True Crime Books

my friend showed me this guy on youtube.com and said he wanted his book, but didn't have the cash. so I gave it to him on his birthday and he said it was great.

Bought this book because I saw the author on a judge show.

Book sucks.

Lame: So much lame, so little time. Okay, for all his talk, he drives into Canada with a primo ho and empty pockets. He has to beg another player for money. Huh? Lamer: His buddy, a certified player, claims his ho and he can score a quarter of a mil, cash, like snapping their fingers, but he works out of a basement, living on Salvation Army furniture. Lamest: White Folks is sued by his daughter on a TV court show for a few hundred in back rent. How lame is that? A player? I don't think so. Talks a good game, though.

I had to write a review out of sheer respect and give propers where they're do. My collection of "pimp & player" books encompass just about every title released and this book by far has the most substance, bar none. I felt like I was sitting down in the presence of a true player being schooled about the in's and out's of a variety of game while reading this book. I hope the author writes more because this is one of the best books in the genre to date. I highly recommend this book, it's worth more than what they're selling it for.

We saw this Man on a Court Tv show and he caught our interest so we ordered the book....WOW.....very interesting, but tends to be a learning manual even though he says it's not. Brings light to the underworld big time. Somewhat scary but very interesting reading.

John Leake's Entering Hades: The Double Life of a Serial Killer is a very well researched and written book. Like others, I concur that the aspects of Jack Unterweger's double life and the ultimately deadly Austrian liberal perspective with respect to the ability of criminals to be rehabilitated were very well done. Less well developed were an explication of the reasons behind the protaganist's murderous behavior--his childhood (and his misrepresentation of certain aspects of his mother's and father's history)--and his sexual inclinations and their relationship to his murderous behavior. The fact that the story spans the Atlantic with key portions in two key Austrian locations--Vienna and Graz (where the American author's German language and translation skills shine)--as well as Los Angeles and, to a lesser degree, Miami, also adds interest to the book.

In short, a very good true crime book about a most disturbing protaganist, particularly considering that this is the author's first book. I look forward to future books from this author.

As good as anything Ann Rule ever wrote--and maybe even better.

About the only complaint: author could have delved deeper into Unterweger's mother's life, as well as what exactly the killer's life was like as a young child, as he was raised by a grandfather who evidently was a mean drunk, etc.

Other than that, a fine job of writing as well as research.
Author John Leake definitely has a career in this field.

Congratualations to John Leake on this outstanding work! Having been directly involved with Unterweger's extradition to Austria, I can report that women lawyers, law enforcement officers, and diplomats were instrumental in every aspect of this fugitive's return to Austria to answer for his hideous crimes against women. This gives new meaning to the words "poetic justice."

I bought this book based on the glowing reviews. I love true crime stories and was excited when this arrived. I tore into it, and it was off to a pretty good start. Then it started to drag...and drag....There were so many little details and names and places that I was bored stiff. I found myself daydreaming and having to reread passages on numerous occasions. I ended up skimming the final few chapters and then picking up at the end. I could not relate at all to the main character, Jack, and I had zero sympathy or empathy for him. He was purely evil and narcissistic and unlikeable, which, according to the author was the opposite of how many people in Vienna's society would have described him. I just didn't get it. Maybe the timing was wrong for me and this really was as great a book as the other reviewers claim. For me it was a borderline painful reading experience.

A murderer gains celebrity and has the intelligentsia spring him. Only in America? Apparently not. This horror story is a wonderfully written account of an Austrian serial killer who used and abused the system and all its bureaucrats to do what came naturally for him. Author John Leake knows how to piece together a jigsaw puzzle of incompetence, luck (good and bad). This is a early page turner that will keep you shaking your head for a long time to come. Bravo.

A. Craig Copetas' book gives us a rare insight in the well curtained offices of big metal traders. His story centres on Marc Rich and his companion Pincus Green, who left in disgust their employer Philipp Brothers, at that moment a unit of Engelhard MC, because of the 'meagre' bonuses they received at the end of the year. These bonuses were in fact only a fraction of the revenues the two traders generated for the company.
The new company they created attacked immediately and head-on the core businesses of their former employer.
Craig Copetas shows us how Marc Rich's commodity trading business was based on 'deep' contacts (Henry Kissinger), market cornering, tax evasion, and profiting most of all by circumventing a US oil embargo against Iran.
Attacked in court for unlawful trading and tax evasion Marc Rich's companies pleaded guilty to 38 counts to the tune of ninety million dollars, still a small portion of the amassed fortune. Fines of $50,000 a day were disbursed without the slightest difficulty.
When he was finally condemned, Marc Rich had already settled down in Zug (Switzerland) with a Spanish identity card.
He was ultimately pardoned (he risked a potential jail term of over three hundred years!) by President Bill Clinton (for generously supporting the Democratic Party?).
This book is a keen look behind the curtain of a highly speculative and risky business, where the best informed traders corner the least informed ones. Options should limit the risks.
For interested readers and traders alike.

