20 Best Criminals & Outlaws, True Crime Books
Criminals & Outlaws, True Crime is a popular category for many book lovers. Our team at Speechify has curated a list of the top Criminals & Outlaws, True Crime audiobooks everyone must read.
See the top 20 Criminals & Outlaws, True Crime audiobooks below.
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The Corporation
- By: T. J. English
- Narrator: Timothy Andres Pabon
- Length: 19 hours 7 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: March 20, 2018
- Language: English
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4.14(415 ratings)
4.14(415 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0038.99 USDA fascinating, cinematic, multigenerational history of the Cuban mob in the US from “America’s top chronicler of organized crime”* and New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne. By the mid 1980s, the criminal underworldA fascinating, cinematic, multigenerational history of the Cuban mob in the US from “America’s top chronicler of organized crime”* and New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne.
By the mid 1980s, the criminal underworld in the United States had become an ethnic polyglot; one of the most powerful illicit organizations was none other than the Cuban mob. Known on both sides of the law as “the Corporation,” the Cuban mob’s power stemmed from a criminal culture embedded in south Florida’s exile community–those who had been chased from the island by Castro’s revolution and planned to overthrow the Marxist dictator and reclaim their nation.
An epic story of gangsters, drugs, violence, sex, and murder rooted in the streets, The Corporation reveals how an entire generation of political exiles, refugees, racketeers, corrupt cops, hitmen, and their wives and girlfriends became caught up in an American saga of desperation and empire building. T. J. English interweaves the voices of insiders speaking openly for the first time with a trove of investigative material he has gathered over many decades to tell the story of this successful criminal enterprise, setting it against the larger backdrop of revolution, exile, and ethnicity that makes it one of the great American gangster stories that has been overlooked–until now.
Drawing on the detailed reporting and impressive volume of evidence that drive his bestselling works, English offers a riveting, in-depth look at this powerful and sordid crime organization and its hold in the US.
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Hollywood Godfather
- By: Gianni Russo
- Narrator: Gianni Russo
- Length: 10 hours 25 minutes
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Publish date: March 12, 2019
- Language: English
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4.1(584 ratings)
4.1(584 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.99 USD“Gianni Russo walks the walk and talks the talk. What a life. Fascinating. A worthy read.” — Robert De Niro This program is read by the author and includes a bonus conversation. The over-the-top memoir of a real-life“Gianni Russo walks the walk and talks the talk. What a life. Fascinating. A worthy read.” — Robert De Niro
This program is read by the author and includes a bonus conversation.
The over-the-top memoir of a real-life mobster-turned-actor who helped make The Godfather a reality, and his story of life on the edge between danger and glamour.
Gianni Russo was a handsome 25-year-old mobster with no acting experience when he walked onto the set of The Godfather and entered Hollywood history. He played Carlo Rizzi, the husband of Connie Corleone, who set her brother Sonny–played by James Caan–up for a hit. Russo didn’t have to act–he knew the mob inside and out: from his childhood in Little Italy, where Mafia legend Frank Costello took him under his wing, to acting as a messenger for New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello during the Kennedy assassination, to having to go on the lam after shooting and killing a member of the Colombian drug cartel in his Vegas club.
Along the way, Russo befriended Frank Sinatra, who became his son’s godfather, and Marlon Brando, who mentored his career as an actor after trying to get Francis Ford Coppola to fire him from The Godfather. Russo had passionate affairs with Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minelli, and scores of other celebrities. He went on to star in The Godfather: Parts I and II, Seabiscuit, Any Given Sunday and Rush Hour 2, among many other films, and also acted as producer on several. Hollywood Godfather is his no-holds-barred account of a life lived on the edge. It is a story filled with violence, glamour, sex–and fun.
