True Crime Books

I have read this book over and over again. It combines drama, humor, and enough social commentary that you won't feel it is frivolous. Based on fact, it is a great read. Presently, I am trying to follow up on what happened to the "characters" after the book ended. Can't go wrong with this book.

Sabes que, Wambaugh at his best!

Mr. Wambaugh as always, is able to catch the true flavor of what it was really like to be a cop and be a man. How hard is/was to "keep" a marriage, capture the essence of another culture and still tell a story as if we were all sitting in a bar listening to the ones who saw it all. The Seventies were ripe with blurried lines of two countries, two cultures forever linked in land of sometimes chaos. Those guys were the cowboys of the Seventies. It wasn't just a "Mexican" thing,... it was a Cop thing.

because it DOESN'T read like fiction; it's a true story with Wambaugh applying his direct understanding of how cops behave & what happens when they act out because of stress that returns night after night & can't be eased. There's the usual Wambaugh mix of booze, women, blurs between right & law. As usual, there's no insight or development for female characters, who are cardboard cutouts. But this time, instead of playing with character & language, as in other books, he projects his insights into those he depicts, without modifying their character. It's docudrama, despite its gunslinger theme, like Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," a form Wambaugh is good at, maybe because it relieves him of tense necessity of creating a plot. Oddly, this book isn't cynical, even when describing disappointed moral objectives; but it does prove what Aristotle said, "We become what we do repeatingly." A police department that sends men to work in Hell shouldn't be surprised if they turn into devils.

I'm both in awe and suspicious of this book. It purports to tell the true-life story of a group of undercover police officers, most of Mexican descent, who work steathily to entice robbers preying on the heavy illegal alien traffic flowing into San Diego County from Baja California into attacking them, then turning the tables on their would-be victimizers.

I'm in awe because it reads like fiction, with deep insights into the professional and personal lives of each of the policemen who are part of the BARF (Border Alien Robbery Force) team. We find out how they spend their off-hours, drinking and cheating on their wives with the sort of abandon of the cheerfully doomed. We discover how much they come to dislike one another, and particularly their leader, a hotshot in disco chains named Manny Lopez. The action sequences are riveting, and you get a real flavor for the desolate highlands these officers probe, and the desperate characters, both deadly and vulnerable, that they come across.

But it reads too much like fiction. These guys either opened up to Wambaugh to a degree few ever do, not even to a very good, empathetic writer who asks all the right questions, or else the writer went the New Journalism route and extrapolated a lot of the inner monologues each of these officers have from time to time. I wonder about the former approach (cops are notoriously taciturn, even with each other or someone like Wambaugh who's obviously skilled at drawing them out) and question the validity of the latter, if used.

Despite the numerous offenses against man, society, and God cataloged here, Wambaugh apparently didn't leave these guys so much out to dry that they got angry. It wouldn't be a good idea angering these guys, but how did he manage it, given the story we have here? I just wish there was some Author's Note explaining the access issue. All we have is the firm statement at the outset "This Is A True Story." Yes, sure, but are these the real characters? Did he do one of those magazine-writer tricks of folding in multiple characters to create fictional hybrids? Did he use pseudonyms? I'd love to know.

The dialogue is brilliant, the writerly asides masterful and witty, and a crisp narrative pulls you through quickly while asking the question of when a good impulse (protecting aliens who are being savaged by gangsters while trying to illegally enter your country) become a really bad practice. By the final third of the book, the cops are strung-out adrenaline junkies probing into Mexican territory and looking for conflict, not the sort of characters you want representing your country in a sensitive border region.

Was this really what they were like? And what happened to them after the book was published in 1984? I'd love to know.

The philosophical setting of this book is littered with "ifs." If the United States government would protect the US from invaders, as it is charged to do, this book never would have been written. If other nations were governed by constitutions conceptually similar to that of the United States, establishing freedom and individual rights everywhere -- such that people would not feel it necessary to flee their home governments, and seek freedom in the United States -- this book never would have come into being. If, if, if.

