18 books like The profession of violence
Discipline and Punish
English version of "Surveiller et punir: naissance de la prison"
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Mob star
John Gotti is terminally ill; when he passes on to that great Mafia in the sky, co-author Capeci will be in great demand for interviews and will the plug the book.As he battles terminal cancer in a federal prison in Illinois, John Gotti, still the acting head of the Gambino Mafia family, is constantly in the news. Once Mr. Gotti ascends to Mafia heaven, he will be worldwide news-and Alpha will…
Shares: Crime and criminals, Organized crime, Criminals, True Crime
Mafia son
In this dark, jagged true crime thriller, wily mob head Gregory Scarpa Sr. (alias the "Grim Reaper") secretly steals and kills under FBI protection for decades. When faced with arrest for his own crimes, he betrays his adoring son, Gregory Jr., whom he'd groomed to take his place. Taking the fall for his father out of familial respect and love, the young Scarpa endures decades of maximum security…
Shares: Gangsters, Organized crime, Criminals, True Crime
Smaldone
I never thought it would end.—Clyde SmaldoneStarted by Italian brothers from North Denver, the high-profile Smaldone crime syndicate began in the bootlegging days of the 1920s and flourished well into the late twentieth century. Connected to such notorious crime figures as Al Capone and Carlos Marcello, as well as to presidents and other politicians, charismatic Clyde Smaldone was the crime…
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Close
Don't miss NO REGRET, the brand new novel from Martina Cole. Coming October 2025. She'll do whatever it takes to keep them together... Hard-hitting and uncompromising, CLOSE by the 'undisputed queen of crime writing' (Guardian) and Sunday Times No.1 bestseller Martina Cole tells the story of a woman determined to protect her family from an increasingly dangerous world... Patrick Brodie knows…
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The only living witness
Michaud and Aynesworth are a reporter and an investigator team who interviewed serial killer Ted Bundy while he was on death row in Florida. This volume chronicles his activities throughout several states but is at its best in a long section of transcripts from the interview in which, while he never admits his quilt, Bundy offers vivid details of the crimes and commentary on the mindset of a…
Shares: Crime and criminals, Criminals, True Crime, Crime
Paddy Whacked
Here is the shocking true saga of the Irish American mob. In Paddy Whacked, bestselling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey…
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Echoes in the darkness
On June 25, 1989, the naked corpse of schoolteacher Susan Reinert was found wedged into her hatchback car in a hotel parking lot near Philadelphia's "Main Line." Her two children had vanished. The Main Line Murder Case burst upon the headlines--and wasn't resolved for seven years. Now, master crime writer Joseph Wambaugh reconstructs the case from its roots, recounting the details, drama,…
Shares: Crime and criminals, Criminals, True Crime, Biography & Memoir
Gangster warlords
"In a ranch south of Texas, the man known as The Executioner dumps five hundred body parts in metal barrels. In Brazil's biggest city, a mysterious prisoner orders hit-men to gun down forty-one police officers and prison guards in two days. In southern Mexico, a meth maker is venerated as a saint while enforcing Old Testament justice on his enemies. A new kind of criminal kingpin has arisen: part…
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Live by Night
Joe Coughlin is nineteen when he meets Emma Gould. A smalltime thief in 1920s Boston, his task is to tie her up while his accomplices loot the bank she works in. But Joe falls in love with Emma - and his life changes forever. That meeting is the beginning of Joe's journey to becoming one of the most feared and respected gangsters. It is a journey beset by violence, double-crossing, drama and…
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A Talent to Deceive
The kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's infant son, and the subsequent trial and execution of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, have been a source of fascination for more than 70 years. Now, for the first time, William Norris delves into sources of information ignored by previous investigators and comes up with the identity of the true culprit. Lindbergh is exposed as having obstructed the…
Shares: True Crime, Crime, Biography & Memoir
Faces
"Just before Danny Cadogan's fourteenth birthday, his father leaves. Alone, his wife and children face the wrath of the men sent to collect his gambling debt. Now, Danny is determined to protect his mother, brother and sister, and is set on making his way in a violent world. He becomes a Face - the most feared Face in the Smoke. Out for all he can get. At any cost. But Danny also rules his wife,…
Shares: Gangsters, Criminals, London
Big Shots
Vast shoplifting ring operating in Britain'A highly organised gang of Australian shoplifters is at work in Britain stealing goods worth hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. New members of the gang are flown from Australia whenever the organisers want replacements.'The Guardian, 15 August 1968From the mid 1960s, a brazen band of Australian thieves ran riot in London for more than a decade,…
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The executioner's men
Los Zetas represent a new generation of ruthless, sadistic pragmatists in Mexico and Central America who are impelling a tectonic shift among drug trafficking organizations in the Americas. Mexico's marines have taken down the cartel's top leaders; nevertheless, these capos and their desperados have forever altered how criminal business is conducted in the Western Hemisphere. This narrative…
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Tishomingo Blues
Dennis Lenahan is a daredevil and the girls love him. Things are going along okay with his gig at the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, "the Casino Capital of the South," until the day he looks down from the high-dive platform and witnesses a mob hit -- Dixie style. The killer looks up and says, "Let's see you dive." Suddenly, being a daredevil has lost its kick. Leonard calls…
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Dead man running
Steve Utah provides an account of his experiences as a member of the Bandidos, one of the world's most feared outlaw motorcycle gangs, and discusses why he came to the decision to become a police informant, revealing details of the gang's operations in Australia and North America.
Shares: Organized crime, True Crime, Biography & Memoir
The History of the Life of Jonathan Wild, the Great
This book is a satire of Walpole that draws a parallel between Walpole and Jonathan Wild, the infamous gang leader and highwayman. He implicitly compares the Whig party in Parliament with a gang of thieves being run by Walpole, whose constant desire to be a "Great Man" (a common epithet for Walpole) should culminate only in the antithesis of greatness: being hanged.
Shares: Organized crime, Criminals
Brutal
I grew up in the Old Colony housing project in South Boston and became partners with James "Whitey" Bulger, who I always called Jimmy.Jimmy and I, we were unstoppable. We took what we wanted. And we made people disappear—permanently. We made millions. And if someone ratted us out, we killed him. We were not nice guys.I found out that Jimmy had been an FBI informant in 1999, and my life was never…
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