The book was absolutely intrigueing and compelling just to learn about the inside workings of the metals and oil business. Needless to say, I worked at this company for a short period of time before the ____ hit the fan. I did not see any of the implied [prostituting] of secretaries or traders prostituting themselves for a deal. The author has gathered much information on the sequence of events, but found that he was presenting this story, not as a reporter, but a snotty bitter little man. Marc, did not have shifty eyes, and to say at 6ft, his presence was that of a tall and looming personality, makes me believe that this author is of short stature. There are many good and charitable things this man and his company have catered to, but not once did i see anything listed in this book. The people I worked for and with at this company, were a group of the nicest and most professional people I have worked for. I have since to find a company that performed in such a refined and distinguished manner. They werent the [type of people] Copetas has implied them to be. My being a secretary there, I took quite offense to the [prostituting] of the staff for info. This is business, but just someone working by a different set of rules. Broke some, now cant come to the country whose rules he broke. Unless, the Pardon sticks. And wouldnt that be something to really irk this author a little more than he already seems to be. His being a "journalist", I was surprised by his unprofessionalism in giving the facts. All the facts, and not his opinions.

Mr. Copetas has written a highly readable and informative book. No doubt much of the information is true; however, the author appears to rely heavily on government documents for the prosecution of Mr. Rich when it come to writing about Marc Rich himself. Without Mr. Rich's input much of the book is open to speculation. The U.S. "justice" system is notorious for magically changing allegations into facts and hearsay and second-hand information into evidence.

I also noticed the copyright dates and found it interesting that the same political party was in office both times and that members of both of these administrations, privately, have a vested interest in the oil business. Which prompts me to ask: Is Marc Rich a corporate criminal, did he defraud the country and evade the law, or is it a case of sour grapes with a private vendetta being carried out in a public forum? I question, too, the fact that Mr. Rich was indicted while Oliver North ran for public office after committing virtually the same "crime".

It's mentioned that greed was a huge motivator and this I don't agree with. Profit is simply the by-product. Currently, I'm paper trading and honing my skills. Last December I placed a June DJIA put option costing me 2,100; in March, when the Dow fell I liquidated my option for 263,000. The excitement that's felt while everyone else is wringing their hands is incredible and the money was plowed right back into trading. Money is a marker, and trading is a test of skill and competition against yourself more than anything.

Mr. Rich, in his business dealings, reminds me of J.P. Morgan when he started out; and I would willingly relocate to Switzerland and become a lehrling, so persuasive is Mr. Copetas' writings.

The book was absolutely intrigueing and compelling just to learn about the inside workings of the metals and oil business. Needless to say, I worked at this company for a short period of time... I did not see any of the implied pimping of secretaries or traders prostituting themselves for a deal. The author has gathered much information on the sequence of events, but found that he was presenting this story, not as a reporter, but a snotty bitter little man. Marc, did not have shifty eyes, and to say at 6ft, his presence was that of a tall and looming personality, makes me believe that this author is of short stature. There are many good and charitable things this man and his company have catered to, but not once did i see anything listed in this book. The people I worked for and with at this company, were a group of the nicest and most professional people I have worked for. I have since to find a company that performed in such a refined and distinguished manner. They werent the whores Copetas has implied them to be. My being a secretary there, I took quite offense to the pimping of the staff for info. This is business, but just someone working by a different set of rules. Broke some, now cant come to the country whose rules he broke. Unless, the Pardon sticks. And wouldnt that be something to really irk this author a little more than he already seems to be. His being a "journalist", I was surprised by his unprofessionalism in giving the facts. All the facts, and not his opinions.

