanced DNA technology lead to the identity of the Mackinac Island murderer as it did recently in the case of the Golden State Killer?
Find out in GRIM PARADISE: The Cold Case Search for the Mackinac Island Killer.
When the bodies of Howard and Myra Herrick were discovered hidden in their barn on a fall night in 1955, their neighbor suddenly realized the screams she had heard two days earlier were the screams of the retired chicken farmer and his wife being viciously murdered.
With escaped convict Nealy Buchanon on the run, law enforcement officials knew he could be anywhere. Thirteen months after the murders, Buchanon was captured in Baltimore and quickly returned to Michigan.
What should have been the end of a horrible nightmare for the Herrick family was only the beginning.
A Slayer Waits is the true story of a double murder that rocked the quiet community of Stockbridge, Michigan in 1955, and ultimately led to the killer’s case ending up before the United States Supreme Court.
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS:
see Also MASS MURDER
ROBERT SCOTT: Writer
In the fall of 2010, in the all-American town of Apple Valley, Ohio, four people disappeared without a trace: Stephanie Sprang; her friend, Tina Maynard; and Tina’s two children, thirteen-year-old Sarah and eleven-year-old Kody. Investigators began scouring the area, yet despite an extensive search, no signs of the missing people were discovered.
On the fourth day of the search, evidence trickled in about neighborhood “weirdo” Matthew Hoffman. A police SWAT team raided his home and found an extremely disturbing sight: every square inch of the place was filled with leaves and a terrified Sarah Maynard was bound up in the middle of it like some sort of perverted autumn tableau. But there was no trace of the others.
Then came Hoffman’s confession to an unspeakable crime that went beyond murder and defied all reason. His tale of evil would make Sarah’s survival and rescue all the more astonishing—a compelling tribute to a young girl’s resilience and courage and to her fierce determination to reclaim her life in the wake of unimaginable trauma.
Tells the horrifying true story of Robert Spangler who, after killing his first wife and teenage children, set the stage to frame his wife for the brutal murder, and then proceeded to murder his next two wives, which he admitted to doing in the fall of 2000 after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Reissue.
SEXUAL CRIMES:
Lucie Blackman―tall, blond, twenty-one years old―stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000, and disappeared forever. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave.
Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, covered Lucie’s disappearance and followed the massive search for her, the long investigation, and the even longer trial. Over ten years, he earned the trust of her family and friends, won unique access to the Japanese detectives and Japan’s byzantine legal system, and delved deep into the mind of the man accused of the crime, Joji Obara, described by the judge as “unprecedented and extremely evil.”
The result is a book at once thrilling and revelatory, “In Cold Blood for our times” (Chris Cleave, author of Incendiary and Little Bee).
JACK SMITH: Writer
Paul John Knowles, nicknamed the Casanova killer, went on a 4 month killing spree in 1974. He still remains one of the lesser known serial killer of his generation. Read all about this psychopath who wanted fame before his life ended
November 7, 1974
As she entered her home in Milledgeville, Georgia, all Ellen Carr probably had on her mind was going to bed. She was a registered nurse who worked a night shift, and although the small family welcomed the money, the job was a demanding one.
Inside, the house was unnaturally quiet. She found that odd. Her husband, forty-five-year-old businessman Carswell Carr and fifteen-year-old daughter Amanda usually greeted her when she came home from the hospital.
That wasn’t the only sign that something was seriously amiss. As an investigator later put it, “The (place) looked as if it had been attacked by an animal.” Mirrors were smashed. Slashed furniture lay everywhere, some of it in pieces. Books from the bookshelves littered the floor.
Had they been robbed? Where were Carswell and Mandy? Heart pounding, Mrs. Carr ran from room to room, calling out. Minutes later, she was back outside, screaming hysterically. Neighbors called the police to what was obviously the scene of gruesome double homicide.
Carswell Carr’s nude corpse was lying face down on the couple’s bed, hands bound behind his back and twenty-seven stab wounds, inflicted by scissors, all over his body. The medical examiner later determined that he had died of a heart attack, likely brought on by the torture. Down the hall, Amanda was also face down in her room, one nylon stocking tied tightly around her neck and the other shoved down her throat. To compound the horror, she appeared to have been raped after death.
