True Crime Books

I first read this book about 25 years ago, and have read it several times since. It is just as intriguing today as then. I never go by the Robinson-Hill home or Ash's, that I dont think about this long ago saga. I thought Thompson did a masterful job telling the events of this case. It was the talk of Houston for years. Recently I even saw pictures of the inside of the home on a website about this case. Joan Robinson Hills grave in partially hidden by a tree. You have to really look to see it.

Truly a spellbinding well told tale of an incredible series of mysterious deaths among the rich horsey set in Houston during the late 60's, early 70's. The Blood of the title is not about gore but about the strange family goings on, with venomous old coots, cool as can be madams, drug addicts, liars, and gossips. Money is all over the place in this, impacting family relationships and infecting the court system in ways so bizarre you find yourself saying "They couldn't have!" like some shocked old Victorian. Very, very good.

Thompson's book is a brilliant recreation of the crime and its aftermath. It was especially interesting to me because my mother knew Joan Robinson Hill through the world of American Saddlebred horses. While it is glaringly evident from numerous errors that Thompson knew nothing whatsoever about show horses (and didn't take the trouble to find out), the remainder of the book could not have been better done. A real page turner.

i love true crime and this one happens to be my ALL TIME FAVORITE!!! trust me, you will love it. it's the bible of true crime.

If you read this review, it will reveal the end of the story as portrayed in the book. However, you will have a more accurate picture of the events with which the book deals. The book concludes with the conviction of Lilla Paulus as a participant in the murder of John Hill. The impression is also strongly conveyed that Ash Robinson paid to have Hill killed. However, the book fails to reveal the conviction of Paulus was reversed on appeal for insufficient evidence, and a judgment of acquittal was entered. Also, Ash Robinson, Paulus and others were unsuccessfully sued in a civil action for the wrongful death of Hill. The book spends a good bit of time discussing the legal requirement of evidence independently corroborative of accomplice testimony in a murder case; it was the lack of such corroboration that led to the acquittal of Paulus on appeal. However, there is no such requirement in a civil action. But in the civil action the jury found no conspiracy by Robinson, Paulus and others in the death of Hill; this judgment was affirmed on appeal. These decisions may be found in the opinions of the Texas appellate courts, which go into some detail of the records of the trials. While these decisions were handed down after the book was published, and therefore would not have been available to the author, nevertheless from the written opinion in the Paulus criminal appeal one can glean certain omissions in Thompson's account. For instance, Lilla Paulus' daughter gave damning testimony against her. Thompson fails to mention at all that Paulus' son contradicted his sister on certain key testimony. While the book is an engrossing read, one must question the overall accuracy and completeness of the story as portrayed therein in light of these omissions.

The way it was written the story read like a dark comedy. For instance, when Pat Radcliffe accuses Walter Allanson of exposing himself he denies it by stating the he hasn't had sex in years because he can't get an erection...his lengthy explanation is so quirky it becomes comical. Then there's the chapter where Tom Allanson hides in a hole in the basement of his parents home, and Walter pokes him and yells to his wife "I got him trapped in the hole." All of the characters are very eccentric and quirky, and it's so hard to take them seriously because the way their actions and mannerisms are presented the story reads both bazaar and farcical. Nevertheless, Pat does indeed come off as manipulative, sinister, and evil in a very real way. I think much of the book was padded, and the story could have been told using far less space than it did.

I've become something of an Ann Rule junkie over the last year, after friends gave me her Green River Killer book as a present during a hospital stay.
I found myself a bit intimidated by the size of this volume. But, I dove in and was glad I did as it tuned out to be quite the page-turner.

I found myself filled with all sorts of emotions while reading 'Pats' tale. Anger and disgust that she was allowed to hurt so many people. I felt a sense of incredulous humor as time after time her actions were forgiven and she continued being enabled by her family.
I even admire her in a strange way. Despite only a tenth grade education, she was an absolute master at the art of scheming and manipulating people. Devoting as muchtime and energy into destroying others than most people put into a lifetime working 9-5. One wonders what she might have accomplished had she been given a little discipline.

If this truely were a just universe, this creature would still be rotting in prison somewhere, rather than living free in Georgia.