The brevity of Copetas' book allows it to be mercifully readable. On the other hand, Metal Men is so condensed that federal prosecution of Marc Rich (who managed to become a Spaniard in order to avoid extradition) and Pincus Green (who became a Bolivian for the same reason) is difficult to follow. The best sections of the book are the juicy nuggets that leave the reader whetted for more information. This is especially true when Marc Rich's relationship with Henry Kissinger and Kissinger Associates is discussed. Marc refers to the good doctor as "K", perhaps an allusion to Franz Kafka's narrator in the book Schloss. How appropriate. Clearly there was, and perhaps still is, much mutual benefit in the relationship between two master players who operate at the same level in their respective games. Copetas would not be faulted if he enlarged on this particular topic. One might wish for more background on the peculiar relationship the wholesome country of Switzerland has had with mobsters, white collar crime of a certain calibre, and kleptocratic despots over the past decades, if not centuries. The enchanting Canton of Zug emerges as an especially infested banana republic within a national governmental system that sees all money as created equal, and equally welcome into its banking system, regardless of provenance. This is a far cry from the Switzerland of alpine cheeses, pure air, teutonic ski bums, and clinics for the super rich. More the Gnome Switzerland of secrets and Croesus grade wealth and grey teflon coated bureaucrats. Then there hints at generally unreported connections, such as a strong, if not well known, presence Swedes in Thailand. Swedes in Thailand ? We would like to know more. Perhaps additional insight into the underworld of international arms trade, which figured in some of Rich's dealings, as with the Ayotallah Khomeni. Somewhere in here we expect to find the thread of Iran-Contra, but that subject, too, is left to mere suggestion. Considering what Mr. Copetas appears to know, but has edited out for the sake of brevity or marketability, there is a much larger and more enlightening book waiting to be composed from his files. One doubts that such a work would be welcomed with open arms by much of the political establishment, but by golly it would make eye opening tome.

If you are like me, you thought the mafia would die out when John Gotti went to jail. That is clearly not the case, as this book perfectly illustrates. Fantastic, entertaining book about one of the bosses of one of the powerful Five Families in New York. The man only recently went to prison in 2003. Book (the softbound edition) covers his entire life of crime all the way through his trial in 2004 along with developments through early 2008. It is an entertaining, educational, informative read, covering not only the boss, but the Bonnano family and NY mafia families in general. If you want to learn what the modern day mob is like and have a good time while doing so, then buy this book.

awesome book, couldn't put it down.

i liked the way this book gave alot of info about the wives of mob figures.I've always wondered what the wives knew about their husband's activities and how they rationalized it. The wives are a convenient way to hide and transfer the assets of mobsters and they should bear some(or alot) of the guilt.The one DA in the book was putting pressure on mobster wives and this was a tactic I was unaware of and have wondered why mobsters' wives were considered,"untouchable".After all who is too often pressuring the mobster to bring in more money?
Joe Massino or "Joe Wagons"(nicknamed for his sandwich and coffee truck business) is represented in this book as one of the "Last Dons".Because law enforcement techniques are making the "family" less profitable and more dangerous, more and more mobsters are turning "states evidence".This book tells the tale of how law enforcement is breaking the comraderie of mobsters who previously took a "blood oath" to be faithful to the mob.Behind the facade of the "ham sandwuch guru",the story of Massino, is one filled with scams and murder.Apparently there's not much money in ham sandwiches,but it does get a person out into the working world to promote their scams.This book will keep you glued.Lots of gruesome photos which initially shock,but then as you read the history of the poor unfortunate you feel alot less sympathetic.(Just the mob's way of cleaning it's own house)!Well researched and highly readable

King Of The Gordfathers is an extremely well written book! I found it very deep and informative, so much so that I wondered how Anthony DeStefano got the 'members of the family' to reveal all of the inside stories. This book opens up the silence that was for so many years repressed and only speculated about. Mr. DeStefano also shows the work of the FBI and law enforcement agencies in finally putting pieces together that brought down one of the last of the 'old world' families. A big plus are the crystal clear photo section and an epilogue on 'Where They Are Now' King Of The Godfathers is a very detailed book that one needs to take the time to think about as you read through its chapters. Being of Sicilan heritage, I was very impressed, enlightened and educated, let alone a bit surprised! This book also shows why Mr.DeStefano won a Pulitzer Prize in 1991. You will not be disappointed in reading!

Mr. DeStefano's latest book is the defining work on the Bonanno Crime Family! This book expounds on Mr. DeStefano's meticulous & compelling coverage of the Massino trial, incorporating Joe Massino's early years and rise to power, along with a concise history of the Mafia's major figures.
His years as a respected journalist, have given Mr. DeStefano the ability to lay out the facts with total objectivity, while writing about what is often the basest of human behavior. Deftly, he also weaves in passages which give us insight into the emotional toll paid by those who are inadvertently affected by such a lifestyle.
This riveting book gives readers entree into a secret society which continues to fascinate and affirms why Mr. DeStefano is one of the finest reporters on the beat today.
I look forward to seeing the next organized crime book by this superb writer and mob aficionado!

PS I wonder if a previous reviewer has confused this terrific book with another with a similar name, by a different author?

I ordered this book at the same time I ordered Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, and I'm so glad I read that one first. Because when I started reading Gangsters of Harlem and got to the part on Bumpy Johnson I couldn't believe my eyes. Mr. Chepesiuk just jotted down all of the misinformation that's been floating around on Bumpy Johnson for years and is passing it on like it's research! All of the stuff about Bumpy attending the Avery Institute and a bunch of other nonsence is in this book, when if the author had bothered to talk to any of Bumpy's family and old friends he would have discoved all this stuff was wrong.
If you want to find out the real story about Bumpy Johnson, read Harlem Godfather: The Rap on Bumpy Johnson which was written by Bumpy's wife. It also has a lot of stuff about other old-time Harlem characters.

