Street crime Books

Book SynopsisThe much anticipated follow-up to the bestseller that exposed the escalation of organised crime in New Zealand. Gangster's Paradise is about drugs, guns, gangs and money. Lots of money.A gang which took over a small rural town. A police officer shot and killed in a routine traffic stop. A port-worker who helped a gang whisk a shipping container off a wharf in the middle of the night. A crew of corrupt baggage handlers smuggling meth into the country during Covid lockdowns. A shooting inside a 5-star hotel in broad daylight. Turf wars, retaliation, and retribution: new gangs like the Mongols and Comancheros have brought with them better connections with international syndicates, challenging the established gangs like the Head Hunters - so dominant for many years - who have had to up their game in response. Jared Savage's bestselling book Gangland was about the evolution of gangs in New Zealand. Gangster's Paradise is about the deadly escalation.

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Book SynopsisDetective Alice Madison is back in a gripping new thriller, perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Kathryn Croft and Sharon Bolton.After two years in the Seattle Police Department, Detective Alice Madison has finally found a peace she has never known before. When a local burglary escalates into a gruesome murder, Madison takes charge of the investigation. She finds herself tracking a killer who has haunted the city for years - and whose brutality is the stuff of myth in high security prisons. As she delves deeper into the case, Madison learns that the widow of one of the victims is being stalked - is the killer poised to strike again? As pressures mount, Madison will stop at nothing to save the next innocent victim . . . even if it means playing a killer's endgame.Discover more Detective Alice Madison in the must-read, critically acclaimed series beginning with The Gift of Darkness and The Dark. Trade ReviewMadison and her colleagues are strongly written, compelling characters and the primary plot is high-octane stuff * Guardian *This, her third novel featuring Seattle Detective Alice Madison, is as twisty and tasty a crime thriller as anyone could wish for . . . Madison is a sensitively drawn, fully rounded character, ensuring this compelling mystery stands out from the crowd and gives the reader a heroine to cheer for when the body count mounts * Daily Mail *First-rate . . . V.M. Giambanco is a powerful writer with a strong story * Times *Giambanco is a name to watch * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisToday's gangsters are streets apart from the old-style gang lords of the Fifties and Sixties. The godfathers of old were seen by many as a stabilising influence. Their power inspired respect and they well and truly kept the underworld in check. The twenty-first century gangs of Britain are far more shady.Their brutality has spread far and wide and they live and thrive in our midst, on the streets and in suburbs where ordinary folk live. The creeping tentacles of crime have never stretched further. Organised crime is now worth more than GBP 10 billion in Britain every year. The old crimes of prostitution and extortion are being dropped in favour of multi-million pound drug deals, bringing gangsters more money and power than they've ever known. It is a cut-throat industry that is conducted in the shadows and driven solely by profit.Acclaimed true crime author Wensley Clarkson has met many of Britain's richest and most powerful gangs. In this fascinating and gripping account, he provides an extraordinary insight into these feared characters and takes us on a journey into the dark and glamorous underworld that seems to prove that, for many gangs, crime really does pay.This book reveals the activities of these gangs to the world, exposing such underworld legends as Kenneth Noye, who hold continuing fascination with lovers of true crime.