At first, this story would not have been interesting without Ann Rule's insights into the diabolical mind of Mary Patricia Vann Radcliffe Taylor Allanson who was always the center of attention since her infancy. Her crimes are just shocking and always selfish to best suit her needs. Never mind that she provoked her brother's suicide by outing his former girlfriend or revealing his true paternity, she manipulated her former husband to murder his own parents, she poisoned his grandparents and those she took care of. how did she get such a position when it was already known that she poisoned her husband's grandparents as well and went to jail. She is a true sociopath in the terms of Sante Kimes. You have to feel pity and admiration for Susan, the daughter, who went against the family, and even Debbie who played the dutiful daughter unaware of her mother's true intentions. Ann Rule is again in Georgia working on another true crime story. This story should be made into a movie as well. Of course, Ann has moved on with other stories but this story is with you long after you stop reading it. It's such a shame that there are no color pictures in my book but black and white. The story is long and complicated. Pat's crimes won't be forgotten. Her daughter Susan's only crime was being truthful. How she didn't get stopped before is a wonder?

I was able to keep up with the order in which the events occured without much effort. That means a lot when you only have time to read a chapter before you have to go to work or other things. But one thing that did tend to drive me crazy was the author's cont. comments about the allegedly beauty of Pat Allanson. From the pictures that were in the book except for when she was three I thought maybe the author was being fecisious. Pat may not be ugly but beautiful is a little over the top. The women has buck teeth for goodness sake. And that picture of her in a two piece were not exactly model looks. I also had a hard time feeling any sympathy for her victims except the elderly ones. Her oldest daughter for example was given many clues about what her mother was doing and she chose to ignor it as did so many others. Since that was their choice I find it hard to feel sorry for them. Of course her parents got just what they deserved. Anyway except for that loved the book.

I blame Ann Rule for making me forget all about Thomas Hardy and the 19th century and turning me to a life of crime.
After I read her book, "The Stranger Beside Me," (about working beside Ted Bundy before he was known as our nation's first true serial killer) I was hooked on crime and non-fiction. Unfortunately, I found out that most crime writers don't write like Ann Rule. She is very special.
True, the book "Everything She Ever Wanted" has been out for years and it doesn't need any kind of comment or review by the likes of me....But I spotted it in one of my bookshelves, took it out, thumbed through it, ended up reading it again and....There just aren't that many non-fiction crime books of the high caliber Rule sets. She is the ablsolute best. (Except for maybe that guy who wrote "Echos in the Darkness" or whatever it was called.)
I e-mailed her once to tell her how disappointed I was by the last book (at the time) she'd written. To my shock, she e-mailed me back and in a 'round about way told me I'd hurt her feelings. Though she made me feel awful, I still think that book she wrote about the husband from San Antonio killing his wife wasn't up there compared to her others.
"Everything She Ever Wanted" is about a woman who loves no one but herself. If she'd loved any other human as much as she loved herself, she'd been crowned a saint.

This review is not going to be long and drawn out. Quite simply this is the best book I have read dealing with the Russian mafia. It deals very extensively with Mr. Serio's experiences in the former Soviet Union. The only thing better then reading this book would be to take one of his classes or attend one of his lectures. Either way, this is a must for anyone wanting to take a look into the rising global power that is the Russian mafia. Enjoy, and buy two copies! It makes a great gift if you've got organized crime investigators as friends.

WHAT IF SCENARIOS

Joseph Serio is no neophyte when it comes to the obfuscation of Soviet and Russian crime and justice statistics. His internship tenure at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) and his earlier book, USSR Crime Statistics and Summaries: 1989 and 1990, (OICJ Press, 1992) provide critical insights into the processes of compiling, replication and analysis of crime statistics by the Communist and post-Communist governments. It is clear that the central dilemma of what we know - or think we know - about the Russian mafia is intimately connected to the business of the production and consumption of information (impression management). This book is not your standard remuneration of comparative statistics and turgid didactic of comparative crime. Rather, it launches into a cognitive challenge at deciphering historical demographics, national character, culture, mores and, importantly, how to create what if scenarios in the quest of defining and better understanding both the Western purview and the Russian mafia of today. This book is one of the finest examples of contextualizing the content and embodiment of Russian Mafia available. It belongs on the desk of every dedicated analyst, researcher, and critical essayist studying the gut and underbelly of organized crime in the context of our post-modern times.

