Many people know Nashville for the bright lights and nonstop music, but it also has a history that doesn't make it into the guidebooks. The first public hanging in the city took place in 1802 when Hen
Lust, power, madness and money drive us all in our daily lives, yet we know the difference between right and wrong, and most of us don’t act on our impulses. But there are people we mix with every day
This book takes a look at numerous unsolved homicides committed throughout the last century, right up to the modern day, as well as some carefully planned robberies that still leave the authorities st
True Crime: Gangsters takes a compelling look at the dark underbelly of society where bootlegging, robbery, crime sprees, threats are corruption are part of everyday life. The infamous Al Capone paid
Michael Cassius McDonald arrived in Chicago as a teenage scam artist who quickly sketched a blueprint for running the city through its criminal underworld. Chicago's original mob boss, he procured pre
The last Public Enemy No. 1 of the Depression era, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis reportedly compiled a record of fifty-four aliases, fifteen bank robberies, fourteen murders, three jailbreaks and two kidnappi
At the turn of the twentieth century, people in Missouri experienced unexpected and horrible deaths due to arsenic. Two different women in two different areas of Missouri, and for two different reason
At 3:30 a.m. on April 11, 1933, neighbors and firefighters arrived at the farmhouse of Albin and Alvira Johnson to find a smoldering heap where a seemingly happy home once stood. Beneath the ruins, in
On a spring morning in Morristown in 1992, authorities discovered a car idling in a driveway with the door open and the driver missing. After they learned the driver was Sidney Reso, the president of
On December 11, 1931, chaos erupted behind Leavenworth's limestone penitentiary walls as seven desperate men put months of planning into action. Aided by notorious gangsters Frank Nash, George "Machin
In October 1965, nearly 800 young people attempted to march from their churches in Natchez to protest segregation, discrimination and mistreatment by white leaders and elements of the Ku Klux Klan. As
Archie Newton stepped off the river steamer in 1880 with a letter of introduction and a secret. Seeking refuge, the young Newton hoped for a new life on the Florida frontier. Samuel McMillan was a mis
Before midnight on March 19, 1950, several startled bystanders watched two men force a screaming young woman into a car and drive away from Saint Joseph's Hospital in Vancouver. One of them yelled out
Tommy Osborn's star was rising. The young Nashville lawyer led a band of Tennessee reformers to victory in a landmark Supreme Court case. Hailed by Chief Justice Earl Warren as the most important of h
On the morning of April 14, 1926, the Inland Steel payroll delivery was hijacked in Indiana Harbor. Later that afternoon, Will County deputy sheriff and Mokena resident Walter Fisher died in a hail of
Fifty-seven Irish immigrant laborers arrived in the port of Philadelphia in June 1832 to work on Pennsylvania's Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. Contractor Philip Duffy soon hired them to work a st
Beverly Snodgrass made a lot of poor choices. Once a prostitute in the old mining town of Butte, she later became a madam running two of the most popular brothels. She fell deeply in love with a crook
Organized crime was born in the back of a fruit store in Marion. Before America saw headlines about the Capone Mob, the Purple Gang and Murder Inc., the specter of the Black Hand terrorized nearly eve
Jennie May Walker Burleson was envied for having everything a woman of her time could want--the privileged upbringing, the dazzling good looks, the dashing war hero husband. She was admired for demons
A reign of terror swept the streets of Birmingham in the 1920s. Criminals armed with small axes attacked immigrant merchants and interracial couples, leaving dozens dead or injured over the course of
On a crisp December day in 1963, Nancy Zanone left her young son and daughter playing in the backyard while she went inside to check the laundry. She never came back. A troubled teen prowling for unlo
Whether seen as a common criminal or Robin Hood with a six-shooter, the Missouri outlaw left an indelible mark on American culture. In the nineteenth century, Missouri was known as the "Outlaw State"
On a bitterly cold day in December 1909, eight-year-old Alma Kellner simply disappeared from the altar of St. John's Church in Louisville. Her body was found months later near the site of the church,
On the morning of May 27, 1896, the peaceful township of Campbell awoke to shocking news. Six people were brutally murdered at the home of Colonel Richard P. McGlincy, one of the town's most respected
From 1917 to 1919, terror struck the streets of Akron. As soldiers marched off to World War I and Spanish influenza ravaged the community, police officers faced a sinister threat. Murderous kingpin Ro