When Mrs. Carr regained her senses, she went through the house with the police and identified several things that were missing: Carswell’s briefcase, shaving kit, credit cards, identification, and most of his clothing.
While detectives searched for more clues, the murderer, wearing his victim’s clothes, was in an Atlanta bar, flirting with a lady reporter. He told her his name was Daryl Golden, but his real name was Paul John Knowles, and he was destined to be remembered as one of most vicious and unpredictable serial killers of his generation.
Stories about serial killers are incredibly popular. Tracking down a mass murderer is a constant plot line in films, television, and literature. But these stories are so often based on real life. In certain circumstances, however, real life goes a step beyond what we could imagine happening in fiction. Sometimes, the actions of a serial killer can seem so extreme and strange, their motivations so twisted and evil, that we struggle to comprehend exactly how they fit into the modern world. In the case of Keith Hunter Jesperson, the truth behind his murder spree is more horrific than anything dreamt up by Hollywood’s best screenwriters. After a disturbing childhood left the giant of a man riddled with emotional and psychological scars, Jesperson travelled across Canada and spent time strangling and killing women whom he met along the way. While he was only convicted of eight murders, his own boasts suggest that total could have reached as high as 160. As a truck driver, he had the perfect cover story for travelling from town to town without having to put down roots. Often leaving an unsuspecting family at home, he was out in the wilderness committing heinous acts without anyone from the authorities coming close to suspecting his guilt. Jesperson, annoyed by the lack of attention he was receiving, began to leave messages to the public. Scrawled onto the walls of truck stop bathrooms, he signed each confession with a happy, smiley face. This led the media to christening him the Happy Face Killer. It was decades before the investigators came close to catching the killer, so read on to discover just how Keith Hunter Jesperson managed to get away with numerous horrific murders. This is the story of the Happy Face Killer.
RAYMOND LEE STEWART: Serial Killer
In one week, Raymond Lee Stewart went on a killing spree that left four people dead in Rockford, Illinois and two people dead in Beloit, Wisconsin. The murders terrified both communities. He was captured with the help of an F.B.I. profiler.
Just when Rockford and Beloit residents thought it was safe to go out again, Raymond Lee Stewart made a daring escape from jail. Once again, the community was terrified. He was re-captured after a two hour manhunt.
Greg Kelly was 10 years old at the time and living in Rockford. For Kelly, this was the boogeyman of his childhood. Fifteen years after the murders and the daring escape, Kelly was interviewing Raymond Lee Stewart as part of his job as Assignment Editor for WGN news in Chicago.
The book is a look at how the events in this story affected the lives of the people who were involved; the sister of the killer who claims that years of abuse led Stewart to his murderous path, the mother of one of the victims who forgave the killer and fought to get him off death row, the son of a victim who turned into an alcoholic after his father’s murder, the police officer who shot and helped capture Stewart during his 1982 escape and an F.B.I. profiler who helped local authorities catch the killer.
JOHN STONE: Serial Killer
John Stone was a prolific American serial killer who was found dead from a shotgun wound in Houston Texas in early 2021. In the typewriter next to his corpse Police found this confession. Stone committed some of the most horrific and disgusting crimes in US history during his forty-year reign of terror. He was never apprehended for the twenty-seven women he murdered, and this confession is the first time the details of his gruesome crimes have come to light.Law enforcement agents from multiple states are currently working on these cases, and they hope to finally give some closure to the families involved.John Stone was a real monster.
STRANGULATION:
See Cincinatti Strangler
This book contains 164 serial killers who have been known to strangle at least one victim during their acts as a serial killer. Each serial killer profile contains 30 points of data backed by our publicly accessible serial killer database. QR codes included in each profile leads the reader to the killers online profile on Killer.Cloud the serial killer database, ( https://killer.cloud ). Killer.Cloud’s data is crossed linked to other online datasets, easily referenced by short codes for readers as well as at the bottom of each serial killers online profile page.