This excellent book is a well-written tragedy about good law enforcement people who took the initiative to overlook one crime (illegal immigration) and proactively fight other crimes -- robbery, assault, battery etc. The story is compelling and riveting. It is good guys versus bad guys.

Unfortunately, both sides lost.

Rick Geary's new book "The Fatal Bullet..." explores an important event in American history in an unusual yet effective manner.

To summarize: the nation, which in recent times had dealt with the horrors of President Lincoln's assassination was once again shaken to its core the summer of 1881. On Saturday, July 2 in the near empty waiting room of a train depot, the twentieth U.S. President, Republican James Abraham Garfield was shot in the back. It would take a grueling two months before the President would succumb to his injury.

The assassin, one Charles Guiteau was quickly apprehended. He announced that he bore no ill-will toward the President but that his death was a "political necessity." During his trial Guiteau defended himself proclaiming to be an agent of deity. He would go on to state that the President's physicians should bear the burden of his death. He reasoned this because of the fact that they had decided the wound the President had suffered was not, in fact fatal and that he would soon recover. Guiteau was convicted of the assassination by a jury and was executed by hanging on June 30, 1882.

What sets Geary's book apart from other historical works is that it was written in a graphic novel. With illustration reminiscent of a comic book, Geary's book sets out to explore the Garfield assassination as well as to take a closer look at the events leading up to this significant point in the two men's lives.

Geary examines certain similarities in both lives. Some of these included are in regards to their home regions, the fact that both were the youngest in their family, both considered clergy as a career and that both were drawn to the law and politics.

Robert Frost wrote of two roads that diverged in the wood. This would certainly be applicable to the life paths taken by Garfield and Guiteau. While their lives bore some resemblances they each took different paths. Garfield had a "happy prosperous life" with a strong marriage and a "reputation for honesty, loyalty and fair dealing." Guiteau, on the other hand, took the "downward path" with a bitter and brief marriage and a reputation as a "cheat, charltan and hum-bug."

Geary's book is very interesting and unique. To take a piece of history put it in comic form and stay true to the serious nature of the event is quite the feat. This book will appeal to those young adults and teens who may otherwise have little or no interest in history. Teachers would do well to include this book in their curriculum.

I'm a fan of this series. There are good entries and less good entries. I discovered them with the Jack the Ripper volume which I like to read at night before bedtime. There are two aspects of that book I wish Geary would return to. The first is that the crime is scandalous and unsolved (as is the Borden case), the second is that none of the victims was a president!

This is really not about juicy, low Victorian murders which I would think is the appeal of a series with that title. Once a president is involved you're into assasinations, which to my mind are a different thing. Curling up with a book about an assasination in which the killer is known & villified for his failings, the victim lingers, and in which all the answers are found before you're done just doesn't hold the same appeal.

People who are seeking history seem to like the book.

As a history buff, and a fan of Rick Geary's, I knew I'd enjoy this book, but I had no idea how much! The book tells the paralell stories of President James A. Garfield and his stalker (and eventual assassin) Charles Giteau, an abysmal failure in every aspect of life; indeed, his ONLY success in life was the murder of President Garfield, and he almost botched that up, too. Garfield lingered for months after the attack, dying perhaps more as a result of medical incompetence than Giteau's efforts.
Geary's wonderfully cartoony art is reminiscent of claymation; it gives a true illusion of depth and form. He is truly one of the underrated geniuses of the Comic art form. His meticulous research gives us many interesting facts, such as The President being allowed to walk around Washington D.C. unescorted (No Secret Service yet), Abraham Lincoln's son's association with Garfield, and too many others to count. Do yourself a favor- read the book!!

