True Crime Books

I bought this book because I like true crime stories; "In Cold Blood", "The Executioners Song", "The Innocent Man" etc. But this book opens with a speculative account of a murder victims last hours which left me thinking "How does the author know this". And early on in the book there is a significant factual error; a man is mentioned who has spoken with numerous serial killers, this book states that this man was the last to speak with John Wayne Gacy "before he went to the electric chair". Wait a minute, Gacy was executed by lethal injection. Not that I'm a groupie of serial killers but I remember this one because his execution was botched; the tubes inserted into Gacys arms had to be replaced and the execution tried a second time before succceeding. I verified this on-line. I feel little pity for Gacy but wow I wouldn't want to resolve myself emotionally to dying then have to do it a second time.

Anyway, what other facts are mis-stated in this book?

I knew I had to read this book as soon as I saw it advertised. I've had the pleasure of meeting Frank Bender and the opportunity to see him work.

Bender is a self-taught forensic artist whose work has helped identify murder victims and apprehend numerous fugitives. He sacrificed a career in commercial photography to work with law enforcement agencies around the world, a choice that has often put him in danger, jeopardized his marriage and brought him near bankruptcy at one point.

Though Bender and his work have had publicity over the years, Botha does a good job of introducing him and his fascinating technique to a wider audience. In chapters fluctuating back and forth in time he intersperses Bender's history with details of the perplexing unsolved case in which some 400 young women were murdered in Mexico.

Along the way, the author provides information on the development of facial reconstruction techniques, detailing both the American system pioneered by Wilton Krogman and the European perfected by Mikhail Gerasimov.

Another intriguing aspect of the book is how Bender, along with William Fleischer, a customs agent and polygraph expert, and Richard Walter, a criminal profiler, founded the Vidocq Society. Named for the founder of the French Surete, the organization of amateurs and professionals focuses on unsolved deaths and disappearances.

this story is up there with Kathy Reichs novels for forensic suspense but even better it's a true story. The information about Frank Bender's life & how he self-taught himself is incredible, his concentration & sixth sense is very remarkable. I have personnally known Frank (and Jan, his wife) for over thirty years & can truly tell you that every word is true!! These two people have an amazing bond that has stood the test of time & personnel trials for thirty or more years. May I suggest that you feature this book for your readers who are interested in anthropology and/or forensic stories. It's a terrific read & again all true.

I have recently been educating myself on the women of Juarez and the surrounding areas who have been found tossed like garbage over the Mexican country side. Before this effort, however, Frank Bender was well known to me by his excellent reconstruction work since the late 70's. You can read this book several different ways-it is a story of the obsessed, driven artist who has the task of breathing life into the dead, broken and forgotten who cross his path. Or you could look at the book as an attempt to bring attention to over 400 women whose bodies have dotted the landscape in Mexico since the count began in 1993. Or you could realize the hopelessness of the task of finding justice in a country where the politicians, police and cartels are sometimes indistinguishable from one another....it is a small book that is a must read for anyone living in North America who has a conscience and an ounce of compassion.

Ted Botha's book -- "The Girl With the Crooked Nose" -- is a thrilling account of the remarkable real-life adventures -- and remarkable life -- of forensic artist Frank Bender. The publication of this work fills a void that, for a long time, had been waiting to be filled.

The book succeeds on several levels. First, there is the "frame story," which concerns the mysterious disappearance and murder of hundreds of women in and around Juarez, Mexico. Bender is called in on the case and encounters a language which, after a while, becomes far more difficult for him to understand than Spanish: something mysterious, deceptive, altogether unnerving -- and dangerous. Ultimately the symbol of this convoluted and heartbreaking exploit is the Girl With the Cooked Nose, whose skull -- like those of the other murdered girls -- needs a face and a name.

On another level the book is about Frank Bender himself; and in moving back and forth between the present-day Juarez story and his biography, the fascination does not let up. This subject is in itself a valuable account on its own: his first exposure to forensics (a word he did not even know), his first (and incredibly successful) attempt to bring face to a skull and each elaborately different case thereafter, always working (like Sherlock Holmes) as a uncannily gifted "amateur" or bohemian "outsider"; the development of his approaches and all the interesting professional connections he makes as well as the macabre, touching scenarios that develop -- all these elements form an engaging catalog of one person's personal quest. To Botha's credit, the writer never depicts gore gratuitously but only as need to understand a case or the emotional reaction to a discovery.

In addition, students of forensic science will relish this book not only for the subject matter itself, of course, but for the insights into Bender's actual technique and his thought process -- his early uncertainties, his triumphs, his nightmares and his relationship with the nameless victim whose identity he must help uncover.