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Book SynopsisThe deeply moving account of the extraordinary teenage survivors of the Parkland shooting.Emma Gonzalez called BS. David Hogg called out Adult America. Cameron Kasky recruited a colorful band of teenagers. Four days after escaping Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, they announced the audacious March for Our Lives. A month later, it was the fourth largest protest in American history.Dave Cullen takes us on the students' odyssey. With unrivaled access to their friends and families, meetings, homes and tour bus through gun country, he reveals the quirky, playful organizers that have taken the United States by storm. We see the students cope with shattered friendships and PTSD, along with the normal struggles of exams and college acceptances. We see victims refusing victimhood. This spell-binding book is a testament to change and an examination of a pivotal moment in American culture, a generational struggle to save every kids of every color from the ravages of gun violence. Parkland is a story of staggering empowerment and hope, told through the wildly creative and wickedly funny voices of a group of remarkable campaigners.Trade ReviewParkland is one of the most uplifting books you will read all year . . . The story of a carefully planned rebellion . . . genius * Washington Post *In both Columbine and this up-to-the minute portrait of the Parkland tragedy, Cullen has produced masterpieces that are simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful about a saner future. * Kirkus *Cullen, the author of the groundbreaking Columbine, brings his eloquence, expertise, combination of deep research and concision, and unbiased perspective to yet another mass school shooting, revealing its deepest layers and resonance . . . This moving, defining, and important account of an essential and vital youth movement dedicated to change and saving lives belongs in every public and school library. -- Jennifer Johnson * Booklist *Illuminating. With unrivaled access to the student survivors cum activists, the journalist brings new perspective to the massacre, one year later . . . As Cullen illustrates how the teenagers braved intractable politicians, death threats, and their own traumas to pursue their mission, Parkland can be an inspiring read. His behind-the-scenes interviews and interactions with the group's leaders provide a lot of insight. -- Jake Clines * The Atlantic *With Parkland, Cullen aims for a straightforward inspirational story of a group of kids 'healing each other as they fought.' . . .Thanks to Cullen, the rules of covering shootings have shifted. . . May every journalist follow his example. * New York Times Book Review *In both Columbine and this up-to-the minute portrait of the Parkland tragedy, Cullen has produced masterpieces that are simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful about a saner future. * Kirkus *Cullen, the author of the groundbreaking Columbine, brings his eloquence, expertise, combination of deep research and concision, and unbiased perspective to yet another mass school shooting, revealing its deepest layers and resonance . . . This moving, defining, and important account of an essential and vital youth movement dedicated to change and saving lives belongs in every public and school library. * Booklist *

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Book Synopsis**THE GROUNDBREAKING BESTSELLER AND CLASSIC**'Excellent . . . amazing how much still comes as a surprise' New York Times Book Review'Like Capote's In Cold Blood, this tour de force gets below the who and the what of a horrifying incident to lay bare the devastating why' People'A staggering work of journalism' Washington Post'The tragedies keep coming. As we reel from the latest horror...' So begins the epilogue, illustrating how Columbine has become the template for nearly two decades of "spectacle murders." It makes the imperative to understand the crime that sparked this flame more urgent than ever.What really happened on April 20th, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we thought we knew was wrong. It wasn't about jocks, Goths or the Trench Coast Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on the scene, and he spent ten years on this book, the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world's leading forensic psychologists , and the killers' own words and drawings - several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors.Trade ReviewExcellent . . . amazing how much still comes as a surprise. * New York Times Book Review *Like Capote's In Cold Blood, this tour de force gets below the who and what of a horrifying incident to lay before the devastating why. * People *Cullen's chilling narrative is too vital to miss, as are his myth-busting revelations. * O Magazine *The pacing of an action movie and the complexity of a Shakespearean drama. * Newsweek *

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Book SynopsisThis book is a timely re-introduction to the work and life of one of criminology’s most respected theorists, Jack Katz, exploring the current relevance of this important author and highlighting his work to a broad audience. The scholarship of Jack Katz, as evidenced in his seminal Seductions of Crime and otherwise, has over the past three decades offered an alternative philosophical perspective to the study of crime and criminal behavior that is not defined by quantitative method or approach. Katz has radically altered the focus and range of contemporary criminology in a way that few if any other scholars have done and his work been foundational in the development of cultural criminology, itself now a high-profile alternative criminological perspective. Through a diverse range of chapters from recognized authors in the field – including a major new interview with Jack Katz himself, in which he describes the development of his ideas, work, and growth as a researcher – contributions take up aspects of his work from a variety of perspectives and discuss and expand its contemporary relevance to the discipline of criminology. This book will appeal to postgraduate students and scholars in the areas of criminology, cultural criminology, critical criminology, phenomenology, and sociology.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction; David Polizzi Chapter 2. Start Here: An Informal Conversation with Jack Katz; Keith Hayward and Jack Katz Chapter 3. “It is the Sensual, Stupid”: Katz and the Futures of Criminology; Anna King and Shadd Maruna Chapter 4. The Negative Character of Killing in Narratives of Soldiers and Police; Katherine Baggaley and Philip Shon Chapter 5. Righteous Slaughter and the Phenomenology of the Assailed Self; David Polizzi Chapter 6. Doomed Antiheroes: Intimate Killers and Home-Grown Jihadis; Paul Kaplan Chapter 7. “There’s a Chance for Adventure...”: Exploring Excitement as an Existential Attraction of Violent Extremism; Suraj Lakhani and James Hardie-Bick

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Book SynopsisThis is an essential handbook for youth workers, teachers, social workers and youth justice practitioners working with young people to raise awareness about the risks and realities of gangs and gang-related crime.Each activity offers a different learning experience including quizzes, worksheets, games and interactive activities. The book explores peer pressure, loyalty and personal responsibility as well the impact that violent crime can have on individuals, family, community and wider society. It also considers the ethical and moral dilemmas of gang life, serious youth violence and crime and the potential consequences of gang membership and carrying a weapon.Written by a renowned youth worker and trainer, this essential book helps young people to separate myth from fact, build assertiveness and develop the skills to make safe choices.