This entry in Rick Geary's series on Victorian murders examines the assassination of President James Garfield by Charles J. Guiteau, a megalomaniacal failure at preaching, the law, and almost everything else he had tried. The drawings are evocative of the time and place, and give a clear idea of the events. The lives of Garfield and Guiteau are traced, and Guiteau's mental illness is made quite clear; today, he would almost certainly be sharing a room with John Hinckley. I'd like to see this whole series reprinted: one of them is out of print and apparently unavailable.

When I ordered this book, I thought it was a short textual history of the assasination of President James Garfield. It turns out that this book is in comic book format with the story being told by dialogue and cartoon illustrations. However, I really enjoyed the book and learned a lot about Garfield, his assasin, Charles Guiteau, and Garfield's slow death.

Guiteau was basically a loser in life and had even served time in jail. He was constantly skipping out on creditors and and he showed signs of mental illness. He was dillusional and thought that Garfield would apppoint him to an ambassadorship. He literally stalked both Garfield and Secretary of State Blaine in an attempt to secure the appointment. When it was not forthcoming, he stalked Garfield (this was in the days before the secret service) until he had the opportunity to shoot the President.

The wound caused a rupture in an artery but an aneurism sealed off the opening so he did not bleed to death. Garfield lingered for many weeks until the aneurism ultimately ruptured and Garfield died. The location of the bullet had not been located and the aneurism had gone untreated. Today, Garfield's condition would have almost certainly been diagnosed through an MRI and he may have survived delicate surgery which would have saved his life.

In reading history, we generally get a line or two about Garfield being assasinated by a "disappointed office seeker." It was enjoyable to learn more about this event, particularly in such an unusual literary format.

I have read Mr. Pankua's book, "How To Make A $100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator". I have found it to be an excellent resource of information on marketing, promoting, and operating an investigative agency. Mr. Pankua has been there and done it. He speaks from experience and I for one am grateful that he has chosen to share his wealth of knowledge and experience on this subject. I would highly recommend this book to anyone starting up or operating a private investigative business.

... As an experienced private investigator with many years in the field and having survived the years of "growing" to become successful, I have to say that Mr. Pankau's book, together with his seminars, have been a great help. In our small PI community Mr. Pankau is an icon. He is in the top 5% of all private investigators in the world. This book was not written for someone who has been in the field for years and years but for the many new starters who hopefully can learn from the introductory texts Mr. Pankau has published. For the amateurs who love to watch Dan Tanner reruns and after reading a book on private investigation want to make it big in the profession, it is not a book to read. Gazza and some of the others may need to give it a little time to grow as investigators to understand the broad guidance that is actually represented in the book.

As a licensed private investigator and college instructor of private investigation courses, I have the utmost respect for the late Mr. Edmund J. Pankau, CLI, CPP, DABFE and his contributions to the private investigation profession, and was saddened to learn of his recent passing. Mr. Pankau has written some books of value regarding private investigation, and this one is of some (emphasis added) value.

If you are new to the profession and looking to explore the different investigative services (specialties) offered within the profession... If you are looking for general information to assist in founding a private investigation firm... If you are looking for some general ideas about marketing private investigation services... Then this book should be helpful.

If you are expecting to read this book and make "$100,000 A Year As A Private Investigator", you're going to be very disappointed. If you are experienced in this profession or experienced at running a business (including general marketing strategies), then this book might not suit your needs. For the price however, if this book gives you just one new effective marketing strategy (as it did for me), then the small price of this book could prove to be a great investment.

If you are looking for details regarding private investigation techniques/procedures, you will not find them here. If you are looking to enter the profession and are desperately seeking a title to quench your thirst for knowledge, then I would highly recommend (emphasis added) "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Private Investigation" by Steven Kerry Brown (ISBN: 0028643992). Brown's work is a must-have for anyone entering or attempting to enter the private investigation profession.

As always, check with your local library or bookstore to see if you can read/review this or any title before deciding to make a purchase. This method has effectively allowed me to make the most of my investigative library budget.

I hope you found this review helpful. If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me via email at (...)