All in all, this is a fascinating and important work, not only because it deals with the tragic Juarez murders and with forensics but because it gives insight into the singular personality of Frank Bender. Not an easy person to profile, he is genuinely worth this kind of detailed treament.

I bought this book out of curiosity. Upon reading this book, I am not impressed. I am not an engineer, nor do I claim to be, But in my opinion,
there is no information in here that anyone who even knows what a suppressor is does not know already. I am dissapointed with my purchase and wished I bought other literature.

You will be better off doing a search on the net. I will say this positive about the book...it proves anything can actually get published. If you spend a couple of hours on the net you could write a better book...

This book is mostly useless to anyone who has any knowledge of physics, or even has a hammer and hacksaw. The suppressor designs included are garbage, and some are even made from materials a person could find in the trash. It is not worth the money to buy this book, unless you want something to make you feel more secure about your own intelligence.

The designs in this book are simple, lo-tech, and surprisingly effective. Being a good do-it-yourselfer helps, as does a good assortment of hand tools (which if you don't own, you will end up owning by the time you finish the book). Some of the designs are open to improvement, and adaptation to other circumstances. Additionally, they can be adapted to what supplies you have available. It makes for interesting trips to hardware stores.

Remember safety first. Start with wide tolerances, which reduce effectiveness but increase safety. As your skills become more precise, reduce the tolerances. Oh, and of course, don't do any of it, because it is illegal.

The only criticism I have of this little book is that it was way too short; I wanted to see more of these elegant designs.

My favorite was the silencer for the Maverick 88 bullpup shotgun firing 575 grain subsonic slugs. With some aluminum tubing, sturdy PVC pipe and fittings, steel wool, and a clamp, the author puts together a heavy-duty silencer capable of withstanding and suppressing the blast of a 12-gauge shotgun. Although an easily-constructed "disposable" silencer, it has the lines of a professional model that was designed for that particular weapon.

I don't know what the other reviewer's problem is; anyone who knows anything about silencers can attest the soundness of these designs. (Maybe it's George Hayduke trying to disparage his competition!)

definitely an excellent read. for those who have read "clarence darrow for the defence" and enjoyed it, this book may very well make you feel like you are visiting an old friend.

Over the years I have read all about Clarence Darrow but this is the first time that I have ever actually "talked" with the man. This is a very personal encounter with a very great man. I am so glad that I ordered this book.
The book reviews a bit of his childhood and a good part of his legal career. But even with sufficent knowledge of Mr. Darrow's career, it is interesting to hear about it all from him and in his own words. From a writer's point of view he is an instruction in clear and straight forward prose style. He removes a lot of streotypes and rumors.
He is writing the book at age 75. He is very melancoly and the text is somewhat poetic at times - the ending especially.
I wish that I could have know Clarence Darrow but this intimate conversation will have to do, I guess.

Interesting for style as well as insight into courtroom tactics, psychology of jurors, crime and muckraking. His basic premise about jurors: If he can get them to imagine, he can get them to doubt. So his approach, always personal, was perpetually appealing to imagination. It worked, mostly, even when clients were guilty. It's his reliance on reason that makes him a skeptic. Causation is the basis of his world and personal views. Seeing the effect of the law, he argues that judging is worse than judgement, and he would dispense with both. He is at some pain to describe what he gave up to plead, rather than the life he gained by it. His seriousness can be attributed to the injustices he saw, effects he attributes more to chance than choice. He espouses the theory of continental drift, in 1939! A sharp mind interested in everything. As he says himself, if he had to do it over, . . . he'd have been a scientist.

Darrow takes the reader through some of his most famous cases and explains the philosophy with which he approached his career and the law in general. Any reader interested in the history of the period should find his accounts fascinating: Eugene Debs, John P. Altgeld, the MacNamara Case, the Loeb-Leopold murders, and the famous Scopes "monkey trial" case are just some of the points touched upon in the Darrow autobiography.

Darrow is a clean and competent writer, if not an artistic one. The prose is easy to read and understand. In places, the book can get frustrating because he leaves a topic well before the reader has lost interest. Future publishers would do well to publish this book together with some pointers for further reading.

The Da Capo Press edition is published with a very strange little introductory essay by Alan Dershowitz. In it, he seems more interested in rehabilitating the memory of Bryan than he does in introducing the book. The reader may want to skip it until after finishing the main book itself.

Beyond the obvious lawyer/law student audience, I would also recommend this book to readers interested in labor politics, the early history of the 20th century in the US, and social justice.

