Patricia Cornwell wrote a book purporting to solve the question of Jack the Ripper's identity. It's full of logical fallacies and circular logic and demonstrates nothing of value. I read it years ago and I'm still angry about the time I wasted reading it.

If a 'breaking bad' like show was made with LSD instead of meth, the show would have to be basically an adaptation of Lysergic. I went a little crazy because I already had a lot of this info floating around. This is very much a reality is stranger than fiction sort of deal. The characters in the real world looked like this (some details may be wrong because i'm working from memory here):

Walt would be William Leonard Pickard, a zen buddhist, chemist and harvard academic and UCLA drug policy analyst researching developing drug trends in russia, who was arrested for manufacturing LSD in a missle silo that also manufactured springs that were used by NASA. International conspiracy reaching from Asian smugglers of Ergotamine tartrate to board members of the New York ballet who laundered money through the russian mob. Said to manufacture 10,000,000 hits of LSD every 5 weeks. Previous arrests for manufacturing LSD, amphetamines, MDMA. Connected to acadamic and underground psychedelic scene. True believer, makes LSD because he thinks it's medicine the world needs.

Supporting Characters include:

Gordon Todd Skinner, a shaman with an industrial family fortune. Head of security for Pickard's LSD operation, owns the missle silo lab, manufactures designer psychedelics, needlepoint LSD, synthetic mescaline and all sorts of ayahuasca analogs. Trips constantly, able to make other people feel like they are tripping just by being in the same room as him. Turns DEA informant when pickard wants to kill a person who threatens the connection to ergotamine tartrate, turns out has a history as a rat after a bust for being a jersey marijuana kingpin. Serving life in prison for kidnapping and torture.

Krystie Cole, a stripper turned Leary-lite, Gordon Todd Skinner's girlfriend. Skinner leaves psychedelic drug residue on her doorknobs, becomes increasingly controlling and manipulative. Eventually, skinner and her kidnap her other boyfriend, torture him for days with a wide variety of psychedelic drugs and physical abuse, including shocks to the testicles, salvia divinorum extracts and analogues, LSD, ayahuasca concoctions. Later, Skinner pretends to be a swedish doctor who implants an unknown parasite into his body through his skin, then dumps him in the texas desert to die. Goes on to write Lysergic, create the 'neurosoup' youtube phenomena (if you ever thought about taking DMT anally, you probably heard if from her), then (maybe) got bouncing bear botanicals busted by advocating them as a source of plant based hallucinogens. Widely hated by many in the underground psychedelic community as a narc, although this is debatable (I personally don't buy it, talking to authorities about a kidnapping and torture case against a guy that abused you isn't quite narcing, but mine seems to be a minority opinion).

Clyde Apperson - Computer Programmer, sets up and takes down LSD lab, partner with Pickard. Sentenced to 30 years without parole, no prior criminal record.

Recurring Bit players:

Sasha Shulgin - Former mentor to Pickard, godfather of MDMA, author of PIHKAL and TIHKAL, books considered by the DEA as cookbooks for illegal drugs or analogues, and books considered by him to be keys to understanding the human brain and consciousness by studying the brain's reaction to these 'keys' from the first and third person perspective.

David Nichols - Top expert on LSD, psychopharmacologist. Holds one of the only DEA licenses to manufacture schedule 1 substances. Creates LSD analogues to map the function and distribution of serotonin receptors. Pickard briefly learned from his lab and clandestinely manufactured LSD analogue LSZ, which was developed in Nichols lab.

John Halperin - researcher on psychedelic drugs. Studied the effect of peyote in native americans, peyote for alcoholism treatment, long term effects of ayahuasca, effects of psychedelics on addictionfounded Entheogen Corp, to bring non-psychoactive LSD analogue BOL-148 to market as a treatment for cluster headaches. Publicly accused of being a rat at an LSD symposium by:

Mark McCloud - Art historian, collector of LSD blotter art. Accuses John Halperin of being a rat in the Pickard case at an LSD symposium in switzerland, leading to a huge controversy.

Rick Doblin - founder of the multidisciplinary association for psychedelic studies. Involved in research of psychedelics on dying, getting research funded and approved. Responsible for recent approval of psychedelic research. Went to same Harvard Kennedy School of government as Pickard. Deals with fallout from Mark McCloud/Halperin situation.

Alfred Savinelli - 'bad shaman' Prankster, owner of incense company, gives Leonard hard to find lab equipment ordered through his company in exchange for regular shipments of pure DMT.

