Polit- & Justizthriller

In this book, we detail the true story of how convicted murderersRichard Hickock and Perry Smith spent their last years on deathrow trying to avoid their execution at the Kansas StatePenitentiary (now the Lansing Correctional Facility) - often referredto as the Kansas death house. Our extensive research has revealedmany new and intriguing facts regarding the killers'' capture, thehighly publicized murder trial, the many desperate attempts to havetheir convictions overturned, and - finally - the day they paid theultimate price.Much of this information has never before been compiled andpublished. It''s a fascinating tale - one that explores in great detail boththe workings of the criminal mind and the many ways in which ourlegal system can be used to delay and deflect the best efforts of societyto exact rightful punishment for even the most heinous of crimes. The authors will dig deeper, unearthing new information about the fiveyears convicted killers Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry EdwardSmith spent on death row trying to appeal their convictions. Thebook is based on the authors research at the Kansas Historical Society''s statearchives, Kansas State Penitentiary official records, and other relatedhistorical documentation preserved for review.

Ambiguity contains the roller-coaster ride of Anthony Bulela, a newly minted homicide detective, and his team in pursuing the killer dubbed as the Skinner by the press. Corruption, deception, and lust invade the attempt to stop this scourge.

This in-depth yet highly accessible books provides compelling human stories that illuminate the thorny legal issues behind the most noteworthy capital cases. In 1969, the Supreme Court justices cast votes in secret that could have signaled the end of the death penalty. Later, the justices resolve began to unravel. Why? What were the consequences for the rule of law and for the life at stake in the case? These are some of the fascinating questions answered in Murder at the Supreme Court. Veteran journalists Martin Clancy and Tim OBrien not only pull back the curtain of secrecy that surrounds Supreme Court deliberations but also reveal the crucial links between landmark capital-punishment cases and the lethal crimes at their root. The authors take readers to crime scenes, holding cells, jury rooms, autopsy suites, and execution chambers to provide true-life reporting on vicious criminals and the haphazard judicial system that punishes them. The cases reported are truly "e;the cases that made the law."e; They have defined the parameters that judges must follow for a death sentence to stand up on appeal. Beyond the obvious questions regarding the dubious deterrent effect of capital punishment or whether retribution is sufficient justification for the death penalty (regardless of the heinous nature of the crimes committed), the cases and crimes examined in this book raise other confounding issues: Is lethal injection really more humane than other methods of execution? Should a mentally ill killer be forcibly medicated to make him "e;well enough"e; to be executed? How does the race of the perpetrator or the victim influence sentencing? Is heinous rape a capital crime? How young is too young to be executed?

Although much has been written about Al Capone, there has not been--until now--a complete history of organized crime in Chicago during Prohibition. This exhaustively researched book covers the entire period from 1920 to 1933. Author John J. Binder, a recognized authority on the history of organized crime in Chicago, discusses all the important bootlegging gangs in the city and the suburbs and also examines the other major rackets, such as prostitution, gambling, labor and business racketeering, and narcotics. A major focus is how the Capone gang -- one of twelve major bootlegging mobs in Chicago at the start of Prohibition--gained a virtual monopoly over organized crime in northern Illinois and beyond. Binder also describes the fight by federal and local authorities, as well as citizens' groups, against organized crime. In the process, he refutes numerous myths and misconceptions related to the Capone gang, other criminal groups, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, and gangland killings. What emerges is a big picture of how Chicago's underworld evolved during this period. This broad perspective goes well beyond Capone and specific acts of violence and brings to light what was happening elsewhere in Chicagoland and after Capone went to jail. Based on 25 years of research and using many previously unexplored sources, this fascinating account of a bloody and colorful era in Chicago history will become the definitive work on the subject.

The veteran true crime author chronicles the terrifying murders, surprising arrest and dramatic trial of Illinois serial killer Milton Johnson. In the summer of 1983, an elusive serial killer stalked the blue-collar industrial city of Joliet, Illinois. One overnight killing spree took five victims,including members of the Will County Sheriff's Office. The following month brought a quadruple murder inside a shop known for its pottery classes. The plague of violence sparkedthe controversial New York City-based Guardian Angels to descend on Joliet, generating more unwanted media attention for the community. The National Enquirer labeled Joliet ';Terror Town, U.S.A.' With an arrest that seemed to come out of nowhere, authorities linked their suspectto a chilling fourteen homicides, plus three women who miraculously survived their agonizing encounters. But with multiple murder trials on the horizon,it remained anyone's guess whether Milton Johnson was guilty of mass murder and if so, would he die by means of lethal injection at the Illinois Department of Corrections?

A grizzly arson case leads an Indianapolis prosecutor to an infant's coldblooded killer in this chilling true crime by the author of Inconvenience Gone. On the morning of March 6,1993, an intense fire broke out in a tiny nursery. Sixteen minutes later, firefighters had extinguished the blaze. The room was burned so severely, that virtually nothing was recognizable ... but they were told to look for a baby. What they discovered was almost too gruesome for words. Not only the baby's charred remains, but an unsettling fact: the child's parents were homeat the time the fire broke out. The arson squad declaredthe fire suspicious and investigators determined it was arson. But if it truly was arson, what was the motive? Along with the tenacious and determined Detective Leslie Van Buskirk, Marion County Prosecutor Diane Marger Moore persisted for more than two years to get justice for Baby Matthew Wise. In 16 Minutes, she recounts the incredible storyand the shocking revelations she made.</

