True Organized Crime

Richard Stratton was the unlikeliest of kingpins. A clean-cut Wellesley boy who entered outlaw culture on a trip to Mexico, he saw his search for a joint morph into a thrill-filled dope run smuggling two kilos across the border in his car door. He became a member of the Hippie Mafia, traveling the world to keep America high, living the underground life while embracing the hippie credo, rejecting hard drugs in favor of marijuana and hashish.

In this gripping tale of a modern-day outlaw, Shane Dankoski meticulously recounts his time as a high-ranking member of the United Nations gang of British Columbia in the early 2000s. Under constant threat from other gangs, including the Wolfpack and Hells Angels, Shane spent a decade evading the law and building his drug empire. Shane seemed destined for gang life. He grew up in a violent home on a small block in a neighbourhood of Surrey where a nation-spanning gang war woudl later take root.

Martin Suarez, a legend within the FBI who specialized in Colombian drug cartels, holds the record for the longest time spent continuously undercover. As his alter ego Manny, Martin followed the unspoken rules of the cartels: He knew the right lingo to use, the right whiskey to drink, the right watch to wear, the wrong questions to ask. He smuggled over $1 billion worth of cocaine into the United States for the Medellín Cartel and, as his cover deepened, he graduated to become a high-level money launderer for the North Coast Cartel.

Curtis Warren is an underworld legend, the Liverpool scally who took the methods of the street corner drug dealer and elevated them to an art form. He forged direct links with the cocaine cartels of Colombia, the heroin godfathers of Turkey, and the ecstasy labs of Holland to source his supply as cheaply as possible and maximize his profits. He then sold his narcotics around the world, from the clubs of London, Manchester and Glasgow to the beaches of Sydney. This biography uncovers his meteoric rise to become "the richest and most successful British criminal who has ever been caught".

As part of Scotland Yard's undercover team, it was Peter Bleksley's job to infiltrate some of the capital's most dangerous gangs and bring them down. For ten years, he went deeper into the criminal underworld than any cop had before him. Meeting with dealers, gangland leaders and members of the IRA and the Mafia, he lived the life of the Great Pretender, constantly changing his identity to ensure his cover was never blown. Whilst undeniably thrilling work at times, it came at a heavy price.

The Sting takes you on a journey behind Australia's most sensational undercover bust, revealing extraordinary new details. It is a shocking insight into one of the country's most evil killers, and the operation that brought him down. The disappearance of Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe was one of the most heartbreaking and confounding child abduction and murder cases of the century, spanning almost a decade prior to the eventual arrest of known paedophile Brett Peter Cowan, one of the original persons of interest.

For more than 20 years, the most intense and prolonged gang war in British history raged on the streets of Manchester. Warring factions left at least 40 dead and made headlines across the world. This best-selling account tells how vicious battles for control of drugs, turf, and protection rackets blighted the reputation of one of Europe's most dynamic cities and saw the coining of the sinister epithet "Gunchester".

In this fascinating and comprehensive examination of the underside of globalization, Moises Naim illuminates the struggle between traffickers and the hamstrung bureaucracies trying to control them. From illegal migrants to drugs to weapons to laundered money to counterfeit goods, the black market produces enormous profits that are reinvested to create new businesses, enable terrorists, and even to take over governments. Naim reveals the inner workings of these amazingly efficient international organizations and shows why it is so hard - and so necessary - to contain them.

Mob opens terrifying windows on the brutal and mysterious world of organized crime. You'll meet murderous wiseguys, scheming Dons and undercover agents risking their lives to break the Mob's most powerful syndicates. The picture that emerges from these stories is astoundingly complex and all too human: a world of warped desire and violent consequences that is at once shocking and fascinating.