This book has it all and it has it simple.
It even allows you to contact the writer for help and that is necessary for me since i am working in this field here in iceland.
In the back it has forms and contracts wich no other book i have seen has

This book is extremely outdated. It was outdated in 1993 when it was printed. The forms in the back of the book look like Genealogy forms. If you need a contract for service hire a attorney don't use his contract for service.

I have been a private detective for the last 20 years.

Building your library section of this book was a just paper use. Outdated phone books? Why? Microfilm? I am not looking for my family history.

Some of the stories are funny. They seem like big fish stories.

He did not touch on the fact that in some states you need to be licensed by the state. You also need experience with working for a private detective agency to obtain the licensing. Some states even require you to take a test.

It seems that Mr. Pankau made most of his money writing books.

Being from Tampa I've been looking all over for info on the 400 pound elephant in this town. People still whisper his name around here as if he's going to come back from the grave and seek revenge on them. My parents used to tell me stories about him and his family's activities in our "hood"(it sure as hell wasn't happening in his neighborhood). Hell, he's buried less than a mile from where I live, along with majority of his "family members". So let's just say his presence still seems to loom over Tampa. But the old guard of Tampa just tries to forget the past, especially "his" past. Finally, this author comes with some juicy details from the exploits of Santo Trafficante Jr. Everything from his father's start, Santo Sr., to Cuba, to Appalachian, to La Stella, Bay of Pigs, Hoffa, all the way to JFK. Not to mention Donnie Brasco. This book was a huge bounce back from CIGAR CITY MAFIA, and will not dissappoint. GREAT JOB SCOTT!! Now give us something on Charlie Wall or Primo Lazzara. Hell, I'll buy it.

First, this book is very well written compared to "Cigar City Mafia" which was also informative but was hard to read due to writing style. This one provided much info in an area where I grew up so I found it fascinating.

"The Silent Don" is the story of Santo Trafficante, longtime Mafia boss of South Florida. SD provides an endless parade of mafiadom, crime personalities and corrupt officials. Author Deitche has certainly done his homework. Like a good reporter, the author buttresses his text with piles of references and footnotes, almost to the point of overkill. SD touches many the many bases of Trafficante's line of work, but two chapters stand out: 1) Chapter 6 deals with the "good old days" in Havana before Fidel Castro overthrew the place, closed the casinos and kicked the mob out. What a fun, free wheeling, anything goes place Havana must have been-and how profitable for the bosses like ST. One wishes this fascinating sector had been longer. 2) Chapter 15 takes us to, if not down, the slippery slope of the JFK assassination and the Mob's involvement with that treacherous act. Did Trafficante REALLY confess his role in the JFK murder to his lawyer? Deitche suggests so. Or, as the author also hints, was Carlos Marcello, Mafia boss of New Orleans, behind the JFK hit? Marcello controlled Dallas in those days. Perhaps it was that eponymous bunch of "rogue" CIA agents harboring grudges from the Bay of Pigs fiasco? Again, one wishes for more concrete evidence, however fascinating the speculation. The final call on SD makes a 5 star rating impossible. Deitche would have served his readers better had he narrowed the scope of the text rather than covering so many of ST's criminal activities. Also, the typesetting is wearying: Paragraphs need to be better spaced. Physical layout is a problem here and the footnoting is awkward. Do we need 536 of them in a 229 page book? A good stern editor with a sharp blue pencil could have tidied up the text, but those guys were laid off years ago! That kvetching aside, SD remains an entertaining 4 star story. This is only a first edition; perhaps future printings can address the housekeeping issues. That might nudge "Silent Don" up into the 5 star category.

certainly worth reading if you like digging a bit deeper into the Mafia literature. Trafficante usually figures as a minor character in other books, so I was glad to learn more about him. I wouldn't call this a great read, though. There are a number of references to "Mob Lawyer," Selwynn Raab's biography of Ragano, Trafficante's lawyer. Haven't read that yet, but have read Raab's "Five Families," which I can highly recommend as being very well-written & informative. Most bothersome to me about "Silent Don" was the index - the page references were off on every single entry - and I checked dozens. There was some regularity to the discrepancy, but it was a real pain to work around.