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Book SynopsisTo love and to cherish, till death did them part...'A brilliant thriller' The SunTwo desiccated bodies are found in each other's arms in the bricked up room of a derelict Victorian warehouse. After six months of work, the police have nothing and Ridpath is finally called in to investigate. Dubbed the Romeo and Juliet murders by the press, so many questions remain unanswered.Who are they? Why were they there? Who killed them? And why was the coroner so keen for him to work on this particular case?Ridpath is plunged into his most difficult investigation yet, in a race against time to discover the truth. Has an unknown serial killer been operating in Manchester for the last twenty years?Fast-paced, vicious and utterly compelling, the latest Ridpath novel is perfect for fans of Mark Billingham and Damien Boyd.

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Book SynopsisPlace, Race and Politics presents an integrated analysis of the social and political processes that combined to construct a media-driven ‘crisis’ concerning African youth crime in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Combining original research and analysis alongside published sources, the authors carefully dissect the anatomy of a racialized and politicized public discourse and delve into the profound impact of this on African-Australian communities in Melbourne. Drawing on political and media analysis and community-based research, the authors investigate how South Sudanese Australians in Melbourne came to be identified, supposedly, as a unique threat to community safety, the role played by the media, state and federal politics, the policing and perceptions of race in this process, and the physical and emotional impacts on affected communities of the law and order crisis concerning ‘African crime’. While deeply rooted in local conditions, the book resonates with similar examples of the criminalization and othering of racialized communities, the surveillance and exclusion of ‘crimmigrants’, and with popular punitivism and the rise of far-right politics globally in response to deeply felt anxieties about rapid social, economic and cultural change.Trade ReviewHow is it that South Sudanese migrants, an overwhelming law-abiding group, have come to be criminalised in Australia? Using the 2016 Moomba ‘riot’, Place, Race and Politics charts the creation of a racialised law and order crisis in Melbourne. This terrific new book provides a detailed analysis of how social and political processes came to associate South Sudanese blackness with violent crime and what the consequences of this criminalisation were on the community. I strongly recommend it. -- Karen Farquharson, Professor of Sociology and Vice President of the Academic Board at the University of MelbourneFollowing in the tradition of Hall et al’s classic Policing the Crisis Place, Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis analyses the racialisation and politicisation of crime during the 2018 Victorian election in Australia. Drawn from a number of discrete research projects undertaken by each of the authors, the book is broken down in chapters that largely reflect these different projects. As a result, the authors are able to focus on different elements of the ‘law and order crisis’ from the demonisation and dangerisation of asylum seekers and immigrant groups, to the media’s reportage and amplification of events, the populist political discourse, and indeed interviews with those at the coalface of events. It makes for a sobering read as it teases out the long-standing Australian twin political strategies of vilification and law and order auctioneering. As the book shows there are no real winners to come out of such strategies and, ultimately, they serve to undermine the legitimacy even of the political winners – in this case the Victorian Labor party beholden to a tough on crime approach for the foreseeable future. The authors wisely eschew a straight ‘moral panic’ approach to the topic (while not rejecting it all-together) and offer something more sophisticated. Race and Politics: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis makes a significant contribution to critical scholarship on law and order in Australia, but in doing so also explores the tentacles of racism, xenophobia, and insecurity that constantly threaten to erode the successful foundations of multi-cultural Australia. -- Murray Lee, Professor in Criminology and Associate Dean Research at the University of Sydney Law SchoolTable of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction: The Foundations of a Law and Order Crisis Chapter 2. From ‘Apex’ to ‘#Africangangs’ Chapter 3. The Racialisation of Crime: ‘African gangs’ and the Media with Chloe Keel, Greg Koumouris and Claire Moran Chapter 4. ‘No-one Thinks You are Innocent’: Policing the ‘Crimmigrant other’ Chapter 5. Impact on the South Sudanese and Wider Australian Communities Conclusion: The Anatomy of a Law and Order Crisis