Jess Maghan, PhD
Chester, CT

This is an important book, not only because it tells us something about the state of affairs in Russia, but also because it gives insight into things popular history is content to pass over. We like labels and select details that fit comfortable paradigms. We want bite-sized stories of human drama from the media that fit, rather than question, our preconceived notions. But history is messier than this and books should go beyond the obvious. They are a chance to get it right. That's exactly what Joe Serio tries to do. He lived in the former Soviet Union for seven years witnessing the country and culture form many different angles. He was the only American to work in the Organized crime Control Department of the Soviet police and has been a consultant to "The New York Times," "The Washington Post," CNN and the BBC. He also played harmonica in a Russian rock `n roll band.

As comprehensive as this book is (with footnotes, flow charts and a thorough index) it is very readable. It is divided into three parts. The first deals with the term "mafia" as applied to the Soviets, the nature and number of crime groups in that country, and the role of the media. Part two examines key issues in the rise of criminal organizations and gives some perspective from the past 400 years that helps us understand the long-term context of the problem. Part three takes a close look at criminal organizations, business, and law enforcement--three spheres inextricably linked in a struggle for power in Russia. I love it when the author says, "There's little in the former Soviet Union that can't be found in the West including organized crime, extensive corruption, fraud, demoralizing poverty and biased media." In other words a look at this other side of the world also gives us a glimpse in the mirror at ourselves.

He explains that in the Russian language, there are two different adjectives for what appears in English as the single word "Russian." The first, "russkii," means humble, homely, sacred--it is definitely feminine. The second, "rossiiskii," is grandiose, cosmopolitan and secular--it is masculine. This latter term stems from nationhood formed by empire building. We Americans (who are pretty good at heart) understand this dichotomy, particularly when our own country is disdained by others because of its role as superpower and self-proclaimed enemy of terrorism. An idealistic, military role our political leaders embrace that seems at odds with the less presumptuous values of the "common man." In any case, Serio's point in addressing the "mafia" label is that, "the invasion of the mafia that was spoken of so often was really a cancer that grew from within the rotting body of the host organism." It is precisely the country's flawed structure that makes crime in the former Soviet Union so dangerous: "The major problem was that the rules of the mafia-like Communist Party and the rules of the traditional criminal world became the rules of the whole society."

I can remember in the early seventies visiting Sofia, Bulgaria, and seeing first hand the godfather-like authority of party officials extending far beyond the governmental system or their official positions. Why wouldn't that remain and, in fact, assume even greater importance when the political structure collapsed? And so the criminal underworld and the criminal upperworld started to merge. Of course that kind of oppression knows no boundaries, and it seems to me the only way to fight it is to more thorough better understanding. The Soviet Union was never a superpower. It had military strength but not the infrastructure (that was sacrificed to build that military strength). It was convenient for our politicians to identify those people as "the enemy" but various populations of the USSR were (and continue to be) its victims. Rather than a cut and dried, the good vs. the bad scenario, players today are "hopelessly entangled in a game where the line between legality and illegality is far from clear."


I don't know what that means for businesses, tourists, and even governments who now interact with that part of the world, but comprehending the past, understanding the larger context of existing problems and appreciating the things that keep us in ignorance of one another, is a start.

This was a very interesting read. If you are planning a vacation to Duluth, MN and visiting Glensheen, this makes the history and the tour a lot more interesting. I would recommend reading this if you are going visit Glensheen or just like a good true murder mystery.

I just finished reading Will to Murder and I couldn't put it down until I was done with it. I read the first few chapters then toured Glensheen. It was very helpful knowing some of the history of the house and the murders and knowing exactly which rooms they happened in. The tour guide was asked how the University got the mansion and the tour guide said Elizabeth passed away. She didn't once say anything about the murders. The daughter has a lot of problems.

