biography & autobiography / criminals & outlaws

"In the early days of Prohibition, . . . a German immigrant named George Remus quits practicing law and starts trafficking whiskey . . . By the summer of 1921, Remus owns 35 percent of all the liquor in the United States. Pioneering prosecutor Mabel Walker Willebrandt is determined to bring him down. Willebrandt's bosses at the U.S. Attorney's office hired her right out of law school, assuming she'd pose no real threat to the cozy relationship they maintain with Remus. Eager to prove them wrong, she dispatches her best investigator, Franklin Dodge, to look into his empire. It's a decision with deadly consequences: . . . sparking a bitter feud that soon reaches the highest levels of government--and that can only end in murder"--Provided by publisher.

Looks at the the investigation behind one of the most frightening, meticulous and enigmatic serial killers in modern American history, Israel Keyes, who struck all of the United States.

"[The author] explores the stories Lizzie Borden's culture wanted and expected to hear and how those stories influenced the debate inside and outside of the courtroom. Based on transcripts of the Borden legal proceedings, contemporary newspaper accounts, unpublished local accounts, and . . . unearthed letters from Lizzie herself, [the book] offers a window onto America in the Gilded Age, showcasing its . . . convictions and . . . social anxieties"--Amazon.

Corey Pegues has lived on both sides of the law. At the height of the 1980s crack epidemic, he was a teenager hugging the street corner, selling dope for the notorious Supreme Team gang and watching drugs decimate his stable, working-class neighborhood almost overnight. After a botched murder attempt on a rival gang member, Corey, the only member of his family to graduate from high school, knew he had to get out. Barely eighteen, with two kids by two different women, Corey left under cover of night to enlist in the US Army. After several years in the military, the police academy was a breeze. What is daily life truly like for urban youth in America? What is the one problem endemic in law enforcement that's even more dangerous than rampant racism? There aren't many people who understand both sides of the story. As war rages throughout our nation between police and communities of color, Pegues tears down the blue wall to discuss the discriminatory practices he faced within the NYPD and talks candidly about the distrust between law enforcement and the people.

In 1933 Prohibition gave rise to the American gangster. Local cops were unauthorized to cross state lines in pursuit of criminals and kidnappers and there was no national police force. George "Machine Gun" Kelly and his wife, Kathryn, were two of the most celebrated gangsters of the era. When other sources of income dried up, they decided to cash in on the easy-money racket of kidnapping. J. Edgar Hoover needed a successful Justice Department prosecution to save his job. Hoover's agents were given the sole authority to follow the kidnappers across state lines. The twenty-thousand mile chase over the back roads of Depression-era America, across sixteen state lines, produced results and launched the FBI.

Alex Abramovich relates details about his friendship with Trevor Latham, a man who bullied him in grade school and founded the Oakland motorcycle club the East Bay Rats; discusses his experiences living in Oakland and immersing himself in the club; and examines the social conditions of Oakland during the early twenty-first century.

"In 1994, director Peter Jackson released the movie Heavenly Creatures, based on a famous 1950s matricide committed in New Zealand by two teenage girls embroiled in an obsessive relationship. The movie launched Jackson's international career. It also forever changed the life of Anne Perry, an award-winning, bestselling crime writer, who at the time of the movie's release was publicly outed at Juliet Hulme, one of the murderers. A new light was now cast, not only on Anne's life but also on her novels, which feature gruesome and violent deaths and confront dark issues, including infanticide and incest. Acclaimed literary biographer Joanne Drayton was given unparalleled access to Anne Perry, her friends, relatives, colleagues, and archives to complete this book. She intersperses the story of her life with an examination of her writing, drawing parallels between Perry's own experiences and her characters and storylines. Anne Perry's books deal with miscarriages of justice, family secrets exposed, punishment, redemption, and forgiveness, themes made all the more poignant in light of her past. She has sold 25 million books worldwide and published in 15 different languages, yet she will now forever be known as a murderer who became a writer of murder stories. The Search for Anne Perry is a gripping account of a life, and provides understanding of the girl Anne was, the adult she became, her compulsion to write, and her view of the world. "--.

The story of an infamous crime, a revered map dealer with an unsavory secret, and the ruthless subculture that consumed him. Once considered a respectable antiquarian map dealer, E. Forbes Smiley spent years doubling as a map thief until he was finally arrested slipping maps out of books in the Yale University library. The Map Thief delves into the untold history of this fascinating high-stakes criminal and the inside story of those who deal in the collecting and sale of rare and priceless maps. Moreover, although Smiley swears he has admitted to all of the maps he stole, libraries claim he stole hundreds more and offer intriguing clues to prove it. The Map Thief interweaves Smiley's escapades with the stories of the explorers and mapmakers he knew better than anyone.