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Original Gangster
- By: Frank Lucas
- Narrator: Cary Hite
- Length: 8 hours 3 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2010
- Language: English
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4.09(416 ratings)
4.09(416 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDIn his own words, real-life American gangster Frank Lucas recounts his life as the former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who ran Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Determined to break the Italian Mafia’s monopoly over drugIn his own words, real-life American gangster Frank Lucas recounts his life as the former heroin dealer and organized crime boss who ran Harlem during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Determined to break the Italian Mafia’s monopoly over drug smuggling in New York, Frank cut out middlemen and began smuggling heroin into the United States directly from his source in Vietnam using the coffins of dead American soldiers. Making a million dollars per day from his “Blue Magic,” the purest heroin on the street, Frank Lucas became one of the most powerful crime lords of his time, while rubbing shoulders with the elite in entertainment, politics, and crime. This powerful memoir reveals what really happened to the man whose rise and fall was dramatized in the 2007 feature filmAmerican Gangster, exposing a startling look at the world of organized crime.
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Masquerade
- By: Lowell Cauffiel
- Narrator: Dan John Miller
- Length: 13 hours 28 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: December 27, 2016
- Language: English
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4.07(169 ratings)
4.07(169 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.002.99 USDIn the exclusive suburb of Grosse Pointe, Alan Canty was a respected psychologist, with clients drawn from wealthy families across Detroit. But at night, he ventured into the city’s seedy south side, where, under the name Dr. Al Miller, he metIn the exclusive suburb of Grosse Pointe, Alan Canty was a respected psychologist, with clients drawn from wealthy families across Detroit. But at night, he ventured into the city’s seedy south side, where, under the name Dr. Al Miller, he met with prostitutes. One girl in particular caught Dr. Al’s eye: a skinny teenage drug addict named Dawn, an ex-honor student who had fallen under the spell of a pimp named Lucky. Canty became their sugar daddy, spending thousands to buy them clothes, cars, and gifts. But when the money ran out, Canty’s luck went with it-and he was soon found hacked to pieces, his body scattered across Michigan. In this thrilling true crime tale, Cauffiel shows what happens when deception turns fatal.
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Alice & Gerald
- By: Ron Franscell
- Narrator: Chris Lutkin
- Length: 10 hours 56 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: July 23, 2019
- Language: English
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4.02(239 ratings)
4.02(239 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDTrue-crime master Ron Franscell tells the grisly story of Alice and Gerald Uden, a loving couple who murdered at least four people and lived happily ever after–while cops tried for decades to piece together a petrifying tale of murder andTrue-crime master Ron Franscell tells the grisly story of Alice and Gerald Uden, a loving couple who murdered at least four people and lived happily ever after–while cops tried for decades to piece together a petrifying tale of murder and secrets. In 1974, Alice, a desperate young mother in a gritty Wyoming boomtown, kills her husband and dumps his body where it will never be found, then slips away and starts a new life. But when her new man’s ex-wife and two kids start demanding more of him, Alice delivers an ultimatum: fix the problem or lose her forever. With Alice’s help, Gerald fixes the problem in an extraordinarily ghastly way…and they live happily ever after…that is, until 2013, almost forty years later, when somebody finds a dead man’s skeleton in a place where Alice thought he’d never be found. This page-turner by bestselling true-crime author Ron Franscell revisits a shocking cold case that was finally solved just when the murderers thought they’d never be caught.
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Sexy Beasts
- By: Wensley Clarkson
- Narrator: Wensley Clarkson
- Length: 9 hours 19 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: July 12, 2016
- Language: English
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3.96(37 ratings)
3.96(37 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.98 USDIn what has been described as a true-life blend of “Grumpy Old Men” and “Ocean’s Eleven, SEXY BEASTS is an insider account of the 2015 Hatton Garden Heist, in which a group of retirement-age career criminals — theIn what has been described as a true-life blend of “Grumpy Old Men” and “Ocean’s Eleven, SEXY BEASTS is an insider account of the 2015 Hatton Garden Heist, in which a group of retirement-age career criminals — the so-called “Diamond Geezers” — robbed a London jewelry vault, in what would be the biggest burglary in UK history.
