Polit- & Justizthriller

Arson Investigation consists of true actual cases of arson. Photographs that were taken are included to indicate how the fires were started. These arsons include murder, organized crime, cover-up for other crimes, and more. Investigative techniques prepare the investigator to obtain sufficient evidence in order to convict the fire setter and then present this information as an expert witness in a court of law. Technical information is replete in the text. In addition, serious and dangerous crimes are presented, including the infamous Chowchilla bus kidnapping, where twenty-six children were abducted.

This is the true story of Carmine Imbriale - a gambler, a brawler, a bandit, a bookie, an enforcer. For two decades, Imbriale was a street-level operative in one of the most violent crews in the Colombo Family, and he endeared himself to some of the major figures of organized crime while developing deadly disputes with others.Now in hiding, Imbriale teams up with true-crime veteran writer Craig McGuire to take you inside the 13th Avenue rackets at the height of their violence. This is the jarring account of his lawless lifestyle culminating in a gang war in South Brooklyn, from which he emerges a survivor.From his first arrest at 15 for robbing a Coney Island pimp to surviving multiple assassination attempts, Imbriale offers up dozens of too-good-to-be-true tales featuring some of the most notorious gangsters, including Joe Colombo, Christie Tick, Jimmy Ida, Joe Waverly, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Johnny Rizzo, as well as other lions and lackeys of La Cosa Nostra, and details a beef with none other than Greg "The Grim Reaper" Scarpa Sr.A young streetwise hustler, Imbriale thought he found loyalty, a brotherhood. Instead, he descended into a world of treachery and deceit, where your best friend is your executioner, and no one gets out alive. But no one expected him to become the domino that helped bring it all down.

**WINNER OF THE EDGAR® AWARD FOR BEST FACT CRIME**A "terrific, harrowing, true-crime account of an elusive serial killer who preyed upon gay men in the 1990s." -The New York Times (Editor's Pick)"In this astonishing and powerful work of nonfiction, Green meticulously reports on a series of baffling and brutal crimes targeting gay men. It is an investigation filled with twists and turns, but this is much more than a compelling true crime story. Green has shed light on those whose lives for too long have been forgotten, and rescued an important part of American history."-David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower MoonThe gripping true story, told here for the first time, of the Last Call Killer and the gay community of New York City that he preyed upon.The Townhouse Bar, midtown, July 1992: The piano player seems to know every song ever written, the crowd belts out the lyrics to their favorites, and a man standing nearby is drinking a Scotch and water. The man strikes the piano player as forgettable.He looks bland and inconspicuous. Not at all what you think a serial killer looks like. But that's what he is, and tonight, he has his sights set on a gray haired man. He will not be his first victim.Nor will he be his last.The Last Call Killer preyed upon gay men in New York in the '80s and '90s and had all the hallmarks of the most notorious serial killers. Yet because of the sexuality of his victims, the skyhigh murder rates, and the AIDS epidemic, his murders have been almost entirely forgotten.This gripping true-crime narrative tells the story of the Last Call Killer and the decades-long chase to find him. And at the same time, it paints a portrait of his victims and a vibrant community navigating threat and resilience.

A concise history of the controversial 1920 murder trial in suburban Boston, which saw two Italian immigrants executed for killings they may not have committed.

Sin City Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Las Vegas is a fast-paced account of how the mob created and controlled Las Vegas. It contains accounts of how the most powerful mobsters in the country built, bought, and controlled not only gambling casinos in Vegas, but also many important politicians, who did the mob's bidding. Some of the more notorious mobsters were Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Moe Dalitz, Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo, and Nick Civella, as well as the men they chose to carry out their plans, such as Tony Spilotro, Lefty Rosenthal, and Donald Angelini. Sin City Gangsters devotes a chapter to Jimmy Hoffa, and how the Teamsters Pension Fund financed the mob's casinos. The book also offers fascinating accounts of the roles of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley in Vegas. Another chapter is devoted to Howard Hughes, who arrived in the dead of night in a sealed, germ-free railroad car and did not leave his suite at the Desert Inn for years. During that time he bought one casino after another as if playing Monopoly. Following his exit and that of the mob, Vegas became the domain of Jay Sarno, Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn, and Sheldon Adelson. They were visionaries who transformed Vegas into the entertainment capital of the world by building billion-dollars-plus resorts and hiring the most popular contemporary entertainers. Sin City Gangsters is the only book that charts Vegas from the first modest mob-owned casinos to the present billion-dollar-resorts; its cast of characters is an assembly of exceedingly ambitious risk takers who let nothing stand in their way of turning their dreams into stunning realities.

