TRUE CRIME

Rooted in the student movement of the 1960s, the story of the Baader-Meinhof group - or the Red Army Faction (RAF), as they called themselves - began in May 1970 with the freeing of Andreas Baader, imprisoned for setting fire to department stores in protest against the Vietnam War. After thirty years of violent confrontation with the German state - costing the lives of 34 politicians and industrialists, chauffeurs and policemen - it ended on 20 April 1998 with a declaration sent to the Reuters news agency: 'Almost 28 years ago, on 17 May 1970, the RAF arose in a campaign of liberation. Today we end this project. The urban guerrilla in the shape of the RAF is now history.' The 'war of 6 against 60 million' (Heinrich Boll) led to the mass mobilisation of police and security services, culminating in the 'German Autumn' of 1977 when RAF violence reached its peak with the kidnapping and murder of the industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa jet by Palestinian terrorists to secure the release of the key members of the group, then serving life sentences.When they heard news that the jet had been freed by German special forces in Mogadischu, the founder members Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin committed suicide; Ulrike Meinhof had hanged herself the previous year while on trial. This fascinating book tells the story of how a small group of young middle-class people, out of moral indignation about the Vietnam War and the injustices of capitalist society, turned to bombings, kidnappings and murder - thus resorting to flagrant immorality themselves. And for once the strapline is true: their story reads like a thriller.

THE LAST GODFATHERS charts the rise of the notorious Corleone clan. From its humble origins in the town of Corleone, the clan manipulated Cosa Nostra's code of honour, deceiving and bludgeoning its way to the top of the secret brotherhood, purging its rivals and launching a terrorist campaign which decimated anti-mafia judges, police and politicians. Journalist John Follain focuses on the three godfathers who headed the clan from the 1950s onwards. Luciano 'The Professor' Leggio, Salvatore 'The Beast' Riina and Bernardo 'The Tractor' Provenzano, who forged a vicious clan bent on the subversion of democracy. Cutting through the romantic aura of Hollywood films, THE LAST GODFATHERS portrays the true face of the crime family which inspired Mario Puzo's The Godfather. Based on thousands of pages of judicial documents, wiretap transcripts, the testimony of mafiosi defectors and interviews with investigators, this is the definitive word on the world's most notorious criminal organisation.

Takes us on a journey through the international organised crime. This book presents the stories of gun runners in Ukraine, money launderers in Dubai, drug syndicates in Canada, cyber criminals in Brazil, and racketeers in Japan. It explores the ferocious consumer demand for drugs, trafficked women, illegal labour and arms across five continents.

It is midnight on 30th June 1860 and all is quiet in the Kent family's elegant house in Road, Wiltshire. The next morning, however, they wake to find that their youngest son has been the victim of an unimaginably gruesome murder. Even worse, the guilty party is surely one of their number - the house was bolted from the inside. As Jack Whicher, the most celebrated detective of his day, arrives at Road to track down the killer, the murder provokes national hysteria at the thought of what might be festering behind the closed doors of respectable middle-class homes - scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing.This true story has all the hallmarks of a classic gripping murder mystery. A body, a detective, a country house steeped in secrets and a whole family of suspects - it is the original Victorian whodunnit.

ISBN: 9780747596486