True Crime

Even in paradise, evil sometimes creeps in.Thoughts of Alabama invite images of Confederate jasmine and fertile cotton fields, sweet iced tea and Southern hospitality, but there's a darker side to the state's history. Some of the stories captured within the pages of this book...

Thoughts of Alabama invite images of Confederate jasmine and fertile cotton fields, sweet iced tea and Southern hospitality. But even in paradise, evil sometimes creeps in. Some of the stories captured within the pages of this book are well known to the good folks...

In old Omaha, the scent of opium wafted through saloon doors, while prostitutes openly solicited customers. When the St. Elmo theater ran short of the usual entertainment, the residents could always fall back on robbing strangers. Tenants of the Burnt District squirmed under the...

In old Omaha, the scent of opium wafted through saloon doors, while prostitutes openly solicited customers. When the St. Elmo theater ran short of the usual entertainment, the residents could always fall back on robbing strangers. Tenants of the Burnt District squirmed under the...

Before Las Vegas, there was Phenix City, Alabama--the original sin city.Once the sprawling capital of the Muscogee Indian Empire, the region took a sinister turn when a holy war engulfed the southern territories in 1812, leading to the murder of the infamous Chief William...

Historian Thomas Keels tells many ribald stories in his book, Wicked Philadelphia: Sin in the City of Brotherly Love, including various methods of body snatching and murder.--Marty Moss-Coane, WHYY-FMPrim and proper Philadelphia has been rocked by the clash between excessive vice and social virtue...

Join author Richard Gazarik as he reveals the wicked history of the Steel City.Muckraking journalist Walter Liggett dubbed Pittsburgh the Metropolis of Corruption in 1930 when he reported the city had more vice per square foot than New York, Detroit, Cleveland or Boston. Decades...

Muckraking journalist Walter Liggett dubbed Pittsburgh the "Metropolis of Corruption" in 1930 when he reported the city had more vice per square foot than New York, Detroit, Cleveland or Boston. Decades earlier, the Magee-Flinn political machine ruled public officials, and crooked police helped racketeers...

Tucked away in the northwestern frontier, Portland offered all the best vices: opium dreams, gambling, cheap prostitutes, and drunken brawling. In its early days, Portland was a combination rough-and-ready logging camp and gritty, hard-punching deep-water port town, and as a young city (established in...

Swindlers, confidence men and outlaws--the mountain shadows and Ponderosa pines surrounding Prescott conceal their grim histories and crooked ways. The small hamlet turned mining town became Arizona's first capital in 1864, and with wealth and power came every type of vice and crime. One...

Home to many of the nation's original founders and statesmen, Richmond has a history that runs as deep as America itself. Yet within these depths lies something darker. For despite its illustrious reputation, Richmond has a sordid streak. Venture through the city's colorful history...

Ridgefield is no stranger to life s shadier characters. The history of this idyllic community includes cunning crooks, suburban embezzlers, bungling burglars and wandering scallywags. In 1894, a group of bank robbers literally blew it in a heist at the Saving Bank the explosion...

In the early 1900s, Sacramento became a battleground in a statewide struggle. On one side were Progressive political reformers and suffragettes. Opposing them were bars, dance halls, brothels and powerful business interests. Caught in the middle was the city's West End, a place where...

In the early 1900s, Sacramento became a battleground in a statewide struggle. On one side were Progressive political reformers and suffragettes. Opposing them were bars, dance halls, brothels and powerful business interests. Caught in the middle was the city's West End, a place where...

Delve into San Antonio's wicked past, from the lawless lore of the Spanish settlement through the criminal misdeeds of the modern metropolis.Residents of the Alamo City tolerated scores of cockfighting pits, gambling joints, opium dens, around-the-clock saloons and other places of ill-repute. Some disturbers...

Early Seattle enticed settlers with an abundance of natural resources, potential wealth, stunning beauty and versatile climate. It offered gainful employment for fishermen, loggers and miners, but those who rushed west quickly discovered that all that glitters is not gold. The rapidly expanding city...

In the rough-and-tumble days of the nineteenth century, Shreveport was on the very edge of the country's western frontier. It was a city struggling to tame lawlessness, and its streets were rocked by duels, lynchings and shootouts. A new century and Prohibition only brought...

Spokane's early years were marked by an unchecked underworld of greed and sinister dealings.Houses of ill-repute and homebrewed whiskey abounded, and hidden tunnels beneath the streets helped to stoke the lawlessness. Famous cowgirl Calamity Jane loved to deal faro when visiting the city and...

When Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in 1565, his New World survival kit included gambling, liquor and ladies for hire. For the next four hundred years, these three industries were vital in keeping the city financially afloat. With the cooperation of law...

Tacoma, the city where the rails meet the sails, has always been a place of innovation and rule-breakers. When the railroad came in the nineteenth century, business boomed, along with smuggling, bootlegging and prostitution. Men such as Peter Sandberg walked the line between criminal...