Crime Con

P. T. Barnum, best known for his own use of hoaxes in his popular Barnum & Bailey Circus, found that the use of hoaxes was acceptable when the audience was getting the entertainment they paid for. When it came to religious hoaxes, fraud, and swindling, Barnum was avidly against it. He even went so far as to offer $500 to any medium who could prove that they actually could reach the dead. In this exposé of humbugs and the scams they perpetuate, he goes after religious quacks, witches and sorcerers, and other forms of frauds in all walks of life.

These gruesome stories have peppered the pages of newspapers and history books over the centuries. Some are well-known. Some aren’t. They rest in that murky place between true crime and horror. All will make your blood run cold.

We live in a secular, skeptical, and cynical age. Americans have lost faith in its institutions - including the church. Although the vast majority of Christian leaders serve faithfully, examples of financial fraud, greed, sexual and emotional abuse, and other systemic problems are almost everyday occurrences. And a watching world has a right to ask even those who are faithful ministers of the Gospel: “If you knew this was happening, why didn’t you say something?”

Napoleon famously observed that "history is a set of lies agreed upon", and Edward Steers Jr. investigates six of the most amazing frauds ever to gain wide acceptance in this engrossing book. The controversies that Steers presents show that there are two major factors involved in the success of a hoax or forgery - greed and the desire to believe.

Late-1970s Los Angeles was rampant with killers and shady characters, but all the go-getters at Space Matters saw was possibility. Richard Kasparov was handsome and charismatic; his younger associate, Jerry Schneiderman, brilliant and nerdy. When the pair hired a veteran contractor to oversee construction, the space planning firm they operated out of a hip mansion in LA's Miracle Mile district appeared poised to transform the boundless skyline into their jackpot. After the promising team imploded, however, the orderly lines on their blueprints succumbed to treachery and secrets.

A boy with a rifle walks into a middle school, intent on carrying out Western-style vigilante justice. A wife and mother of four kisses her twelve-year-old student and forever changes our definition of student-teacher conferences. The world's most famous serial killers put Washington on the map. A bathtub, a handgun, a meat grinder, and a burn barrel play a role in the murder of the captain of a freighter.

En ANTES DE QUE SE LLEVE (Un Misterio con Mackenzie White - Libro 4), la recién graduada agente del FBI Mackenzie White recibe órdenes para encargarse de un nuevo y angustioso caso. En los campos de Iowa están desapareciendo mujeres, y empieza a surgir una pauta. Se teme que haya un asesino en serie haciendo de las suyas, con un ritmo ascendente. Dados sus orígenes en el Medio Oeste, Mackenzie es elegida como la candidata ideal.

Discover unspeakable acts of brutality and violence in this volume of 12 shocking true crime cases. If you’re fascinated by the stories of both killers and victims, and how police work with forensics and evidence in pursuit of coldblooded murderers, this captivating book is for you, taking you on a journey through some of the most unforgettable murders in recent times.

An invitation from a liberal arts college to buy their mystery-novel collection comes as a welcome surprise for Raymond Ambler, crime-fiction curator at New York City's 42nd Street Library. But his pleasure quickly turns sour when the collection's curator—Sam Abernathy—tells him he plans to fight the acquisition tooth and nail. The collection would make a fine addition to his holdings, but Ambler's not looking for drama. But just a couple of weeks later, one of Abernathy's colleagues is shot dead from the library's roof, and all signs point to the crime-loving professor as the perpetrator.

The conman and master chameleon thought of himself as a modern-day Frank Abagnale, the fraudster behind the book and movie Catch Me If You Can. It was a stark cry from how investigators saw him. To the feds chasing him, John Donald Cody was more like Jason Bourne - a fictional character on the silver screen who slips in and out of aliases and remains one step ahead.

Charles Ponzi’s name is almost instantly recognizable thanks to the famous financial scandal named after him. This is somewhat ironic because, while his last name has become synonymous with financial scandal and many recognize how a Ponzi scheme works, some have argued that Ponzi really did not know what he was doing while it was taking place. Charles Ponzi and the Ponzi Scheme: The History and Legacy of 20th Century America’s Most Famous Con Artist looks at the elaborate fraud designed by one of America’s most notorious criminals.

En 1927, Charley Braggs llegó a casa y encontró a dos de sus hijas muertas. El médico que observó a las niñas en sus últimos momentos diagnosticó que había sido a causa de una intoxicación alimentaria. No fue necesario realizar una autopsia. Su esposa, Nannie, atribuyó a los granos de avena contaminados como la causa de la intoxicación, pero Charley no estaba convencido.

En 1988, los detectives del Departamento de Policía de Sacramento, fueron llamados para investigar la desaparición de un hombre en su última dirección conocida: una casa de huéspedes para ancianos, indigentes y enfermos mentales. La propietaria, Dorothea Puente, era una adorable anciana que cuidaba de los vagabundos y del resto de los náufragos de la sociedad. ¿Estaban perdiendo el tiempo persiguiendo a una anciana encantadora y caritativa o se estaban acercando a una asesina encubierta que explotaba a los miembros más vulnerables de la sociedad?

As the 21st century marches into its third decade, our understanding of the world, and our place within it, seems to be clearer than ever. Each day brings us more and more miraculous scientific discoveries, while technology has interconnected us to an extent that our ancestors and forefathers could not have conceived. And yet, despite the collective of human knowledge lying at our fingertips, there are still a multitude of unsolved mysteries that stubbornly resist any attempts at solving them.

Ist der norwegische "König des Kitsches" ein Steuerhinterzieher? Diese True Crime-Geschichte befasst sich mit dem exzentrischen norwegischen Maler Odd Nerdrum, dem vorgeworfen wurde, die norwegische Steuerbehörde um einen sehr großen Betrag betrogen zu haben. Ein vielschichtiger Fall, der so leicht nicht zu entwirren war.

From poverty to lucky in love, Belle found her happy ending with a man named Mads…or so everyone thought. But when the wealthy Mads died a mysterious death, Belle collected the life insurance policy and remarried…only for her new husband to drop dead. With things going from strange to sinister, more men mysteriously die or go missing around Belle.

Esta historia real muestra un caso de robo de banco innecesario en el que los criminales no estaban obligados a hacerlo. Simplemente abrieron la boca con el olor del dinero. El equipo de policía utilizó una técnica innovadora e increíble para rastrear a los ladrones. Continúa leyendo para descubrirlo

This full-cast audiobook, featuring 11 different voice actors, and narrated by Hillary Huber, take on the roles of the Tandem Players, a group of community theater actors that love their community theater almost as much as they love the sweet old landlady who gave them a home to perform their plays in over the years. But when she passes away, and the will that was to leave the Broadtown Theater to the acting troupe disappears, they don’t even have time to mourn their loss. Her son comes in like a wrecking ball....

Explore six chilling axe murders and discover how just a regular tool became known as one of most deadly objects. Learn how to avoid the same mistakes made by the victims of these horrific crimes by listening to the court documents, first-hand accounts, and witness testimonies.

Echando la vista atrás, todo comenzó el día del atropello. Fue en el verano de 1999 cuando las vidas de Diego y su pandilla comenzaron a desmoronarse. Veintidós años después, Diego lleva una vida tranquila en la villa costera de Getxo, su ciudad natal. Una mañana, recibe dos paquetes anónimos: contienen un reproductor de CD y un compact disc. Entonces se da cuenta de que el pasado está de vuelta. Y quiere cobrar sus deudas.