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Book SynopsisSandtown is one of the deadliest neighbourhoods in the world; it earned Baltimore its nickname Bodymore, Murderland, and was made notorious by 'The Wire.' Drug deals dominate street corners and ruthless, casual violence abounds.Montana Barronette grew up in the centre of it all. The leader of the gang 'Trained to Go,' or TTG, when he was finally arrested, he had been nicknamed 'Baltimore's Number One Trigger Puller.' Under Tana's reign, TTG dominated Sandtown. When a string of murders were linked to TTG, each with dozens of witnesses too intimidated to testify, three detectives set out to put Tana in prison for life. For them, this was never about drugs: It was about serial murder.Acclaimed journalist Mark Bowden, who spent his youth in the white suburbs of Baltimore, returns to the city with exclusive access to the FBI files and unprecedented insight into one of the city's deadliest gangs and its notorious leader. As he traces the rise and fall of TTG, Bowden uses wiretaps, police interviews, trial transcripts and his own ongoing conversations with Tana's family and community to create the most in-depth account of an inner-city gang ever written.With his signature precision and propulsive narrative, Mark Bowden positions Tana - as a boy, a gang leader, a killer, and now a prisoner - in the context of Baltimore and America, illuminating his path for what it really was: a life sentence.Trade ReviewGripping and revealing...A powerful, nuanced depiction of gang violence in America that makes a strong case for meaningful reform * Kirkus Reviews (starred review) *A scorching true-crime narrative. . . Bowden pulls no punches in his indictment of the ways in which the richest country in the world has allowed Black children for decades to be born into blighted urban neighborhoods, and saddled them with burdens that they must struggle to surmount to lead meaningful lives. This account of 'young men growing up in a place where murderous violence has become a way of life' will haunt readers long after they finish it * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *A masterpiece, right up there with Black Hawk Down and Guests of the Ayatollah. It's gripping, it's fast, it's deeply insightful and empathetic, and it's brilliantly and exhaustively reported. People should read it. -- Matt Bai, author of ALL THE TRUTH IS OUT[Bowden is] a Woodward that outdoes even Woodward. -- Malcolm Gladwell * New Yorker *Bowden turns his masterful storytelling talent to chronicling the gang's reign of terror and law enforcement's Herculean efforts to end it * Booklist *Table of Contents1: The Game (or, The Greased Path) 2: Shabangbang Shaboing 3: The Fulton Avenue Wall 4: Either You Got to Be That, or You Ain't 5: Shit Be Catching Up with Them 6: Here Come Landsman 7: The Ballad of Ronnie Jackass 8: We Hunting 9: Number One Trigger Puller 10: Gotta Take It on the Chin 11: Drinking from a Fire Hose 12: What Are We Supposed to Do Now, Clap? 13: Crabs in a Bucket

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Book SynopsisAfter being turned away by An Garda Síochána at 17 for being too young, Pat Marry joined the force eight years later. He went on to investigate some of Ireland's most high profile cases, including the killings of Rachel O'Reilly and Garda Adrian Donohue. He retired in 2018 at the rank of Detective Inspector. In 2019 he published a memoir, The Making of a Detective.Robin Schiller is a journalist for Mediahuis Ireland covering Independent.ie, the Irish Independent and the Sunday Independent.

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Book SynopsisAfter being turned away by An Garda Síochána at 17 for being too young, Pat Marry joined the force eight years later. He went on to investigate some of Ireland's most high profile cases, including the killings of Rachel O'Reilly and Garda Adrian Donohue. He retired in 2018 at the rank of Detective Inspector. In 2019 he published a memoir, The Making of a Detective.Robin Schiller is a journalist for Mediahuis Ireland covering Independent.ie, the Irish Independent and the Sunday Independent.