ET Man - source of ergotamine tartrate, likely asian, likely connected to smugglers and triads/yakuza, west coast.

NY Ballet man - son of high class society, board of directors of NY Ballet, money launderer through russian mob.

Mark Kleiman - blogger, drug policy analyst, professor of public policy at UCLA, employed Pickard as deputy drug policy analyst, using funds from NY Ballet man. Organizer of blog the reality based community

Petaluma Al - Purchases LSD from pickard in bowling alley deals. Not much is known and no one gave him up when the lab got busted. Probably not from petaluma, probably not named Al. Responsible for distributing most of the lab output.

If I was writing it, I would also include this guy except say he faked his death.

The DEA claimed the lab bust closed off 90% of the worlds LSD supply (pickard denies their logic, arguing there wasn't a 90% increase in availability during the time he was operating). They are very interested in a bust this size. There is little cartel involvement, LSD is manufactured and distributed through very tight knit families of true believers that cook one or two batches every few years, distributing them through jam band tours. These families have never been busted up. Entry to a family may or may not depend on taking a thumbprint, something no undercover could do.

This show could rival breaking bad if it was done right. LSD is a lot different then meth. Meth mostly makes the world a worse place, but the world is probably a better place if people who want LSD can get a high quality product. There is so much unbelievable, compelling shit around the case and it's aftermath, and about the people who manufacture and distribute LSD, that many seasons would write themselves and if it wasn't real you couldn't make it up. You could make this series go 5 seasons based on what's happened over the last 15 years, and the reaction would be 'that's so crazy it would never happen.' I think it would be incredibly compelling to watch.

I found patricia Cornwell's case for Walter Sickert pretty compelling Link to book if you want to check it out. Things like details in his paintings that a person uninvolved shouldn't have known as well as paper matching to the letters from jack the ripper to police are interesting ideas as well as her creating a physiological profile that fit him and the ripper.

But there are a few holes in her case as she is piecing together a 100+ year old crime. Nothing can every be conclusively proved or disproved so any real accusation is basically a highly educated guess.

At this point in history the only concrete thing to say is that nobody will know conclusively who Jack the Ripper was.

There were a lot of reasons that were responsible for breaking the Underworlds back in Mumbai.

Mumbai underworld has a extremelyy long history and it is impossible to cover 50 years of history from 1930-1980 in one reddit post.

So I will just give a small recap. By 1980s - Out of the original 7 mafia families that ruled Mumbai -only 1 family was left with any significant power.

That is the infamous D-Gang. The D-Gang was the mafia organization of Dawood Ibrahim. Dawood was the son of a low police constable who rose up through the mafia hirerachy to ultimately end up as the last man standing in Mumbai after an extremely bloody inter gang wars between the 7 original families.

So now that I have done a quick recap, here are the reasons why organised crime ended in Mumbai

1)Liberalisation Of Indian economy and end of socialist India

In the end of 1980s India came to near bankruptcy due to an extremely depleted foreign reserves, a non existent economy, collapse of India's biggest trade partner-the soveit union. Sanctions from world government due to nuclear tests a decade ago.Imports were at all time high. Exports and value of rupee were at all time low.

India was 14 days away from being officially declared as bankrupt. In order to escape it, India finally ended the socialist goverment policies and extreme government control that had been in place since 1947.

As a result, All government regulations over trade were removed. Liquor, alcohol, Gold, all western products were legally allowed to be imported in India.

The Indian government officially endorsed free market capitalism as the guiding principle for future of Indian economy.

While entire India was celebrating, The mafias were extremely mad and pissed.

The reason was that main source of income for mafia was the illegal smuggling of gold, liquor, western products into india and selling them on black market.With the legalisation of all of the above imports by the government of India - The mafia were officially robbed of their major source of illicit income.

With no money to fund their operations and to pay the salaries of their henchmen, most of the junior mafia families dissolved and left Mumbai for greener pastures.

2) Formation of an Pro Hindu Right wing goverment in Maharashtra(where mumbai city is located)

Disclaimer: The D gang was founded by Dawood Ibrahim. While he was a muslim by religion, there is no proof of him having jihadist leanings. However, the D gang had a lot of Islamists as its members and the D-gang was responsible for the Mumbai serial blasts(that left hundreds dead) to avenge the demolition of a muslim mosque by right wing hindu extremists.This caused the public to see the D-gang as a "Muslim extremist organization"

The 1980s and 90s marked the rise of the Hindu politcal movement and parties. These parties were in most of the cases outspoken about restoring the power back in to the commen hindu who according to them were being politically supressed by "Pseudo secular Left wing" who "are afraid to take actions against people belonging to their muslim votebank".

