The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell
The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell

Author: Joe Loya

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2004-09-07

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 0060508922

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A searing story about the painful climb one man must make from a life of crime to one filled with honor Growing up in a devoutly religious family with a father who believed in firm discipline and who was also studying for a Protestant ministry, Joe Loya Jr. seemed a blessed child. When he was seven, however, his life was drastically altered when his mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. During the two years that led to her death, Joe's pious and studious father became more and more violent, brutally beating his two young sons. This contradiction haunted Joe for years until one day, at age sixteen, during a particularly severe beating, he finally retaliated and stabbed his father in the neck. For Joe, this was the starting point of a life of crime: petty theft, forgery, fraud, and ultimately, bank robbery. When Joe was finally arrested after holding up his twenty-fourth bank, he was sent to prison, where he would serve seven years. In prison, his criminal behavior only got worse, as he began to deal drugs, smuggle weapons, and even assault fellow prisoners, until he was placed in solitary confinement, the lowest of lows even for convicts. There, alone in his cell for two years, he was finally able to forgive his father, finding clarity, cultural insight, and redemption through writing. During a soulful correspondence with acclaimed author Richard Rodriguez, Loya ultimately found that he wasn't alone in his struggle to discover his identity, and that anger is sometimes the doorway toward realizing one's self and one's purpose. Although the images that propel an angry young man toward a life of crime may leave readers shuddering, the power of Joe Loya's incredible story will surely remind us that we must not lose hope that wayward sons and daughters may one day return home.

The Unusual Suspect
The Unusual Suspect

Author: Ben Machell

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2021-01-19

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0593129245

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The remarkable true story of a modern-day Robin Hood: a British college student who started robbing banks as the financial crisis unfolded. “Completely fascinating . . . [The Unusual Suspect] reads like a deep psychological thriller, but it’s real. Is truth stranger than fiction? You bet.”—Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen Jackley was a young British college student when the global financial crisis began in 2007. Overwhelmed by the growing indifference toward economic equality, he became obsessed with the idea of taking on the role of Robin Hood. With no prior experience, he resolved to become a bank robber. He would steal from the rich and give to the poor. Against all likelihood, his plan actually worked. Jackley used disguises, elaborate escape routes, and fake guns to successfully hold up a string of banks, making away with thousands of pounds. He attempted ten robberies in southwest England over a six-month period. Banknotes marked with “RH”—“Robin Hood”—began finding their way into the hands of the homeless. Motivated by a belief that global capitalism was ruining lives and driving the planet toward ecological disaster, he dreamed of changing the world for the better through his crimes. The police, despite their concerted efforts, had no idea what was going on or who was responsible. That is, until Jackley’s ambition got the better of him. This is his story. Acclaimed journalist Ben Machell had full and direct access to Stephen Jackley, who in turn shared his complete set of diaries, selections of which are included throughout the narrative. The result lends an intense intimacy and urgency to Jackley’s daring and disturbing tale, shedding light on his mental state and the challenges he faced in his own mind and beyond. It wasn’t until Jackley was held in custody that he underwent a psychiatric evaluation, resulting in a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome. Behind the simple act of bank robbery lies a complex and emotionally wrought story of an individual whose struggles led him to create a world in which he would succeed against all odds. Until he didn’t.

This Bank Robber's Life
This Bank Robber's Life

Author: Patrick Mitchell

Publisher: Kevin Mitchell

Published: 2015-09-10

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 9780973186604

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Paddy Mitchell grew up on Ottawa's Preston Street to become the leader of the Stopwatch Gang, earning a place on the FBI's most-wanted list by working with fellow Canadians Stephen Reid and Lionel Wright to steal about $15 million, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, from more 140 banks and other sites across Canada and the U.S. The gang, which was famous for its speedy heists -- including the 1974 robbery of $700,000 in gold bars from the Ottawa airport -- took its name from the stopwatch worn by Reid. Incarcerated several times, he was a prison escape artist. Paddy Mitchell wrote about his life and adventures while serving his sentence in a maximum security prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. He died January 14, 2007.].

