Gangsters, Swindlers, Killers, and Thieves PDF Download

Author: Lawrence Block
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195169522
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

View

Book Description
This collection surveys the underside of American history through fifty of its most infamous characters from colonial times up through the twentieth century.

Author: Trudy Irene Scee
Publisher: Down East Books
ISBN: 1608935124
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 254

View

Book Description
Al Brady was an armed robber and murderer in the 1930s and became the FBI's Public Enemy #1. The crime spree of Brady and his gang brought them from the south and midwest to Maine. A hardware store owner in Bangor became suspicious when Brady requested a large supply of ammunition and paid with an equally large amount of cash, and notified police. The FBI was waiting in ambush for them when they arrived to pick up the ammo. The rest is history, as on October 12, 1937, Brady and an accomplice were killed in a hail of bullets in broad daylight in downtown Bangor. This spectacular public gun-battle has become an integral part of Maine lore. Now, historian Trudy Irene Scee tells the story, including Brady's growing up in Indiana, his criminal exploits, and what brought he and his cohorts to Maine.

Author: Vincent Bugliosi
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393072126
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1696

View

Book Description
For fifty years the truth about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has been obscured. This book releases us from a crippling distortion of American history. At 1:00 p.m. on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead, the victim of a sniper attack during his motorcade through Dallas. That may be the only fact generally agreed upon in the vast literature spawned by the assassination. National polls reveal that an overwhelming majority of Americans (75%) believe that there was a high-level conspiracy behind Lee Harvey Oswald. Many even believe that Oswald was entirely innocent. In this continuously absorbing, powerful, ground-breaking book, Vincent Bugliosi shows how we have come to believe such lies about an event that changed the course of history. The brilliant prosecutor of Charles Manson and the man who forged an iron-clad case of circumstantial guilt around O. J. Simpson in his best-selling Outrage Bugliosi is perhaps the only man in America capable of writing the definitive book on the Kennedy assassination. This is an achievement that has for years seemed beyond reach. No one imagined that such a book would ever be written: a single volume that once and for all resolves, beyond any reasonable doubt, every lingering question as to what happened in Dallas and who was responsible. There have been hundreds of books about the assassination, but there has never been a book that covers the entire case, including addressing every piece of evidence and each and every conspiracy theory, and the facts, or alleged facts, on which they are based. In this monumental work, the author has raised scholarship on the assassination to a new and final level, one that far surpasses all other books on the subject. It adds resonance, depth, and closure to the admirable work of the Warren Commission. Reclaiming History is a narrative compendium of fact, forensic evidence, reexamination of key witnesses, and common sense. Every detail and nuance is accounted for, every conspiracy theory revealed as a fraud on the American public. Bugliosi's irresistible logic, command of the evidence, and ability to draw startling inferences shed fresh light on this American nightmare. At last it all makes sense. Some images in this ebook are not displayed due to permissions issues.

Author: Vincent Bugliosi
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393347338
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 655

View

Book Description
An analysis of JFK's assassination and its surrounding conspiracy theories draws on forensic evidence, key witness testimonies, and other sources to explain what really happened and why conspiracy theories have become so popularized.

Author: Vincent Bugliosi
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393072037
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 688

View

Book Description
"A book for the ages." —Los Angeles Times Book Review Four Days in November is an extraordinarily exciting, precise, and definitive narrative of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald. It is drawn from Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a monumental and historic account of the event and all the conspiracy theories it spawned, by Vincent Bugliosi, legendary prosecutor of Charles Manson and author of Helter Skelter. For general readers, the carefully documented account presented in Four Days is utterly persuasive: Oswald did it and he acted alone.

Author: Ellsworth A. Fersch
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 059541544X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 334

View

Book Description
This volume provides a clear and compelling introduction to a most significant topic. Compiled by members of a Harvard seminar, it directs attention to issues raised by the general public and by students of social science and criminal justice. The frequently asked questions address: psychopaths and psychopathy, sociopathy, and antisocial personality disorder; psychological, biological, gender-related, and other theories of causation; psychological and other treatments and their use and effectiveness; media portrayals of and legal responses to psychopaths. The case examples include: conventional criminals, thieves, killers, a head of state, a member of organized crime, a former college research subject, and characters in works of fiction and of nonfiction; nonconventional white-collar corporate executives, authors, a professor, a politician, an imposter, the corporation, a video game, and cults and their leaders. The extensive bibliography directs students and the public interested in further material to the important world where psychology and law, morality, and public policy interact. This brief and readable book is the first place to look for what most people want to know about psychopaths and psychopathy.