Thus, the Hindu right wing came to power in Maharashtra on a mixture of Nationalasm, Patriotism and Promise of restoration of Hindu power.

This right wing goverment had major grudges against the D-gang. D gang had assasinated a large number of Hindu right wing leaders and were also responsible for the largest terrorist attack (uptil then) in human history * when they carried out the Mumbai serial bombings leading to thr death of 100+ Mumbaikars.

These bombings were done by the D-gand (which were dominated by Mulims) as a retaliation for what it perceived as unjust slaughter of Muslims in the Hindu-muslims riots that happened a short while ago all across India.

The new government authorised the Mumbai police to take any actions neccesary to bring an end to the D-gang.The government gave a 100% free pass to the Mumbai police to close the chapter of D-gang. The government promised to provide complete legal protection to all mumbai police actions.

With the state government behind them, the Mumbai police went on overdrive to take down every single memeber of the D-gang from top to bottom who were still in India.

3) "Encounter" campaigns by Mumbai police

>Encounter killing" is a term used in India since the late 20th century to describe killings by the police or the armed forces, allegedly in self-defence, when they encounter suspected gangsters or terrorists. In the 1990s and the mid-2000s, the Mumbai Police used encounter killings to attack the city's underworld, and the practice spread to other large cities.

In simple words, Encounter is "extra-judicial" killing of a criminal to ensure that "quick justice" is served. (the morality of it is another discussion)

Anyways, Mumbai police started gunning down all know D-gang members in Mumbai streets, their houses, their offices.

As soon as Mumbai police found the presence of any D-gang members, they were quickly "encounterd" aka gunned down.

The aim of the Mumbai police was to put the fear of instant death into the Hearts of Mafia. The aim was to scare off the mafia from even steppimg foot in Mumbai.

And it was largely successfully.

After an intensive war between D-gang and Mumbai police, D gang was left severly depleted.

D-gang original founders had already ran away to Pakistan and Dubai after the Mumbai serial blast.

The remaining members were either imprisoned or killed by Mumbai police.

Continuous encounter killings by Mumbai police caused a massive drop of people seeking employment in the D-gang.

By 1990s, Mumbai police had to stop their encounter campaign because several cases in Indian court by victims of Mumbai police killings.
Also human right organization were rasing voices against Mumbai police in Delhi.

However the work was already done.

By the end of 20 the century, Mumbai was almost organised crime free as all mafia families were either dead or had fled the country.

The mafia families who were left: quit organised crime and entered politics or engaged in white collar crimes only

Source

From Dongri to Dubai- A complete history of the Munbai underworld

Link to the book

http://www.amazon.in/Dongri-Dubai-Decades-Mumbai-Mafia/dp/8174368949

"Feed Nana: The Story of a Moor!!"

HA HA HOE LEEE SHITTT!!

I'm a self-published author and have been at an open mic

https://www.amazon.com/Feed-Nana-Story-Rakeel-Smith-ebook/dp/B07H3R1F7X

Go read Wife No. 19 by Ann Eliza Young. It's full of all sorts of juicy stuff like how Brigham liked to rip dresses in the back of his carriage with a driver and did stuff premaritally with Ann that Spencer W. Kimball called a pernicious evil while PROPHET!!

Then when Ann sued him for divorce and got a large settlement, he appealed on the grounds he wasn't legally married to her, and ended up only owing $50 for court costs. Yup, he denied being married to one of his eternal wives to for the almighty dollar. You can buy anything with money.

I found the first part of the book intriguing. Ann discusses the temple, the washing and annointings,etc. I pretty much stopped reading after she left Brigham.

If you're interested in how he came to be one of the "best" gunrunners, i'd recommend reading Merchant of Death

Referring to polygamy from Eliza Young (Wife No. 19: The Story of a Life in Bondage):

” The Lord commanded it.” What a blasphemy and satire on Him who is the God of Love, that He should make His children unhappy, and wreck all hopes of peace and content, for His glory! It seems as though this one act of Smith’s alone should have opened the eyes of this deluded people, and shown them that their false Prophet was not taught of God, as he pretended, and they so fondly believed, but that he was impelled by the demons of covetousness and lust. But their eyes were blinded, and they could not see; their reason was enthralled , and they did not know it was bound; their wills were obedient to his, and he held them soul and body, and played with them as though they were so many puppets, helpless and lifeless out of his hands.