As a life-long resident of Minnesota and a frequent visitor of Duluth, home of the famous Congdon mansion (aka Glensheen), I grew up with a vague idea of the murders that happened in that house. The story was that one of the adopted children of the elderly Ms. Congdon killed the poor woman for money. After reading this book, I see how very, very little I really knew--about the murder AND about Marjorie Congdon. As it turns out, being associated with the vicious murder of her own mother is virtually just part of a "normal" day for Marjorie. I was absolutely floored by her outrageous behavior--all in the name of attention and extreme greed. She literally stopped at nothing to get her way, and if opposed she exacted calculated revenge to very scary degrees. I've loaned my copy of this book to several people and have recommended it to many. In fact, while on a second tour of Glensheen recently, I stood in the gift store and pointed it out to patrons. There are many books about Marjorie, but I doubt any of them is as comprehensive as this one. It's written by the journalist who covered much of Marjorie's court drama and who became well acquainted with the lawyer from whose point of view the story is often told. It's far more than "just the facts." It's written like a novel with richly-drawn human characters. (Truly, it seems fictional sometimes, because I've never known anyone who pulled off what Marjorie does.) The book also includes a good selection of photographs and provides an up-to-date account of Marjorie's latest status. In conclusion, you don't need to be from Minnesota or even the Midwest to appreciate this book. It's an American tragedy, quite certainly. And you'll find yourself recommending it often.

A 113 year old murder mystery equal to the tale of Lizzy Borden and almost every bit as violent as the actions of "Jack the Ripper." The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke becomes a contemporary 19th century postscript of the "Salem Witch Trials."

Unlike those cases of notoriety, the main suspects in this case were ..."Irish Fairies!" Irish Fairies that is, with the assistance of poor Bridget Cleary's husband (and several family members).

In 1895, Michael Cleary beat, and then set his wife, Bridget on fire in their "salubrious Irish cottage." Michael took it upon himself to "exorcise" the Fairies from her with a good dose of cleansing fire and just for good measure, added an accelerant of paraffin oil from a near by lamp. Surely the Fairies vacated the premisis after that but, unfortunately ... so did the life of Bridget.

Superstition, premeditated murder or, lustfull kiling...you be the judge.

The reality of a hangman's noose ironically over shadowed the world of demonic fairies and Michael Cleary (and family members) withdrew their plea of "Not Guilty" and opted to plead to the charge of "Manslaughter"( at least, the suffix portion of that word describes the real act).

For that plea, Michael Cleary received 5 years and was subsequnetly released early for "Good Behavior."

Angela Bourke did a superb job of introducing the reader to the cultural aspects of Irish lore, and superstition (especially in Chapter 2). She weaves this world of Fairies and Celtic superstions throughout the book and it's tragic story. However, much of her information seemed out of order and tended to bogg down the flow of the case story that she was trying to portray. It was as though, the book became a mixture of college text, and historical biography. Despite the interesting information put forth by the author, the book is not necessarily a smooth read. Had Ms. Bourke utilized a different style of writing, the story would have been much more exciting to follow.

If, you are a student of turn of the century murder cases, or a collector of Celtic lore, then this book would be a good one to have at least, for reference material.

Just in time for Halloween, I finished reading The Burning of Bridget Cleary. The book is a very good narrative and analysis of the mysterious death of 26-year-old Bridget Cleary on March 15, 1895 in Ballyvadlea, Ireland. Apparently Bridget was believed by her family to have been taken away by "the fairies" and a sickly changeling left in her place. In the course of trying to determine if the Bridget in his house was really his wife, her husband Michael exploded into a rage and Bridget either caught fire or was intentionally ignited. Author Angela Bourke expertly places us in the politics and culture of the time, helping us to understand what might have caused seemingly rational people to behave in a way that is nearly inexplainable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history, folklore, true crime, the supernatural, or sociology.

This should have been a compelling story. Instead the reader has to piece the details of the crime together as the author goes off on endless tangents. These tangents are supposed to illustrate historical and folklorical Ireland. The crime surely could have been a very fascinating read if it weren't for the abundance of nonsense that overhwelms it. Some of the history and folklore is certainly relevant but there is much too much. I found myself skipping through stories of Oscar Wilde (?!) just to get to the next portion of the murder tale. This book is unclear and verbose at the same time. A decent true crime writer could very easily have made this incredible story into a readable account..even while including history.