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Book SynopsisJoint Winner of the 2023 ASSAf Humanities Book Award in the Emerging Researcher Category Gang violence is a concern being debated by academics, politicians, and communities around the world. Yet effective solutions are still in short supply, partly because too little research concentrates on understanding how people can escape the trap of violent street culture. Responding to that need, this book provides a detailed qualitative account of what it is like to join and then disengage from gangs in Africa’s deadliest city. Through the life histories of twenty-four former Capetonian gang members, alongside hundreds of hours of additional interviews and observation from five years of ethnographic research, Dariusz Dziewanski reimagines gangsterism in a way that pays heed to the overwhelming force of street culture, but also confirms the possibility of overcoming crime and violence amid disenfranchisement and disadvantage. Rather than simply reproducing the poverty-crime-violence narrative, this book demonstrates how gang members can – and have – transformed their lives, challenging the pessimistic conclusions commonly associated with gang entry; even gang scholars studying street culture usually portray the end point to gang life as either prison or a body bag. By presenting evidence about successful gang exit, Dziewanski showcases a practical starting point for changing how criminologists think about gangs and street culture – offering hope to those trying exit gang life, as well as those trying to help them do so.Table of ContentsChapter 1. Blood In, Blood Out? Chapter 2. The Landscape of African Gangs Chapter 3. A City Still Segregated Chapter 4. Leaving the Streets Chapter 5. Walking the Righteous Path Chapter 6. Gavin Chapter 7. Beyond the Street

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Book SynopsisJoint Winner of the 2023 ASSAf Humanities Book Award in the Emerging Researcher CategoryGang violence is a concern being debated by academics, politicians, and communities around the world. Yet effective solutions are still in short supply, partly because too little research concentrates on understanding how people can escape the trap of violent street culture. Responding to that need, this book provides a detailed qualitative account of what it is like to join and then disengage from gangs in Africa's deadliest city.Through the life histories of twenty-four former Capetonian gang members, alongside hundreds of hours of additional interviews and observation from five years of ethnographic research, Dariusz Dziewanski reimagines gangsterism in a way that pays heed to the overwhelming force of street culture, but also confirms the possibility of overcoming crime and violence amid disenfranchisement and disadvantage.Rather than simply reproducing t

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Book SynopsisAs featured on BBC Radio, and in national and local newspapers. In this remarkable book, Matt Seiber examines the phenomenon of hidden gun crime in the UK. Emphasising the perils of unchecked gun use in public places, he also demonstrates how the police, authorities and media have sought to minimise or ignore the issue. Gunfire-graffiti is the author's term for wanton gunfire damage to roadside structures - traffic signs, notices, warning signs and similar targets. His investigations reveal that such shootings are not juvenile pranks, but a regular activity thought to be mainly the work of determined individuals unlawfully using firearms, shotguns, handguns and rifles, including lethal, high-velocity weapons. Stressing the threat to public safety and the dangers involved, Matt Seiber sets out to enquire 'Where, Who, When and Why?' - and given the criminality involved in such events and the malevolent nature of covert gun use asks 'How is it that gunfire damage is being deliberately overlooked by the authorities?' The author's concerns are backed by academic research and the views of a leading criminal psychologist. Indeed, Gunfire-Graffiti raises fundamental questions concerning the extent to which unlawful acquisition and use of firearms exist in the UK, the assumption being that the greater part of roadside gunfire damage is unlikely to be the work of unlicensed or other irresponsible gun users.Trade Review'Excellent, Seiber presents an interesting exploration of a much overlooked topic, exploring an avenue of gun crime that is presently lacking in research': Sarah Watson, Coventry University. 'This book is an eye-opener': Nick Ross, TV Presenter. 'Seiber illuminates an area which has received surprisingly limited attention': British Journal of Community Justice. As featured on BBC News, The Daily Mail Online, Metro online, The Telegraph and Wales Online.

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Book SynopsisOn March 2nd, 2019, Yousef Makki, a scholarship pupil at Manchester Grammar school, was stabbed in the heart by one of his friends on a quiet, leafy street in the wealthy Manchester suburb of Hale Barns. The two boys who were with him as the 17-year-old lay dying from a 12cm deep knife wound were brought up in the affluent surrounding areas and like Yousef had attended expensive public schools. But unlike them, Yousef was not from a wealthy family. He grew up seven miles and a world away on a council estate in Burnage and won a life changing bursary to a prestigious grammar school. Just four months after Yousef was killed, a jury found his friend not guilty of murder or manslaughter. The outcome has been widely questioned, raising issues of class, wealth, and privilege in the justice system. Yousef died from a single stab wound to the chest. When his sister, Jade, collected his blood-stained clothes and personal possessions, he had a single pound coin in his pocket. This is Jade's personal story of her brother and how the fight for justice has transformed her life.

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Book SynopsisThe Stolen Necklace might seem to about a small crime in a small town, but with its incredible twists and turns, it is ultimately the story of a common man who fought the system and pulled off a miraculous victory.

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