Young, Ann Eliza (2014-08-10). Wife No. 19: The Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Exposé of Mormonism, and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy (Illustrated) (p. 52). Enhanced Media. Kindle Edition.

You can give this to your mother for a present. It is on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Wife-No-Sacrifices-Sufferings-Illustrated-ebook/dp/B00ILV8XV8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414459139&sr=8-1&keywords=wife+19

Also when you're done with the documentary, read the book: The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer. Very very good read.

Here's another. Hint: look at who replies to all his 1 star commenters :-)

Josh is an author. Published when he was in prison (October 2018). Maybe that is where some of the $ went. Title-Message in Blood. All yours for $14.95 on Amazon!

I could go back but I listened to the audio book and although he was hesitant to talk about it, I believe he did.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/5rnsbg/i_cant_seem_to_wrap_my_head_around_the_israel/


https://smile.amazon.com/American-Predator-Meticulous-Serial-Century-ebook/dp/B07L2GMT7J/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=israel+keyes&qid=1569768681&s=gateway&sr=8-1

When I was very young and living in Colorado I remember my family getting stopped at a road block during the manhunt after Ted broke out of Jail. At the time of the manhunt, Ted was not the infamous person he is now and his legacy was still unknown.

Years later, when I was in college, I borrowed a book from a friend about Ted Bundy. That book was The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. Only having a basic understanding of Ted, and serial killers in general, I was shocked and fascinated.

I've since read another 5 books, most recently The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer by Robert Keppel. I found this one very interesting particularly if you have any background of the Green River Killer.

But my favorite by far is The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History by Kevin M. Sullivan. While other books are written from the perspective of the author in relation to Ted; this author, Kevin, has no relationship with the murderer or murders and therefore writes an objective account. In summary, I found it well researched with a lot of details, and very chilling. A must read.

I ran across this online magazine series based on the book, The Mastermind, by Evan Ratliff. Amazon link, or check out your local independent bookstore or your public library!

Truth can be stranger than fiction, and to anyone wondering whatever happened behind the scenes that resulted in TrueCrypt being mysteriously pulled, this reporter's excellent work points to how and why.

Err, and also is a cautionary tale of how sometimes folks in the security community can be really freaken' weird when you look closer.

>Paul Calder Le Roux was once known online for helping build one of the world’s most significant pieces of encryption software, and then, in the mid-2000s, he poured his technical talents into an Internet pharmacy business, selling prescription drugs to Americans. That operation, according to the Department of Justice, earned hundreds of millions of dollars. Le Roux then directed his money into a broad portfolio of criminal concerns around the world: cocaine dealing, arms dealing, gold and timber smuggling, money laundering, and selling technology to pariah states. In the course of business, he’d arranged the murder of at least half a dozen people that I could name.

>For two years, I have been following the strange saga of Le Roux and the constellation of criminal prosecutions that surrounds him. I have traveled to the Philippines and Israel, connected with sources deep within Le Roux’s former criminal empire, and obtained exclusive documents revealing Le Roux’s background, his operations, and his cooperation with U.S. authorities.

>On March 10, The Atavist Magazine will launch “The Mastermind,” a seven-week series following Le Roux’s rise, his downfall, and his turn as a U.S. informant.

It's a longer series, but well worth the read.

Here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Black-Hand-Enriquez-Mexican/dp/0061257303

> Black Flag: Surrender, I'm taking your shit, get in my way and I'll kill you.
>
> Red Flag: I'm taking your shit. You're going to die.

Not quite. Under a black flag, they would not necessarily kill the defeated crew. They may offer to take some on as new crew members (or just take them whether they want to or not). They wouldn't necessarily even kill you if you didn't join the crew, they might just take all your valuables and weapons and release you.

Under the red flag, if you don't surrender immediately, you better hope you win, because they are announcing their intent up front.

/u/bTvuUtTyXZvnj does that help?

