Showing titles in Organized Crime

By the spring of 2024, it will be four and a half years since the publication of Chinn's Sunday Times number 1 best-selling Peaky Blinders. The Real Story. Adopting a chronological approach, it covered the origins of Birmingham's backstreet gangs in the late 1860s through the late 20th century. This much-awaited fourth book in the bestselling series, Peaky Blinders: The Real Gangsters and Gangs differs by taking a thematic approach and delves far more deeply into the crimes as well as the political issues at the heart of this pre-war period.

Chicago was the worldwide leader in gangster wars and bootlegging in the 1920s, as Al Capone set the stage for his tremendous success and popularity. When he was safely away in prison, the Chicago Outfit expanded into more rackets involving gambling and loan sharking, making bosses like Paul “The Waiter” Ricca and Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo rich beyond even Capone’s wildest dreams.

Wayne Perry has been called the Michael Jordan of the murder game. He is the most infamous gangster to ever walk the streets of Washington DC. The Washington Post called him one of the District's most heinous murderers and Jay-Z dropped Wayne's name in his song Tom Ford.

Born in 1960, Jesus Ruiz Henao grew up poor, but wanted to be rich like the drug dealers he saw growing up in the cocaine-producing region of Colombia’s Valle of the Cauca. To realize his ambition, Ruiz Henao moved to London, United Kingdom, in 1985. There, he and his wife settled in the quiet suburb of Hendon, where he held down mundane but respectable cleaning and bus driving jobs. At least to outward appearances....

En una época de límites borrosos entre la verdad y la mentira, el caos y el orden, el horror y la indolencia, la delincuencia organizada y el Estado, aparece Aquí no es Miami, un libro de relatos híbridos, aleación entre periodismo y literatura, que aborda lúcidamente las condiciones que germinaron el terror de la llamada Guerra contra el Narcotráfico en un estado especialmente golpeado por esta debacle como lo es Veracruz.

Anticipating a new dawn of freedom after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russians could hardly have foreseen the reality of their future a decade later: a country impoverished and controlled at every level by organized crime. This riveting book views the 1990s reform period through the experiences of individual citizens, revealing the changes that have swept Russia and their effect on Russia's age-old ways of thinking.

On a cold afternoon in February 1991, a frightening new drug hit the streets of New York City, a synthetic narcotic marketed in packets labeled “Tango & Cash.” As police scrambled to warn heroin users of the danger, the overdose victims began piling up in hospital emergency rooms and county morgues across three states.

From mob wife with blood on her hands to straight-arrow breadwinner for her four kids, a tale of transformation and empowerment from a woman whose life in organized crime makes Carmella Soprano look like June Cleaver.

A tense true-crime story about an all-American soldier boy turned bank robber. Alex Blum was a clean-cut all-American kid with one unshakeable goal in life: to serve his country in the military. He was accepted into the elite Rangers regiment, but on the first day of his leave before deployment to Iraq, Alex got into his car with two fellow soldiers and two strangers, drove to a local bank in Tacoma and committed armed robbery. The Blum family was devastated and mystified. How could he have done such a thing?

Abimael Guzmán no llevaba armas, ni intervenía directamente en un campo de batalla. Sin embargo, solo con sus palabras y su retórica, logró inspirar a millares de personas y provocar con sus ideas una guerra que dejó más de 70000 muertos en Perú, entre los años ochenta y noventa.

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.

Most wonder how Dale Varnam stayed alive. Dale wonders why. Back in the eighties, the quaint fishing village of Varnamtown, North Carolina—full of zany Southern characters—got rich, and so did town clown Dale Varnam, who perfected his own brand of crazy. Dale rose to the top of the heap in the drug smuggling biz, helping the town’s livelihood of shrimping go to pot. Although it’s not big enough to be on most maps, Varnamtown became the second busiest port of entry for illegal drugs on the Eastern Seaboard.

This detailed account of his life, crimes, and death makes extensive use of FBI reports, government records, local newspapers, and contemporary journalistic accounts. Neither highly intelligent nor polished, Floyd relied on his cool demeanor, shrewd cunning, and expert gun-handling ability, but he was also considered by those who knew him to be generous and honest. During the depression, many people saw banks as enemies and Floyd as a hero, and helped screen him from the police.

Women of Southie tells the story of six women who grew up in and, in most cases, still live in their beloved town of South Boston, a place most notably recognized as the home of organized crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger. But while Bulger might have been ruling the town with an iron fist, as depicted by Johnny Depp in Black Mass, what the town ought to have been recognized for are the brave women who ruled their own lives and their families with equally strong but far more beneficial hands. The stories of these women, ages 40 to 67, are filled with honest details.

Indiana-born Vivian Gordon fluttered to New York in 1920 looking for fame and fortune. Before long, the flame-haired chorus girl parlayed her youth, beauty, and ambition into more profitable means as a tough and glamorous symbol of Prohibition-era excess. She was a speakeasy owner, blackmailer, high-end escort, extortionist, racketeer, and con woman. But given her dangerously intimate associations, Vivian was also a woman who knew too much and who rightfully feared for her life.

The explosive sequel to number one Sunday Times best seller Bad Blood. Set 18 years later, Hidden Sin is the story of Joey, his girlfriend, Paula, and Rasta Mo, the man he is to discover is his dad. Joey Parker is a young man with big dreams. Almost 18, he’s desperate to escape the shackles of his window cleaning round, so when he’s offered the chance to try out as a drummer in a local Blondie tribute band he jumps at the chance. But it isn’t just the music that moves him. It’s also the fact that Paula Foster is the lead singer.

Mr. New Orleans tells the incredible story of Frenchy Brouillette, a redneck Cajun teenager who stole his big brother's motorcycle and embarked on a 60-year vacation to New Orleans, where he became a legendary gangster and the underworld political fixer for his cousin, Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards. Written by Crescent City native Matthew Randazzo V, the wickedly funny Mr. New Orleans is the first book to ever break the code of secrecy of the New Orleans Mafia Family, the oldest and most mysterious criminal secret society in America.

Las Vegas, 1970s - a golden age of Glitter Gulch corruption. Dennis Gomes - the youngest division chief in Gaming Control Board history - whipped a ragtag group of auditors into hardened, gun-slinging investigators, and shattered clichés about milquetoast accountant cops. Coming within a hair’s breadth of death more than once, Gomes capped off his tenure with the famous bust of the Stardust skim, portrayed in the book and movie Casino.

Larry Blair shot to fame at just 19, coming from nowhere to take out the biggest ever cash prize in surfing. The outsider from Australia backed it up by winning Hawaii's revered Pipeline Masters at the world's deadliest wave, twice. In an instant, he was a household name, transcending sport to become an actor, model and personality. But Larry was harbouring a deadly family secret. His dad, 'Baldy' Blair, was a bank robber; his mum, Patricia, was a beautiful jewel thief who regularly hosted all-star gatherings of underworld personalities.

Stolen Lives examines trafficking and slavery in Britain, hearing from those on the front line, including the police and charities involved with support and recovery. Powerful and moving testimony from survivors reveals the individual stories behind the headlines and charts one young woman’s terrifying and ultimately inspiring journey to freedom and independence. Finally, it shows us what we can do to make a difference.