You would hardly believe that this is not a novel. The story is gripping and the author's telling of it is masterful. Bourke not only relates the facts of the case, she evokes the spirit of the age. What is more, she skillfully portrays how folk beliefs and superstitions are intimately intertwined with power and the status quo. In a quasi-religious kind of way, the folk beliefs of the community in the novel form the basis of control. In our 21st century world, driven by empirical evidence, the rule of rational law is paramount. In the absence of such laws, folk beliefs functioned to shape society and were used to legitimise the punishment of those who stepped outside the bounds of the status quo. This book is truly fascinating and a must-read for anyone interested in human belief systems and the way they shape society. On top of what we can learn from it, it is also just a truly wonderful story, horrific, poignant and altogether human.

THE BURNING OF BRIDGET CLEARY catches the eye immediately with its eerie (hardcover) illustration of a ghostly woman floating in midair superimposed over a man's stern, shadowy face. Lovers of all things Irish will find this horrifying true story of the life and death of Bridget Cleary of County Tipperary particularly disturbing, set as it is in the bucolic Irish countryside of the late 19th Century.

Visitors to Ireland will be aware of what author Angela Bourke calls "townlands." An inexact term, it describes rural places that are not on any map. Certainly not towns, nor even villages or hamlets, these places consist of a few adjacent farmsteads and perhaps a freestanding house or two, set off from other such places by fields, and perhaps by a large boulder carved with the name of the place. Populated by only a few families, who living cheek-by-jowl for hundreds of years are interlinked but independent, such places exist "there but not there," a reality which has informed the Irish mind and character for generations.

Ms. Bourke, a lecturer in Irish history, uses the death of Bridget Cleary as a paradigm for cultural change and disruption. Bridget Cleary died in 1895 because the "modern" Social Darwinist linearly organized, scientific, English-speaking and aggressively concrete universe of the late Victorian era butted heads with the "traditional" non-linear, symbological Gaelic-speaking world it was supplanting.

At first glance, Bridget and Michael Cleary would seem to have been thoroughly "modern." Both Michael and Bridget were educated and literate. She was a trained dressmaker who owned her own Singer machine. He was a tradesman, a cooper, who worked in a large commercial brewery. For their time and place they were affluent. They lived in the newest and most modern house in Ballyvadlea, a place in the south riding of County Tipperary.

There were a few disquieting elements in their lives. They were childless after six years of marriage, the focus of much stigma in staunchly Catholic Ireland at the time. They were close friends with William Simpson, the despised local "Emergencyman" or landlord's agent, a Protestant. Ballyvadlea, though only a few miles from the modernized town of Fethard, still had a percentage of primarily Irish-speaking inhabitants amongst its small population.

Bridget was contemporaneously described as "very pretty" (the local collective memory nowadays describes her as "sexy"), and stylish (she made her own fashionable clothes and wore gold earrings). She was also described as "stubborn" and "headstrong," probably a difficult and somewhat vain young woman. These traits could not have endeared her to the people of Ballyvadlea, mostly her rustic relatives, among whom she had grown up. There were also backbiting whispers that the attractive, engaging Bridget might have been having an affair with the handsome, dandified William Simpson, a rumor which, even if untrue, would have caused outrage in their spouses, both of whom were older.

In March 1895, Bridget caught a cold which soon developed into a serious respiratory infection. The odds are that today's modern medicine would have stopped the illness in it's tracks. Antibiotics not having been discovered, the Clearys were forced to rely on an assortment of patent medicines, and sought the aid of the local Health Service Doctor, a notorious drunk, who did not come when called.

In the interim, the untreated Bridget became more and more "demanding" and "excitable." This is understandable, considering that any minor illness could become a life-threatening condition very easily in that time and place. Bridget was no doubt frightened at the possibility that she might die. Unfortunately, Michael Cleary's father passed away suddenly at this point, adding to the overall level of tension in the house.

The five days the doctor stayed away allowed Bridget's illness to run rampant. Finally arriving, he prescribed some medication and went on his way. When Bridget did not improve, Michael revisited the doctor, a confrontation which ended in a shouting match. Disgusted, Michael chose to visit the local "quack doctor" (traditional herbalists were so called because of their association with farmyards). When the quack visited Bridget, whom he knew well, he reacted to her appearance and behavior by saying, "That's not Bridgie!" a comment which soon convinced the locals that the woman in the sickbed was not Michael Cleary's wife but a fairy changeling.

