Book picks similar to
The Man Who Would Be Jack: The hunt for the real Ripper by David Bullock
true-crime
non-fiction
overdrive
history
The Palm Beach Murder: The True Story of a Millionaire, Marriage and Murder
Marion Collins - 2004
But when the reckless social climber and adulterer turned marriage in their Palm Beach mansion into a luxurious hell, the beautiful Georgia debutante wanted out--and half of her husband's fortune to take with her.Then in 1987, a hit man unloaded three bullets into Lita's head.Her family demanded justice. James had other plans--and the money to insure it. But it wasn't until eleven years later that a startling confession from a surprise witness would bring James Sullivan's comfortable life crashing down around him. The cold-blooded millionaire was indicted and fled the country turning hotspots across the globe into exotic private playgrounds before settling with his new fiancée in a sumptuous resort near Bangkok, where he was arrested four years later. From Palm Beach elite to life in a squalid Thailand jail cell, Marion Collins' Palm Beach Murder is the astonishing true story of one man's flight from justice and one family's burning desire to make him pay.
Principal Suspect: The True Story of Dr. Jay Smith and the Main Line Murders
William C. Costopoulos - 1996
Jay Smith, a high school principal and her accused killer. The naked body of Susan Reinert, a suburban, Philadelphia school teacher was found jammed into the hatchback of a car. Her two young children were missing and never found.Thus began one of the most prominent murder cases Pennsylvania history, and one that would grip the nation. Now the defense attorney for the main suspect of the murders-- Jay Smith, the principal of the school where Reinert taught-- takes you inside the cover-ups and corruption that dramatically affected the outcome of the case. Did Jay Smith do it? Did he deserved the death penalty? it is you who must decide.
Monster: The True Story of Serial Killer Peter Kurten (Homicide True Crime Cases #6)
C.L. Swinney - 2016
He had no control within the prison walls and it drove him mad. The things that happened to him while in custody, unlocked oppressed sadistic feelings within Peter, and forced him to unleash a level of sexual deviancy on innocent victims in and around Dusseldorf, Germany, that no one will ever forget. Young girls, women, and men would succumb to horrific attacks including being bludgeoned by a hammer and stabbed to death. In several instances, Peter admitted to drinking blood from his victims and needing the act of rape and murder to reach orgasm. Oddly, the man lived a double life and his love for his wife drove him to turn himself in. Had he not done so, 'The Monster' would have continued to keep the country locked in fear. for many more years.
Wrecking Crew
Donna Campbell - 2011
But when he was finally released Caesar found that the world of the outlaw motorcycle gangs was changing, and that his particular values of courage, brutal force and utter loyalty to your club were making him more enemies than friends.And with Caesar Campbell you'd rather be a friend than an enemy...
Through My Eyes: CSI Memoirs That Haunt the Soul
Tamara Mickelson - 2020
Catch a glimpse of what she saw, touched, smelled, and even tasted during an average workday. Dare to join her as she takes you through a difficult journey of memories, uncovering layers of emotional trauma left behind. Discover the ways she healed from yesterday's pain to live an emotionally balanced life today.
Legacy: Gangsters, Corruption and the London Olympics
Michael Gillard - 2019
A team of local detectives made it their business to take him on until Scotland Yard threw them under the bus and the business of putting on 'the greatest show on earth' won the day.Award-winning journalist Michael Gillard took up where they left off to expose the tangled web of chief executives, big banks, politicians and dirty money where innocent lives are destroyed and the guilty flourish. Gillard's efforts culminated in a landmark court case, which finally put the Long Fella and his friends on trial exposing London's real Olympic legacy.
Sins of the Father: The Untold Story Behind Schapelle Corby's Ill-fated Drug Run
Eamonn Duff - 2011
A reckless father, his dark past, an Adelaide drug trafficker and the Gold Coast beauty school dropout who kept her mouth shut. This is the explosive untold story of Schapelle Corby and how she took the rap for her father's drug syndicate.The result of a three year investigation, Sins of the Father returns to the beginning of Australia's most famous drug case, to a time when nobody had ever heard the name Schapelle Corby. Finally, the missing pieces of the jigsaw fall into place as we are led, step by step, through the important weeks, days, and hours leading up to her dramatic arrest.
Vanished: Cold-Blooded Murder in Steeltown
Jon Wells - 2009
A woman had wanted to leave him. You're not going anywhere, he told her. Later that day, a police officer reports to the house and finds some human tissue and organs in a bag left out for garbage. The person of interest in the case is a steelworker named Sam Pirrera, who lives in the house. But who is the victim? Sam's current estranged wife, Danielle? It is known that they had a stormy relationship; Sam had assaulted her as his coke addiction returned. Forensic detectives find traces of blood in the basement, and then the entire corpse, dismembered, the parts hidden behind a false wall and packed in boxes, each of the parts wrapped and doused in gasoline. The victim's identity is discovered through prints to be a prostitute named Maggie Karer. The dismemberment, defensive mutilation, is so calculated and deliberate, the detectives wonder, are there more victims? But Pirrera's first wife was named Beverly, and a woman named Lesa Davidson shows up at the police station to say she hasn't heard from her daughter-Beverly-in eight years. And Sam's estranged wife, Danielle, who is in fact alive, tells police that Sam had once told her he had killed his first wife and dumped her parts in a vat of molten steel at a steel plant. Detectives now pursue a double murder case, led by veteran homicide detective Peter Abi-Rashed, who had once chased a young Sam Pirrera on the streets of Hamilton's east end many years before. The outcome is shocking - and a mystery remains.