The Hatton Garden Heist captured the British public’s imagination more than another other crime since The Great Train Robbery. It was supposed to make a fortune for a team of old time professional criminals. Their last hurrah. A final lucrative job that would send the old codgers off on happy retirements to the badlands of Spain and beyond. It seemed to be the stuff of legends. Tens of millions of dollars worth of valuables grabbed from safety deposit boxes in a vault beneath one of the most famous jewelry districts in the world.
But where did it all go wrong for this band of old time villains? And how did the gang’s bid to pull off the world’s biggest burglary turn into a deadly game of cat and mouse featuring the police and London’s most dangerous crime lords?
Nobody is better placed to reveal the full story of the Hatton Garden Heist than Britain’s best-connected true crime writer, Wensley Clarkson. Through his unparalleled contacts inside the criminal underworld, he’s finally able to reveal the astonishing details behind Britain’s biggest ever burglary.
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Ghost in the Wires
- By: Kevin Mitnick
- Narrator: Ray Porter
- Length: 13 hours 59 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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3.94(20137 ratings)
3.94(20137 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0024.95 USDKevin Mitnick, the world’s most wanted computer hacker, managed to hack into some of the country’s most powerful—and seemingly impenetrable—agencies and companies. By conning employees into giving him private information andKevin Mitnick, the world’s most wanted computer hacker, managed to hack into some of the country’s most powerful—and seemingly impenetrable—agencies and companies. By conning employees into giving him private information and maneuvering through layers of security, he gained access to data that no one else could.
The suspenseful heart of the book unfolds as Mitnick disappears on a three-year run from the FBI. He creates fake identities, finds jobs at a law firm and hospital, and keeps tabs on his myriad pursuers—all while continuing to hack into computer systems and phone company switches that were considered flawless.
A modern, technology-driven adventure story, Ghost in the Wires is a dramatic account of the joy of outsmarting security programs, the satisfaction of code cracking, and the thrill of unbelievable escape.
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Carmine the Snake
- By: Frank Dimatteo
- Narrator: Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hours 28 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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3.91(344 ratings)
3.91(344 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDIn this blistering street-level account, “Mafia survivor” Frank DiMatteo teams up with true-crime master Michael Benson to take down one of the most notorious figures in the American La Cosa Nostra. This is the real inside story ofIn this blistering street-level account, “Mafia survivor” Frank DiMatteo teams up with true-crime master Michael Benson to take down one of the most notorious figures in the American La Cosa Nostra. This is the real inside story of Carmine “the Snake” Persico, from his crime-filled childhood on the streets of Brooklyn to the long-term jail sentences that didn’t stop him from controlling his criminal empire, with the help of his brother–the equally kill-crazy Alphonse “Allie Boy” Persico.
This is the story of his deadly teen years as leader of the fearsome Garfield Boys; his recruitment into the Profaci–later the Colombo–crime family; his bloody betrayal of the Gallo brothers; his role in the hair-raising ambush and slaying of Albert Anastasia–the Lord High Executioner of Murder, Inc.–as he sat in a barbershop chair getting a shave; the terror he struck into the hearts of the New York Mafia’s other families, and even his own crews; and the many courtroom trials where Persico walked after witnesses came down with sudden cases of “amnesia.
Today, Persico schmoozes with Ponzi king Bernard Madoff behind bars. There, at age eighty-four, his legend–packed as it is with coldblooded brutality–continues to inspire goodfellas everywhere.
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The Iceman
- By: Anthony Bruno
- Narrator: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 8 hours 5 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2012
- Language: English
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3.9(1413 ratings)
3.9(1413 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDAt home, Richard Kuklinski was a dedicated suburban family man; on the street, he was the Iceman, a professional hit man and lethal scam artist, a man so heartless he kept one of his victims frozen for over two years to disguise the time of death.At home, Richard Kuklinski was a dedicated suburban family man; on the street, he was the Iceman, a professional hit man and lethal scam artist, a man so heartless he kept one of his victims frozen for over two years to disguise the time of death. His personal body count was over one hundred, but the police couldn’t touch him. Then undercover agent Dominick Polifrone posed as a mobster and began a deadly game of cat and mouse.
