True Crime Biographies: Mafia Bosses, Murderers, Conmen and Crooks

It's time to meet some of the most interesting and awful people in the world: the criminal world, that is.

The world can be an arbitrary or tough place to live in. These people make it worse, from taking advantage of naïve and trusting people (see Bernie Madoff) to religious cult leaders (see David Koresh) to violent madmen (see Charles Whitman) and vicious exploiters (see Whitey Bulger, Al Capone, Pablo Escobar and a host of unsavory others).

What made them tick? Where were they born and what strange situation made them into monsters, conmen, thieves and killers? Where did they do their worst and what brought them to their ends?

True Crime Biographies answers these questions and offers chilling facts and insights into far more. What were their motives, how did they get away with crimes, what drove them to commit the crimes and how did they get away with them -- in some cases, forever?

Each "biography" comprises two pages of photos, histories, maps and atmosphere. The criminals range from well-known Brits like the Krays, North Americans like Ted Bundy, Meyer Lansky and the still-missing D.B. Cooper. There are less-familiar European and Asian criminals, complete with their cartels and gangs of Yakuza and Mafiosi.

They're grouped into sections:

• Gangsters (Capone, Lucky Luciano, the Krays, Bonnie and Clyde)
• Murderers and Serial Killers (Bundy, Phil Spector, John Wayne Gacy, Aileen Wuornos)
• Cult Leaders (Jim Jones, Joseph Di Mambro and the Order of the Solar Temple, Charles Manson)
• Thieves (Willie Sutton, The Pink Panthers, D.B. Cooper)
• Con Artists (Frank Abagnale Jr, Bernie Madoff, Charles Ponzi, Reed Slatkin)
• Hackers (Kevin Mitnick, The Lazarus Group -- Wannacry Ransomware, "Iceman" Max Ray Butler).

More than 100 short biographies, well illustrated with on-the-spot crime photos, mug shots, photos of victims and partners in crime, cops and prosecutors make this a lively and fast-paced witness to True Crime.

Editor and writer T. Stanton has long been fascinated with the True Crime genre. He has contributed articles to newspapers and magazines on the subject. Born in the UK, he now lives in Connecticut with his forensic-scientist wife. This is his fourth book.