And then when reading another review on Mr. Chepesiuk book that says he got a lot of the stuff on the Italian mob wrong, too . . . well, it just makes you wonder where he's doing his research. Does being able to read old magazines with wrong information and copying what you read qualify as research?

THIS BOOK SHOWS THE FOUNDATION OF HARLEM, WHO WAS THERE FIRST TO WHO IS THERE NOW. I FINSHED THE BOOK IN ONE DAY...IT WAS ACTION PACKED. NOW I'M WAITING FOR BLACK GANGSTERS OF CHI'TOWN.....IF YOU VIEWED IT COPE IT!! ONE

Overall, I liked it a lot. It is interesting reading and - at least in parts - a useful historical reference.

The book's opening, which deals with the Italian gangsters of East Harlem in the 1900s, contains some inaccuracies about the Morello-Terranova clan (The Morello family was certainly NOT the "first established Italian American Mafia family;" Giuseppe Morello and Peter Morello were the same person; Nicholas Morello was actually Nicholas Terranova; and the Terranova boys were half-brothers to Giuseppe, not step-brothers.) and makes some shaky statements about the origins of lottery rackets.

Despite these errors and others, the tales of Morello, Lupo, Terranova and Gallucci certainly will appeal to the casual reader. But why Chepesiuk decided to lead off his book with this superficially researched stuff rather than use the more reliable bits of it to backfill stories occurring later on remains a mystery. A tougher reviewer might penalize him a star for that bad decision, but there's enough good stuff in the rest of the book to make up for it.

"Gangsters" starts moving with the Harlem Renaissance of the Jazz Age. Tales from this period are easily worth the price of admission. Chepesiuk explores colorful underworld characters like Dutch Schultz, "Mad Dog" Coll and Owen Madden, and renowned entertainers like Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Louie Armstrong. The reader is likely to be left wanting more from this exciting and culturally rich era (though some Milton Mezzrow material sounds like it was drawn from a drug-culture website or from Mezzrow's own notoriously unreliable autobiography and is very difficult to accept).

Chepesiuk finally hits his stride as he discusses the rise of the African American gangster in Harlem and the various underworld rackets, including the evolution of the drug trade's focus from heroin to marijuana to crack cocaine. He provides fairly detailed biographies of the more noteworthy figures, like Bumpy Johnson and Queenie St. Clair, Frank "Black Caesar" Matthews, "Untouchable" Nicky Barnes, Pee Wee Kirkland and Frank "Super Fly" Lucas. At this point, the author seems more determined than he was earlier to set the historical record straight. He challenges some old legends and "Gangsters of Harlem" becomes a valuable resource.

On the whole, "Gangsters" is a well written and entertaining work. I do recommend it... from about Chapter 2 on.

This book offers a cohesive history of the development of crime in Harlem. This well-researched book spans many decades and takes the reader out of the "Dutch Schultz" mindset that so often dominates Harlem's history of numbers policy, as well as drug dealing gangsters. It is a good addition to the library of any reader who is interested in the history of organized crime (and not so organized) in New York City. There was new information about Madam Queen Stephanie St. Clair, a woman who is a more or less "cold case" in terms of what is really known about her. In short, this is a worthwhile investment and a great book to read if you want to brush up your Shakespeare - or Bumpy Johnson - whichever comes first!

"This is the Zodiac speaking" is an investigation into the Zodiac killings.
What makes this book interesting is the psychological analysis by Mr. Van Nuys,chair of the Psychology Dept. at Sonoma state University.

A quote from page 6 lays out the objective of the book- "We will begin this fascinating journey with facts-solid irrefutable facts and nothing more."
With that in mind,the authors avoid speculating on the personal identity of the Zodiac killer.

The authors explain the differences in the Riverside and Zodiac letters. They make a compelling argument for different writers based on the style of the letters with a different emphasis. By that reasoning,the man who murdered Cheri Jo Bates was not the Zodiac.

The Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders were examined for possible links to the Zodiac. They seem to be un-related on various levels.

It's obvious from the aftermath of the Stine murder that luck played no small part in the Zodiac avoiding discovery and arrest. You get the sense that he never recovered from his close call with the SFPD immediately following the cab driver's murder.

"Overall,it appears that Zodiac was deteriorating psychologically and had now relegated himself to engaging in a strange fantasy dance with the media."-page 140.