This book successfully captured the life of Clarence Darrow, who is no doubt one of the greatest attorneys of the early 20th century. His abilities to defend the indefensible are most extrordinary. I will certainly recommend this book to anyone espeically pre-law or law school students.

Suggestion: read Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD and/or Mailer's EXECUTIONER'S SONG to see how
it's done.
Too much filler in this one. Author goes off on tangents way too often. Develop your characters and then stick with your storyline, is this reader's suggestion.

Yes, tome is loaded with facts, but, as stated, it takes a lot more for a book to work.

Tony Spilotro is Chicago's answer to Roy DeMeo. Las Vegas's deserts are filled with his "work". I love the movie CASINO, and this book helped me to enjoy it even more. This guy broke every rule in the book. How he survived as long as he did I'll never know.

Incredible to think that as I turned each page of this fine book, that in fact it was not a work of fiction. It's factual, a story to rival any from the master himself, Mario Puzo, only this one is true!

Retired FBI Agent William Roemer (1926-1996) details the activities of mobster Tony Spilotro, alleged to be the Chicago mob's "heat" in Las Vegas during the 1970's. During those years the syndicate in Chicago and other Midwest cities skimmed millions of dollars from several Las Vegas casinos, an activity documented in the book (and movie) CASINO. After the skim was uncovered in the early 1980's, several Mafia bosses and teamster officials ended up in federal prison, while other figures ended up dead. At about that time, Spilotro's burglary crew was busted, turned informant, and in 1986 Spilotro and his brother were were found beaten and buried alive in an Indiana farm field.

Several reviewers have correctly noted that this book rambles, is light on documentation, and that the somewhat self-centered author was far from an "expert" on Spilotro and Las Vegas. Also, there seems to be debate on whether Spilotro was the syndicate's "heat" in Vegas or mostly a free lance gangster. I liked the book, but there are better books (CASINO by Nicholas Pileggi) available.

Good object lesson in how Amazon reviews can save you money. I bought my copy on impulse, off the shelf. Fortunately, I only wasted $10. Considering today's book prices, it could have been more. Yes, the book is as ill-conceived and meandering as overwhelming number of reviews indicate. Unfortunately, there's precious little evidence of research anywhere in the text. No need to repeat points already made and so glaringly present in the book. Experience is a little like sitting with a good ol' boy at a boozy party, who can't wait to tell you all about rosy memories and great guys from days in the FBI, and, oh yeah, something about some guy named Spil ott ro, or was it Spil oh tro.

This is a fine text and usually required reading for anyone in a white collar crime class. The text has a steady flow of vital information regarding one of the lesser exposed elements of crime in the United States. This may not be the stuff of primetime television, but it is the true representation of what will put people in prison for years. Recommended for the research student!

This is a great book, especially for those in Wise's legal research class.

Excellent book on criminal youth and the audacity that they can be helped. These children have committed such horrible crimes and also come from such horrible histories. This book made me cheer for the process that gives kids a last chance.

Last Chance in Texas: The Redemption of Criminal Youth. By John Hubner. NY: Random House, 2005. Cloth on boards with a jacket. 277 pp. No illus.
Hubner has been a Massachusetts and California writer on juvenile crime and justice. He heard of Giddings State School's [...] surprising success with some youths. He spent months at the "school" observing capital and violent offenders. He draws their stories from their dialogue, records, and interviews. Gidding's gets the worst, and this book genuinely mirrors much of their lives and predicaments. Beyond the individual and societal tragedies, Hubner finds that sometimes Texas love and nurturing, along with discipline, saves some of those previously ill-destined kids. It reduces crime in your future too.

Would give this book 5 stars for the hopeful ideas about rehabilitating violent youth offenders. Successful treatment program could be used nationwide and lead to increased rehabilitation instead of increased recidivism. Youths from horrific backgrounds and who committed horrendous crimes begin to feel empathy and remorse.

For those of us who have been sheltered from the abuse and misery caused by illegal drugs, both passed on unfailingly from one generation to the next, this books is almost an overdose of what reality is like for the abused children of users. It is also an absorbing account of pain and hope in the Texas juvenile justice system. I'm glad I heard the author interviewed on NPR, and I'm glad I read his skillful account of one program in the justice system that appears to work.

Hubner's perspective is excellent. As a former case worker with Juvenile Delinquents I found his research impressive and his insights even more impressive. A must read for those in the field or interested.