For those who don't know, Santo Trafficante, Jr., was the Mob boss of the Tampa, Florida area from at least the late 50s to his death in the 1980s, and he may have had some sort of connection with JFK's assassination. Scott Deitche does a marvelous job of giving us his background and details about his life, as well as other incidents in the Tampa crime family during his reign.

Deitche's second book is very impressive. He has shown tremendous growth and uses a wealth of primary sources, including oral interviews of living relatives of deceased mobsters. For the researcher, the endnotes are greatly appreciated. As far as writing style, it's almost academic compared to the informal style of his first book. So if you want to know what went on in the field of Florida organized crime in the second half of the twentieth century, this is the book for you. If you are just interested in true crime, this is also for you. And for those interested in Tampa or Florida history, I think you will enjoy it too.

alot of Books try to paint a certain Picture about the Mafia but this Book just comes at you directly&doesn't miss a beat.you get the 411 on who did what when&where&How.if you are interested on Mafia Culture&whatnot then this is the Book for you.

This book is an excellent peripheral examination of organized crime from its beginnings to its current state.

For beginiers, this book will teach lessons and stories about the tentacles of organized crime and explain the overall themes and issues.

For mafia experts, this book is nothing more than a regurgitation of issues and theories lacking the supporting facts and details of heavy investigation.

I was drawn to this book because of its catchy cover with the crime scene tape. I was pleased that the interior lived up to the alluring cover with its compelling and informative narrative. I especially appreciated the author's whimsical touch in chronicling the colorful history of a bunch of hoodlums. He displayed a delightful sense of humor without glorifying the mob, as some of these books do. If you are looking for a single title to give you a fast overview of the shadowy Mafia, I highly recommend this book. In addition to Mafia history, there are get quirky chapters devoted to the "Leadership Lessons of Don Corleone" and "The Mafia on Television." Overall, the book was an enjoyable, edifying read from cover to cover, without getting lost in the sometimes intricate world of organized crime.

I've attended a class (and probably will attend another) that uses this textbook (Which happens to be taught by Ronald Holmes). This book serves as a good textbook for classes, it has good reading text, not awkward. Also serves as a good reference for those interested in the subject with its statistical charts.

In short, one of the more interesting books used in school.

Holmes and Holmes (1994) do a great job of outlining a truly complex phenomenon, homicide. While homicide is not a subject matter we enjoy scrutinizing, it is a subject matter we enjoy as entertainment. However, once homicide is understood at any level, it can then be appreciated as the ugly crime that it is. Holmes and Holmes outline the different degrees and types of homicide in such a manner that is logical and understandable. They then break down the phenomenon by types and report specific characteristics and statistics regarding that particular area. The only flaw that I encountered was the out-of-date statistics. Although, it must be said that this has nothing to do with the authors themselves, but rather the fact that the book was published some six years ago. Overall, Holmes and Holmes do a good job of putting homicide into perspective.

BLOODSWORTH is well-written and provocative and interesting. But Kirk Bloodsworth in his youth was not a sympathetic character. Had he been executed, it wouldnt be a great loss to society. He comes across as a kid with no future, in bad company, going from one buzz to the next. I suspect the murder rap saved him from a pedestrian execution by his doper companions. His antics and histrionic emotional displays are annoying. Bloodworth's sense of entitlement is annoying. And youre compelled to wonder about what sort of criminal nonsense he got away with before the murder rap.

Yet, his situation occurs all the time. When the child-savers and newspapers and cops and prosecutors get into a feeding frenzy, such as Bloodsworth experienced, they want blood. And it is a career killer for anyone in the system to champion a contrary theory that exonerates the defendant. Been there, done that.

