Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life

Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life
Author: Robert Weldon Whalen
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2016-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0823271560

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In 1940 and 1941 a group of ruthless gangsters from Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood became the focus of media frenzy when they—dubbed “Murder Inc.,” by New York World-Telegram reporter Harry Feeney—were tried for murder. It is estimated that collectively they killed hundreds of people during a reign of terror that lasted from 1931 to 1940. As the trial played out to a packed courtroom, shocked spectators gasped at the outrageous revelations made by gang leader Abe “Kid Twist” Reles and his pack of criminal accomplices. News of the trial proliferated throughout the country; at times it received more newspaper coverage than the unabated war being waged overseas. The heinous crimes attributed to Murder, Inc., included not only murder and torture but also auto theft, burglary, assaults, robberies, fencing stolen goods, distribution of illegal drugs, and just about any “illegal activity from which a revenue could be derived.” When the trial finally came to a stunning unresolved conclusion in November 1941, newspapers generated record headlines. Once the trial was over, tales of the Murder, Inc., gang became legendary, spawning countless books and memoirs and providing inspiration for the Hollywood gangster-movie genre. These men were fearsome brutes with an astonishing ability to wield power. People were fascinated by the “gangster” figure, which had become a symbol for moral evil and contempt and whose popularity showed no signs of abating. As both a study in criminal behavior and a cultural fascination that continues to permeate modern society, the reverberations of “Murder, Inc.” are profound, including references in contemporary mass media. The Murder, Inc., story is as much a tale of morality as it is a gangster history, and Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life by Robert Whalen meshes both topics clearly and meticulously, relating the gangster phenomenon to modern moral theory. Each chapter covers an aspect of the Murder, Inc., case and reflects on its ethical elements and consequences. Whalen delves into the background of the criminals involved, their motives, and the violent death that surrounded them; New York City’s immigrant gang culture and its role as “Gangster City”; fiery politicians Fiorello La Guardia and Thomas E. Dewey and the choices they made to clean up the city; and the role of the gangster in popular culture and how it relates to “real life.” Whalen puts a fresh spin on the two topics, providing a vivid narrative with both historical and moral perspective.

Murder Inc.

Murder Inc.
Author: Paul Williams
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 493
Release: 2014-11-06
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1844883485

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Murder Inc. is the latest blockbuster by Ireland's most respected crime writer and journalist, Paul Williams. Murder Inc. is the definitive account of how organized crime exploded in Limerick from the 1990s and in the noughties. It describes the depravity and decadence of the gangs, their deadly rivaliries, and their reigns of terror over the community in which they lived. Finally, Williams traces the faultlines that eventually led to the implosion of the gangs and their defeat. Drawing on his vast inside knowledge of the criminal underworld, an unparalleled range of contacts and eye witness interviews, Paul Williams provides a chilling insight into the mobsters and events that corroded entire neighbourhoods and devastated countless lives.

Murder, Inc

Murder, Inc
Author: Sid Feder
Publisher:
Total Pages: 540
Release: 2015-06-08
Genre:
ISBN: 9780996285537

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Murder Inc. by former Brooklyn D.A. Burton B. Turkus and veteran A.P. war correspondent Sid Feder is the riveting true crime classic that rips the lid off the national crime Syndicate's "killing machine" that took 1,000 lives nationwide during the 1930's and 40's. In a page-turning non-fiction account that reads like a crime thriller, Turkus and Feder take us behind the scenes with the untold story of how Sicilian gangsters Lucky Luciano, Albert Anastasia and Joe Adonis partnered with Jewish gangsters Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and Louis "Lepke" Buchalter to create a multi-million rackets enterprise that included, gambling, prostitution, union corruption and the lucrative murder-for-hire scheme that operated out of the back of a Brooklyn Candy Store. After he was able to turn, Murder Inc.'s chief killer, Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, Turkus eventually sent Lepke and six other mobsters to the electric chair. This 1951 best seller by Turkus & Feder which has sold more than a million copies worldwide is now available in a new updated edition complete with mug shots and bios of the original gangsters who spilled so much blood from coast to coast. With a new Foreword by five-time Emmy winning former ABC News correspondent and investigative reporter Peter Lance, this edition of Murder Inc. will introduce a new generation of true-crime readers to the most lethal underworld enterprise ever exposed.