The Iceman chronicles Kuklinski’s grisly career and exposes his murderous double life.
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The Less People Know About Us
- By: Axton Betz-Hamilton
- Narrator: Laurie Catherine Winkel
- Length: 7 hours 31 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: October 15, 2019
- Language: English
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3.89(4350 ratings)
3.89(4350 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0026.98 USDAN EDGAR AWARDS 2020 WINNER In this powerful true crime memoir, an award-winning identity theft expert tells the shocking story of the duplicity and betrayal that inspired her career and nearly destroyed her family. Axton Betz-Hamilton grew up inAN EDGAR AWARDS 2020 WINNER
In this powerful true crime memoir, an award-winning identity theft expert tells the shocking story of the duplicity and betrayal that inspired her career and nearly destroyed her family.
Axton Betz-Hamilton grew up in small-town Indiana in the early ’90s. When she was 11 years old, her parents both had their identities stolen. Their credit ratings were ruined, and they were constantly fighting over money. This was before the age of the Internet, when identity theft became more commonplace, so authorities and banks were clueless and reluctant to help Axton’s parents.
Axton’s family changed all of their personal information and moved to different addresses, but the identity thief followed them wherever they went. Convinced that the thief had to be someone they knew, Axton and her parents completely cut off the outside world, isolating themselves from friends and family. Axton learned not to let anyone into the house without explicit permission, and once went as far as chasing a plumber off their property with a knife.As a result, Axton spent her formative years crippled by anxiety, quarantined behind the closed curtains in her childhood home. She began starving herself at a young age in an effort to blend in–her appearance could be nothing short of perfect or she would be scolded by her mother, who had become paranoid and consumed by how others perceived the family.
Years later, her parents’ marriage still shaken from the theft, Axton discovered that she, too, had fallen prey to the identity thief, but by the time she realized, she was already thousands of dollars in debt and her credit was ruined.The Less People Know About Us is Axton’s attempt to untangle an intricate web of lies, and to understand why and how a loved one could have inflicted such pain. Axton will present a candid, shocking, and redemptive story and reveal her courageous effort to grapple with someone close that broke the unwritten rules of love, protection, and family.... Read more -
El Chapo
- By: Noah Hurowitz
- Narrator: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 12 hours 39 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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3.88(154 ratings)
3.88(154 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0023.99 USDA stunning investigation of the life and legend of Mexican kingpin Joaquin Archivaldo “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, building on Noah Hurowitz’s revelatory coverage for Rolling Stone of El Chapo’s federal drug-traffickingA stunning investigation of the life and legend of Mexican kingpin Joaquin Archivaldo “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, building on Noah Hurowitz’s revelatory coverage for Rolling Stone of El Chapo’s federal drug-trafficking trial.
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This is the true story of how El Chapo built the world’s wealthiest and most powerful drug-trafficking operation, based on months’ worth of trial testimony and dozens of interviews with cartel gunmen, Mexican journalists and political figures, Chapo’s family members, and the DEA agents who brought him down.
Over the course of three decades, El Chapo was responsible for smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, meth, and fentanyl around the world, becoming in the process the most celebrated and reviled drug lord since Pablo Escobar. El Chapo waged ruthless wars against his rivals and former allies, plunging vast areas of Mexico into unprecedented levels of violence, even as many in his home state of Sinaloa continued to view him as a hero.
