A Murder In Long Island

A meticulously researched account of one of the North Fork’s most infamous crimes: the Wickham Axe Murders of 1854. In the mid-nineteenth century, James Wickham was a wealthy farmer with a large estate in Cutchogue, Long Island. His extensive property included a mansion and eighty acres of farmland that were maintained by a staff of servants. In 1854, Wickham got into an argument with one of his workers, Nicholas Behan, after Behan harassed another employee who refused to marry him. Several days after Behan’s dismissal, he crept back into the house in the dead of night. With an axe, he butchered Wickham and his wife, Frances, and fled to a nearby swamp. Behan was captured, tried, convicted and, on December 15, became one of the last people to be hanged in Suffolk County. Local historians Geoffrey Fleming and Amy Folk uncover this gruesome story of revenge and murder. Includes photos! “Mr. Fleming and Ms. Folk graphically recreate the crime itself and Behan’s attempts to escape. They describe in detail his capture, incarceration, trial, and conviction ending in his execution.” —The East Hampton Star

"The Long Island Serial Killer Murders Gilgo Beach and Beyond" is based on one of the most notorious serial killer cases of our time. The work is a nonfictional / fictional accounting, synonymous with New Journalism. The novel is an exposé uncovering a corrupt group of high-ranking police officials working within one of the largest law enforcement departments in the country; that is, the Suffolk County Police Department. The story shines a light upon a cast of discreditable characters, one of whom is currently under suspicion of murder(s) as well as the unquestionable abuse of power. It is a true-life story of cover-up, conceit, and conspicuously bad behavior by a host of bad actors. It was simply a matter of connecting the dots to arrive at this terrifying conclusion. Those who are familiar with the case will recognize the names of those characters portrayed, their criminal offenses, and the precise locations of where these crimes took place. A good portion of this work was written in real time referencing the outbreak of the coronavirus. Therefore, you will note the progression of the pandemic as the story unfolds.

Mancuso, in his admitted Sherlock Holmes style, likes to look beyond the obvious. To observe things others looked at, but, did not see. Former NYPD Detective, Giuseppe "Joey" Mancuso, and his half-brother, Father Dominic O'Brian have ten days before the end of the trial, to find the real murderer. Real Estate developer, Harold Longworth, is facing life in prison for the murder of his wife in the Sagaponack, Long Island, New York, home. Just hired by the defense attorneys, Joey realizes that for a whole year before the trial, the attorneys have bundled the investigation. Was it on purpose? Are the attorneys covering something up? The day of the murder, a year ago, Suffolk PD homicide detectives, found Mr. Longworth, alone in the home, sitting by his wife's body after he called 9-1-1. Her blood was on his clothes. His bloody prints were on the murder weapon. Gunshot residue, on his arms and hands. The prosecution is on the last days of their presentation. They have proven opportunity on the part of Longworth. As for motivation, they are about to show that Mrs. Longworth, the victim, was asking for a divorce, and settlement on a $75 Million estate. Further, they uncovered that Mr. Harold Longworth, suspected his wife of having an affair. Joey, having been nicknamed; The Last Advocate of the Victims, by the local New York press, due to their last case, in which they solved three murders in one week, was hired reluctantly, by the defense in the last days of the trial. Margery, the 19-year-old daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Longworth, insisted that Joey and brother Dominic get involved in the case. As Mancuso and Father O'Brian begin working the case, from their center of operations; Captain O'Brian's Pub and Cigar Bar, corner of Beaver and Hanover Streets, in the Financial District of Manhattan, they find that there could be a lot more to this murder. The Longworth Foundation, a $100 Million non-profit-organization, is under FBI probe and IRS audit, for potential tax-schemes, money laundering, and colluding with foreign governments. Mancuso, in his admitted Sherlock Holmes style, likes to look beyond the obvious. To observe things others looked at, but, did not see. Can Mancuso and O'Brian save Mr. Longworth from a life-sentence? Will they be able to unravel a possible fraudulent tax scheme being concocted by the Foundation executives? Or, is it simply a case of the husband did it, out of jealously? Join Joey and Father Dominic, as they work feverishly in the last days of the trial, in their latest crime mystery. A whodunit page turner, with sides of humor and romance.