Mass Murder Inc

Mass Murder Inc
Author: Darlene Perez
Publisher: Nova Science Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: SOCIAL SCIENCE
ISBN: 9781634846486

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Mass shootings are arguably one of the worst manifestations of gun violence. As discussed in this book, media outlets, gun control and rights advocates, statute, law enforcement agencies, and researchers often adopt different definitions of "mass killing," "mass murder," and "mass shooting," contributing to a welter of claims about the prevalence and deadliness of mass shootings. For the purposes of this book, "mass shooting" is defined as a multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms, within one event, and in one or more locations in close proximity. Chapter One of this book analyses mass shootings for a 15-year period (1999-2013). Chapter Two examines the United States use of two national data collection systems to track detailed information on homicides: the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Reports and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Fatal Injury Reports. Chapter Three presents data on homicide trends from 1992 to 2011. It describes homicide patterns and trends by age, sex, and race of the victim. It explores weapon use, with a focus on trends in firearm use and homicide trends by city size. It also includes special discussions of missing offender data and firearm use in nonfatal violent victimisations. Chapter Four provides comparative data from as far back as 1986 for context and analyses of firearms manufacturing trends over the years, and a broad picture of the state of firearms commerce in the United States today. It includes a state-by-state breakdown of the federal firearms licensees and a state-by-state breakdown of the National Firearm Act tax revenue information available through 2014.

Killing For Company

Killing For Company
Author: Brian Masters
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2011-01-25
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1446428737

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The definitive story of the Dennis Nilsen case featured in BBC's The Nilsen Tapes, and the book behind ITV's Des, starring David Tennant ***WINNER OF THE GOLD DAGGER AWARD FOR CRIME NON-FICTION and THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*** __________________ Dennis Nilsen, who died in May 2018, admitted to killing at least 15 people before his arrest in 1983. This ground-breaking criminal study of his killings was written with Nilsen's full cooperation, resulting in a fascinating - and horrifying - portrait of the man who worshipped death. In February 1983, residents of Muswell Hill had been plagued by blocked drains. When a plumber was called to investigate, he discovered a large blockage of biological material. To his horror, it appeared to be formed of human flesh and bones. The next day, local resident Dennis Nilsen was arrested. 'Are we talking about one body or two?' a detective asked. Nilsen replied 'Fifteen or sixteen, since 1978. I'll tell you everything.' Within days he had confessed to fifteen gruesome murders over a period of four years. His victims, mostly young gay men at a time when society cared little for them, had been overlooked. Killing for Company is a unique study of a murderer's mind, essential reading for true crime aficionados. __________________ 'You really have to read this extraordinary book to get a full flavour of the weirdness of Nilsen and his crimes' SUNDAY TIMES 'A seminal look into the criminal mind' DAILY MAIL 'Brian Masters has given us a full, well-ordered, dispassionate account of Nilsen's life and crimes' THE TIMES 'Without any doubt one of the most remarkable, complete and most humanely informative accounts of a murderer's mind ever achieved... the book is far superior to any previous English book of its kind and deserves to serve as a model for all future attempts in this genre' NEW SOCIETY 'The book is a perceptive and at times coldly brutal assessment of Nilsen's psychology' MIRROR 'A comprehensive and compelling account' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Brian Masters can rest assured that the job he undertook with such obvious doubts was one worth doing' SPECTATOR 'Probably the best thing of its kind since In Cold Blood . . . a classic study in criminal mentality' YORKSHIRE POST 'Killing For Company must stand as one of the most remarkable and accurate accounts ever written of the singular relationship between a mass murderer and a society . . . a bloody masterpiece.' BERYL BAINBRIDGE 'A truly awesome tale, brilliantly told' LITERARY REVIEW 'A meticulous study of the dark intricacies of the human mind' THE BOOKBAG 'Masters has written an extraordinary book, and his achievement has been the ability to recount horrific details without descending to the lurid sensationalism of the instant books and Fleet Street reports' POLICE 'A compelling and remarkable book ... through Masters' fine writing the reader suspends his nausea for the crimes, and concentrates with Nilsen on his motives and himself' THE LISTENER

The Violence Project

The Violence Project
Author: Jillian Peterson
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2021-09-07
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1647002273

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"Groundbreaking." ―Rachel Louise Snyder, bestselling author of No Visible Bruises An examination of the phenomenon of mass shootings in America and an urgent call to implement evidence-based strategies to stop these tragedies Winner of the 2022 Minnesota Book Award Using data from the writers’ groundbreaking research on mass shooters, including first-person accounts from the perpetrators themselves, The Violence Project charts new pathways to prevention and innovative ways to stop the social contagion of violence. Frustrated by reactionary policy conversations that never seemed to convert into meaningful action, special investigator and psychologist Jill Peterson and sociologist James Densley built The Violence Project, the first comprehensive database of mass shooters. Their goal was to establish the root causes of mass shootings and figure out how to stop them by examining hundreds of data points in the life histories of more than 170 mass shooters—from their childhood and adolescence to their mental health and motives. They’ve also interviewed the living perpetrators of mass shootings and people who knew them, shooting survivors, victims’ families, first responders, and leading experts to gain a comprehensive firsthand understanding of the real stories behind them, rather than the sensationalized media narratives that too often prevail. For the first time, instead of offering thoughts and prayers for the victims of these crimes, Peterson and Densley share their data-driven solutions for exactly what we must do, at the individual level, in our communities, and as a country, to put an end to these tragedies that have defined our modern era.

