Post: #1

I have always been a big fan of real crime programs and documentaries, recently I decided to start reading books about it. I bough Richard Kuklinski book ( Ice man -confessions of a mafia contract killer) and I am truly enjoying it. I guess I will be reading crime books more often. You will always get information in the books that won't be shown on the tv program.

Any of you into real crime books? Any books that you can recommend?

Post: #2

pitt:

This summer, prompted by this recommendation from The Lizard of Oz, I read and really got into American Desperado: My Life--From Mafia Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset, the flabbergasting life story of Jon Roberts, who rose from his start as the son of a mid-level NY/NJ mafioso to become the biggest smuggler of cocaine into the U.S. during the coke blizzard of the 1980s.

In a word, Roberts was indeed a real-life Tony Soprano: an evil sociopath but intensely likeable at the same time.

I can highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the true crime genre.

By the way -- in keeping with TLOZ's suggestion, I immediately followed up this book with When Hell Was in Session by Admiral Jeremiah Denton, who was among the first American pilots shot down over North Vietnam and kept his august humanity in tact through nearly eight years of torture. After marinating my mind in the viciousness of Roberts' life for 500 pages, it seemed somehow necessary to cleanse my soul by spending some time with "a great and saintly man" as TLOZ very rightly calls Denton. This one isn't exactly true crime ("true war crime" perhaps) but still a worthwhile read.

Post: #3

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

Set during the 1893 world's fair in Chicago, it tells the story of putting on a grand world exposition and how serial killer HH Holmes used the fair to lure his victims. Good read.

Post: #4

Well, pitt, you've asked a serious question and you will get a serious answer.

True crime books, as they should always be called, are an almost inexhaustible genre -- one of the very greatest of all genres. It is simply incredible how many of these books are at the very least well worth reading, with a large subset of those being excellent, and more than a few absolute masterpieces.

Any list of true crime books should start with the two great masters of the genre: Jack Olsen and Philip Carlo. So in this post I'll just list the books from these two writers that should be read, and over time I'll add more (many more) in later posts in the thread.

There are only two books by Philip Carlo that should be read, but both are masterpieces of the genre, in very different ways. These are:

The Night Stalker, the story of serial killer Richard Ramirez. This is one of the most intense and inspired true crime books ever written and it serves as a great introduction to the genre.

The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, the story of convicted killer Richard Kuklinski. The secret of this book is that it is in many ways a comic true crime book which is a deep part of the nature of this genre. In this way, it provides an excellent contrast to The Night Stalker, and could well be read after it.

Jack Olsen was justly known as the "Dean of True Crime" and he is without a doubt the greatest true crime writer of all time. He has written many books, and nearly all are worth reading, almost all are excellent, and a few are masterpieces. I will only list a few here, and you can find the rest for yourself:

The Misbegotten Son, the story of serial killer Arthur Shawcross, is perhaps the greatest true crime book ever written; it is my favorite. I believe it's one of the masterpieces of world literature. I'll say nothing more about it.

Silence on Monte Sole is not exactly a true crime book, but any book by Olsen essentially qualifies. It is a great and melancholy book about something that happened in Italy during the second World War. Another masterpiece.

The Man with the Candy is an excellent Olsen book (not a masterpiece, but very representative of Jack at his typical best), and a rather grim story of a Houston killer. Highly recommended.

We'll start with these, and follow up with more as time goes on.

Post: #5

Great list Lizard of Oz, I am definitely buying them soon.

p.s. Mods feel free to re-title the thread as true crime books.

Post: #6

TLOZ gave some excellent titles. I will add this to the list. The story of a hitman for the Mexican Mafia

http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Hand-Enr...0061257303

"While this is a superb cautionary tale about the dangers of youth falling into senseless gang violence, it also rates as a probing, redemptive story of Enriquez, a vicious, heroin-addicted killer for Los Angeles's largest criminal street gang, with 20,000 members involved in extortion, drug-dealing, vice and murder. Blatchford explores with grim accuracy Enriquez's criminal past, prison killings, turf wars and contract eliminations around the West Coast."