A scorned woman, an incensed deli owner, a drunken cop, and an antisocial son. These were the most memorable murder defendants to appear before Long Island judge Thomas M. Stark during his thirty-seven years on the bench. None was more notorious than Ronald DeFeo Jr., who in 1975 was convicted of shooting six members of his family, a crime that sparked tales of hauntings later recounted in the best-selling book The Amityville Horror: A True Story. Drawing from his personal files, Stark gives readers an inside look at the brutal murders, the frenzy over the alleged psychic events that followed, and DeFeo’s decades of shifting stories about what really happened that fateful night. The book’s other tales of true crime include long-forgotten cases that mesmerized Long Islanders from the 1960s to the 1980s: the murder-for-hire of an unfaithful paramour, a fire that took the lives of a mother and three children, a Southampton society melee, and more. A noted expert on criminal law, Stark delves into the legal issues raised by each murder and shares the thinking behind his rulings. These real-life cases are sure to fascinate fans of both true crime and courtroom drama as Stark brings to life tragic stories of love and betrayal, a feud turned deadly, partying gone awry, and a family killed in cold blood.

New York Times Bestseller Soon to be a Netflix film. The bestselling account of the lives of five young women whose fates converged in the perplexing case of the Long Island Serial Killer. Now updated, with a new afterword by the author. "Rich, tragic...monumental...true-crime reporting at its best."--Washington Post One late spring evening in 2010, Shannan Gilbert--after running through the oceanfront community of Oak Beach screaming for her life--went missing. No one who had heard of her disappearance thought much about what had happened to the twenty-four-year-old: she was a Craigslist escort who had been fleeing a scene--of what, no one could be sure. The Suffolk County police, too, seemed to have paid little attention--until seven months later, when an unexpected discovery in a bramble alongside a nearby highway turned up four bodies, all evenly spaced, all wrapped in burlap. But none of them Shannan's. There was Maureen Brainard-Barnes, last seen at Penn Station in Manhattan three years earlier, and Melissa Barthelemy, last seen in the Bronx in 2009. There was Megan Waterman, last seen leaving a hotel in Hauppauge, Long Island, just a month after Shannon's disappearance in 2010, and Amber Lynn Costello, last seen leaving a house in West Babylon a few months later that same year. Like Shannan, all four women were petite, in their twenties, and had come from out of town to work as escorts, and they all had advertised on Craigslist and its competitor, Backpage. Lost Girls is a portrait of unsolved murders in an idyllic part of America, of the underside of the Internet, and of the secrets we keep without admitting to ourselves that we keep them. Long considered "one of the best true-crime books of all time" (Time), this edition is now updated, with an afterword about developments in the case, including the shocking fate of Mari Gilbert, Shannan's mother, for whom this case became the crusade of a lifetime.

Two New York Times correspondents take readers into the twisted life and mind of Joel Rifkin, the 34-year-old Long Island landscaper who confessed to 17 brutal murders of women after being arrested in June 1993 following a traffic violation. Photographs.

A new look at the 1937 abduction of a wealthy wife and mother, based on previously classified FBI documents—includes photos. When she was kidnapped from Long Meadow Farm in Stony Brook, New York, in 1937, Alice McDonell Parsons was the heir to a vast fortune among Long Island’s wealthy elite. The crime shocked the nation and was front-page news for several months. J. Edgar Hoover personally assigned his best FBI agents to the case, and within a short time, Parsons’s husband and their live-in housekeeper, Anna Kupryanova, had become prime suspects. Botched ransom attempts, clashes between authorities, and romantic intrigue kept the investigation mired in drama. The crime remained unsolved. Now, in this book, former Suffolk County detective Steven C. Drielak reveals previously classified FBI documents—and pieces together the mystery of the Alice Parsons kidnapping.

Presents a collection of sinister stories each set in a distinct Long Island location, featuring contributions by such noted mystery authors as Charles Salzberg, Sarah Weinman, and Steven Wishnia.