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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The woman who first gives life, light, and form to our shadowy conceptions of beauty, fills a void in our spiritual nature that has remained unknown to us till she appeared.' One of the earliest works of 'detective' fiction with a narrative woven together from multiple characters, Wilkie Collins partly based his infamous novel on a real-life eighteenth century case...
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Since the late 19th century, the Mafia has been a presence in North America using intimidation and worse to exert its control over organized crime in the major cities and beyond - anything from loansharking to bootlegging during Prohibition to extortion, kidnapping and racketeering. For the Mob (as they are also known), crime was big business. Feuds between Mafia families and their associates led to Lucky Luciano, the preeminent Mob boss, creating...
3) The Mafia
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The Mafia began on the small Mediterranean island of Sicily. It grew to become a major political force in Italy, while its tentacles penetrated every aspect of life in the United States. Through drugs, it spread its influence around the world. This is its story.
4) Gangland
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The colorful characters of the Cosa Nostra, the ruthlessness of the Russian Mafia, and the drive by shootings of the LA street gangs have all hit the headlines in recent times, catching the public eye with lifestyles that appear at once exciting and menacing. Gangland investigates the world's most notorious gangs, and shines a light into the murky underworld that they inhabit, to give an unflinching insight into organized crime and its perpetrators....
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Thinking big and thinking bad, fifty of the world's most notorious criminal masterminds have lied, cheated, murdered and swindled their way onto the pages of this book. Many of these miscreants had the brains and charisma to be successful in legitimate walks of life, yet they chose to take a different path - a path that perhaps got them richer more quickly, certainly in the cases of mobster Al Capone, robber Ronnie Biggs and drug baron Howard Marks,...
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Is it true that the apple never falls far from the tree?
Throughout history, you see examples where criminality seems to run in the family. From the Ptolemaic dynasty that terrorized Greek Egypt to the modern mafia, familial ties often dictate your relationship to violence, cruelty and the law.
Evil Families examines just this, using case studies from across history. These include the Qing Dynasty of Ancient China, the cannibalistic Beane family...
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Assassinations are, by their nature, more shocking than most murders, affecting the lives of thousands, sometimes millions, of people. Even if the victim inspires passionate hatred, the act itself must be carried out with the sort of detachment usually associated with the professional hitman. And yet, as this book reveals, most assassinations are not the outcome of minutely planned actions, although rarely can they be dismissed as merely a fanatic...
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Since the late 19th century, the Mafia has been a presence in North America using intimidation and worse to exert its control over organized crime in the major cities and beyond - anything from loan sharking to bootlegging during Prohibition to extortion, kidnapping and racketeering. For the Mob (as they are also known), crime was big business. Feuds between Mafia families and their associates led to Lucky Luciano, the preeminent Mob boss, creating...
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The diminutive Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known universally by his nickname of 'El Chapo' ('Shorty' in Spanish), is the highest-profile narco-terrorist since the demise of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s. Loera began work at the age of nine as a gomero - a farmhand harvesting opium - and as he grew up he shot and murdered his way to the top, strewing corpses in his wake. In 2009, he made the Forbes annual billionaires list and before his capture by Mexican...
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A gripping analysis of the world's ten worst serial killers. They have been selected not simply because of their high 'body counts': these killers are the ones who have most terrified the communities on which they preyed, and in some cases changed the history of the nations in which they operated. This collection focuses solely on the true stories behind the very worst real-life serial killers from across the globe.
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Often, the term 'psychopath' tends to be equated with violent and deranged criminality, but true psychopaths are very different from the way they are portrayed in film or on television. They are aware of the difference between right and wrong: they simply choose to ignore anything that prevents them getting what they want. Real-life psychopaths are not 'mad' but 'bad', but they appear on the surface to be entirely 'normal'. One of the pioneers of...
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Gangsters of the past never looked far enough into the future to do much planning. They stole sufficient money to get by for a short while and then robbed again. Sometimes they wanted to settle down, but most knew their crimes were going to lead to jail or death - and their women knew it too. Life on the run was no picnic, but gangsters' molls chose it over a settled life in suburbia. This book is a history of gangsters' molls and mob queens, and...
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100 Most Infamous Criminals is an astounding compendium of crimes and their perpetrators. The range of crimes is extraordinary, from the bizarre to the horrific, and from the heartbreaking to the ridiculous. The book includes some of history's most infamous criminals and tells in vivid detail the story of the lives they led, the crimes they committed and the destruction and sorrow they left in their wake. From the unsolved horror of Jack the Ripper...
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Sent to Reformatory at the age of 10, Sicilian-American Sam Giancana lived a gilded life as mobster and mob boss at a pivotal point in history when the mafia decided who ruled America, who lived and who died. Born in 1908, in The Patch, Chicago, Giancana joined the Forty-Two gang of lawless juvenile punks in 1921 and quickly proved himself as a skilled 'wheel man' (or getaway driver), extortionist and vicious killer. Called up to the ranks of the...
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The Mafia began on a small island in the Mediterranean, Sicily. It grew to become a major political force in Italy, while its tentacles penetrated every aspect of life in the United States. Through drugs, it spread its influence to Britain, Canada and Australia. And through the gangster movies of Hollywood, including The Godfather and Goodfellas, it permeates popular culture. The History of the Mafia is full of blood-chilling characters, from Al Capone,...
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The FBI estimate that there are between 25 and 50 serial killers at large in the USA at any given time. But the truth is few people kill. We occasionally say we could kill someone, but that is usually hyperbole. Most of us can imagine what it might be like to be driven to a senseless act of violence in an unendurable situation. To kill once is one thing; to kill over and over again is quite another. What drives these people who kill and kill again?...
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"Grand job, that last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear from me, with my funny little game. Next time I shall clip the ears off and send them to the police just for jolly." - Jack the Ripper. So ran a note written by the most notorious serial killer of all time. But no matter how awful his crimes, Jack the Ripper was a mere amateur compared to some, as he killed just seven times....
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'But I am a monster. I am the "Son of Sam". I am a little brat. When father Sam gets drunk he gets mean.... Sam loves to drink blood. "Go out and kill," commands father Sam.'- David Berkowitz Evil has many faces. Serial killers, drug kingpins, rapists, and simple murderers fill the pages of this horrifying collection. The actions of these terrible men and women are so vile you will find it hard to believe what they did. The World's Worst Crimes features...
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This work includes a carefully chosen cross-section of the world's most infamous psychopaths, whose fascinating life stories are told in unflinching fashion. This makes for a chilling yet compelling and engrossing read. It features more than 70 grittily revealing photos. Case histories covered include Gilles de Rais, Elizabeth Bathory, Mary Anne...
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From perverse acts of cannibalism and dark sexual fantasies to vicious acts motivated by greed and a simple lust for blood, this book reveals the methods and motivations of some of the world's most notorious serial killers, including Juan Corona, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, Pee Wee Gaskins, and Ivan Milat.
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