The British language connection was intriguing. Although witnesses state that he had no accent,one has to wonder where that connection came from. Were one of his parents of British origin?

The change in tone in some of the letters,notably three from 1974,was examined. This "denoted a change in Zodiac's psyche that probably related to his ongoing and significant psychological disorder." He may very well have had two personalities. Another interesting theory has the change in tone as a positive result of therapy or medication.

This book doesn't solve the Zodiac killings,but it does shed light on the psychology and evolution of the killer.
After reading this book I have to wonder if Zodiac didn't succomb to suicide or by some means become more psychologically stable?
We may never know the answer. I recommend this book as a clear,sensible investigation of the Zodiac murders.

A strange book. Starting with an engaging premise - the author worked with the Chair of the Psychology Dept. at Sonoma State University to create a profile based on Zodiac's letters to various newspapers - Michael Kelleher proceeds to swamp his book with potboiler-level prose. The psychologist, David Van Nuys' analyses maintain a degree of detachment that I appreciate with this sort of book, but his conclusions don't aid in understanding of the case or its perpetrator. Most of Van Nuys' conclusions seem facile, on the order of "He must have had a terrible childhood. Perhaps he was abused. He had great rage toward women and fear of male authority figures". In the end, though interesting, the book doesn't add anything to the literature about the case.

Flowing prose and a penchant for sticking to the established facts make this book a must for anyone interested in the Zodiac. DEFINATELY read it if you think that the recent film ("Zodiac") is some type of definitive presentation of the what really happened in this truly remarkable case.

This is a fine book for those who know nothing about the Zodiac case. It presents only the most "accepted," "dispute-proof" evidence. In that regard, it is the polar opposite of the Graysmith books, which often contain "facts" from a large array of sources, not all of them reliable.

But does that make it a good Zodiac book, one that gives us possible insight into the true identity of this most notorious killer? Ah, no. In fact, it does just the opposite. It obscures the truth, rather than attempting to shed any light on it.

It's approach is classic criminal-profiler textbook murder-by-numbers. Data is compiled and analyzed, but drawing conclusions seems to be much too much of a stretch. Perhaps the authors fear reprisals. Perhaps they don't want to be wrong. For as much criticism as Graysmith has, at times, earned, he at least takes a stand and states an opinion based on what he has compiled. These guys don't take a stand on anything. If it doesn't follow their profiler recipe, they're lost.

And such is the Zodiac case.... disjointed, fracutured, plagued by rumors, apparent coincidences, and theories. And never solved.

Profiling may be a very effective tool for the top percentile of seriel killers, but Zodiac broke patterns in a very consistent way, even within his string of "claimable murders" in '68 and '69. When another murder or event comes close to fitting these patterns in many such cases, it's immediately dismissed by Kelleher and Van Nuys as "not fitting the pattern," yet they argue tirelessly that an incident such as the Kathleen Johns case (which many dispute the validity of) is somehow worthy of inclusion. That David Fincher took Kelleher's word for it and included it in the film version takes the story into bad made-for-TV movie hubris for the scant minutes we suffer through it.

The Bates killing, where the handwriting was positively ID'd as Zodiac's, and contained numerous other similarities to the Ferrin case; The Domingo-Edwards slaying back in 1963; and even the Santa Rosa hitch-hiker murders in the early '70s contain more similarities to Z than the Johns case. Yet this is intelligent detective work? To ignore all possible clues except that which fit your own preordained rigid template based on the psychoanalysis of the Z letters' text by an author who admits that, prior to doing the analysis, that he knew NOTHING OF THE CASE WHATSOEVER!???!!!!

Oh, and let's not forget that one sentence on the man many believe to be the prime suspect, the man who had reams of circumstantial evidence littered around him, who can be placed near the scenes of nearly every Zodiac crime (confirmed and speculated about) --- Leigh Allen. Yes, much of the evidence is circumstantial, but how much evidence do you ignore until you begin to cast some serious, reasonable doubts?

A truly intelligent sociopath, while rare, can sometimes outsmart the police, at times merely by playing to their own weaknesses. And the profilers, like Kelleher and Van Nuys, fit the description of Zodiac's dupes very well. They seem to fall back on cliches such as "let the evidence fit the suspect" so often that they end up drowning in their own paralysis. One approach does not a well-rounded investigation make, whether you are dealing in psychiatry or criminology. Would you go to a doctor who only diagnosed you based on physical symptoms?

If nothing else, these near-sighted investigators have an iron clad alibi on why the case was never solved. Their approach provides them with the ultimate excuse for their own inepititude. After all, it's easy to do a job you never have to finish.