This unputdownable book, written by a great new talent, brings El Chapo’s exploits into a focus that previous profiles have failed to capture. Hurowitz digs in deep beyond the legends and delves into El Chapo’s life and legacy–not just the hunt for him, revealing some of the most dramatic and often horrifying moments of his notorious career, including the infamous prison escapes, brutal murders, multi-million-dollar government payoffs, and the paranoia and narcissism that led to his downfall. From the evolution of organized crime in Mexico to the militarization of the drug war to the devastation wrought on both sides of the border by the introduction of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, this book is a gripping and comprehensive work of investigative, on-the-ground reporting. -
Vendetta
- By: James Neff
- Narrator: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hours 18 minutes
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Publish date: July 07, 2015
- Language: English
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3.81(291 ratings)
3.81(291 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0025.98 USDOne of America’s greatest investigative reporters brings to life the gripping, no-holds-barred clash of two American titans: Robert Kennedy and his nemesis Jimmy Hoffa. From 1957 to 1964, Robert Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa channeled nearly all ofOne of America’s greatest investigative reporters brings to life the gripping, no-holds-barred clash of two American titans: Robert Kennedy and his nemesis Jimmy Hoffa.... Read moreFrom 1957 to 1964, Robert Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa channeled nearly all of their considerable powers into destroying each other. Kennedy’s battle with Hoffa burst into the public consciousness with the 1957 Senate Rackets Committee hearings and intensified when his brother named him attorney general in 1961. RFK put together a “Get Hoffa” squad within the Justice Department, devoted to destroying one man. But Hoffa, with nearly unlimited Teamster funds, was not about to roll over.
Drawing upon a treasure trove of previously secret and undisclosed documents, James Neff has crafted a brilliant, heart-pounding epic of crime and punishment, a saga of venom and relentlessness and two men willing to do anything to demolish each other.
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Wolf Boys
- By: Dan Slater
- Narrator: Pete Simonelli
- Length: 10 hours 24 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2016
- Language: English
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3.73(1170 ratings)
3.73(1170 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDThe tale of two American teenagers recruited as killers for a Mexican cartel, and the Mexican American detective who realizes the War on Drugs is unstoppable. “A hell of a story…undeniably gripping.” (The New York Times)In thisThe tale of two American teenagers recruited as killers for a Mexican cartel, and the Mexican American detective who realizes the War on Drugs is unstoppable. “A hell of a story…undeniably gripping.” (The New York Times)
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In this astonishing story, journalist Dan Slater recounts the unforgettable odyssey of Gabriel Cardona. At first glance, Gabriel is the poster-boy American teenager: athletic, bright, handsome, and charismatic. But the ghettos of Laredo, Texas–his border town–are full of smugglers and gangsters and patrolled by one of the largest law-enforcement complexes in the world. It isn’t long before Gabriel abandons his promising future for the allure of juvenile crime, which leads him across the river to Mexico’s most dangerous drug cartel: Los Zetas. Friends from his childhood join him and eventually they catch the eye of the cartel’s leadership.
As the cartel wars spill over the border, Gabriel and his crew are sent to the States to work. But in Texas, the teen hit men encounter a Mexican-born homicide detective determined to keep cartel violence out of his adopted country. Detective Robert Garcia’s pursuit of the boys puts him face-to-face with the urgent consequences and new security threats of a drug war he sees as unwinnable.
In Wolf Boys, Slater takes readers on a harrowing, often brutal journey into the heart of the Mexican drug trade. Ultimately though, Wolf Boys is the intimate story of the lobos: teens turned into pawns for the cartels. A nonfiction thriller, it reads with the emotional clarity of a great novel, yet offers its revelations through extraordinary reporting. -
Where the Bodies Were Buried
- By: T. J. English
- Narrator: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 16 hours 10 minutes
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Publish date: September 15, 2015
- Language: English
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3.73(489 ratings)
3.73(489 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0031.99 USDThe New York Times bestselling author of The Westies and Paddy Whacked offers a front-row seat at the trial of Whitey Bulger, and an intimate view of the world of organized crime–and law enforcement–that made him the defining IrishThe New York Times bestselling author of The Westies and Paddy Whacked offers a front-row seat at the trial of Whitey Bulger, and an intimate view of the world of organized crime–and law enforcement–that made him the defining Irish American gangster.