I have never taken the time to review a book on this site but if any book ever deserved it, it is this book. This is the story of the first death row inmate ever exonerated by DNA evidence. I have long held the opinion that the death penalty should be abolished because our system simply isn't reliable enough to impose that ultimate punishment that can never be righted should the system have failed. This book is real, concrete, powerful, moving proof of that idea.

Kirk Bloodworth spent 9 years of his life locked in prison, cockroaches crawling all over him, inmates urinating through the front grate in his cell because he was a "child killer", the guards forcing him to paint the gas chamber where he was awaiting execution. He missed his mother's funeral, lost his 20's, was forced to turn into a near animal just to survive, and had to think daily that he was going to be killed by poisonous gas or spend the rest of his life in prison for something he did not do. Can you even imagine what that must feel like?

This was an incredible book and I think everyone should read it. We need to know the stories of people like Kirk Bloodworth because there are many more of them out there and we owe it to them to at least be aware. And, even though you know the main outcome of the book before you start, it still managed to have a surprise ending that literally gave me goosebumps. Definitely add this to your "to read" list.

I met Kirk Bloodsworth on an airplane ride, and what an amazing person. His perserverance and positive attitude about his experience is true. The book is a true reflection of the man.

Tim Junkin does an excellent job of recounting the horrid turn of events that led to Kirk Bloodsworth's arrest, indictment, conviction, and second conviction for a crime he didn't commit. Neither Bloodsworth nor Junkin ever lose sight of the fact that an appalling crime was committed, and Junkin is not afraid to show Bloodsworth, warts and all.

The arrogance of the prosecution in this case is staggering. Even when faced with incontrovertible evidence that the wrong man had been charged, convicted, sentenced to death, and incarcerated for years on end, the prosecutor's office refused to acknowledge that it had been mistaken. Moreover, it waited a decade after Bloodsworth's exoneration to run the DNA it had through CODIS. Unbelievable.

The quibbles I have with the book are few. I wish there had been a detailed index. While the bibliography is immensely helpful, I wish it had included some texts by Elizabeth Loftus or Robert Buckout on the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. In fact, Buckout was hired as an expert by Bloodsworth's defense team in his first trial, but incredibly not permitted by the court to testify. Finally, like many nonfiction books about legal cases, Junkin's book begins almost at the end of the story and then backtracks, finally picking up the story's final threads again toward the end of the book. This tack leads to some overlap and redundancy in storytelling. It may be bothersome to some readers. Is any one of these complaints enough to merit subtracting an entire star from a review of the book? No. Maybe half a star, if that.

If the book Bloodsworth interests you, you might also want to look at the website [...] for more information about the wrongfully convicted and how dedicated lawyers,scientists, and lay people are helping them to see the light of day again.

Jerry Layne Rogers, Sr. -- wrongfully convicted and innocent. From 1989 - 1992, I was his investigator at CCR [The Office of Capital Collateral Representative, a state agency representing death-sentenced persons].

Mr. Rogers' case consisted in 1992 of at least 80 boxes of documents, from court files, prosecutor and law enforcement files, trial and evidentiary hearing transcripts, etc. Mr. Rogers's case was the largest and most complicated that CCR has ever represented that I am aware of.

The second largest and most complicated was that of Mr. Gerald Stano, whose lead attorney during most of the development of his case was Mark E. Olive.

In 1995, Mr. Rogers began receiving pro bono representation from the Washington, D.C. law firm Covington and Burling. The result was an unanimous Florida Supreme Court (FSC) 26 page opinion ordering a new trial in Mr. Rogers' case due primarily to prosecutorial misconduct, in particular Brady v. Maryland violations.

To read the opinion, go to the FSC website, then at "Public Information", to the recent opinions, to the year 2001, then toward the bottom at February 15, 2001, one will find the FSC opinion.

