Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in True Crime

Here, for the first time, is the intimate untold story of O.J. and Nicole Brown Simpson's tragic, tumultuous marriage. Author Sheila Weller was granted unprecedented cooperation by Nicole's family and exclusive access to friends who reveal private information. Raging Heart is filled with gripping revelations and shocking scenes from the lives of the dangerously romantic couple.

In "the most exciting bio of the year," Richard Hack uses recently uncovered (and in some cases, recently declassified) personal letters, court testimony, FBI files, autopsy reports and exclusive interviews to reveal the man who was a legendary lover, record-setting aviator, award-winning film producer, talented inventor, ultimate eccentric, and, for much of his lifetime, the richest man in the United States.

In the secret world of spies and covert operations, no other intelligence service continues to be surrounded by myth and mystery as does the Mossad. Created in 1951 to ensure the future of an embattled Israel, Mossad is responsible for the most audacious and thrilling feats of espionage, counterterrorism, and assassination. To some, Mossad is the precise and at times lethal instrument of Israel's will, a fiercely dedicated group of men and women: an elite intelligence arm.

Catch a glimpse inside the mind of one of the most notorious murderers in recent memory - Lyle Menendez. The cold-blooded murder of Jose and Kitty Menendez shocked the nation. At first it seemed to be the work of the mob, but it soon became apparent that the murderers were their sons Lyle and Erik. Their first trial started a media frenzy and was filled with lurid details, but these never clearly explained why the brothers killed their parents.

 On June 12, 1994, the lives of Nicole Brown Simspon and Ronald Goldman were violently ended. From the spectacle of the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Nicole's friend Faye Resnick attempted to capture the life of Simpson and the two women's relationship to each other. Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted offers a tragic view of a woman trapped in a violent cycle of fear and abuse. 

We, the Jury is the dramatic story of the seven jurors who convicted Scott Peterson of murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, despite a series of internal battles that brought the first major murder trial of the 21st century to the brink of a mistrial. The Peterson jurors argued and disagreed but eventually bonded to seal the fate of the icy killer who dumped his victims into the bullet-gray waters of San Francisco Bay.

Nixon - loathed or admired, the name recalls one of the most extraordinary political survivors in American history. Author Jonathan Aitken interviewed the legendary politician and was granted unprecedented access to his private documents to root out answers to many questions. Why didn't he burn the Watergate tapes? What were his relationships with John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, and Henry Kissinger?

With explosive new revelations concerning the "National Security Matter" that led to the cover-up of her murder, The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe is a fascinating and riveting account of one of the most shocking crimes of the century. Donald H. Wolfe meticulously chronicles her final days, names the killer, documents the mode of death, and identifies those who orchestrated the cover-up.  

Ironworker Wayne Colson and his spirited wife Carmen are witnesses to a shakedown scam — witnesses who must be eliminated. Enter Armand Degas (a.k.a. Blackbird), the brains of the operation, and his partner Richie Nix, an ex-con whose highest goal is to rob a bank in every state. After the Colsons enter the Federal Witness Security Program, a lively chase ensues — with two bumbling but determined killers on Wayne and Carmen's trail.

While other profilers tend to conceal the clear facts behind complex technical language and psychobabble, investigator Pat Brown actually tells it like it is. With the same dark wit that gets people who work with the criminally insane through their workday, Brown speaks frankly about the monsters among us who kill for sport. In Killing for Sport, Brown provides an honest portrayal of the predator-next-door, how he hunts for him victims, why he likes to torture them, where he tends to stash their bodies, and more. 

In September 2002, Mexican writer Ernestina Sodi and her sister, actress Laura Zapata, were kidnapped at gunpoint in Mexico City. Deliver Us from Evil is a first-person account of the living nightmare endured by the two women. Blindfolded for much of her ordeal, Ernestina Sodi learns to identify the members of this well-organized, brutal, and professional kidnapping gang by voice and smell. Plunging listeners into the dark world of crime, rage, and violence without mercy, this real-life drama culminates in a thrilling and truly unforgettable climax. 

Media and law enforcement work at cross-purposes. Law enforcement want to solve a case as fast as possible and put the guilty behind bars. The media want a case to drag on as long as humanly possible and do all they can to extricate every last bit of drama, drop by bloody drop, in order to hold the attention of the millions of viewers who have gotten hooked. Law enforcement must abide by rules. The media make their own rules, and even then break them or find ways to work loopholes into them.

One hot Monday morning in 1976, Albert Spaggiari engineered the European crime of the century. A bank president in Nice, France found his vault welded shut—from the inside. Spaggiari and his gang of 20 men had dug a 25-foot tunnel from the city's sewer system into the bank, where they spent a weekend cooking meals, drinking wine, and clearing millions of dollars in gold, jewelry, gems, and cash. Here is the breathtakingly compelling story of Spaggiari, his “sewer gang,” and the most daring, outrageous theft of the 20th century.

Based on interviews with Lansky's family, his close friends and criminal associates, law enforcement experts, and using previously unpublished documents written by Lansky himself, this is both the biography of a mob boss and a social history of American crime.

As the recent tragedies in Oregon, Arkansas, and Colorado Have shown, children as young as eight years old are capable of murder and violence. No community is safe from this tragic phenomenon, and experts ranging from law enforcement officials to guidance counselors are confused and conflicted about how to approach it.

In March of 2004, Kathleen Savio, the third wife of Police Sergeant Drew Peterson, was found dead in her bathtub. Three years later, in October 2007, twenty-three-year-old Stacy Peterson vanished from the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, leaving behind Peterson and their children. Drew Peterson, thirty years Stacy's senior, steadfastly asserted his innocence. Drawing upon exclusive interviews with Stacy's friends and family and even Drew himself, Chicago-area reporter Joseph Hosey presents the most researched account of the Stacy Peterson case.

On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were violently murdered, leading to the arrest and trial of former NFL player, O.J. Simpson. The “Trial of the Century” soon turned into a spectacle on both sides of the aisle—and in the jury box itself! In this personal account by a juror who was dismissed before the trial ended, Michael Knox provides a unique look—as both insider and outsider—of this volatile case that divided a country.

Deliver Us from Evil is one of the few first-person accounts ever published of a Mexican kidnapping. Blindfolded for much of her ordeal, Ernestina Sodi learns to identify the members of this well-organized, brutal, and professional kidnapping gang by voice and smell. Physically and mentally brutalized, Ernestina uses her wits to placate and even befriend members of the gang who held her life in their hands. Deliver Us from Evil plunges into the dark world of crime, rage, and violence without mercy, culminating in a thrilling and truly unforgettable climax.

A collection of coast-to-coast murder and mayham, including these unabridged short stories: "Vaudeville" by Whitley Strieber, read by Roddy McDowell; "Lucky Day" by Mary Higgins Clark, read by Betsy Palmer; "Starstruck" by Jon A. Breen, read by James Stacy; "Snookered" by Gerald Tomlinson, read by David Birney; "It Was Bad Enough" by Ron Goulart, read by Arte Johnson and Gee Whiz; "My Lovely" by Betty Buchanan, read by Joan Rivers. 

This work was originally published prior to the conclusion of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Here, Knox reveals that while racial divisions existed on the panel, they were grossly exaggerated. He describes the oppressive, bizarre, and demeaning life of sequestration, where alcohol is prohibited and privacy is nonexistent...even during conjugal visits, jurors worried about having their conversation taped. Knox also explains why he was leaning towards a guilty verdict just prior to his dismissal as a juror.