Michael Kellehers book on the Zodiac killer is well worth the time and effort and money to obtain and read!
Having researched the Zodiac case since 1987(zodiacmurders.com) I would say his book is a crisp tight narrative that fully lays out the case with exactness as he makes the story interesting while giving the reader a multi-faceted view into all aspects of the killers mind and criminal activities.
Many have related they just 'couldn't put it down' until they read the entire book!
One correction I would like to make- while STILL focusing on this fine work-is that it says Bill Nelson wrote a book on the possible connection of the Zodiac to Charles Manson and some of his associate/s.Only a small portion of the book presents this link.The majority of the content in Nelsons (now out of print) book, is about the Manson Family.It is my book ,The Zodiac Manson Connection, that has, as its MAIN theme,a possible link to the Manson Family.
Get Kellehers book is all I can say-a must for the true crime buff and members of law enforcement!

To much story about Uncle Arthur and not enough about the Collyer Brothers. This was a real disappointment, save your money and get it from the library.

The book jacket is hauntingly beautiful. But the insides are disappointing. Rather than place the focus on the Collyer brothers (known for not coming out of their brownstone forever...like in that Peter Sellers movie, "Being There," now that I come to think of it...) he uses them to tell a story of his life. Not Fair.

In the spring of 1947, a crowd of reportedly thousands gathered outside the Harlem home of the Collyer brothers, Homer and Langley. The Collyers, whose time in Harlem dated to an era when the well-to-do occupied the neighbourhood's stately brownstones, were in their 60s and known as the "Hermits of Harlem."
They had spent their lives living in the four-storey mansion purchased by their father, Herman, a physician. Their lives had turned increasingly inward while the accumulation of goods in the Harlem home grew and grew.
In Ghosty Men, Franz Lidz recounts the scene that March day, of the police chopping their way into the home through the front door and telling tales, not tall, of crouching double through the maze in search of the brothers. Homer they found right away. "After two weeks, one hundred tons of junk had been removed and Langley was still missing," Lidz wrote.
What was itemized: "Susie Collyer's unfinished knitting. Dr. Herman's forms for 'Habit Forming Drugs.' A two-headed baby floating in formaldehyde. Thirteen ornate mantel clocks, one in a metal bust of a girl whose ears and bodice dripped coins. Langley's sheet music for Chopin's Nocturnes. Two pipe organs. A clavichord. A trombone. A cornet. An accordion. Five violins, including a Georgus Rugeri Cremona, 1762; a George Paolo Magini Brescia, 1784; and a cello, wrapped in cloth and labelled 'Stradivarius 1727.' All fake."
When Langley Collyer's body was eventually found, the medical examiner determined that he had been dead at least a month, smothered by the debris that had fallen upon him. More than 136 tons of what-not were ultimately removed from the home, recounts Lidz, who narrates the story with the emotional softness of someone who feels intimately connected to his subject matter.
In fact, his own uncle Arthur, he writes, spent a lifetime building an edifice of stuff, including 134 jars of Chock full o' Nuts coffee - "Uncle Arthur's hedge against a Colombian embargo."

I'm a compulsive hoarder of sorts and picked this up because of a link to another book on the subject. I disagree quite strongly with the previous reviewer. I absolutely adored the few chapters on the author's Uncle Arthur and thought they provided great insight and immediacy to the story on the Collyer Brothers. Given the wealth of detail about the brothers in this fine book I don't understand how any careful reader could feel cheated. If anything, I'd love to know more about Uncle Arthur, who, by the way, is cited in the title of this book. So, his inclusion should not come as much of a surprise.

Is it bad that, after reading this book, these men became my instant heroes? You'll have to read the book (ha, ha-- librarian trick) to find out. From my point of view, they're ensconsed warmly amongst their piles of junk, their tottering piles of old newspaper, their stacks upon stacks of boxes, their miscellania gathered from the sides of the road and trash cans-- four floors of bliss! Protection from the outside world! A true, not-metaphorical barrier from the slings of everyday life! I sleep (candid admission!) with piles of junk surrounding me on my bed. To be surrounded by piles of junk in an entire decaying old New York mansion? Indescribable bliss. My only complaint about this book is that it does not spend quite enough time on the Collyer Brothers themselves, dwelling more instead on Uncle Arthur (fascinating himself). But Five-plus stars to the lifestyle.

It could have been better, but maybe the author has no knowledge of the massive KGB infiltration of the CIA that was exposed in 1984.

This book is exceptionally well-written, and well-organized. Bagley's argument is very persuasive. Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes covers Nosenko in a couple of non descript passages.

I refer the reader to the other reviews for more background, as I will focus only on a few points. In general, I enjoyed the book, and learned much about the history of KGB in all its guises, and much about counter-intelligence tradecraft. On the other hand, Mr. Bagley doesn't reveal much about CIA, but I wouldn't expect him to. What he does reveal towards the end of the book should not come as a surprise to anyone following the news lately. I grew to admire the 80+ year-old "Pete" Bagley, even as I was questioning some of his claims and his motivation for writing this book. In the end, and after some additional research, I came to question his detractors more than I did him.