If you want to know more, I've read a couple fascinating books on the subject:

• The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd. "Though Kidd, better known as Captain Kidd, was inextricably bound with piracy and has popularly gone down as a marauding buccaneer himself, Zacks (An Underground Education) argues that he was actually a mercenary backed by the English government and several New World investors to track down pirates and reclaim their stolen wares. The book is cogent and replete with supporting evidence without the heavy-handed feel of some scholarly work. What really sets the book apart is Zacks's gift as researcher and storyteller. He highlights the role of an undeniable pirate, Robert Culliford, in Kidd's tale and pits the two men against each other from the outset, constructing his book as an intriguing duel. Aside from the tightly constructed plot, Zacks also wonderfully evokes the social and political life of the 17th century at land and at sea, and he takes turns at debunking and validating pirate folklore: while it appears the dead giveaway of a skull and crossbones made it a rare flag choice, Zacks contends that pirates did often wear extravagant clothing and were as drunk, cursing, hungry, horny... and violent as myth would have them. Augmented by such details and driven by a conflict between Kidd and Culliford that keeps the pages flying, Zacks's book is a treasure, indeed."
  
  
• The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down "tells a romantic story about Caribbean pirates of the "Golden Age" (1715–1725)—whom he sees not as criminals but as social revolutionaries—and the colonial governors who successfully clamped down on them, in the early 18th-century Bahamas. One group of especially powerful pirates set up a colony in the Bahamas. Known as New Providence, the community attracted not only disaffected sailors but also runaway slaves and yeomen farmers who had trouble getting a toehold in the plantation economy of the American colonies. The British saw piracy as a threat to colonial commerce and government. Woodes Rogers, the governor of the Bahamas and himself a former privateer, determined to bring the pirates to heel. Woodard describes how Rogers, aided by Virginia's acting governor, Alexander Spotswood, finally defeated the notorious Blackbeard. Woodard's portrait of Rogers is a little flat—the man is virtually flawless ("courageous, selfless, and surprisingly patriotic"), and the prose is sometimes breathless ("they would know him by just one word... pirate"). Still, this is a fast-paced narrative that will be especially attractive to lovers of pirate lore and to vacationers who are Bahamas-bound."
  
  I'm not particularly a history buff or an expert on pirates at all, but I listen to a lot of audiobooks and these came up on sale on Audible a few years ago, and I enjoyed them both very much.

I'll suggest two books for you:

Kevin Rushby's Children of Kali

S. Hussain Zaidi's Dongri to Dubai

Soooo he already has another gem of a book out on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Message-Blood-Joshua-Hyatt-ebook/dp/B07JVD2N27

About the author:
“...Not many Authors can explain the feeling of holding someone at gunpoint from firsthand experience. The power, the fear, the doubt, and most of all the adrenaline coursing through every vein in every part of your body, as your heart thuds heavy and hard in your chest. I hope that my readers can live those situations through my writings and never have to be pushed into one themselves. My goal is to make you look over your shoulder looking for the cops because of the crimes you just committed. Have you ever wondered what it was like? If not you can pick up “ANY” other book, but if you want a different kind of adventure and you want to know what kind of happens on the other side of the law, then just pick up one of my books. There will be more. Don’t forget your gloves!”

Not sure how much time you have for your project or what kind of info you are planning to include, but these 2 books are classic, great resources for understanding Ted himself as well as his murders and victims.

The Stranger Beside Me - Ann Rule

The Bundy Murders: A Comprehensive History - Kevin M Sullivan

Or for North Americans, "4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison". Amazon link - http://www.amazon.ca/000-Days-Survival-Bangkok-Prison/dp/0312253648

I just finished American Predator last week and it was Casefile-worthy terrifying.

There is a pretty good book about the Mexican Mafia called "The Black Hand" written by an older guy who was there shortly after they were founded until now I think. There's a short video interview with the author here.

If you like true crime / biographical stuff it could be worth a read. He goes into a lot of detail about how the street gangs coordinate with the Mexican Mafia members locked up inside, and also touches on their loose alliance with the whites (basically an alliance of convenience and strategy, for a time Northern Hispanics outnumbered everybody substantially, particularly in the prisons in N. California - so allying with whites state-wide gave them an advantage in Southern California and put them closer to even numbers in the north).

Outside of that, there's a lot of blogs and whatnot about prison gangs, especially the California ones (in a lot of ways other states gangs' basically copy California). If you're gonna google around I'd be a little careful though, there is some people who have a bizarre fascination with this stuff and tend to embellish in my experience.