Benedict Giamo has published widely on the condition of historical and contemporary homelessness in America. In Homeless Come Home: An Advocate, the Riverbank, and Murder in Topeka, Kansas, Giamo offers a deeply sympathetic yet critical look at the life of homeless advocate David Owen, who was tortured and killed in 2006 by some of those he intended to help. Part chronicle, part social analysis, part investigative journalism, and part true-crime book, Homeless Come Home examines why and how David Owen contributed to his own gruesome death. David Owen defined his single-minded mission of tough Christian love, which he called "e;Homeless Come Home,"e; in terms of his belief that all homeless persons could and should be reunited with their family. He demanded that the homeless reenter society via telephone cards, cell phones, and their families front doors. Owen, who himself was disabled and had a history of legal and mental problems, would not take no for an answer. Many with whom he came in contact-pastors, social workers, legislators, police-feared that his fanatical dedication and aggressive approach ultimately would be his downfall. After police discovered his corpse on the bank of the Kansas River, four homeless persons who had been living in a nearby tent camp were charged with his kidnapping and felony murder. Giamo explores Owen's actions and motives, the homeless community in Topeka, the social services available to them, and the separate trials of the co-defendants charged in his death. In doing so, he conveys the contention between social order and disorder and raises broader concerns regarding inequality, advocacy, and justice. The story is both fascinating and cautionary, a modern tragedy in which no one person can be identified as its cause.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Honor and The Last Gangsterone of the most respected crime reporters in the country (60 Minutes)comes the sure to be headline-making inside story of the Gotti and Gambino families, told from the unique viewpoint of notorious mob hit-man John Alite, a close associate of Junior Gotti who later testified against him.In Gottis Rules, George Anastasia, a prize-winning reporter who spent over thirty years covering crime, offers a shocking and very rare glimpse into the Gotti family, witnessed up-close from former family insider John Alite, John Gotti Jr.s longtime friend and protector. Until now, no one has given up the kind of personal details about the Gottisincluding the legendary Gotti Rules of leadershipthat Anastasia exposes here. Drawing on extensive FBI files and other documentation, his own knowledge, and exclusive interviews with insiders and experts, including mob-enforcer-turned-government-witness Alite, Anastasia pokes holes in the Gotti legend, demystifying this notorious family and its lucrative and often deadly machinations.Anastasia offers never-before-heard information about the murders, drug dealing, and extortion that propelled John J. Gotti to the top of the Gambino crime family and the treachery and deceit that allowed John A. Junior Gotti to follow in his fathers footsteps. Told from street level and through the eyes of a wiseguy who saw it all firsthand, the result is a riveting look at a family whose hubris, violence, passion, and greed fueled a bloody rise and devastating fall that is still reverberating through the American underworld today.Gottis Rules includes 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.

This book is about the survival of the Human speices and its readiness in preparation to face days to come, within a sataire humour. The view is from refections of the many million who are feeling anxious in these times of uncertainty. We are al living in an illusion that is being created by electromagnetic frequencies, the lower we vibrate the bad the World is, now if we resonate higher guess what the result will be.....

Sixty years ago a small time thief, James Hanratty, with no history of violent crime was hanged for a motiveless and horrific murder, but vital evidence, withheld from the original trial, indicated that he might have been wrongly executed.His defence counsel couldn't take it in that this evidence had been concealed.At the same time, new DNA discoveries by forensic scientists told a very different story.If the interpretation of the DNA was right then James Hanratty was guilty, but if other new evidence, kept secret from the trial was right, then he might be innocent.What is the truth in this case?Was he innocent or guilty?Is this DNA evidence a cover up for the British government?Is this the final curtain on the James Hanratty case?What is your opinion after reading this book?

Fingers and toes with no pruning.No rigor mortis. No livor mortis.Blood glucose levels that revealed a recent death.Neighbors who saw Samira Frasch alive two and a half hours after her husband left the house.Phone records and eyewitnesses to support his alibi.A prison snitch who told a story filled with contradictions.A golf club that mysteriously appeared in the master bedroom a year after the controversial death.A handyman who lied repeatedly.Mental health issues that were ignored.A prosecutor with a grudge.It all said the same thing, that Dr. Adam Frasch had not killed his wife. The true and frightening story of how the State of Florida created a case out of planted evidence and disjointed testimonies to put an innocent man in prison.

Pablo Escobar was a mama's boy who cherished his family and sang in the shower, yet he bombed a passenger plane and formed a death squad that used genital electrocution.Most Escobar biographies only provide a few pieces of the puzzle, but this action-packed 1000-page book reveals everything about the king of cocaine.Mostly translated from Spanish, Part 2 contains stories untold in the English-speaking world, including:How Pablo's craving for a teen volleyball player caused his brother-in-law's death.How half of the Medellín Cartel's big bosses fell.The fate of the survivors of the Palace of Justice attack.The state's role in the death of the popular presidential candidate Galán.

"Game warden work is not glamorous. There will be days when you are shivering and cold and your legs are covered with mud up to your knees. There will be other days when you are hot and sweating and your arms are covered with fish scales up to your elbows. There are hurricanes, tornados. mass shootings, explosions, and every other kind of calamity. You will get a front row seat to all of it. CAMPFIRE CONFESSIONS is a companion to Benny's first book TALES OF A TEXAS GAME WARDEN, recalling the adventures of one of Texas' most well- known game wardens. These are his stories." --