Blessed Are the Bank Robbers
Blessed Are the Bank Robbers

Author: Chas Smith

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2022-03-15

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1647005469

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A rollicking true story of Bibles and bank robberies in Southern California, from a talented and highly praised gonzo journalist Chas Smith grew up deeply enmeshed in the evangelical Christian world that grew out of Southern California in the late 1960s. His family included famous missionaries and megachurch pastors, but his cousin Daniel Courson was Grandma’s favorite. Smith looked up to Cousin Danny. He was handsome, adventurous, and smart, earned a degree from Bible college, and settled into a family and a stable career. Needless to say, it was a big surprise when Cousin Danny started robbing banks. Known as the “Floppy Hat Bandit,” Courson robbed 19 of them in a torrid six-week spree before being caught and sentenced to seven years. When he tried to escape, they tacked on another year. And when he finally got out, despite seeming to be back on the straight and narrow, Cousin Danny disappeared. Banks started getting robbed again. It seemed Cousin Danny might be gunning for the record. Smith’s Blessed Are the Bank Robbers is the wild, and wildly entertaining, story of an all-American anti-hero. It’s a tale of bank robberies, art and jewel heists, high-speed chases, fake identities, encrypted Swiss email accounts, jilted lovers, and the dark side of an evangelical family (and it wasn’t just Danny; an uncle was mixed up with the mujahideen). It’s a book about what it means to live inside the church and outside the law.

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber

Author: Julian Rubinstein

Publisher: Back Bay Books

Published: 2007-09-03

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0316028282

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An award-wining and "outrageously entertaining" true crime story (San Francisco Chronicle) about the professional hockey player-turned-bank robber whose bizarre and audacious crime spree galvanized Hungary in the decade after the fall of the Iron Curtain. During the 1990s, while playing for the biggest hockey team in Budapest, Attila Ambrus took up bank robbery to make ends meet. Arrayed against him was perhaps the most incompetent team of crime investigators the Eastern Bloc had ever seen: a robbery chief who had learned how to be a detective by watching dubbed Columbo episodes; a forensics man who wore top hat and tails on the job; and a driver so inept he was known only by a Hungarian word that translates to Mound of Ass-Head. Ballad of the Whiskey Robber is the completely bizarre and hysterical story of the crime spree that made a nobody into a somebody, and told a forlorn nation that sometimes the brightest stars come from the blackest holes. Like The Professor and the Madman and The Orchid Thief, Julian Rubinstein's bizarre crime story is so odd and so wicked that it is completely irresistible. "A whiz-bang read...Hilarious and oddly touching...Rubinstein writes in a guns-ablazing style that perfectly fits the whiskey robber's tale." --Salon

Diary of an Oxygen Thief
Diary of an Oxygen Thief

Author: Anonymous

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-05-23

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1501157868

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Hurt people hurt people. Say there was a novel in which Holden Caulfield was an alcoholic and Lolita was a photographer’s assistant and, somehow, they met in Bright Lights, Big City. He’s blinded by love. She by ambition. Diary of an Oxygen Thief is an honest, hilarious, and heartrending novel, but above all, a very realistic account of what we do to each other and what we allow to have done to us.

Dog Diaries
Dog Diaries

Author: Betsy Byars

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)

Published: 2015-01-13

Total Pages: 81

ISBN-13: 1466889616

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It is the first annual meeting of the WOOF Society. Dogs of all different backgrounds and breeds have gathered together to listen to the diaries of twelve dogs from around the world and throughout history. Abu is the ruler of ancient Egypt, but Miu, the Royal Cat, continues to challenge him, except at night. Tidbit, born the runt of the litter, becomes a star singer at the Grand Ole Opry. Jip leads his blinded master back home from the Civil War. Mimi, a dog living in Paris, shares her tips on bathroom protocol and dinnertime etiquette. And eight more! Betsy Byars and her daughters, Laurie Myers and Betsy Duffey, the trio who brought you MY DOG, MY HERO and THE SOS FILE, have pooled their talents once again to write on a subject they love. DOG DIARIES is a collection of humorous and touching stories, complemented by Erik Brooks' black-and-white illustrations, that will appeal to dog lovers of all ages.