His primary motivation would seem to be setting the record straight about Yuri Nosenko. I see no reason to doubt the detailed narrative that reveals the inconsistencies in Nosenko's statements. I suspected Nosenko was a phony right from his first walk-in, even before Mr. Bagley voiced his doubts. By the end of the book, I was thoroughly convinced.

As Mr. Bagley points out, even the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) report stated "flatly" that Nosenko was lying; this despite the fact that Nosenko testified that the KGB was not involved in President Kennedy's assassination, a view that the committee would have welcomed. Nosenko must have been a pretty bad witness, indeed.

I looked at the HSCA report for myself, which the reader can easily do by searching the on-line US government archive file. I found some information that Mr. Bagley didn't mention in regard to the HSCA and Nosenko. There are two references to Nosenko, one on p. 101, the other on p. 255. Yes, they did say that they couldn't buy Nosenko's testimony, but they said more, too. In effect, they blamed his poor testimony on the "hostile interrogation" and "solitary confinement" that he received while in CIA custody! CIA had obviously been very successful in their propaganda campaign to convert Nosenko into a valuable CIA asset in every sense of the word, and to smear Bagley and his colleagues who had interrogated Nosenko.

I am quite prepared to believe the worst about intelligence agencies, in particular, how they handle people in their custody, but I find myself taking Mr. Bagley's side in this story. In the chapter entitled "Crunch Time", the author provides the rationale for questioning Nosenko as long and hard as they did. It may not have made any difference in the end, and what is worse, by holding Nosenko for as long as they did, Bagley and Co. only made it easier for their later detractors to smear him and build Nosenko's legend.

The final chapters present a very gloomy picture of CIA. As with other reports we've heard about CIA, the FBI and other intel agencies, it's impossible for outsiders to know where the incompetence, inertia and careerism stops and possible subversion from within and without begins. However, Mr. Bagley's lamentations should be viewed as constructive criticism from a loyal (former) agent, and not as the kind of criticism I think CIA deserves.

Mr. Bagley reveals himself to be one of the people, now said to form only 10 - 15% of the American public, who still subscribe to the government myth surrounding President Kennedy's assassination. He describes Oswald as the assassin, not as the accused assassin, and refers to the Warren Commission as though it were an investigative body, not the coverup cabal it was. Mr. Bagley wrote that the primary reason the USSR dispatched Nosenko to the US in 1964 was probably the USSR's urgent need to deny any part in the conspiracy to assassinate JFK.

The other side of that coin that goes unexamined in this book is the US's need to promote the "lone nut" assassin theory. Mr. Bagley mentions "back channel" messages that circulated between the two superpowers, but that something more overt than diplomatic chit-chat was required. Declaring Nosenko not only legitimate but valuable worked very well for both countries. This episode reminded me of a "walk-in" (really a "fly-in") that occurred only 23 years before Nosenko's - that of Rudolf Hess's arrival in Scotland. Whatever truly lay behind Hess's actions, the common declaration that Hess was a "lone nut" suited both Britain and Germany. Britain had some of their own Fascists (including Royals) they wanted to keep under wraps, and once Hess's flight became public knowledge, Hitler certainly wanted to deny any responsibility.

The USSR's claims that they had nothing to do with the JFK assassination are most likely true. They were simply afraid that the US might use Oswald's Russian sojourn and professed Communist sympathies as excuses to heat up the Cold War. Anyway, there were already plenty of home-grown assassination conspirators who needed no help from the USSR.

What would have been a five star book for me gets two stars removed for needlessly perpetuating the Oswald myth and missing some obvious conclusions by doing so.

The author did spend some reasonable text of the "Spy Wars" however the majority of the text dealt with the very controversial "Nosenko Defector Affair" and the equally controversial CIA Counter Intel chief Jim Angleton. It was clear that Angleton was one of several CIA officers "addicted" to drink. Alcohol addiction is a by product of the attache circuit and several CIA and DoD officers have fallen to it. However the DoD response is treatment or dismissal while the more collegiate atmosphere at CIA is to ignore it and hope it goes away.

I believe the author should have spent more effort on the "Spy Wars" and less on the intramural issues at CIA. Or alternatively title the book "The Nosenko Affair".

