Book picks similar to
Brothers in Blood: The True Account of the Georgia Massacre by Clark Howard
true-crime
non-fiction
crime
history
Every Move You Make
M. William Phelps - 2005
Evans, a career criminal, master of disguise, prolific thief, and serial killer.
Public Enemies: 5 True Crime Gangster Stories from the Roaring Twenties(Vol 1)
Guy Hadleigh - 2015
You’ll have heard of most of these notorious criminals, but possibly not so much about one or two of them. All of them were real, ruthless hoodlums, and all had their "15 minutes of fame", leaving trails of death and mayhem behind them. Most did not live to an old age, and those that did were probably in jail. Their escapades were daring and reckless and many paid the ultimate price in the end. Volume 1 contains • Lucky Luciano –From Streetwise Kid to the Father of Organized Crime Leaving poverty ravaged Sicily for New York with his family at the age of 10; Lucky was running his own protection racket and making a name for himself whilst still in his teens. Inevitably, he moved on to become the undisputed boss of organized crime in the USA, but it was his own ‘family’s’ involvement in prostitution which landed him a jail sentence of 30 to 50 years. It didn’t end there however as he continued to run the family affairs from prison where Lady Luck visited him with an offer he couldn’t refuse. • Bugsy Siegel and “The Flamingo Hotel”Through his gambling and bootlegging operations, plus numerous ruthless contract murders, Bugsy Siegel established himself as a key member of “The Syndicate” in New York. Relocating to Las Vegas with the blessing of Lucky Luciano in 1945 to expand the organizations activities, he built the famous Flamingo Club and Casino in the desert of Las Vegas using money provided by the East Coast mobsters. The hopelessly mismanaged project went way over budget, implicating Bugsy in the ‘misappropriation’ of funds and enraging his bosses – Bugsy’s day were numbered.• Dutch Schultz – Beer Baron and Vicious Killer From the slums of New York, Dutch Schultz rose through the ranks of crime to be named “the nation’s top gangster” by the FBI. Claiming to be a good guy simply supplying people with the beer they wanted, (illegally of course), he was also responsible for killing at least two of his own men he suspected of ‘skimming’ more of the proceeds than was due to them. • Hymies Weiss - The Man Al Capone FearedEarl Wojciechowski was born on Jan 25th 1898 in Chicago, but over time became known as Hymie Weiss, eventually teaming up with Dean O'Banion the leader of the North Side Gang who he succeeded after his murder in 1924. Hymie swore to avenge his friends death and waged wore on the Torrio-Capone criminal empire, even attempting to assassinate Capone himself. Violent gun battles on the streets of Chicago were regular occurrences during this period as the gangs fought for control of the lucrative bootlegging and other rackets - things had to come to a head sooner or later. • Wilbur Underhill – The Tri-State TerrorIt took a 24 man task force to bring down Mad Dog Wilbur Underhill in the end. During 12 years of rampaging through the Southwest he was sentenced to life for a murder in Oklahoma, and received another life sentence in Kansas after escaping jail in a ten man breakout and murdering a policeman. Suspected of involvement in the famous Kansas City Massacre, Wilbur began his life of crime as a burglar, and quickly moved on to armed robbery and murder. Order your copy today..! Scroll back up for instant download
The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer
Philip Carlo - 2006
. . if I kill Mommy, if something happens and she dies, I’ll have to kill you all . . . I can’t leave any witnesses.”“Yes, Daddy. I know, Daddy,” she said.As strange and horrible a thing as this was to tell a child, Richard was trying to let Merrick know in advance—out of consideration—what might happen. He wanted her to understand that he was doing such a thing out of . . . love. Only out of love.He loved Barbara too much. He loved the children too much.That was the problem. The only way he could deal with their loss, if he inadvertently killed Barbara, was to kill them. That was how Richard had dealt with all his problems since he was a child. “But you, Merrick . . . You’ll be the hardest to kill. You understand that?”“Yes. Daddy,” she said, and she did understand this. She knew she was his favorite, and she coveted that. ---from The Ice Man
After Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Marilyn J. Bardsley - 2011
The second edition, published in 2013, is 190+ pages and has more than 40 photos and graphics. The 2013 edition has material never published before: interviews with Danny Hansford's girlfriend at the time of this death, details of the short, nasty life of Danny Hansford, key excerpts from trial transcripts, and the closing arguments from the fourth trial by legendary defense attorney Sonny Seiler. Unlike John Berendt's book that is primarily an entertainment book focused on eccentric characters that once lived in Savannah, Marilyn Bardsley's book is biographical and almost completely focused on the life and trials of Jim Williams -- the evolution of the barber's son to a self-made aristocrat that was nearly destroyed by a decade of persistent prosecution. Williams endured four trials for pre-meditated murder after shooting his young lover, Danny Hansford. The "devil is clearly in the details" of the trial transcripts. If you loved Court TV, this new edition is for you.