Bridget Cleary's "treatment" then degenerated into a kind of exorcism, which involved forcing her to ingest various foul decoctions of herbs, dousing her with unspeakable liquids, subjecting her to ongoing verbal and physical abuse, the drawing and twisting of her body, and the infliction of pain by various methods in order to drive away the changeling. In the end, her husband immolated her.

The contemporary press leaped on the lurid tale of "The Tipperary Witch Burning" with as much interest as the story would excite today on any media network. Bridget's death made headlines throughout the world. Ms. Bourke argues convincingly that the horrified reaction of the Great British public to the "primitive" mentality demonstrated by Michael Cleary (and by extension in the British mind, all the Irish) was a major element in defeating the Ireland Home Rule bill then before Parliament.

Bourke is also convincing in demonstrating that the burning of Bridget Cleary had more than just political ramifications. It was a pyrrhic victory of the timeless and magical world of ancient Irish traditions over the regimented modern world of the emerging twentienth century. It was specifically a patriarchial act: The men of that traditional world acted to punish a young woman who had stepped beyond the invisible but very real bounds that constrained females in their culture. It is telling that the people of Ballyvadlea let the British authorities themselves bury Bridget, a lifelong neighbor and relation.

Now remembered mostly in a Tipperary children's rhyme, THE BURNING OF BRIDGET CLEARY is a fascinating look at a world in the midst of transition.

I am really surprised by some of the less than favorable reviews of this book. I was hooked at the beginning and had a hard time putting it down. I feel that Kieran Crowley did a brilliant job writing a very detailed, yet very readable account of the Ted Ammon murder.

I recommend this book highly to true crime fans everywhere!

I followed Danny's trial in the papers, so I was surprised by how much I didn't know about this case, and that knowing the final outcome didn't hurt the book's readability. Ted is a nice guy, one of life's winners, which makes him an unlikely and compelling victim. Danny ended up more likable than I expected -- I believe he really did love Generosa and was used and used up by her. She gets the most attention but she's the story's weakest link. She's SOOO crazy she's almost impossible to relate to, and while better-than-average looking, she certainly wasn't gorgeous. Nor especially talented. Why were people drawn to her? Why did they put up with her garbage? This bothered me as I read. Also, Ted had a third child -- a baby boy that he apparently acknowledged. I wish Crowley had told us more about all three of Ted Ammon's children after his murder.

So while it's not terrific "true crime," it's still a worthwhile read.

I found this book to be very good. It flows smoothly throughout and is not riddled with bias. The author did a wonderful job depicting each person. I was truly surprised at how well-written this book was and it was a real "page-turner". Ann Rule, watch out--here is an author who can actually give you a run for your money.
It is mind-numbing reading about the results of two sociopaths who, through fate, end up hooking up with each other. I truly feel sorry for the two children who suffered because of the actions of the adults around them. I highly recommend this book. You will not want to put it down.

This work describes how Ted Ammon turned himself into a very successful businessman as well as, the circomstances that lead him to marriage with his second wife Generosa and addoption of two twin children from abroad. From what I gather, Mr. Ammon truly loved his wife and tried to give her just about anything she might have wished to own. Unfortunately though, it seemed from the reading that Mrs. Ammon was very discontent with herself more often than just being happy and appreciating what she had including the love of her husband. Her unhappiness eventually lead to the marriage falling apart and the twins getting seriously caught in the middle of an unpleasant divorce battle between their parents. The twins were compelled by their mother to take her side and to even snoop by photographing documents on the desk of their Father while he was a sleep. Even sicker yet is the fact that Mr. Ammon was eventually brutally murdered in his home during the night of October 22, 2001 perhaps by Generosa's lover. However, whether he committed the crime remains questionable due to lack of physical evidence that would implicate him as part of the cause of Mr. Ammon's death. The extent of Generosa's involvement in Mr. Ammon's death is also unknown because she has since passed away to cancer.
After finishing the book, I found that it stuck with me for a long time. No matter what enemies Mr. Ammon might have had in the business world, no one should have to endure the kind of fait he encountered on that night of October 2001. I wonder how different it might have all turned out if Mr. Ammon was aware of the spy system that had been installed in his home. I wonder how different it all would have been if Ted Ammon had taken the advice of so many to hire body guards. I wonder just how different it all would have been if Generosa had gotten professional help and stuck with it. If only Mr. Ammon hadn't covered up for her actions as he often did and saw reality coming ...
The bottom line is that it is all so very heartbreaking for everyone involved. To some readers, it may seem as if the author is portraying Generosa as a victim. From my perspective, he is simply explaining to us why Generosa's personality was as it was in life even going back to take a look at her childhood. Perhaps all the wealth didn't make it any better either.
While it is impossible to bring Ted Ammon back, I sincerely hope that the twins will uphold high standards for themselves and do cherritable work in honor of their father's memory.

