True Crime Robberies

Leonardo DiCaprio. Alex Rodriguez. Tobey Maguire. Affleck. Damon. Cassavetes. What do these people have in common? Not just fame and fortune; all these men are also alumni of the ultra-exclusive, high-stakes poker ring that inspired Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-nominated film, Molly's Game. But Houston Curtis, the card shark who co-founded the game with Tobey Maguire, knows that Sorkin's is the whitewashed version. In Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist, Curtis goes all-in, revealing the true story behind the game.

Absinthe, an elixir made of alcohol and herbs, is a booming business. Yet it is still an underground culture, associated with mystery, romance, and bohemian lifestyles, in keeping with its popularity among the writers, artists, and other ne'er-do-wells. First produced in eighteenth century, the spirit, known as "the Green Fairy," was banned worldwide by 1914 before the bans were gradually overturned beginning in 2005, the year Switzerland relegalized absinthe.

Before the 1920s found their roar, a charismatic gambling addict named Roy Gardner dominated news headlines with daring train robberies and escapes from incarceration. Nicknamed "the Smiling Bandit," Gardner spilled no blood—except his own—as he cut a felonious path across the western United States, as the country hobbled through a recession in the aftermath of the First World War. Alcatraz Ghost Story explores the life of Roy Gardner in the context of his great love story and the larger backdrop of drug addiction, incarceration, and the racial and labor violence of the 1920s and 1930s.

On May 3, 2010, an Irish national named Jeffrey Lendrum was apprehended at Britain’s Birmingham International Airport with a suspicious parcel strapped to his stomach. Inside were 14 rare peregrine falcon eggs snatched from a remote cliffside in Wales. So begins a tale almost too bizarre to believe, following the parallel lives of a globe-trotting smuggler who spent two decades capturing endangered raptors worth millions of dollars as race champions - and Detective Andy McWilliam, who’s hell bent on protecting the world’s birds of prey.

Chas Smith grew up deeply enmeshed in the evangelical Christian world that grew out of Southern California in the late 1960s. His family included famous missionaries and megachurch pastors, but his cousin Daniel Courson was Grandma’s favorite. Smith looked up to Cousin Danny. He was handsome, adventurous, and smart, earned a degree from Bible college, and settled into a family and a stable career. Needless to say, it was a big surprise when Cousin Danny started robbing banks.

Ever been fascinated by the complex world of serial killers? It's so complex but also simple if you really think about it. Right? Want to get a deeper insight like, "What makes someone turn to cannibalism?" or "How do experts dissect a crime scene?" Well, "Serial Killer Trivia" will satisfy all those burning curiosities. And the ones you didn't know existed!

Shotguns and Stagecoaches tells the true stories of the Wild West heroes who guarded the iconic Wells Fargo stagecoaches and trains, battling colorful thieves, vicious highwaymen, and robbers armed with explosives....

Killing Goldfinger charts the extraordinary rise and spectacular bullet-riddled fall of John Palmer, the richest, most powerful criminal ever to have emerged from the modern British underworld. Palmer earned his nickname Goldfinger after smelting (in his back garden) tens of millions of pounds worth of stolen gold bullion from the 20th century's most lucrative heist; the Brink's-Mat robbery. Palmer then used his share of the millions to become the vicious overlord of a vast illegal timeshare property empire in Tenerife.

Caught between the Mob and the feds in a plot to save the casinos in Havana from Castro's revolution, Wolfe Rabin pulls the biggest money-laundering scheme in history, but his hubris leads to the conspiracy unraveling in a sensational trial. At a time when there was a jukebox in every restaurant, diner, bar, barracks, arcade, and canteen, Rabin's trajectory from inventor to promoter to outlaw is set against the Mob's growing infiltration of the jukebox industry.

In this breathtaking adventure, featuring colorful characters from showbusiness alongside royalty, the IRA and even Pablo Escobar, Clifford Thurlow reveals Keith Cheeseman's incredible true story for the first time.

