True Organized Crime

In a secret meeting in 1981, a master thief named Louis Royce gave career gangster Ralph Rossetti the tip of a lifetime. As a kid, Royce had visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and made a habit of sneaking in at night to find a good place to sleep. He knew the Museum's security was lax, and he gave this information to a boss of the Boston criminal underworld. It took years before the Museum was hit. But when it finally happened, it quickly became one of the most infamous art heists in history.

Gloria Norris grew up in the projects of Manchester, New Hampshire, with her parents; her sister, Virginia; and her cat, Sylvester. A snapshot might show a happy young family, but only a dummkopf would buy that. Nine-year-old Gloria is gutsy and wisecracking. Her father, Jimmy, all dazzle and danger, is often on the far side of the law and makes his own rules - which everyone else better follow. Gloria's mom, Shirley, tries not to rock the boat, Virginia unwisely defies Jimmy, and Gloria fashions herself into his sidekick - the son he never had.

Timmy Overton of Austin and Jerry Ray James of Odessa were football stars who traded athletics for lives of crime. The original rebels without causes, nihilists with Cadillacs and Elvis hair, the Overton gang and their associates formed a ragtag white trash mafia that bedazzled Austin law enforcement for most of the 1960s. Tied into a loose network of crooked lawyers, pimps, and used car dealers who became known as the "traveling criminals," they burglarized banks and ran smuggling and prostitution rings all over Texas.

From the beginnings of big-city police work to the rise of the Mafia, Rogues' Gallery is a colorful and captivating history of crime and punishment in the bustling streets of Old New York.

San Pedro is Bolivia's most notorious prison. Small-time drug smuggler Thomas McFadden found himself on the inside. Marching Powder is the story of how he navigated this dark world of gangs, drugs and corruption to come out on top. Thomas found himself in a bizarre world, the prison reflecting all that is wrong with South American society. Prisoners have to pay an entrance fee and buy their own cells (the alternative is to sleep outside and die of exposure); prisoners' wives and children often live inside, too; high-quality cocaine is manufactured and sold from the prison.

He was a flashy, high-rolling con man...a militant street hustler...a front man for the mob.... On TV and in the movies, FBI undercover agents are a dime a dozen. But in reality, only an elite handful have the unique combination of wit, instinct, and daring to work these highly dangerous scams. For 10 years, Larry Wansley was one of them.

Step into the gripping, electrifying narrative of 3X World Champ, the true story of a three-time kickboxing champion whose life took a wild turn into the shadowy world of marijuana smuggling. Set against the backdrop of 1980s Miami—a time of glitz, glamour, and organized crime—this memoir unveils the astonishing career of Thaddeus J. "Ted" Pryor.

"Little Italy Murder" is a gritty crime novel set in the heart of New York City during the dark days of the early 20th century. Witness the birth of organized crime and the infamous "Black-Hand" society as they sew terror into NYC's Italian-American community.The plot unravels amidst urban grime, when on April 14, 1903, a mutilated body tucked into a barrel is discovered on East Eleventh Street, sparking the beginning of citywide panic. What follows is an in-depth exploration into the depths of the Black-Hand gang's heinous activities, led by brutal mafia leaders, Giuseppe Severin and ...

When she arrived at MIT in the 1990s, Alien wanted to study aerospace engineering, but she was soon drawn to the school’s venerable tradition of high-risk physical trespassing: the original “hacking”. Within a year, one of her hallmates was dead, two others were on trial, and two had been institutionalized. Alien’s adventures were only just beginning.

In the 1970s, Frank Lucas was the king of the Harlem drug trade, bringing in over a million dollars a day. He lived a glamorous life, hobnobbing with athletes, musicians, and politicians, but Lucas was a ruthless gangster. He was notorious for using the coffins of dead GIs to smuggle heroin into the United States, and, before being sentenced to 70 years in prison, he played a major role in the near death of New York City.

This riveting account reveals the secret corners of our supposedly flat world: black markets where governments are never seen but still spend outrageous amounts of money. Journalist Matt Potter tells the story of Yuri and his crew, a gang of Russian military men who, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, found themselves without work or prospects. So they bought a decommissioned Soviet plane - at liquidation prices, straight from the Russian government - and started a shipping business.

Hello, Shadowlands takes a deep plunge into crime rings both large and small. It also examines how China’s rise and America’s decline are creating new opportunities for transnational syndicates to thrive. Focusing on human stories on both sides of this crime wave, the acclaimed Bangkok-based broadcaster and journalist Patrick Winn intimately profiles the men and women of the region who are forced to make agonizing choices in the absence of law.

The Gangs of New York is a tour through a now unrecognizable New York City - one of abysmal poverty and habitual violence cobbled, as Luc Sante has written, "from legend, memory, police records, the self-aggrandizements of aging crooks, popular journalism, and solid historical research." Asbury presents the definitive work on this subject, an illumination of the gangs of old New York that ultimately gave rise to the modern Mafia and its depiction in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated masterpiece, The Gangs of New York.

A true story of law, betrayal, and survival in Ukraine’s Wild East. The Steel Barons follows the harrowing descent of Jack Parker, a thirty-year-old American lawyer sent to Kyiv in the early 1990s to negotiate a multimillion-dollar telecom deal. It should have been a fast track to equity partnership in one of Manhattan’s most prestigious law firms. Instead, one reckless night lands him in a Soviet-era venereal disease clinic — and from there, everything begins to unravel. Abandoned by his firm, hunted by mob-connected investors, and betrayed by his own government, Jack finds himself ...

Dinero, drogas y cárteles: eso es lo que el novato agente del FBI esperaba tener cuando lo enviaron al pueblo fronterizo de Laredo; pero en cambio, se encontró con una tarea sedentaria, redactando reportes de inteligencia acerca de la guerra contra el narcotráfico. Hasta que, un día, le piden a Lawson que chequee una pista anónima: un caballo que se vendió en una subasta en Oklahoma por un precio mucho más elevado de lo usual, y el comprador fue Miguel Treviño, uno de los líderes de los Zetas, el cártel más brutal de México.

Delve into the hidden underbelly of crime as we unveil the secrets of the Los Angeles Mafia Crime Family. From its elusive origins to its far-reaching influence, prepare to uncover the tangled web of power, intrigue, and betrayal that defined this criminal empire.

Anthony Jones is one of the most famous street legends out of Baltimore. As a teenager he rose to the top of the drug game and had an organization that was ruthless, violent and made an extreme amount of money. He is now buried inside the belly of the beast serving a life sentence for his crimes, but in the streets of Charm City his name still rings bells to this day.

Award-winning investigative journalist and contributing Wired editor Scott Carney leads listeners on a breathtaking journey through the macabre underworld of the global body bazaar, where organs, bones, and even live people are bought and sold on The Red Market. The Red Market sheds a blazing new light on the disturbing, billion-dollar business of trading in human body parts, bodies, and child trafficking, raising issues and exposing corruptions almost too bizarre and shocking to imagine.

The team: A handpicked squad of FBI agents -- led by a war hero determined to get the job done. The target: John Gotti, the seemingly invincible head of the richest and most powerful crime of modern-day Untouchables, the FBI's C-16 Organized Crime squad, who finally ended the cocky crime lord's reign of terror.

For the first time in Canadian history, a high-ranking Mafioso agreed to break the code of omertà by talking to journalists. From October 2014 to October 2019, Félix Séguin and Eric Thibault held multiple secret meetings with Andrew Scoppa, getting an exclusive inside look at the inner workings of the North American Mafia. This book is the culmination of their perilous investigation. It sheds light on the life—and death—of one of the most influential organized crime figures in recent years.