The story is fascinating: Ted Ammon, a handsome and brilliant man, marries beautiful Generosa Rand; they adopt two gorgeous twins, and set out to enjoy their charmed life among New York's rich and famous. Years later, the couple gets divorced, Generosa hooks up with an electrician with a criminal history (Danny Pelosi), Ted is found murdered, Danny is convicted of the crime, Generosa dies of cancer and the twins are left in the care of a less-than-perfect woman. Dick Wolf wouldn't be able to come up with a story with more twists and turns, and it's no surprise that the New York tabloids had a feast with the Ammon-Pelosi saga.

But Crowley has taken this fascinating story and turned it into a horrible book. His writing is atrocious and he seems incapable of getting even the smallest detail right. One example: "Ammon was also battling the board of his Fifth Avenue co-op building, which was headed by actor Kevin Kline... Had the famous actor-singer of the condo board bumped him off?" asks Crowley.

Well, the building can either be a co-op or a condo, but it can't be both. In one paragraph, Crowley manages to contradict himself. It's a small detail, but the same thing happens over and over in the book (a woman is a blonde in one paragraph and a brunette on the next, Crowley gives one fact on one page and the opposite on the next), and it shows how filled with mistakes and inaccuracies this book is.

This is a fascinating story, which deserved to be told by a much better writer (and reporter) than Kieran Crowley.

Turkus did a ton in uncovering this layer of the inner workings of the mob. The Syndicate was a real threat that, when organized, was dangerous for anyone involved, which was anyone they wanted to involve themselves with. Introducing the Brownsville gang was a great backdrop to laying the foundation to the National Syndicate.

Interesting, though, is that Turkus uncovered so much, and yet when Valachi sang more than a decade later it turned out that Turkus had missed a completely different organized crime with much more secrecy involved around it. This makes sense, in a way, since most of the men testifying and being put away were unable to be "made" men and thus not privy to the inner workings of the real mafia that held the power.

Otherwise a great telling of the Syndication and the 7 executions that resulted from the Canary that couldn't fly. Seeing Lepke go down was amazing, and you can truly see the power of an Anastasia at work when Reles mysteriously jumped/fell out a sixth story window.

A little curious though. Turkus made a big deal about Anastasia's role in Marinzano's death, that he had an Ace of Diamonds in his hand, and yet the cover of the books has a dead man with an Ace of Spades. Is this Maranzano or another death? And if so why the striking similarities? I would have liked to have had these questions answered.

All in all, I would recommend. Read before or in conjunction with The Valachi Papers.

5 stars.

Burton Turkus (1903-1982) was assistant district attorney for Kings County, New York (Brooklyn) in the early 1940's, and successfully prosecuted a number of members of Murder,Inc., sending seven of them to the electric chair. This is the chronicle of his efforts to try to bring down this organization of professional killers. I would have liked this book even more if a section of photos of the main characters had been included, but there aren't any. This is an interesting story, well told and, as the expression goes, it has the added advantage of being true. Readers need to bear in mind that the book was written in 1951 and some of the figures, like Anastasia, were still alive at the time. Later scholarship has disproven some of Turkus' theories about the mob organizations, but that still doesn't detract from the entertainment value of this book.

Glad that I did not live in that era!!A good account of men's cruelty.

Very interesting in that the style of writing reminds one of gangster movies of the period. Definitely a classic of the genre that has stood the test of time.

This book is not just a history of the mob but is part of that history, as Tukus was a prosecutor of the first big cases against the mob. As a prosecutor of the criminals Tukus is hardly objective in his views of them, their lives and so forth. Their horrific deeds speak for themselves but he feels the need to condemn them often, as if preaching to the jury. The stlye is overwhelmed by the 50s journalistic background of the co-author, and I like others find it annoying in its excess of adjectives.
Nevertheless, if you want to know the subject, this is a must read. And with all its flaws, it is still really fun.