While this book is likely not written for the general public , in my opinion it is one of the most important books written in the past few years. I also am a former intelligence officer . I had a number of dealings with James Angleton during my 20 plus years of service. The numermous allegations that Angleton was paranoid constituted total nonsense. The fact that Pete Bagley and Jim Angleton who served the the people of america so honorably were so denigrated not only by the media but in some cases by their former collegues is shameful . The facts that Mr. Bagley has documented in this book should , in my opinion , be the basis for a blue ribbon commission to ascertain the true state of affairs. The American public and for that matter the world public needs to know more about assassination as a tool of statecraft as practiced by the Soviet Union's KGB .

Wow.

If you enjoy reading old, uninteresting newspaper articles, then you will love Michael Connally's Crime Beat. Not only will you get to read these short, concise, horrendously boring prose, but you will also get to read them over and over, as each follow-up recounts the ones you previously read. Doesn't that sound stimulating? Why read today's $.50 newspaper about crime in the now and in your neighborhood when you can pay full price for outdated, sleep inducing passages from the nineties? Whoopee!

I opened this little gem up and was deceived by author's introduction, which seemed fresh and original. I couldn't wait to get this book home and read all about `real crime,' and behind the scenes details of crime that only detectives and exclusive reporters got to see. Yeah, you want behind the scenes? Find your nutty neighbor who saves yellowed newspapers and dig through his garage for a while, because that's all what this book is--rehashed, repetitive newspaper articles.

I think the only way I would have enjoyed this more is if it was in German or another foreign language, so that I wouldn't have wasted my time reading the three chapters I did. Blegh.

Crime Beat has not been welcomed warmly by Amazon reviewers. Essentially a collection of newspaper articles by Connelly the crime reporter, it lacks the attractions of his novels and, indeed, of true crime writing. True crime writing, of course, draws on the strengths and strategies of fictional narrative, while newspaper articles are basically accounts of something that has happened, what people are saying about it and what individuals are doing about it. Succeeding articles offer updated information, but, again, lack the overarching narrative, Aristotelian plot, narrative 'world', detailed aspects of setting, rounded characters and other aspects found in novels and true crime writing.

Hence, Connelly's Crime Beat offers a nice instructional opportunity for those wishing to draw clear lines of distinction between journalistic writing--with its palpable limits--and larger narratives. In Connelly's case, one can also look at stories that began as real events and later served as the basis for those larger narratives. And that is about it. I am not surprised that some readers have admitted to abandoning the book after reading fifty or sixty pages. This is something different and, ultimately, not as interesting, compelling or engaging as one of Michael Connelly's novels. It does have its uses, but those will not be of interest or utility to most readers.

Michael Connelly has a well-deserved reputation as one of the best mystery writers in the business today. But before he became a novelist, he was a reporter, handling crime writing both in the South Florida Sun Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times. Crime Beat is a collection of some of the articles he wrote for both papers.

Covering an eight year span between 1984 and 1992 (around the time his fiction career really took off), Crime Beat follows a number of different cases, sometimes focusing on the cops, other times on the criminals. Since this is real-life stuff, resolutions are not always present, although some articles end with notes about what happened after the original story came out.

The Call, the opening story, is Connelly's description about the workings of a homicide department. Right off the bat, he captures our interest with his true tale of the frustrations in solving murder cases. Not all stories, however, favorably present the police: in particular, we get a series of articles about L.A.'s Special Investigation Section, which was accused of the ambush and killing of several robbery suspects and would culminate in a series of lawsuits.

On the other side, we see the criminals: people like Christopher Bernard Wilder who had a cross-country killing spree and David Miller whose bigamy and shady financial dealings would eventually drive him to kill. There is also the gang of wannabe mercenary killers who tried to be cool and professional but were anything but; although successful in a couple murders, they also botched a number of attempts and didn't really cover their tracks well.

The stories are interesting, but the main insight that Crime Beat offers is a look into the formative years of Connelly and what made him the great novelist he is. And while the writing is good, you might be disappointed if you expect it to meet the caliber of his fiction: after all, Connelly was still developing his trade, he was under much tighter editorial supervision, and his creativity was constrained by the facts. Nonetheless, this is a nice set of short, true-crime stories.

Meh. I was hoping for more in a book of true crime by a well-reviewed mystery author, but this is just an uneditted collection of Connelly's crime-related newspaper stories from his journalist days of the 1980s and early 1990s. The stories are almost all straight newspaper stories, with all the negatives that implies--little nuance, straight facts, lots of repetitions over a series of stories about the same crime. I was hoping for something more like Ann Rule's "Crime Files" books--yes, reprints, but with some perspective and rewriting. A few of the stories were more interesting, in particular "The Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight", which is a longer article telling the story of an almost comically inept gang of hitman-wannabes, who unfortunately succeeded in killing a couple of their targets. This story must have been a Sunday feature or magazine article because it had more development and room to breathe without all the repetition of background details.

Okay, but I expected more from someone with Connelly's reputation.