For sixteen years, Whitey Bulger eluded the long reach of the law. For decades one of the most dangerous men in America, Bulger–the brother of influential Massachusetts senator Billy Bulger–was often romanticized as a Robin Hood-like thief and protector. While he was functioning as the de facto mob boss of New England, Bulger was also serving as a Top Echelon informant for the FBI, covertly feeding local prosecutors information about other mob figures–while using their cover to cleverly eliminate his rivals, reinforce his own power, and protect himself from prosecution. Then, in 2011, he was arrested in southern California and returned to Boston, where he was tried and convicted of racketeering and murder.
Our greatest chronicler of the Irish mob in America, T. J. English covered the trial at close range–by day in the courtroom, but also, on nights and weekends, interviewing Bulger’s associates as well as lawyers, former federal agents, and even members of the jury in the backyards and barrooms of Whitey’s world. In Where the Bodies Were Buried, he offers a startlingly revisionist account of Bulger’s story–and of the decades-long culture of collusion between the Feds and the Irish and Italian mob factions that have ruled New England since the 1970s, when a fateful deal left the FBI fatally compromised. English offers an authoritative look at Bulger’s own understanding of his relationship with the FBI and his alleged immunity deal, and illuminates how gangsterism, politics, and law enforcement have continued to be intertwined in Boston.
As complex, harrowing, and human as a Scorsese film, Where the Bodies Were Buried is the last word on a reign of terror that many feared would never end.
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The King of Con
- By: Thomas Giacomaro
- Narrator: Thomas Giacomaro
- Length: 8 hours 50 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2018
- Language: English
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3.66(244 ratings)
3.66(244 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDA Jersey boy with a knack for numbers, a gift for making people trust him, and an all-consuming hunger to be king of the business world, Tom Giacomaro could convince anyone of anything. As a teenager, Tom Giacomaro began working in the mob-ladenA Jersey boy with a knack for numbers, a gift for making people trust him, and an all-consuming hunger to be king of the business world, Tom Giacomaro could convince anyone of anything.
As a teenager, Tom Giacomaro began working in the mob-laden New Jersey trucking industry. A charming, brash-talking salesman, he climbed the ranks, and let his lust for money and relationships with New York and Philadelphia crime families send him spiraling into a world of drugs and violence. Forced to go on the lam in South Africa and Europe he returned a year later–with millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds stuffed in his underwear. And that’s only the beginning.
In his memoir, Tom details how he eventually hashed out a deal with the FBI, agreeing to become a special crime informant to avoid jail time–only he somehow manages not to rat anyone out and, incredibly, continues his high-finance, shady dealings, luring celebrities and other high-profile contacts to invest millions in his new business ventures. When it all inevitably comes crashing down, Tom is thrown in prison for over a decade–yet, even behind bars, he’s able to get what he wants from anyone: the warden, the doctors, the guards, and his fellow inmates … and finds a way to get released early.
Cowritten by Natasha Stoynoff, The King of Con is the true story about a smart, streetwise Jersey boy who talked his way to the top and became richer and more successful than his wildest dreams. It offers an unforgettable look into the life of a man who became hooked on living life to thrilling and dangerous excess, rubbing elbows with celebrities and crime bosses, until he was humbled by the FBI, by the US Attorney, and by life itself.
Now, Tom is back in his old New Jersey neighborhood. His mob cronies are calling, his palms are itching to make billions again, and the US Attorney’s office is watching. Will he stay on the straight and narrow, or will he return to his old ways and steal back his crown of crime as the King of Con?