CASE CLOSED: Serial Killers Captured
R.J. Parker - 2011
When a Serial Killer is active in a community it is extremely scary for everyone. This book focuses on Serial Killers who have been captured and some of the most notorious and ruthless killers in history. Serial killers stay close to home and their victims are random. Dennis Rader found all his victims in Kansas not far from the Wichita home he shared with his wife and two kids. Rader, the president of his local church, knocked on his victim's doors and they simply let him in. John Wayne Gacy, met many of his 33 victims, all young men and boys, at charity events where he appeared dressed a clown. After luring them to his house and murdering them he stuffed them under his Cook County, Illinois home. Gary Leon Ridgway, the Green River Killer, was convicted of strangling 49 random women he met in Washington. He confessed to killing 71 but authorities believe the number of victims could be over 90. Jeffrey Dahmer of Milwaukee admitted to killing and cannibalizing 17 young men and boys before he was arrested. Case Closed is a compilation of criminal file dossiers on several of those Serial Killers that were captured, including:Ted BundyJohn Wayne Gacy - The Killer ClownJeffrey DahmerDonald Henry GaskinsGary Ridgway - The Green River KillerDennis Rader - The BTK KillerDavid Berkowitz - The Son of SamOttis Toole and Henry Lee Lucas - The Homosexual Crime TeamAnd Many More.
No One Is Perfect: The True Story Of Candace Mossler And America's Strangest Murder Trial
Ron Smith - 2018
Simpson case, America was fascinated by another "trial of the century". Jacques Mossler, a prominent financier, was brutally murdered in his Key Biscayne apartment. Suspicion quickly fell upon Melvin Lane Powers, the shady nephew of Mossler's wife, Candace. When investigators discovered that "Candy and Mel" were carrying on an incestuous love affair, the pair were charged with the crime. The Miami trial featured the legendary defense attorney, Percy Foreman, whose outrageous tactics created a number of memorable moments. A colorful parade of prosecution witnesses shared tales of recruiting hit men, and the unusual relationship between the glamorous aunt and her nephew. "No One Is Perfect" is a thoroughly researched account of the landmark trial and the life of its chic blonde defendant.
Toxic Love: The Shocking True Story of the First Murder by Cancer
Tomás Guillén - 1995
Sandy Johnson was in shock. Her husband, Duane, and young daughter, Sherrie, were violently ill when word arrived that her infant nephew just died of mysterious causes. Days earlier, the entire family was happy, healthy, and living the American dream. Now they were at the center of a terrifying medical crisis. Duane soon died in a condition unlike anything the doctors had ever seen. As they raced to discover what disease or toxin could have done so much damage so quickly, Lt. Foster Burchard of the Omaha police began to suspect foul play. Sandy herself became a primary suspect, as did her ex-boyfriend Steven Harper—a man prone to violence who never got over their breakup. In Toxic Love, investigative reporter and true crime author Tomás Guillén offers a detailed and vivid account of this baffling case from the day of the poisoning to the harrowing trial and the murderer’s eventual suicide on death row.
Blood Echoes: The Infamous Alday Mass Murder and Its Aftermath
Thomas H. Cook - 1992
On May 5, 1973, three men escaped from a Maryland prison and disappeared. Joined by a fifteen-year-old brother, they surfaced in Georgia, where they were spotted joyriding in a stolen car. Within a week, the four young men were arrested on suspicion of committing one of the most horrific murders in American history. Jerry Alday and his family were eating Sunday dinner when death burst through the door of their cozy little trailer. Their six bodies are only the beginning of Thomas H. Cook’s retelling of this gruesome story; the horrors continued in the courtroom. Based on court documents, police records, and interviews with the surviving family members, this is a chilling look at the evil that can lurk just around the corner.