Author: Robert Underhill
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 1628941405
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

View

Book Description
During the Great Depression, writers of True Crime could take the decade off: life was imitating art so dramatically they had nothing to add. In these pages historian Robert Underhill presents the most notorious criminals of 1930-1934: Wilbur Underhill, Alvin Karpis, the Barker Clan, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, the Barrows (Buck, Blanche, Clyde, and Bonnie), and John Dillinger along with supporting material on their henchmen and the rise of the FBI. Often armed better than the police, criminals of the 1930s committed deeds ranging from stealing chickens to kidnappings, bank robberies, and killing innocent victims. Yet such crimes were often taken in stride by avid readers. Cooperation among local, state and federal lawmen was rare as each sought to protect his own turf. Criminals and lawmen made mistakes battling one another, but in most cases the law triumphed and the wanted fugitive died under a hail of bullets. His death would start myths and raise his reputation to national status. The author of 'Against the Grain: Six Men Who Shaped America' and 'The Rise and Fall of Franklin D. Roosevelt' shows us another aspect of the Roosevelt era and portrays a series of figures who contributed to pop culture as well helping to shape the security forces in America. Robbing the banks and driving fast cars, they did what many Americans dreamed of, and gave a depressed populace some excitement to distract from everyday worries. With the Great Depression, some citizens came to regard bank robbers as modern Robin Hoods seeking to avenge depositors whose life earnings had been wiped out by a bank's failure or malfeasance by its owners. No small wonder that criminals were given colorful sobriquets and fact and fiction became intertwined. Underhill shows how such heists, and kidnappings especially, helped create the modern FBI, overcoming the complaints of those who alleged that a federal force was the first step toward an American Gestapo. The belief that federal government had nothing to do with fighting crime was rooted in the U.S. Constitution and its provisions for states' rights. Local police were expected to provide security and to apprehend criminals without Washington getting involved. In the big cities, Prohibition era mobsters still ruled, but in the Midwest especially, smaller bands, "gangsters," began to make headlines. They tended to be blue-collar criminals whose favorite targets were filling stations, grocery stores, and small town banks. Prior to 1930, corruption was rife and cooperation among local, state, and federal police was little to none; criminals often got away. Only in 1935 was the FBI formally anointed and its agents were permitted to carry guns. Now, there was a federal agency that could supply sheriffs all over the country with information on suspected criminals. By 1935, the hardest times of the Depression were beginning to ease and the thrill of watching these cops-and-robber stories play out was combined with a renewed interest in the lives of the rich and famous, previously scorned for their role in ripping off the average man. All in all, the early 1930s were a uniquely dramatic time for crime and crimestoppers in America.

Author: Matthew P. Mayo
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493018043
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

View

Book Description
Everyone loves a heel, especially one to whom nothing was sacred and who charmed his or her way into the hearts, minds, and wallets of bumpkins and belles alike. This collection offers twenty-four tales of petty bandits, sleazy bunko artists, and conniving conmen and –women who traveled West to seek their fortunes by preying on the men and women who went before them to settle and explore. These stories of who they were, what they did, and why they are remembered for their deeds include ample and engaging historic illustrations of the shady characters at work and at play.

Author: Matthew J. Sheridan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538111411
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 506

View

Book Description
There has never been a more important time for those involved in criminal justice policy, operations and civil service to know their history. The Historical Dictionary of American Criminal Justice provides a comprehensive overview of the development of criminal justice in the United States. Criminal justice is a multidisciplinary endeavor, emerging across time and place through the fields of philosophy, law, biology, anthropology, and sociology. Developments occur quickly and regularly, the meanings of which are deeply embedded, not only in an historical context, but in complicated social, economic, and political circumstances as well. The field is particularly vulnerable to the exploitations of power being as closely aligned with the forces of social control as it is. The Historical Dictionary of American Criminal Justice contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,200 cross-referenced entries on the most relevant concepts, cases, people, and terms. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about American criminal justice.

Author: Linda Watts
Publisher: Infobase Holdings, Inc
ISBN: 1646930002
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 462

View

Book Description
Folklore has been described as the unwritten literature of a culture: its songs, stories, sayings, games, rituals, beliefs, and ways of life. Encyclopedia of American Folklore helps readers explore topics, terms, themes, figures, and issues related to this popular subject. This comprehensive reference guide addresses the needs of multiple audiences, including high school, college, and public libraries, archive and museum collections, storytellers, and independent researchers. Its content and organization correspond to the ways educators integrate folklore within literacy and wider learning objectives for language arts and cultural studies at the secondary level. This well-rounded resource connects United States folk forms with their cultural origin, historical context, and social function. Appendixes include a bibliography, a category index, and a discussion of starting points for researching American folklore. References and bibliographic material throughout the text highlight recently published and commonly available materials for further study. Coverage includes: Folk heroes and legendary figures, including Paul Bunyan and Yankee Doodle Fables, fairy tales, and myths often featured in American folklore, including "Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Princess and the Pea" American authors who have added to or modified folklore traditions, including Washington Irving Historical events that gave rise to folklore, including the civil rights movement and the Revolutionary War Terms in folklore studies, such as fieldwork and the folklife movement Holidays and observances, such as Christmas and Kwanzaa Topics related to folklore in everyday life, such as sports folklore and courtship/dating folklore Folklore related to cultural groups, such as Appalachian folklore and African-American folklore and more.