During the summer of 2002, Mr. Rogers was re-convicted, however sentenced to life upon the jury recommendation. Now twice Mr. Rogers has been wrongfully convicted.

In 2004, the Florida 5th District Court of Appeal denied relief. The FSC declined to accept jurisdiction and thus denied the petition for review.

Mr. Rogers' case is pending Federal review.




For those interested in reading the narrowly decided by four to three vote Florida Supreme Court opinions regarding two more death sentenced persons whose innocence is an authentic issue, please go to the FSC website, then go to the recent opinions, then chose the correct year and scroll down to the following two cases:

Roy Swafford: April 18, 2002

Peter Ventura: May 24, 2001


Additionally, the issue in the below cases is DNA testing that proves that Roy Swafford did not rape Brenda Rucker:

Roy Swafford: March 26, 2004 Case Nos. SC03.931 and SC03.1153



Please also read other books about Florida's death row by David von Drehle and Michael Mello - also availabe at Amazon.

I was looking forward to reading this book after watching a fascinating account of the case on CourtTV's "The Investigators." Sadly, Carlton Smith's account of the Larry McNabney murder is a real disappointment. CourtTV focused on Deborah Scheffel, the detective who broke the case; Smith builds his narrative around the misadventures of Elisa, Larry, and Sarah Dutra and makes the detectives minor players. Due to an apparent lack of information, Smith resorts to filling page after page with speculation and guesswork about what might have happened between these three bizarre characters. The story -- at least as Smith presents it -- has no tension or momentum at all. In the last third of the book, dealing with the events after Sarah's arrest, Smith simply quotes huge chunks of police interview transcripts in which Sarah babbles away in a self-serving manner. The whole book feels inadequately researched and lazily written.

One other thing: the back cover promises "8 pages of alarming photographs." That's probably the biggest exaggeration I've ever seen on a true crime book. Yes, there are eight pages of photos, but they are about as "alarming" as watching ice melt.

If you are used to the quality of Ann Rule, you will be deeply disappointed. Smith often has not researched the history and will generously use phrases such as "this area is a little murky" or "not much is known about this time period" etc. Very frustrating. Also the time line is very confusing.
Not impressed.

This book was just okay. The storyline is excellent for true crime, but the author's presentation is bland. I had a constant feeling of "the book is gonna get really good now", and while it is good, it never drew me in to where I couldn't put it down.

Reviewer Jim Greenhill's analogy with the Coen brothers Blood Simple, a modern film noir was excellent. The thing great about this is that it's real. Much sadness and heartbreak but I thought this was a very well written book and I've read a lot of true crime. I firmly believe the saying "Truth is stranger than fiction," and this is once again confirmation on that point. The book and characters are unbelivable and twisted but most are frighteningly unaware that they are so. Even the main character is a person who seems driven to do what she does. It brings questions to mind about hereditary factors, brain chemistry or maybe the idea that there may or may not be good and evil

Typically I am not much of a Carlton Smith true crime fan; however, I found Cold Blooded to be a tremendous piece of writing for the true crime genre. Most often writers are prone to present a bit of background, followed or preceeded by the known details of the crime and then the remainder of the book is generally the trial and sentencing of the accused; and, more often than not, is written almost word for word from trial transcripts.

Not so in Cold Blooded! There is NEVER a dull moment in this book! The life and doings of Laren (aka Elisa) Jordan/McNabeney is better than any beauty salon gossip any day! And Carlton Smith details these events in a fast paced, attention gripping style that makes putting this book down difficult!

Highly, highly recommended for true crime fans!

I picked up this book the last week of May and I finished it in 3 days!! This book was well written and a definite page turner. Not often found in most memoirs or biographies.

I'm not one to read many biographies or memoirs, or at least until recently. I was surprised at how intriguing and interesting this book was. The narrative voice drew me in.