Read this book or watch one of the interviews for Richard Kuklinski.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ice-Man-Confessions-Contract/dp/0312349289

Completely agree. I LOATHE Nicholas Cage in almost everything. But man, that movie is amazing. If you want the real story read Merchant of Death

A random piece of information- if you saw Panama of the kidnapped backpackers, unfortunately Mark Wedeven died shortly after the filming of that episode when he was hit in an avalanche while climbing Mt. Rainer.

And for some book suggestions of similar stories, 4000 days in Thai prison, Escape: The true story of the only Westerner ever to break out of Thailand's Bangkok Hilton and Locked Up Abroad. The Venezuela guys also have a book as well as the Mexico episode

Anyone want to add to the book list?

Deviant, by Harold Schechter, is really a good book for people that are interested in learning more about Ed Gein. http://www.amazon.com/Deviant-Shocking-Story-Original-Psycho/dp/0671025465

I enjoyed Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original Psycho. Not sure how stylistic it is but the story is creepy AF.

https://www.amazon.com/Deviant-Shocking-Story-Original-Psycho/dp/0671025465

She also wrote a book about her experiences with Pickard and Appersen called Lysergic. Unfortunately, the impression I get from reviews is that she isn't the ideal person to be giving us insight into the synthesizing process.

Talking with Serial Killers is pretty interesting read.

Rose West: The Making of a Monster is quite a detailed book about the West case,i really enjoyed this to read,got through it pretty quickly.

Fiction wise, American Psycho is a great story. I have a strong stomach but some parts of that I had to put the book down and walk away for a bit. You can't beat the Hannibal Lector series either.

I have no stories to share but do read Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia

Buffalo Bill, along with a few other horror movies such as Pyscho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, are based on Ed Gein.

Source: Deviant by Harold Schechter. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0671025465/ref=mw_dp_mpd?pd=1

I have actually. I never thought on actually how to do said killing, but it would have been in a fit of blinding rage.

What stopped me? I knew I would have been caught as it's my father. All seriousness here, have constantly thought about it but every idea is shutdown by my logical/reasoning side.

Also, you should read The Iceman.

It's not something any of us should be proud of. They weren't badass, they were evil.

But if it's a topic that interests you, there's a book all about it called But He Was Good To His Mother

I think so!

https://www.amazon.com/Portrait-Killer-Jack-Ripper-Closed/dp/0425192733

I think I read this about the time it came out, so it has been a long time, and I certainly have Ramnesia about many of the details.

If I had the kindle version I would search for the mention of fingerprints, but I don't....

https://www.amazon.com/Mastermind-Drugs-Empire-Murder-Betrayal/dp/0399590412

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003K15IKI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Republic of Pirates. He goes through the history of all the big pirates in the early 1700s and how they were brought down.

I only got in to Non fiction recently, been a fiction fan all my life...but found some awesome stuff that I wanna name-drop because I'm sure others will list my favorite fantasy titles.

• • The Snakehead - MY FAVORITE! All about the human smuggling (they went willingly so that separates it from human trafficking) of the recent Fujian immigrants to NY's Chinatown. What's crazy is how this all happened in the late 80s, 1990s, and in to the 2000's. The book reads like an action movie, and you never want to put it down. I extra enjoyed it because: (A) I grew up right by all of this and never realized any of this was happening (B) Gangster stories are awesome! Bonus.....the new Scorcese movie ("Revenge of the Green Dragons") is very reminiscent of Snakehead, at least based off the preview. But I think it deals more with the gangster aspect than the human smuggling aspect, which are intertwined in Snakehead but not entirely the same thing...so maybe it won't be related at all...
    
    

• All the Way Down; the Violent Underworld of Street Gangs - Another gangster book, another NEW YORK gangster book because I love reading about my area....I fully admit my bias. This is about the kid gangs in Gowanus, Brooklyn...which is now incredibly gentrified and fairly unrecognizable. It's written by this guy who was supposed to help turn kids in that area away from gangbanging. He has a lot of very interesting insight on them and their motivations, too.
  
  Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account, Born to Run, and the Omnivore's Dilemma were a few other non-fics that changed my life and really made me think.

If anyone wants to know one of the people that contributed to this crisis, read The Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal.

It's amazing what one really smart person can do.

https://www.amazon.com/Bundy-Murders-Comprehensive-History/dp/0786444266

https://www.amazon.com/Only-Living-Witness-serial-killer/dp/1928704298


If you like a bit of fictional drama, read Rules book. Kind of funny how a nobody becomes a writer. she simply took known data in a multitude of killings, took gossip, had it printed and housewives ate it up.