WILLIAM SUFF: Serial Killer
The story of the Riverside Killer is told by the homicide detective who cracked the case and covers the efforts of the investigative team, the double life of stock clerk William Lester Suff, and his six-year murder spree. Original.
Based on interviews with William “Billy” Lester Suff, convicted in 1995 of torturing, maiming, and murdering twelve prostitutes in California, a psychological study of Suff traces his sordid career and explores his unflappable duplicity.
MICHAEL SWANGO:
He was the dream of every future mother in law: Michael Swango, son of a war hero, Marine, and a medical doctor.
But something drew his interest more than helping the sick… death.
Wherever he went, death would follow; and previously healthy patients would develop sudden and inexplicable complications…
His trail of murder leads from the US all the way to Africa, and back again; with the FBI estimating his ‘score’ as high as sixty possible victims.
Read more about America’s infamous Killer Doctor today!
The story of Michael Swango is perhaps not quite as well-known as that of other prolific killers such as Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez, but this diabolical doctor may have killed more people than these two murderers combined. And, what makes the story of Michael Swango even more sinister is that he committed his crimes under the guise of medicine. He put up a facade that he was healing the sick when in reality he was purposefully making his patients sick. He was, in fact, killing them. Swango would approach his victims with a calm, perfectly crafted bedside manner before injecting them with his lethal dose of murder. Swango broke the sacred Hippocratic Oath that all physicians take, proclaiming that they will do no harm.What made this man break such a sacred trust in such a deplorable manner? Just what made this certified medical professional feel that he had a license to kill?
A medical thriller from Pulitzer Prize–winning author James B. Stewart about serial killer doctor Michael Swango and the medical community that chose to turn a blind eye on his criminal activities.
No one could believe that the handsome young doctor might be a serial killer. Wherever he was hired—in Ohio, Illinois, New York, South Dakota—Michael Swango at first seemed the model physician. Then his patients began dying under suspicious circumstances.
At once a gripping read and a hard-hitting look at the inner workings of the American medical system, Blind Eye describes a professional hierarchy where doctors repeatedly accept the word of fellow physicians over that of nurses, hospital employees, and patients—even as horrible truths begin to emerge. With the prodigious investigative reporting that has defined his Pulitzer Prize–winning career, James B. Stewart has tracked down survivors, relatives of victims, and shaken coworkers to unearth the evidence that may finally lead to Swango’s conviction.
Combining meticulous research with spellbinding prose, Stewart has written a shocking chronicle of a psychopathic doctor and of the medical establishment that chose to turn a blind eye on his criminal activities.
MAURY TROY TRAVIS: Serial Killer
In the shadows of St. Louis, women were disappearing. Black women, sex workers, addicts. Easy to ignore. Easier to forget. But someone was watching. Stalking. Torturing. Killing.
Maury Troy Travis was the soft-spoken waiter with a secret locked in his basement: a torture chamber built from fantasies turned real. This is the chilling, cinematic true story of a serial killer who hid in plain sight, and the victims who were too often silenced by the world before he ever laid hands on them.
Told with unflinching detail and emotional depth, [INSERT BOOK TITLE] reconstructs the lives of the women lost, the hunt that nearly failed to catch a predator, and the final moments that changed everything. From his first digital misstep to the knock that ended it all, this book doesn’t just recount a case—it bears witness to the unseen.
TRUE CRIME:
A modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession. Determined to clone an endangered flower—the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii—a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida’s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean—and the reader—will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion.
In this new edition, coming fifteen years after its initial publication and twenty years after she first met the “orchid thief,” Orlean revisits this unforgettable world, and the route by which it was brought to the screen in the film Adaptation, in a new retrospective essay.