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Black Bird
- By: James Keene
- Narrator: Robertson Dean
- Length: 7 hours 26 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2010
- Language: English
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3.62(168 ratings)
3.62(168 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0016.95 USDJimmy Keene grew up outside of Chicago and was destined for greatness on the football field. By the time he reached his twenties, he was rubbing shoulders with famous actors, porn stars, and the children of powerful politicians. He had it all: cars,Jimmy Keene grew up outside of Chicago and was destined for greatness on the football field. By the time he reached his twenties, he was rubbing shoulders with famous actors, porn stars, and the children of powerful politicians. He had it all: cars, girls, and houses up and down the Gold Coast. But behind his well-connected star athlete facade was the man who paid for it all: a money-obsessed drug dealer desperate to make the big score that will get him out of the business. Soon a few costly mistakes left Keene with a ten-year prison term and no chance of parole.
At that point it seemed the only lessons he would learn would be about navigating convict society as deftly as he had the world of drugs. Instead, less than a year into his sentence, Keene was offered a chance to regain his freedom in return for going undercover in the nation’s highest security prison for the criminally insane. His task was to get friendly with Larry Hall, a suspected serial rapist and murderer, obtain his confession, and find out where the body of one of his victim’s was buried. If he succeeded, Keene would get an unconditional release. If he failed, he’d have no choice but to ride out his term. If he was found out, he could also be killed.
For nearly a year, Keene walked the line between the part he played and the self he hoped to redeem, all the while dodging punches from deranged inmates, currying favor with imprisoned Mafia dons, and staying beneath the radar of Larry’s oddly protective psychiatrist.
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Manhattan Cult Story
- By: Spencer Schneider
- Narrator: Austin Rising
- Length: 8 hours 1 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: July 05, 2022
- Language: English
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3.59(335 ratings)
3.59(335 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDRight under the noses of neighbors, clients, spouses, children, and friends, a secret society, simply called School–a cult of snared Manhattan professionals–has been led by the charismatic, sociopathic, and dangerous leader Sharon GansRight under the noses of neighbors, clients, spouses, children, and friends, a secret society, simply called School–a cult of snared Manhattan professionals–has been led by the charismatic, sociopathic, and dangerous leader Sharon Gans for decades. Spencer Schneider was recruited in the eighties, and he stayed for more than twenty-three years as his life disintegrated, his self-esteem eroded, and he lined the pockets of Gans and her cult. Cult members met twice weekly, though they never acknowledged one another outside of meetings or gatherings. In the name of inner development, they endured the horrors of mental, sexual, and physical abuse, forced labor, arranged marriages, swindled inheritances and savings, and systematic terrorizing. Some of them broke the law. All for Gans. “During those years,” Schneider writes, “my world was School. That’s what it’s like when you’re in a cult, even one that preys on and caters to New York’s educated elite. This is my story of how I got entangled in School and how I got out.” At its core, Manhattan Cult Story is a cautionary tale of how hundreds of well-educated, savvy, and prosperous New Yorkers became fervent followers of a brilliant but demented cult leader who posed as a teacher of ancient knowledge. It’s about double-lives, the power of group psychology, and how easy it is to be radicalized–all too relevant in today’s atmosphere of conspiracy and ideologue worship.
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Flim-Flam Man
- By: Jennifer Vogel
- Narrator: Karen White
- Length: 8 hours 1 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2021
- Language: English
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3.46(137 ratings)
3.46(137 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0019.95 USDThe major motion picture Flag Day starring Sean Penn and his daughter Dylan Penn is based on this father-daughter story of a charming criminal–told by the daughter who loved him. One frosty winter morning in 1995, Jennifer Vogel opened theThe major motion picture Flag Day starring Sean Penn and his daughter Dylan Penn is based on this father-daughter story of a charming criminal–told by the daughter who loved him.
One frosty winter morning in 1995, Jennifer Vogel opened the newspaper and read that her father had gone on the run. John Vogel, fifty-two, had been arrested for single-handedly counterfeiting nearly $20 million in US currency–the fourth-largest sum ever seized by federal agents–and then had been released pending trial. Though Jennifer hadn’t spoken to her father in more than four years, the police suspected he might turn up at her Minneapolis apartment. She examined the shadows outside her building, and thought she spotted him at the grocery store and the bus stop. He had simply vanished.