Post: #7

Time for another installment of must-read true crime books.

Here, I will introduce another great master of the genre, Clark Howard. He is the author of three masterpieces, one of which is not exactly a true crime book, but close enough. These are:

Brothers in Blood, the story of a killing down south. It is a great book, and my favorite by Howard. No one writes better than Howard about young men at large, driving in a car, and ranging as they are led by their uncontrollable lusts. I'll leave it at that.

Zebra is a superb account of the Zebra black Muslim murders that terrorized San Francisco in the early '70s. It is as intricately and beautifully characterized as a book can be, and the darkness and evil stupidity of what it describes is unforgettable (and too little known).

Six Against the Rock is a great masterpiece which tells the story of the most daring attempted escape from Alcatraz. Although "Brothers in Blood" is probably my favorite, this is objectively Howard's greatest book, and a permanent contribution to world literature. It has peerless strength of characterization, narrative, and feeling, and you will remember its characters -- perhaps one in particular -- forever.

Post: #8

I really got into this genre recently.

2Wycked had an amazing recommendation for me.



http://www.amazon.com/Popular-Crime-Refl...op?ie=UTF8

Famous baseball stats nerd, Bill James, has spent his life reading books in this genre. He reckons he has read over a thousand. And in this book he passes along his favourite stories and the weird things he has learned.

One is that most murders are linked to poverty. He literally thinks the Jon benet Ramsay family were too rich to ever do something as fucked up as kill their own daughter. It simply cannot have happened.

The other is that all serial killers had a mother who was a hooker.

Great book! Am gonna check out the rest in this thread.

Post: #9

"Low Life: Lures and Snares of old New York" by Luc Sante is great if you like some U.S. history thrown in.

http://www.amazon.com/Low-Life-Lures-Sna...0374528993

Quote:"In his first book, freelance writer Sante tours the underside of Manhattan's underclass circa 1840-1919. Clarifying his territory, he notes that "New York is incarnated by Manhattan (the other boroughs . . . are merely adjuncts)." Sante's bad old days are populated with lethal saloon keepers, thieves, whores, gamblers, pseudo-reformers, Tammany Hall politics, crooked cops et al. Capital of the night is the Bowery, center of the "sporting life"; bohemia encompasses the likes of short story writer O. Henry, a one-time embezzler from Texas, plus ethnic enclaves (with the Jewish and Slavic bohemians singled out as the most argumentative). East Side, West Side, semi-rural uptown, wide-open downtown, 19th-century Manhattan is presented as the realm of danger and pleasure. "The city was like this a century ago, and it remains so in the present," maintains an author who sees his Manhattan as seamy, seedy and sinister."

--
"Helter Skelter" is a classic. You can always find a used copy somewhere for cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Helter-Skelter-Sto...er+skelter

Post: #10

(10-09-2015 05:15 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  Time for another installment of must-read true crime books.

Here, I will introduce another great master of the genre, Clark Howard. He is the author of three masterpieces, one of which is not exactly a true crime book, but close enough. These are:

Brothers in Blood, the story of a killing down south. It is a great book, and my favorite by Howard. No one writes better than Howard about young men at large, driving in a car, and ranging as they are led by their uncontrollable lusts. I'll leave it at that.

Zebra is a superb account of the Zebra black Muslim murders that terrorized San Francisco in the early '70s. It is as intricately and beautifully characterized as a book can be, and the darkness and evil stupidity of what it describes is unforgettable (and too little known).

Six Against the Rock is a great masterpiece which tells the story of the most daring attempted escape from Alcatraz. Although "Brothers in Blood" is probably my favorite, this is objectively Howard's greatest book, and a permanent contribution to world literature. It has peerless strength of characterization, narrative, and feeling, and you will remember its characters -- perhaps one in particular -- forever.

I want to read six against the rock but no kindle version available or pdf.

Night stalker was a very good book, I had seen it on tv before but the book is actually way more interesting. The Misbegotten son was good but some parts were really boring, I hate when the writer is just filling in pages.

I appreciate your contribution on here.