This book is one of the main reasons I could not bring myself to vote for former LAPD police chief Bernard Parks, in our most recent mayoral race. Seems we were so worried about more negative press in this city, we too often just looked the other way. One of the better documented works on the subject; the background info on L.A. street gangs, Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. are worth the cost alone. Will keep you glued to the pages.

I recommend this book for several reasons. First off, it is extremely well-written. There's no rambling, it's very well researched, and the way the stories and facts are expressed are not dry at all. The writer, Randall Sullivan, writes for Rolling Stone magazine, so it's presented in that style. Even if you aren't interested in the Tupac/Biggie story, this book still goes deep into the origins of the Bloods and Crips, East coast and West coast rap feuds, and especially, just how corrupt the LAPD was(and probably still is). I've read other books on these subjects, including the recently released book by "hip-hop cop" Derrick Parker, but this book is by far the best. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

If ur a fan of either tupac or biggie GET THIS BOOK .....russell poole blows the lid on how death row was really run. He explaines the level of corruption within the LAPD, and how and why the investigations into their murders remain unsloved. After reading this book, and watching the Nick Sullivan Biggie and Tupac dvd, its plain and obvious to all who was behind their murders!

As a fan of both Tupac and Biggie, I was very interested in learning more about what really went down. Former Officer Poole seems to think he has the answers so I was eager to learn what he knows draw my own conclusions. I was very disappointed.

First of all, to my absolute surprise, nobody else seems to have picked up on the author's extreme bias. For example, on page 14 of the hardcover version, Sullivan notes that "[In the early 1960s], as now, black males committed a hugely disproportionate amount of crime in Los Angeles and across the country." WHAT? I can't even believe that went to print. Question: do black males commit a disproportionate amount of crime in this country or are they accused and convicted disproportionately? At the very least, if you're gonna make such outrageous comments, back it up. With no statistical data, I consider Sullivan's comment to be hearsay. Then, just a few pages later, on page 18, Sullivan gets a little diatribe going about how the LAPD hiring process has become less stringent over time, noting that "liberals had successfully argued that [baring applicants with juvenile records] limited the number of blacks and Hispanics who could join the LAPD." I'm not even 20 pages into the book, and my reading of the author is that he really doesn't like minorities or "liberals," whatever the latter term means to him because he sure doesn't define anything. Yet I decided to take these and similar comments with a grain of salt and press forward with the book.

If one-tenth of what's written in these pages is true, Biggie and Tupac were just as despicible as Suge Knight, the LAPD, the affiliated gangs, the attorneys and just about everyone else who graced the pages of the book. And that made me really sad because it's hard for me to listen to the music the same way. Tupac and Biggie were not innocent; they were just greedy [...] who courted violence successfully. Truthfully, none of the stuff about the LAPD or any of the other authority figures surprised me. Money and testosterone--bad combination. Lest you think I'm a man-hater, the women in this book are appalling, too. I hate to say it but Tupac and Biggie got what they deserved.

I do think that Sullivan's style is extremely readable and engaging. I also like the way he attempted to provide background on the LAPD history, the history of the Crips and the Bloods, etc. If you're not likely to be critical going into this book, it's not bad for escapism. Unless you were living in a plastic bubble or don't keep up w/ current events, I doubt that you'll be blown away by the overall picture Sullivan paints.

An outstanding book. Very well researched and a methodical investigtion of the underworld that the rap music business has become. To the few people who thought that this book was a waste of time I can't imagine that you read the same book. There is so much evidence that the top brass of the LAPD covered up certain investigations that it is overwhelming.

Absolutely superb. A very well-researched and engaging account of the advances and short-comings in forensic science. The chapters on what truly occurs in many county coroner's offices by medical examiners is a must read. A very disturbing account of how "science" has been misused by corrupt medical examiner's (for example, to protect guilty police officers or to prosecute innocent individuals). Specific, high-profile published cases are described and the wrong-doing clearly demonstrated as revealed in subsequent court proceedings, medical examiner retraction of statements, bodies exhumed to fing autopsies not performed at all, etc. A true thriller to read and a shocking inside view of the intersection of medical, legal, and law enforcement worlds to produce the current state of disaster, unkown to all except a few inside experts.