Framed around the six months her father eluded authorities, Jennifer’s memoir documents the police chase–stakeouts, lie-detector tests, even a segment on Unsolved Mysteries–and vividly chronicles her tumultuous childhood while examining her father’s legacy.
A lifelong criminal who robbed banks, burned down buildings, scammed investors, and even plotted murder, John Vogel was also a hapless dreamer who wrote a novel, baked lemon meringue pies, and took his ten-year-old daughter to see Rocky in an empty theater on Christmas Eve. When it came time to pass his counterfeit bills, he spent them at Wal-Mart for political reasons.
Culling from memories, photo albums, public documents, and interviews with the handful of people who knew the real John Vogel, this is an intimate and intensely moving psychological portrait of a charismatic, larger-than-life figure–as told by the daughter who nearly followed in his footsteps.
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A Daughter’s Deadly Deception
- By: Jeremy Grimaldi
- Narrator: Joe Hempel
- Length: 12 hours 9 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: January 07, 2020
- Language: English
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3.45(644 ratings)
3.45(644 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USDFrom the outside looking in, Jennifer Pan seemed like a model daughter living a perfect life. The ideal child, the one her immigrant parents saw, was studying to become a pharmacist at the University of Toronto. But there was a dark, deceptive sideFrom the outside looking in, Jennifer Pan seemed like a model daughter living a perfect life. The ideal child, the one her immigrant parents saw, was studying to become a pharmacist at the University of Toronto. But there was a dark, deceptive side to the angelic young woman. In reality, Jennifer spent her days in the arms of her high-school sweetheart, Daniel. In an attempt to lead the life she dreamed of, she would do almost anything: lie about her whereabouts, forge school documents, and invent fake jobs and a fictitious apartment. For many years she led this double life. But when her father discovered her web of lies, his ultimatum was severe. And so, too, was her revenge: a plan that culminated in cold-blooded murder. And it almost worked, except for one bad shot. The story of Jennifer Pan is one of all-consuming love and devious betrayal that led to a cold-hearted plan hatched by a group of youths who thought they could pull off the perfect crime.
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The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts
- By: Laura Tillman
- Narrator: Julia Whelan
- Length: 6 hours 47 minutes
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
- Publish date: January 01, 2016
- Language: English
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3.35(962 ratings)
3.35(962 ratings)Regular Price:Try for $0.0017.99 USD“A haunted, haunting examination of mental illness and murder in a more or less ordinary American city…Mature and thoughtful…A Helter Skelter for our time, though without a hint of sensationalism–unsettling in the extreme but“A haunted, haunting examination of mental illness and murder in a more or less ordinary American city…Mature and thoughtful…A Helter Skelter for our time, though without a hint of sensationalism–unsettling in the extreme but written with confidence and deep empathy” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
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On March 11, 2003, in Brownsville, Texas–one of America’s poorest cities–John Allen Rubio and Angela Camacho murdered their three young children. The apartment building in which the brutal crimes took place was already run down, and in their aftermath a consensus developed in the community that it should be destroyed.
In 2008, journalist Laura Tillman covered the story for The Brownsville Herald. The questions it raised haunted her and set her on a six-year inquiry into the larger significance of such acts, ones so difficult to imagine or explain that their perpetrators are often dismissed as monsters alien to humanity. Tillman spoke with the lawyers who tried the case, the family’s neighbors and relatives and teachers, even one of the murderers: John Allen Rubio himself, whom she corresponded with for years and ultimately met in person. Her investigation is “a dogged attempt to understand what happened, a review of the psychological, sociological and spiritual explanations for the crime…a meditation on the death penalty and on the city of Brownsville” Star Tribune (Minneapolis).
The result is a brilliant exploration of some of our age’s most important social issues and a beautiful, profound meditation on the truly human forces that drive them. “This thought-provoking…book exemplifies provocative long-form journalism that does not settle for easy answers” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.
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