I first heard about this book when the movie was on showtime, with Ellen Page. Got the book and was totally disappointed. Not in the story but the book itself. The cover is just a piece of heavy constrution paper and the binding looks like something I would have made at summer camp in the 70's. Amazon was kind enough to let me return the book and I called my locale library. The story is good, the writing is good but save your money for the next Stephen King Book. Thank You Jennifer

Though the price of this book is steep, it is well worth the price so that story of this beautiful young girl's tragic life and horrid death is told and she doesn't go down in history as the girl that no one remembers. Indeed, I've never read of a more horrendous crime in my life, and feel that her killers should have been handed down more severe punishment. It's a book that you'll likely read more than once, as it takes time for the bulk of it to fully sink in to the mind. After reading this account, I will never forget Sylvia Likens. That's the way it should be.

I am from Indiana and this book is more than folk lore. Have heard about as a child and young adult but the facts in this book are scarey considering this happened 40 years ago when we thought the world was more normal...

The Indiana Torture Slaying: Sylvia Likens' Ordeal and Death, was a very good story. The only problem I have is that I paid so much money for a book that looked like it could have been made out of constuction paper, and stapled together by a third grader. I expected to get at least an excellent condition copy of a soft cover book, or a good condition copy of a hard cover book, for the kind of money that I spent. Next time I receive a book that looks like it was made by someone in elementary school, unless I've paid under $10.00, shipping included, I will send it back. Unfortunately the book I bought was almost $30.00.

I went to order this book as it seems from the reviews it may be pretty good. I was shocked to see a price of $23 for a paperback. what's up with that?

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.

I've enjoyed reading just about anything written by Vincent Bugliosi, and "Helter Skelter" is certainly no exception. Within these pages, Mr. Bugliosi paints an excruciatingly-detailed account of this unique and compelling murder case. You're able to almost get inside Vince's head and see up close how he successfully prosecuted this famous Hollywood case.

Hollywood seemed to be a fitting backdrop for the Manson trial too, because the whole case sounds like something directly from a screenwriter's notebook instead of a real-life tragedy. I guess that's what made the case and the trial so compelling -- it sounds too freaky to be real. I mean, lyrics from a "Beatles" record album becoming a major focus at the trial??

And the tremendous overkill tactics employed by the killers, as they obey their "master" with zombie-like precision. Just simply unbelievable! And yet it happened just the same.

"Helter Skelter: The True Story Of The Manson Murders", originally published in 1974, is "the #1 best-selling true-crime book in publishing history" (per the blurb printed on the cover of the 528-page "25th Anniversary Edition" of the book that I own, which came out in 1994 via W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.).

That '94 "Anniversary" edition is highly recommended by this reviewer due to its original 1974 content plus the inclusion of a new 26-page "Afterword" by author Vince Bugliosi, which was written in June 1994.

"Helter Skelter" tells the fascinatingly-bizarre tale of how a crazy man by the name of Charles Milles Manson ordered several of his seemingly-brainwashed followers (aka "The Family") to arm themselves with knives, ropes, and a gun and break into two Los Angeles-area homes on two consecutive nights in early August of 1969.

Manson's additional orders to his robot-like "family" members were to "kill everyone" who happened to be in those two houses. It didn't make any difference who they were or how many were there -- everyone in those two homes was to die, simply because Charles Manson wanted them to die.

At the end of those two senseless evenings of murder and mayhem, seven innocent people (who had never even met Charles Milles Manson) were brutally slaughtered. The seven vicious killings, known collectively thereafter as the "Tate-LaBianca Murders" or "The Manson Murders", sent Hollywood into a panic for many weeks afterward.

Three months after the killings, 35-year-old Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Vincent T. Bugliosi was assigned as the lead prosecutor for the State of California in the case against Manson and three of his "family" members (Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten).

Charlie Manson, himself, initially wanted to serve as his own attorney at his murder trial. Manson finally relented, however, and hired Irving Kanarek as his main attorney. Per Vince Bugliosi's comments in this book, Kanarek could easily have been identified by another name -- "Mr. Obfuscation" -- due to his continual frivolous objections and delay tactics utilized in the courtroom.

Kanarek, as pointed out in this volume, is a lawyer who once took 1.5 years on jury selection and pre-trial motions during a case where he ended up being fired by his client before the first witness was even called to the stand.

I took note of a laugh-out-loud passage placed in the book by Mr. Bugliosi regarding Mr. Kanarek -- "Kanarek once objected to a prosecution witness's stating his own name because, having first heard his name from his mother, it was 'hearsay'."

Mr. Bugliosi, even within the grim subject matter that the reader encounters in a book like "Helter Skelter", which revolves around seven grisly murders, has the ability to interject a little bit of humor into his publications as well -- with the above Kanarek example probably being the best such instance of humor that I found in this book.