Out Bad
Donald Charles Davis - 2011
It begins with the painstakingly assembled, never before told story of the murder of a Mongols Motorcycle Club member named Manuel Vincent "Hitman" Martin. Martin was shot off his motorcycle on the Glendale Freeway in Los Angeles about 2 a.m. on October 8, 2008. Initial reports alleged that Martin had been murdered by the Hells Angels and that he died as part of an ongoing, "furious feud" between the two groups. The truth behind the murder is much more interesting and disturbing than that. Martin died on the final day of a three-year-long, undercover investigation of the Mongols by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The ATF called it "Operation Black Rain." Both Black Rain, and the federal prosecution that followed, were so cynically unfair and corrupt that some Mongols still believe that Martin was actually murdered by government agents. Together, the investigation and the prosecution probably cost $150 million. The initial press coverage of the case was manipulated by the ATF. News of the subsequent legal wrangling was virtually non-existent because the Department of Justice wanted to keep the case as secret as possible. Out Bad, draws on numerous public and confidential sources including numerous sources within the Mongols, the Hells Angels and the ATF to accurately reveal what really happened. Out Bad is a startling ride down a dark road nobody yet knows. Here's your ticket. Climb on. There ain't no seatbelt.
The World's Worst Crimes: An A-Z of Evil Deeds
Charlotte Greig - 2007
Some kill out of boredom, others because they’ve developed a taste for death. The motives that drive people to perpetrate the most terrible acts are many and various, and so are the crimes they commit. From the Acid Bath Murders and the Birmingham Church Bombing to the Voodoo Killings and the Woman in a Box, every category of crime is covered as our intrepid author sifts through the evidence to present a grisly but compelling history of the worst crimes ever.
Double Life: The Shattering Affair between Chief Judge Sol Wachtler and Socialite Joy Silverman
Linda Wolfe - 1994
He was the top justice of New York’s highest court. She was a stunning socialite and his wife’s step-cousin. In 1993 Sol Wachtler was convicted of blackmail and extortion against Joy Silverman, his former mistress. How did a respected jurist and one of the most prominent men in America end up serving time in prison? Linda Wolfe starts at the beginning—from Wachtler’s modest Brooklyn upbringing through his courtship and marriage to Joan Wolosoff, the only child of a wealthy real estate developer. Joy Fererh was three and a half when her father walked out. When she and Sol met, he was fifty-five and nearing the pinnacle of his legal career. She was a thirtysomething stay-at-home mother who, with Sol’s help, made a career for herself as a Republican Party fundraiser. They kept their affair a secret—until an explosive mix of sex, power, betrayal, and prescription-drug abuse set the stage for the tabloid headlines of the decade.
God's Nobodies: Misguided Faith and Murder in the Life of One American Family
Mark Obbie - 2012
How one tragedy led to another is a true story that puts a horrifying twist on the familiar one of bullied gay teens. In this case, the bully was the teen's own mother, and instead of harming himself he killed her in a momentary but irreversible explosion of rage. God’s Nobodies, written by veteran crime reporter Mark Obbie, exposes the destruction of a meek young man whose only refuge was a childlike fantasy world of his own imagination. His family's blind obedience to their minister compounded the losses, first by turning Pam Ginocchetti against her son, and then by turning the rest of Tim's family against his loving grandmother — the one person brave enough to take a stand for forgiveness and truth after Pam's death. Through a searing and heartbreaking true-crime narrative, God’s Nobodies teaches profound lessons about tolerance and the human spirit's yearning for independence.
Killer Dads: 16 Shocking True Crime Stories of Fathers That Killed
Jack Rosewood - 2021
Murder in the Midlands: Larry Gene Bell and the 28 Days of Terror that Shook South Carolina
Rita Y. Shuler - 2007
Shuler leads us through the twenty-eight days of terror and shocking events of one of the most notorious double murders and manhunts in South Carolina history. Shuler shares her own personal interactions with some of the key players in this famous manhunt and investigation. Also included are Bell’s chilling calls from area phone booths to the Smith family, along with his disconcerting interviews and bizarre actions in the courtroom, which show the dark, evil and criminal mind of this horrific killer. This case has been featured on the Discovery Channel’s FBI Files, episode “Cat and Mouse,” and in the CBS movie Nightmare in Columbia County, which can still be seen on Lifetime TV. It currently runs as the episode “Last Will” on Court TV’s Forensic Files.
The Last Real Gangster: The Final Truth About the Krays and the Underworld We Lived In
Freddie Foreman - 2015
THEY HAD GOOD REASON TO BE RESPECTFUL OF FREDDIE AND THEY BUILT THEIR EMPIRE UPON MANY OF THE LESSONS HE TAUGHT THEM.' - TOM HARDYFor over fifty years, Freddie Foreman's name has commanded respect, and occasionally fear, from those who work to uphold the law - and those who operate just outside of it. With almost all of his compatriots - like the notorious Kray twins - now gone, Freddie is truly The Last Real Gangster.A true entrepreneur and businessman, Freddie was one of the great personalities of the criminal underworld. A man of principle, protective of his family and unfailingly loyal to his friends, Freddie was someone who could be relied upon with complete confidence in all circumstances.Together with co-authors Frank and Noelle Kurylo - who have themselves been intimately involved in the underworld for a number of decades - as well as dozens of previously unpublished photographs, The Last Real Gangster contains the musings and reminiscences of someone who truly was there and really did see it all.Including a detailed look at the life of the Kray twins, alongside dozens of other recognisable 'Faces', this book is the no-holds-barred story of Freddie's life and the exciting and glamorous world in which they lived.