Son of Murder, Inc.

Son of Murder, Inc.
Author: Frank Palescandolo
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2001-06-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0595183190

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Matthew, the orphaned son of a Murder, Inc. killer is a loose cannon in a notorious neighborhood. As an infant, he was entrusted by his father to the then prison chaplain, Francis Campion, who is now the rector of the Lake Shore Seminary, who was sworn not to reveal the identity of the father to his son, which he has honored. Matthew, at nineteen, is left a small inheritance by an unknown donor. Determined to learn his true identity, he bolts the seminary in a quest to discover the facts of his birth. The young seminarian discovers his father was executed as a gang member of the syndicate Murder, Inc. Was his father framed? Must he seek vindication or revenge? All is tested when Matthew is tried for the murder of Detective James Tierney, who testified against Matthew’s father as a wheelman for the mob. In his last confession, Matthew’s father said he was innocent and that his attorney was co-opted to convict him. Campion fears that the same might happen to Matthew. He decides to defend him. He is a lawyer in canon law. The court and the press are dismayed—did this hayseed priest imagine the practice of criminal law was a religious exercise?

Boss of Murder, Inc.

Boss of Murder, Inc.
Author: Michael Newton
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2020-03-25
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1476639418

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Umberto Anastasio, better known as Albert Anastasia, was an Italian-American mobster and hitman who became one of the deadliest criminals in American history and one of the founders of the modern American Mafia in New York City. For all-out savagery and ruthlessness, few other leaders of the Mafia worldwide have rivaled Anastasia, known to peers as "The Mad Hatter" and to journalists as "The Lord High Executioner." After escaping a death sentence in 1921 and multiple other arrests for murder, he later served as director of the national crime syndicate's contract murder department ("Murder, Inc.") from 1931 until informers brought it down ten years later. By 1951 he led one of New York City's Five Families, a post he held until his public barbershop assassination in October 1957. This first-ever book-length biography of Anastasia traces the mobster's life and the ripple effects his career had on the American crime world. The story also tracks his brothers and their families, while debunking certain widespread myths about their parentage, various deportations, trials, convictions, and eventual retirement from the mob, dead or alive.

Mass Murder in the United States

Mass Murder in the United States
Author: Grant Duwe
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2014-10-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1476604738

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Is mass murder a historically new phenomenon that emerged in the 1960s? How has it changed over time? And what causes a person to commit multiple murders in a matter of hours or even minutes? This book explores these questions by examining 909 mass murders that took place in the United States between 1900 and 1999. By far the largest study on the topic to date, it begins with a look at the patterns and prevalence of mass murders by presenting rates from 1900-1999 and by describing the characteristics of mass killers. Placing the phenomenon within the broader social, political, and economic context of the twentieth century, the work examines the factors that have influenced trends in the prevalence of mass murder. It also discusses more than 100 case studies within three distinct periods of mass murder activity (1900-1939, 1940-1965, and 1966-1999) to illustrate more clearly the motives of mass murderers and the circumstances surrounding their crimes. The final chapters take a look at media coverage and the role it has played in the social construction of mass murder. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Extreme Killing

Extreme Killing
Author: James Alan Fox
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2014-04-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1483352803

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Filled with contemporary and classic case studies, this fascinating overview of both serial and mass murder illustrates the many violent expressions of power, revenge, terror, greed, and loyalty. Throughout the book, renowned experts James Alan Fox and Jack Levin examine the theories of criminal behavior and apply them to a multitude of mass and serial murderers from around the world, such as Adam Lanza (Newtown, CT), James Holmes (Aurora, CO cinema), Anders Breivik (Oslo, Norway), Charles Manson (“Helter Skelter”), and Dennis Rader (BTK). This fully updated Third Edition of Extreme Killing helps readers understand the commonalities and variations among multiple murders, addresses the characteristics of both killers and their victims, and, in the concluding chapter, discusses the special concerns of multiple murder victims and their survivors.