CARL EUGENE WATTS: Serial Killer
What turns a man into a killer? America has become the undoubted home of the mass-murderer, playing host to many of the most famous villains in history. From John Wayne Gacy to Jeffrey Dahmer, thousands of people have fallen victim to some of the evilest men in history. So horrible are many of these crimes, that the events themselves can become blurred. Often, we overlook some of the most hideous crimes. There are legions of forgotten serial killers, people whose sadism and brutality is relegated to a footnote. This is one of those stories.Carl Eugene Watts, Coral to his friends, was a serial killer during the latter stages of the Twentieth Century. His crimes are forgotten by the mainstream, but he may have had a hand in the murder of over a hundred women. Stalking around Michigan and Texas during the 1970s and 1980s, his family had no idea of his true nature. His friends and associates had no clue. Behind the mask of normalcy hid one of the country’s most brutal killers.In this book, we will examine the life and crimes of Coral Watts. We will learn about his background, about his history, and try to explore the reasons he might have strayed so far from the beaten path of humanity. We will look in detail at some of his crimes, especially those which formed the basis of his conviction, and try to extrapolate some greater meaning from these random acts of violence. Nicknamed the Sunday Morning Slasher, Coral Watts would prove to be one of the most vicious killers in American history.
JAMES WOOD: Serial Killer
RANDALL WOODFIELD: Serial Killer
Randall Woodfield had it all. He was an award-winning student and star athlete. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers to play in the NFL, and chosen by Playgirl as a centerfold candidate. Working in the swinging West Coast bar scene, he had his pick of willing sexual prospects.
But Randall Woodfield wanted more than just sex. An appetite for unspeakable violent acts led him to cruise the I-5 highway through California, Oregon, and Washington, leaving a trail of victims along the way. As the list of his victims grew to a total of at least 44, the police faced the awesome challenge of catching and convicting a suspect who seemed too handsome and appealing to have committed such ugly crimes—crimes that filled every woman within his striking range with feat and horror….
WRONGFUL PROSECUTION:
In the Major League draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the state of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa.
In 1982, a twenty-one-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row.
If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.
ROBERT LEE YATES: Serial Killer
he United States of America is a complicated country. Home to many of the world’s best-loved cultural icons and achievements, the nation has a darker side. With one of the highest murder rates per capita in the so-called developed world, the country has played home to some of the most violent deaths in recorded memory. Out of this spectrum of death emerges a very specific subset of criminals. The serial killers. More than any other country, America is home to a high number of mass murderers who have moved beyond the pale of regular morality.In this book, we will examine the life and crimes of Robert Lee Yates. Though he might not be as well-known as many of the country’s other serial killers, his violent crimes nevertheless left a savage impact. A veteran of the United States Army, he retired from the military and turned his penchant for violence to another end. In this book, we will attempt to discover why he made such a switch. What prompted a veteran and family man to start murdering women later in his life?In the record books, Yates is linked with the murders of sixteen victims. The majority of these victims were female sex workers, people who operated on the fringes of society, part of an ignored and disenfranchised underworld that Yates plunged into.For two years, in the Washington area, one man was able to carry out a campaign of vicious murders, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. This is the story of Robert Lee Yates, the family he left behind, and the women he killed. It should be noted at this juncture that several names might have been changed to preserve the privacy of their real counterparts. Every action in the story, however, is true.
ZODIAC KILLER: Serial Killer
A sexual sadist, the Zodiac killer took pleasure in torture and murder. His first victims were a teenage couple, stalked and shot dead in a lovers’ lane. After another slaying, he sent his first mocking note to authorities, promising he would kill more. The official tally of his victims was six. He claimed thirty-seven dead. The real toll may have reached fifty.
Robert Graysmith was on staff at the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969 when Zodiac first struck, triggering in the resolute reporter an unrelenting obsession with seeing the hooded killer brought to justice. In this gripping account of Zodiac’s eleven-month reign of terror, Graysmith reveals hundreds of facts previously unreleased, including the complete text of the killer’s letters.
Between December 1968 and October 1969 a hooded serial killer called Zodiac terrorized San Francisco. Claiming responsibility for thirty-seven murders, he manipulated the media with warnings, dares, and bizarre cryptograms that baffled FBI code-breakers. Then as suddenly as the murders began, Zodiac disappeared into the Bay Area fog.
After painstaking investigation and more than thirty years of research, Robert Graysmith finally exposes Zodiac’s true identity. With overwhelming evidence he reveals the twisted private life that led to the crimes, and provides startling theories as to why they stopped. America’s greatest unsolved mystery has finally been solved.