It's no wonder reality TVB is so big :)

Stick with the meat and the people who had access. Those are the people the other 2 books use for their narrative.

Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC0RRY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fby1AbFXZN0PN

Neon green!

My parents owned Chinese buffets. I was an indentured servant. Can confirm.

No, in all seriousness, it's super simplistic to think of them as indentured servant. They're just heavily in debt(by choice) and need to work their asses off to pay off their debt pronto. It ain't cheap to come to America. You can't be dumb and lazy to be here. Life ain't easy for Chinese restaurant workers with limited English skill.

You are serious about learning more, pick up this book from library. But with the amount of ignorance I saw on daily basis on this sub, I'm not optimistic people would even bother.

Also the book by Evan Ratliff - https://www.amazon.com/Mastermind-Drugs-Empire-Murder-Betrayal-ebook/dp/B07G6X3Z47 was a really good read.

That's awesome! Thanks for the contest, but Don't Sue People Panda. Naughty Panda.

One

Two

"Talking with Serial Killers" is a good one. Disturbing but a good read.

ask that to the former members of the purple gang

https://www.amazon.com/But-Was-Good-His-Mother/dp/9652292494

The Republic of Pirates Great book.

Here is a link. She did one more as well, maybe two. She got obsessed with the case. Spent millions of dollars buying stuff related to the case and the guy she thinks was the killer.

https://www.amazon.com/Snakehead-Chinatown-Underworld-American-Dream/dp/0307279278/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506111238&sr=8-2&keywords=snakehead

should give this a read, details how people from Asia try very hard to come to USA.

It's either that or

http://www.amazon.com/000-Days-Survival-Bangkok-Prison/dp/0312253648

Both wrote by the same author.

There was this: http://www.amazon.com/But-Was-Good-His-Mother/dp/9652292494

I had the same New Year's resolution a few years ago and ended up reading 65 books that year. I ran out of books I wanted to read and scrambled to find more. So you'll have weeks you'll read anything you can get your hands on which can be hit or miss, but I liked being taken out of my normal, nonfiction, reading patterns.

Here are a few If my favorites:

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Demon In The Freezer by Richard Preston

The Snakehead by Patrick Keefe

John Dies At The End by David Wong

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

Death's Acre by Dr. Bill Bass

Biohazard by Ken Alibek

There are military suppliers like Boeing, L3, General Dynamics, or Dassault. Starting a competitor to these firms is difficult, though niche products are developed for the defense industry all the time.

Arms dealer often is used to refer to smaller dealers who are more likely to deal in black or grey market arms (meaning sales of weapons without the support of a major world power).

You could watch the film Lord of War, related documentary film, or read the biography of the man who at least loosely inspired all three, to see one arms dealer origins.

Can you get https://www.amazon.com/Mastermind-Drugs-Empire-Murder-Betrayal-ebook/dp/B07G6X3Z47 today?

I am about to finish my first book about serial killers - Talking with Serial Killers on Amazon by Criminologist Christopher Berry-Dee. I really liked how the author had done a thorough research on every case he mentions and also giving a detailed account, sometimes in the words of the criminal themselves. I enjoyed the attempted psychological evaluation on almost all the cases.

It’s cool, it’s cool! I’m half disappointed I didn’t get to introduce you to Out of Print, half thrilled you already knew and love it like I do!

Speaking of why murderers are the way they are, you can’t go wrong with anything by John Douglas, the man who basically invented criminal profiling. Netflix’s show Mindhunter is about him, based on one of his books of the same name. I can’t recommend him enough.

And one more I must recommend, similar to Jon Ronson, is Will Storr’s the Unpersuadables: Adventures With the Enemies of Science. He hangs out with folks like the world’s most (in)famous Holocaust deniers, creationists, and 9/11 & 7/7 truthers. He actually visits Auschwitz with a group lead by fucking David Irving, even participating “undercover”, pretending to be a fellow denier. It’s an compellingly readable book, and much like Ronson’s style.

I recommend all of Ronson’s and Storr’s books, because they’re just really fun and on fascinating subjects. Sort of like Malcom Gladwell, only more controversial subjects, while still being so entertaining I reread them every few years. I reread a lot. And read a lot. I’m disabled, so I get to read a ton.

I’d welcome any fiction recommendations you might wish to share!

A little different inside scoop to LA, particularly East LA - The Black Hand Its a fun and entertaining read.