Crimes Of The Century

In compelling narrative, the authors probe the sensational cases of Nathan F. Leopold, Jr., and Richard A. Loeb, the Scottsboro "boys," Bruno Richard Hauptmann, Alger Hiss, and O.J. Simpson, highlighting significant lessons about criminal behavior and the administration of criminal justice. Each case study details the crime, the police investigation, and the court proceedings, profiles the major players, and examines the outcome and aftermath of the trial. The authors untangle the perplexities surrounding the cases and illuminate the many mysteries that remain unsolved today. These celebrated trials reveal issues of overzealous prosecution, sloppy police work, judicial bias, race, class, and ethnic struggles, and the role of wealth in securing a competent defense. They also show how the temper of the times and frenzied media coverage heightened the intensity of drama in the cases.

The story behind the attack that shocked a nation and opened a new chapter in the history of American crime. On July 14th, 1966, Richard Franklin Speck swept through several student nurses’ townhouse like a summer tornado and changed the landscape of American crime. He broke in as his helpless victims slept, bound them one by one, and then stabbed, assaulted, and strangled all eight in a sadistic sexual frenzy. By morning, only one young nurse had miraculously survived. The killer was captured in seventy-two hours; he was successfully prosecuted in an error-free trial that stood up to appellate scrutiny; and the jury needed only forty-nine minutes to return a death verdict. Here is the story of Richard Speck by the prosecutor who put him in prison for life with a brand new introduction by Bill Kunkle, the prosecutor of the infamous John Wayne Gacy Jr. In The Crime of the Century, William J. Martin has teamed up with Dennis L. Breo to re-create the blood-soaked night that made American criminal history, offering fascinating behind-the-scenes descriptions of Speck, his innocent victims, the desperate manhunt and massive investigation, and the trial that led to Speck’s successful conviction.

Wisconsin's most notorious crimes and criminals are profiled in this book of the Crimes of the Century series. Read about the killer dairy princess and meet notorious fiends Edward Gein, Jeffery Dahmer, and others.

Traces the two-and-a-half year investigation by the New Jersey State Police of the Lindbergh kidnapping case, challenging the effectiveness of the investigation and the evidence that convicted Bruno Hauptmann.

Addressing developments since the book's initial publication in 1982, Kurtz provides a new introduction and updated bibliography. He discusses the publicity and controversy surrounding Oliver Stone's film JFK, the new books and television programs that have dealt with the different conspiracy theories, new information about the possible role of organized crime in the assassination, and certain materials from the Kennedy autopsy that have only recently come to light.

ABOUT THE BOOK In the fall of 2008, at the zenith of the American financial crisis, multiple Wall Street firms posted losses reaching into the hundreds of millions. These losses represented the beginning of an unprecedented disaster. In December of 2008, CNN estimated that Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was responsible for $50 billion. Widely touted as the biggest Ponzi scheme in history, Bernard “Bernie” Madoff lured wealthy investors with promises of high returns only to siphon away funds to finance his own lavish lifestyle. He would then replenish his coffers by recruiting more unsuspecting clients. After decades of deception, the question remains: How did Madoff get away with it for so long? MEET THE AUTHOR Andrew Ulloa is an attorney who lives and practices in San Jose, California. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK Madoff’s obsession with access extended beyond recruiting clients. The Wall Street Journal documented Madoff’s entrée into the world of regulatory agencies. Madoff kept close ties with the leading securities industry organization, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”), where his brother Peter served on the board of directors. Additionally, Madoff held close relationships with employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). His nephew was a SEC lawyer and Madoff considered past SEC Chairpersons and Commissioners to be friends. It seemed that he had friends everywhere. What is fascinating about Madoff is the ability he had to manipulate so many smart, wealthy, connected people. Even days before Madoff’s arrest, there were those still clamoring to invest with him. Madoff had crafted a sustainable self-perpetuating scheme. Yet, the one factor Madoff could not anticipate was the subprime mortgage crisis and the resulting housing market crash. The economy was shaken, and investors wanted to be as liquid as possible. In the fall of 2008, they began requesting cash withdrawals from Madoff. This was the end of the line. There was no way Madoff could redeem over $7 billion in requests. According to Bloomberg News, Madoff only had $200 million left to disperse. With his options limited, he confessed to his family and surrendered to authorities on December 11, 2008. Buy a copy to continue reading!

ABOUT THE BOOK The Tate-LaBianca murders perpetrated by Charles Manson and his followers (called “the Family”) truly deserves to be called a Crime of the Century. I was about ten-years-old when the murders took place in 1969, and being so young I was only vaguely aware of the events when they happened, but this wasn’t a crime that stayed in the headlines for a couple of weeks and then disappeared. It stayed in the memory. Everyone talked about it. In those days adults tried not to describe such things in the presence of children, but the Tate-LaBianca murders was a trend setter, and the crime and the ensuing trial captured the American imagination. With his deranged stare and cryptic and confused statement, Manson himself became the model for the psycho killer; crazy and inscrutable, he had a plan that was even more deranged than his appearance. MEET THE AUTHOR Jeff Davis is a life long educator with a Ph.D. in English Studies who has taught at both the high school and university levels. He is also an artist and an amateur anthropologist who is a proponent of “First Art,” that art which our ancient ancestors practiced some 30,000 years ago and even earlier. His most recent book, The First-Generation Student Experience, expanded the college student-affairs field describing the challenges of contemporary nontraditional students. Related to his interest in evolutionary biology, he is currently working on a writing pedagogy book that argues that motivation is the most important dimension of the creative process, even more important than skill and native ability. EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK On the afternoon of August 8, 1969, Manson set his plan in motion. Calling together several of his followers, he announced “Now is the time for Helter Skelter.” That evening he told three female members of the Family–Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian–to grab a change of clothes, a knife, and their driver’s licenses. Manson privately discussed details of the plan with a fourth Family member, Charles “Tex” Watson, before all four piled into an old Ford. “Helter Skelter” was Charlie’s name for a self-predicted race war that the Family would get started (see section titled Helter Skelter above). Manson conceived of the Tate-LaBianca murders as the trigger that would start up the race war. Although Helter Skelter is widely regarded as the main motive for the murders, Manson possessed other crazy ideas that guided his actions, at least to some extent. One of these ideas was that he was a gifted musician who could be as famous as The Beatles if he ever got the right break. Charlie learned how to play the guitar in prison and had written numerous songs. He even went so far as to contact people in the music industry to listen to and distribute his tapes. A year before the murders took place, he had made the acquaintance of Dennis Wilson, the drummer for the Beach Boys, who evidently told Manson that he would put in a good word for him. It’s unclear if Wilson really intended to help Manson or even if his encouragement was sincere. Wilson himself was heavily into the drug scene at the time, and Manson’s wild appearance and behavior would have been enough for him to want to appease Charlie out of fear for his own safety, if nothing else.