This memoir is an inspirational yet harrowing story of a domestic violence victim's search for the truth about her marriage. Twenty-one-year-old Sarah Doucette married a charming, gregarious and attentive man. Six years later, she left the marriage, lucky to be alive. Suffering from PTSD and dissociation after years of physical and emotional abuse, Sarah could barely remember the details of her marriage. After her ex-husband's death by suicide, Sarah set out to interview those who knew him, piecing together the destructive patterns in his life and how it affected her even years later. This book is a cautionary tale about trusting one's inner voice in order to leave an abusive relationship. It is a story of domestic abuse survival that can help others survive their trauma while outlining the many kinds of domestic abuse.

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

Executioners were once a critical component of the justice system in New South Wales. In an era when judges handed down death sentences as easily as they toasted the good health of the monarch, someone had to do the dirty work of the authorities.Robert 'Nosey Bob' Howard used to be a household name. Today, the noseless hangman who sparked fear and fascination everywhere he went is largely forgotten, yet Howard is vital to understanding attitudes towards capital punishment in Australia. Howard's story is a critical chapter in the history of how generally enthusiastic spectators at early executions were overtaken by campaigners for the abolition of the death penalty.This dramatic tale of life, death and radical social change is told through the sixty-one men and one woman who met Nosey Bob, under the worst possible circumstances, when he served as a New South Wales executioner between 1876 and 1904.'Riveting, startling and brimming with powerful insights. With meticulous research and an unflinching eye, Rachel Franks brilliantly recovers the story of the most unpopular man in NSW, and the stories of the condemned people he hanged. Through this deeply human story of Robert 'Nosey Bob' Howard, and the Faustian pact he made with the authorities to make a living, she lays bare the grotesque hypocrisies of judicial hanging. "The act of hanging is an act of brutality" writes Franks. I defy anyone who reads this book to disagree.' -Emeritus Professor Grace Karskens, author of The Colony: A History of Early Sydney'Franks displays wit, writerly sensitivity and a scholar's rigour, methodically revealing modes of crime and punishment, and entire ways of living and dying, in colonial Australia. She does this via an examination of the life of a plain, simple, everyday hangman. Who happens to be without a nose. What's not to like?' - Dr Peter Doyle, author of Crooks Like Us'A bold and brutal biography of NSW's longest-serving executioner. Franks weaves a compelling and compassionate narrative of one man's life, told through the deaths of condemned criminals. Fearless in its detail, Franks' prose has a light touch on this dark subject matter. Through the man we contemplate the history of capital punishment, law and order, and colonial social mores, making this a vital contribution to death studies in Australia.' - Dr Lisa Murray, author of Sydney Cemeteries: A Field Guide

This ';fast-paced, thoughtful true-crime' examines the cultural shifts of Jazz Age America through a beautiful dancer's mysterious and scandalous death (Kirkus, starred review). In January 1923, twenty-year-old Fritzie Mann left home for a remote cottage by the sea to meet a man whose identity she had revealed to no one. The next morning, the dancer's barely clad body washed up on Torrey Pines beach, her party dress and possessions strewn about the sand. The scene baffled investigators, and abotched autopsy created more questions than it answered. However, the investigation revealed a scandalous secret. When a Hollywood A-lister was arrested for Fritzie's murder, it led to the most sensational trial in San Diego's history. Set against the backdrop of yellow journalism, Prohibition Era corruption, and a lively culture war,Mystery At The Blue Sea Cottagetells the intriguing story of a beautiful dancer, a playboy actor, a debonair doctor, and a tragic mystery that remains unsolved to this day.

Vikki Petraitis took to writing true crime because, unlike crime fiction, it was so raw and it told the story of real people, real grief, real loss, real horror.A school teacher by day, Vikki had no idea that writing one book about one unsolved murder would give her a second career that has run alongside her chosen profession for 25 years.She has researched, investigated and written about real Australian crimes, from the well-known to the obscure; and interviewed countless police, crime scene professionals, victims, survivors and families. She did ride-alongs with members of Victoria Police so she could learn about their most memorable cases, and found herself right there with them when a serial killer's third victim was found. Vikki spent time with the dog squad learning how the four-legged police officers are trained to work with their two-legged partners. And she's become biographer to two well-known former cops, and to one of the many victims of institutional child abuse. Her career as a true crime writer has resulted in 13 books and counting, with subjects and titles as diverse as The Frankston Serial Killer, Crime Scene Investigations, Forensics, Cops, Once a Copper: Brian 'the Skull' Murphy, and the one that started it all - The Phillip Island Murder. Inside the Law is Vikki's life in crime; a collection of her favourite, personally influential, most memorable stories with a fresh narrative thread of the why, when and how she came to write them.