This first volume of an investigative series into the Buffalo mob includes: an introduction into the history of crime in Buffalo, the beginnings of Mafia activity in the Queen City, past and present alleged leaders, soldiers, and associates of The Arm and its affiliated operations, government sources and witnesses imperative to understanding mob activities, and an introduction to recent criminal activity indicating the Mafia in Buffalo is anything but dormant

The Jack Nicholson film The Departed didn't tell half of their story. A poor kid from the slums, Robert Fitzpatrick grew up to become a stellar FBI agent and challenge the country's deadliest gangsters. Relentless in his desire to catch, prosecute, and convict Whitey Bulger, Fitzpatrick fought the nation's most determined cop-gangster battle since Melvin Purvis hunted, confronted, and killed John Dillinger. In his crusade to bring Bulger to justice, Fitzpatrick faced not only Whitey but also corrupt FBI agents, along with political cronies and enablers from Boston to Washington....

Vigilantes occupy a curious space in our collective psyche. On one hand, they are seen as almost modern knights, seeking truth and justice where the law has failed, while on the other they are no better than the criminals they seek, operating outside of normal societal conventions. In this audiobook, Vigilantes and the Media: 8 Horrific True Crime Stories of Vigilantes, we examine the lives of real vigilantes who often had their own agendas.

A church's lies, harassment, abuse, and deceit. A must-listen true story of a girl who took a courageous stand against an empire. This is a true story of a second-generation Scientologist, born into the lifestyle and strict structure of this church, and the extreme harassment and abuse that followed the escape from this so-called religion. Many in this day and age have heard of the Church of Scientology, but are unaware of the true scope of its reach, and the depth of its grip in our society’s structure.

Aiden Gabor was still a teenager when Department of Justice agents approached him with an ultimatum: spend his life in prison for racketeering, embezzlement, extortion, and conspiracy to commit murder, or become an undercover agent. Conflicting Loyalties is a sharp, honest memoir in three parts: the bloody life of a mob soldier from outside la famiglia; the death-defying, paranoid existence of an informant bringing down corrupt politicians and police departments from the inside; and unexpectedly finding peace late in life through the Baha’i faith while coping with an ALS diagnosis.

Back then, hot-headed gangsters, not-so-gentle dames and bullet-riddled corpses filled the newspaper headlines. And some of the stories below the headlines were even true. The 1920s was a period in American history when even the respectable were unwilling to stay sober. And not-so-fast cars carried assassins across Chicago, a city that for many captures the essence of the USA. In Tough Guys in the Room, the story of Al Capone and his rivals is told in separate and stand-alone topics that cover key figures and events.

New York City, 1972: Bobby Comfort and Sammy "the Arab" Nalo were highly skilled jewel thieves who specialized in robbing luxury Manhattan hotels. (They once robbed Sophia Loren's suite, relieving the Italian actress of over $1 million in gems.) With the blessing of the Lucchese crime family, their next plot targeted the posh Pierre Hotel - host to kings and queens, presidents and aldermen, and the wealthiest of the wealthy.

In Breaking van Gogh, James Grundvig investigates the history and authenticity of van Gogh's iconic Wheat Field with Cypresses. Relying on a vast array of techniques from the study of the painter's biography and personal correspondence to the examination of the painting's style and technical characteristics, Grundvig proves that the "most expensive purchase" housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is a fake.

Eliot Ness presents the first complete picture of the real Eliot Ness. Both fearless and shockingly shy, he inspired courage and loyalty in men twice his age, forged law-enforcement innovations that are still with us today, and earned acclaim and scandal from both his professional and personal lives. Through it all, he believed unwaveringly in the integrity of law and the basic goodness of his fellow Americans.

Notorious assassin Rafael Rontego is kidnapped from his hotel room moments before FBI Agent Sydney Price and her team close in on the man she believes can provide enough evidence to bring down the Ciancetta crime family. As she chases down the prize of her investigation, she enlists help from former Buffalo undercover cop Alex Vaughn. The ensuing blood bath leads them on a trail that exposes corruption, terrorists, and the realization of their deepest fears.

Rear Admiral Terry McKnight, USN (Ret.) served as Commander, Counter-Piracy Task Force - Gulf of Aden. After his tour in the waters off the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, he retired from the Navy and began seriously researching the subject. Pirate Alley explores every aspect of Somali piracy, from how the pirates operate to how the actions of a relative handful of youthful criminals and their bosses have impacted the world economy. The book examines various answers to the question: "How do you solve a problem like Somalia?"