Losing Jon: A Teen's Tragic Death, a Police Cover-Up, a Community's Fight for Justice
David Parrish - 2020
This is true crime at the highest of levels. Scary, heartbreaking and completely insightful."--Brad Meltzer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Escape ArtistDavid Parrish was in disbelief when he learned that nineteen-year-old Jon Bowie's body had been found hanged from a backstop at the local high school's baseball field and the death declared a suicide. David had known Jon and his twin brother since they were boys. He had coached them on the baseball field and welcomed them into his home for sleepovers with his own sons. However, when David learned how Jon's body was found, he felt compelled to find the facts behind this incomprehensible tragedy.Soon, David would learn of a brutal incident at a local motel where Jon and his brother had been severely beaten by police officers, the charges filed against those officers, and the months of harassment and intimidation Jon and his brother endured. Few in the utopian community of Columbia, Maryland, believed Jon could commit such a final act. Like many others, David wondered how a fateful night of teens blowing off steam could lead to such a tragic end. As law enforcement failed to find answers and seemed intent on preventing the truth from surfacing, David uncovered a system of cover-ups that could only lead to one conclusion--Jon's death was an act of murder."A true page turner, filled with almost-too-unbelievable-to-be-true details of one community's fight to find justice for one of its own . . . the issues raised, particularly when it comes to questions of police brutality and cover-ups, are very much relevant today." --New York Times bestselling author Lisa Pulitzer Includes 16 Pages of Photographs
Trace Evidence: The Hunt for the I-5 Serial Killer
Bruce Henderson - 1998
Trace Evidence, by contrast, has a steady relentlessness that allows the reader to become fascinated by the characters of the investigators and the facts of how the evidence was assembled. This killer specialized in picking up his victims along Interstate 5, near Sacramento, California, and he had an odd penchant for snipping at their clothes with scissors. As deaths of young women in several different jurisdictions began to form a pattern, a few detectives with contrasting approaches (excitable and given to hunches vs. cool and logical) formed a team. Author Bruce Henderson relates how they followed through on a bewildering number of leads, how they ranked their potential suspects on a point system that proved remarkably effective, and how, finally, a trace evidence expert spent many long hours looking through a microscope to cinch the case with analysis of fibers. Trace Evidence is skillfully structured, emphasizing the investigation rather than the trial, and includes crisp photographs of the key evidence. It would have been a better book if the author had included a timeline of the crimes and a map of the area, but that is a small nitpick about an excellent work of journalism. --Fiona Webster
Fear Came to Town: The Santa Claus, Georgia, Murders
Doug Crandell - 2009
The Christmas holiday spirit lives all year around. It?s also where Jerry Scott Heidler was raised. And where?in December 1997?he brutally slaughtered his former foster family in an act that devastated the town forever.
Missing Mom: A True Crime, True Family Story
Daniel Murphy - 2015
This true story begins on a sunny July morning in 2003, just outside of Flint Michigan, when an eighty year old grandmother has mysteriously disappeared from the face of the earth. Days later the charred remains of her car were identified, after being completely destroyed by an intentional fire; but she was nowhere to be found. We had to find her. She was my mom...
In Broad Daylight
Harry N. MacLean - 1988
Again and again, the law had failed to stop him. UNTIL THEY TOOK JUSTICE INTO THEIR OWN HANDS.On July 10, 1981, Ken was shot to death on the main street of this small farming community. Forty-five people watched. No indictments were ever issued, no trial held and the town of Skidmore protected the killers with silence. With this powerful, true-life account, Edgar Award-winning author Harry N. MacLean reveals what drove a community of everyday American citizens to commit murder.IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
A Death In California
Joan Barthel - 1982
But he murders the beau and later rapes Hope Masters. Suffering from trauma and the Stockholm Syndrome, Hope thinks she's in love with him, although both he and she are accused of murder. This is a true crime story of the socialite and the sociopath that happened in the early 1970s.
Escaping the Arroyo
Joyce Nance - 2012
The next morning, the girls were found in a desolate mountain arroyo; one raped and murdered, the other savagely stabbed 33 times and left for dead. As fear engulfed the University of New Mexico's quiet campus, police had few clues to assist them in tracking down the vicious killer. This book is based on the true story of what happened that night in the Sandia Mountains, a shockingly brutal crime that changed the city of Albuquerque forever. It is a gritty tale of unspeakable violence and the relentless search for justice, but it is also the story of a young woman's incredible will to live ... and her life-long struggle to escape the legacy of that deadly arroyo.