Norco '80 tells the story of how five heavily armed young men - led by an apocalyptic born-again Christian - attempted a bank robbery that turned into one of the most violent criminal events in US history, forever changing the face of American law enforcement. Part action thriller and part courtroom drama, Norco '80 transports the listener back to the Southern California of the 1970s, an era of predatory evangelical gurus, doomsday predictions, megachurches, and soaring crime rates, with the threat of nuclear obliteration looming over it all.

On 22 February 2006, GBP53 million was stolen from a cash warehouse belonging to the Securitas company in Tonbridge, Kent. In terms of value, the robbery puts previous British capers, such as the Great Train Robbery, in the shade. This was a crime notable for its audacity, carried out by an unlikely crew of players that included a used car salesman, two Albanian casual workers and a roofer. Five men were convicted at the Old Bailey in January 2008, which attracted nationwide media coverage.

It is heard that a doll opens its mouth when it smells money. A doll may open its mouth in front of money, as it has no brain or judgement power. As a human being, we should not open our mouth or jump in a crime for only money. Every crime has two sides. One, the life risk of the criminals. Second, the crime will obviously hurt someone on the other side. This true story shows an unnecessary bank robbery case where the criminals were not bound to do it.

The extraordinary life and crimes of heiress-turned-revolutionary, who in 1974 became the only woman to pull off a major art heist, The Woman Who Stole Vermeer is Rose Dugdale’s story, from her idyllic upbringing in Devonshire and her presentation to Elizabeth II as a debutante to her university years and her eventual radical lifestyle.

Drogenschmuggel, Menschenhandel und brutaler Mord – wahre Kriminalfälle. Selbst einem Strafverteidiger kann das Blut in den Adern gefrieren, wenn grausame Taten verhandelt werden und, mehr noch, die erschütternden Schicksale der Opfer ans Licht kommen. Was sich im Gerichtssaal abspielt, ist - bestenfalls - das verdiente Ende der Täter. Strafverteidiger Bernd Hesse kennt und erzählt die Geschichten von ihrem Ausgangspunkt an und in allen Verästelungen, wahre Kriminalfälle aus dem Bereich der "Organisierten Kriminalität", Mädchenhandel, Drogenschmuggel; Taten auch, die aus tragischen Verwicklungen "ganz normaler Bürger" resultierten.

Stockholms förflutna består till stor del av en rad mörka och skrämmande incidenter som utspelade sig mitt i centrums hjärta. Mördare, spioner, mordbrännare, tjuvar och smugglare fanns det gott om och människor från alla samhällsklasser hamnade på fel sida om lagen. I "Glömda mord och andra försvunna" brott har Petter Inedahl samlat en mängd oberättade historier från 1950- och 60-talet från Stockholms stadsarkiv, polisens arkiv och Riksarkivet.

Frigid tells the story of the 1991 United Bank of Denver Robbery. Four guards were murdered. Six vault tellers were held at gunpoint. The book contains interviews with many people involved in the case. James W. King was tried and acquitted in 1992.

Kenneth Staton was the well-respected owner of a jewelry store in Van Buren, Arkansas. Unknown to him, two men plotted to rob the jewelry store at closing time on September 10, 1980. This senseless, bloody crime rocked the town of Van Buren and set its lawmen, sworn to find the killers, on a fiercely determined hunt that led from Rogers, Arkansas, to Jacksonville, Florida, and all the way to Vancouver, Canada.

Gordon Goody was the mystery man of the Great Train Robbery. The tall, enigmatic figure behind the most notorious theft in British history, he has kept his silence for five decades—until now. Born in England but raised in rural Northern Ireland, Goody rose to the rank of army sergeant during National Service and sailed in the merchant navy. But he chose a life of crime and, undeterred by a dose of the birch in Wormwood Scrubs, became one of the most prolific robbers in London.

Marie seems to have it all: a devoted husband, two wonderful children, and a professional career. But all of that changes when she drives her car into the darkened parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. After she lowers her car window to place an order at the drive-through, a man suddenly appears and places a gun at her temple. What follows is every woman's worst nightmare.