If you don't know much about Nicky Barnes, the basics will do: He's a notorious drug-addict turned drug-kingpin from one of New York's most fam...more I picked up this book the last week of May and I finished it in 3 days!! This book was well written and a definite page turner. Not often found in most memoirs or biographies.

I'm not one to read many biographies or memoirs, or at least until recently. I was surprised at how intriguing and interesting this book was. The narrative voice drew me in.

If you don't know much about Nicky Barnes, the basics will do: He's a notorious drug-addict turned drug-kingpin from one of New York's most famous neighborhoods, Harlem. After 10 years in the life of narcotics, Barnes, deemed "Mr. Untouchable" by the cops because of the legal system's inability to convict him. It all came to an end after Barnes posed for the famous cover of the NYT Magazine. President Carter sent the Feds after him and Barnes was incarcerated for life without parole.

Barnes' story didn't end there, however. He went on to set up and entrap hundreds of fellow colleagues including members of his version of the Black Mafia, called "The Council," and two of his main women.

Barnes takes readers on a wild ride journey. One that he begins at the height of his career before the big fall. He segues from prison into the earliest days of his life in Harlem, his years as a junkie, several prison terms and finally his beginnings as a drug kingpin. The final act of the book (one of three acts), focuses on his last years in prison and the downfall of his organization, and his decision to snitch and how he went about it.

The details of the novel were quite enjoyable. Barnes doesn't hold back when it comes to the material goods he enjoyed during his days at the top. His Maserati-Citroen, the various penthouse apartments across the city and tri-state area, the fine liquor and drugs he inhaled and the designer duds he and his women wore.

What was most charming about Barnes' story was the incredibly charming narration. Barnes was witty and funny, qualities one would not expect from one of the top heroin sellers of his day. For those of us not born during his generation, it's hard to imagine that this is the same man that had helped destroy a whole community of families. But one in which we must not forget.

Lastly, one of my complaints about the memoir was that I felt that Barnes conveniently gives the reader anecdotes and history about his fellow Council members that portray them as inadequate and often goofy compared to himself. It helps to create this pile of infractions that would inevitably lead Barnes to set up and take out his "brothers" in the Council. Barnes portrays himself as really not having a choice in his final decisions. To be honest, I'm just not that convinced.

Overall, I give this book 4 of 5 stars. There was a lot unsaid in this memoir, but it was a good read and I recommend it.

You can tell that Nicky wrote this and thats the beauty of this book, or he employed a very good ghost writer. Because his voice steamrolls thru everything. I would have hoped that he would have gotten the electric chair at the end because he deserves that. this book may have benefitted from some photos.

Those looking for more on Harlem gangsters should check out Harlem Godfather: The Rap on my Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson which I co-authored with Bumpy Johnson's 93-year-old widow, Mayme Hatcher Johnson.

I was born and raised in Harlem, and so I related to many of the things depcited by Barnes is his very well-written book, Mr. Untouchable. I found it interesting that Barnes still seems to be so very bitter after all these years, even after exacting his revenge by turning his former friends in.

And I have to say, I ALWAYS wondered why Barnes decided to pose for those New York Times -- now I know! Very informative book!

This book is something else. I picked it up not knowing too much about Nicky Barnes, but the stories I'd heard about him really intrigued me.
After reading the book I decided I really don't like him.
Not only was he a drug dealer, but he seems to be a very bitter man. He doesn't seem to have a kind word to say about anyone. Not only did he snitch on his enemies, he also snitched on his so-called friends, and even his girlfriend. Then he talks about how sad he was that she died. But he was getting ready to send her to prison for life.
What kind of love is that?
What kind of man is that?
Not a very a nice one. Even if he wasn't a drug dealer I wouldn't like him. He's just not a very nice person.

This is a great book tells how the drug trade was done when Heroin was King of New York before crack cocaine. Nicky Barnes could have been the Ceo of a Fortune 500 company with his business sense. but he went down the wrong road and it cost him 30 years of his life and Betrayal from his Women and his crew. i would highly recommend this book