An explosive expose from the bestselling author whose investigation brought down FBI director William S. Sessions. Offered unprecedented access and cooperation, Kessler reveals the inner workings of the modern FBI and the methods, powers and secrets of the people who run the Bureau. 16-page insert.
Not since Hunter Thompson's seminal Hells Angels: A Strange & Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs in 1967 has there been such a thorough account of the Angels. This book documents the gang's bumpy ride from its origins as a Stateside club for WWII fighter pilots to its freewheeling terror tactics of the early sixties, to its absurd flirtation with the hippie scene, to its current status as one of the most powerful underground organisations in North America, rivalling even the Mafia.
This collection explores the varieties of banditry in Latin America and provides a major comparative testing of Hobsbawm's model of the social bandit. Comprised of a unique collection of essays, it contributes to a more accurate understanding of bandit leaders and followers, as well as to the analysis of banditry as a social phenomenon.
The Hells Angels. The Bandidos. Asian triads. Russian mobsters and corrupt cops. Even the KKK. Just part of a day's work for Alex Caine, an undercover agent who has seen it all. Alex Caine started life as a working-class boy who always thought he'd end up in a blue-collar job. But after a tour in Vietnam and a stretch in prison on marijuana-possession charges, he fell into the cloak-and-dagger world of a contracted agent or "kite": infiltrating criminal groups that cops across North America and around the globe were unable to penetrate themselves. Thanks to his quick-wittedness and his tough but unthreatening demeanor, Caine could fit into whatever unsavory situation he found himself. Over twenty-five years, his assignments ran the gamut from bad-ass bikers to triad toughs. When a job was over, he'd slip away to a new part of the continent or world, where he would assume a new identity and then go back to work on another group of bad guys. Told with page-turning immediacy, Befriend and Betray gives a candid look behind the scenes at some familiar police operations and blows the lid off others that law enforcement would much prefer to keep hidden. And it offers an unvarnished account of the toll such a life takes, one that often left Caine to wonder who he really was, behind those decades of assumed identities. Or whether justice was ever truly served.
On the morning of April 8, 2006, residents of the hamlet of Shedden, Ontario, woke up to the news that the bloodied bodies of eight bikers from the Bandidos gang had been found dead on a local farm. The massacre made headlines around the world, and the shocking news brought a grim light to an otherwise quiet corner of the province. Six Bandidos would eventually be convicted of the first-degree murder of their biker brothers. Like other outlaw bikers, Bandidos portray themselves as motorcycle aficionados who are systematically misunderstood and abused by police, as well as feared by the public. We now know the Bandidos were anything but simple motorcycle enthusiasts. However, unlike such biker gangs as the Hells Angels, who run sophisticated criminal empires, the Bandidos were highly disorganized and prone to petty infighting, and even engaged in sabotaging fellow members. This is the story of how the Bandidos self-destructed over one dark night. As gripping as any crime novel, The Bandido Massacre takes us inside a crumbling brotherhood bent on self-obliteration and betrayal.
A first hand account of perhaps the most powerful and influential crime group currently operating in Australia and North America. It is the first time ever that an insider has told the true and chilling story of the bike gangs that dominate the drug and illegal weapons trade.
This brief covers the unique crime group of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are adult criminal associations composed of “bikers” living a deviant lifestyle that includes individual, group, and club criminal behavior. These groups are sometimes called one percenters, due to the American Motorcycle Association statement that ninety-nine percent of motorcyclists are law abiding citizens. While many may be familiar with the reputation of the Hells' Angels, many may not realize the wide network of other Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs or the extent of their involvement in criminal activities. The brief includes a breakdown of the criminal networks and activities of these groups, which operate similarly to an organized crime group. It also covers the evolution of motorcycle clubs to motorcycle gangs. It examines the recent trend of American-based motorcycle gangs into international organized crime activities. This book will be of interest to researcher studying criminology, particularly organized crime and criminal networks, as well as international and comparative law and public policy.
"You're lucky he didn't have an ice pick in his hands. I know how this guy performs." -Mobster Paul Volpe speaking about a Buffalo-mafia enforcer named "Cicci" Canada is lauded the world over as a law abiding, peaceful country - a shining example to all nations. Such a view, also shared by most Canadians, is typically naïve and misinformed. Throughout its history, to present day and beyond, Canada has been and will continue to be home to criminals and crime organizations that are brilliant at finding ways to make money - a lot of money - illegally. Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada is a remarkable parallel history to the one generally accepted and taught in our schools. Organized crime has had a significant impact on the shaping of this country and the lives of its people. The most violent and thuggish - outlaw motorcycle gangs like Hells Angels - have been raised to mythic proportions. The families who owned distilleries during Prohibition, such as the Bronfmans, built vast fortunes that today are vested in corporate holdings. The mafia in Montreal created and controlled the largest heroin and cocaine smuggling empire in the world, feeding the insatiable appetite of our American neighbours. Today, gangs are laying waste the streets of Vancouver, and "BC bud" flows into the U.S. as the marijuana of choice. Organized crime is as old as this nation's founding, with pirates ravaging the east coast, even as hired guns by colonial governments. Since our nation's earliest times, government and crime groups have found that collusion can have its mutual benefits. Comprehensive, informative and entertaining - as you will discover in the remarkable period pieces devised by the author and the illustrations commissioned specially for this book - Iced is a romp across the nation and across the centuries. In these pages you will meet crime groups that are at once sordid and inept, yet resourceful entrepreneurs and self-proclaimed champions of the underdog, who operate in full sight of their communities and the law. This is the definitive book on organized crime in Canada, and a unique contribution to our understanding of Canadian history.
This two-volume set integrates informative encyclopedia entries and essential primary documents to provide an illuminating overview of trends in gang membership and activity in America in the 21st century. Gangland: An Encyclopedia of Gang Life from Cradle to Grave includes extended discussion of specific gangs; types of gangs based on ethnicity and environment (rural, suburban, and urban); recruitment and retention methods; leadership structure and other internal dynamics of various gangs; impacts of gang membership on extended family; the historical evolution of gangs in American society; depictions of gang life in popular culture; violent and nonviolent gang activities; and programs, policies, agencies, and organizations that have been crafted to combat gang activities. In addition, the encyclopedia includes a suite of primary sources that offer a look into the personal experiences of gang members, examine efforts by law enforcement and public officials to address gang activity, and address wider societal factors that make eradicating gangs such a difficult task.
On the night of April 7, 2006, eight members of the motorcycle gang the Bandidos were killed execution style and left in a farmer's field near London, Ontario. The brutal slaying, the largest mass killing in Canada's history, was reported as the work of a rival motorcycle gang. The Shedden Massacre instantly made international headlines, as did the sensational murder trial that followed. In Bloody Justice, readers are taken to the very night of the crime itself, to the key players and perpetrators, to the events leading to the slayings—and inside a trial that let a killer go free. Reflecting the author's painstaking research, attendance at the trials, and jailhouse interviews with one of the convicted, Bloody Justice outlines a fascinating case that is very much at odds with the prosecution's.