Turning an about-face now from that humorous anecdote mentioned above to the more serious nature of "Helter Skelter" --- As a result of Charles Manson's warped mind, these seven people died in August 1969 in California:

1.) Sharon Tate-Polanski (age 26). .... Sharon was eight-months pregnant when she was stabbed 16 times in the early morning hours of August 9, 1969. It's always been my personal belief that Sharon's killers should have been charged with eight total murders, instead of just seven....with #8 being the murder of the soon-to-be-born baby inside the womb of Mrs. Polanski.

2.) Abigail Folger (age 25). .... "Gibby", as she was affectionately known, was stabbed 28 times.

3.) Voytek Frykowski (age 32). .... Mr. Frykowski suffered the most wounds at the hands of Manson's relentless inhuman killing machines -- being stabbed a total of 51 times, shot twice, and repeatedly beaten over the head 13 times with a blunt object. The savagery of it is still mind-boggling today.

4.) Jay Sebring (age 35). .... Jay was shot once with Manson's very own "Buntline" revolver and received seven knife wounds.

5.) Steven Parent (age 18). .... Steven was the first to die at 10050 Cielo Drive in Hollywood's Benedict Canyon. The teenager was shot four times in his car as he was trying to leave the Tate property.

6.) Leno LaBianca (age 44). .... After Charlie Manson had personally tied up Mr. and Mrs. LaBianca with rope inside their home at 3301 Waverly Drive in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles, Manson sent his murderous monsters into the LaBianca house to kill them both. Leno was stabbed 12 times with a knife and was stabbed another 7 times with a fork. A knife was found lodged in Mr. LaBianca's throat, and the word "war" had been physically carved into Leno's stomach by his bloodthirsty murderers, while the double-tined fork used to create that word in the flesh of the victim was left protruding from Mr. LaBianca's abdomen following the grisly act.

7.) Rosemary LaBianca (age 38). .... Mrs. LaBianca was stabbed with a knife a total of 41 separate times. Both of the LaBiancas were found with pillowcases over their heads.

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RELATED "MANSON" TOPICS:

Mr. Bugliosi's best-selling book "Helter Skelter" has also been made into two television movies, produced in 1976 and 2004 (both of which have been made available on DVD; links below).

I highly recommend each of those film adaptions of "Skelter" too, with the original 1976 movie (starring George DiCenzo as Vincent Bugliosi and Steve Railsback as Charles Manson) being my favorite of the two versions.

Unlike the first film, the 2004 remake concentrates less on the actual court trial, spending more time on the activities of Manson and "Family" in the weeks and months leading up to the morbid events of August '69.

Both versions are worthy additions to the DVD-Video library, in my opinion. Mr. Bugliosi himself is credited as one of the three "Executive Producers" of the 2004 movie.

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I often wonder what would have happened if Charlie Manson and Family had heard the words "Not Guilty" when the verdict was announced in Los Angeles on January 25, 1971. Thankfully, though, they did not hear those two words spoken by the court clerk that day, due in great part to Mr. Bugliosi's fine work in piecing together the potential (albeit crazy-sounding) motive for the Tate-LaBianca murders.

But if Manson and his faithful gang of unfeeling killers had walked out of court free and clear, I wonder if other innocent people might have ended up like Sharon and Jay and Voytek, et al. It's a chilling thought....to be sure.

I'm just glad Mr. Bugliosi was ultimately successful in his prosecutorial efforts, and got the killers off the streets and behind bars where each of them belongs.

Anyone who reads the disturbing and chilling first chapter of "Helter Skelter" will no doubt want to keep turning these pages till the end.

David Von Pein
January 2006
March 2008

This was a interesting book,but it can come of a little dry ecspecially at the end. It is just Bobby Kennedy's version of how the committee got started and what happened.I was interested on both sides of the story so I'm also reading Jimmy Hoffa's autobiography which goes into the comittee as well.It's amazing how Bobby can makes some of the statments about crime that he does with the Kennedy's being so crooked themselves??

This is a marvelous peek inside Robert Kennedy's efforts against corrupt labor unions. I had long been intrigued with the whole RFK-Jimmy Hoffa "feud," so this was a treat for me. Robert Kennedy's writing style is at once humorous and pragmatic. He provides a detailed account of the inner workings of the McClellan Committee. Moreover, he meticulously describes the corruption within the labor organizations, with particular emphasis on Jimmy Hoffa. A word of warning: When I use words like "detailed" and "meticulously," I'm being serious. The book is a must for anyone interested in RFK, Jimmy Hoffa, the McClellan Committee, or American labor history; but someone who wants an action movie packaged as a book, will probably be disillusioned. Having said that, I loved the book. I highly recommend it.