Table of Contents
Introduction 10
Bandits, Robbers, and Arsonists
Father of all treasons 18
Thomas Blood
A civil, obliging robber 19
John Nevison
Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarters 20
Edward "Blackbeard" Teach
Burke's the butcher, Hare's the thief, Knox the boy that buys the beef 22
Burke and Hare
They were brave fellows. They were true men 24
The James-Younger Gang
It's for the love of a man that I'm gonna have to die 26
Bonnie and Clyde
You'll never believe it-they've stolen the train 30
The Great Train Robbery
Addicted to the thrill 36
Bill Mason
To me it is only so much scrap gold 37
The Theft of the World Cup
Miss, you'd better look at that note 38
D.B. Cooper
Without weapons, nor hatred, nor violence 44
The Société Générale Bank Heist
I stole from the wealthy so I could live their lifestyle 45
John MacLean
Sing of my deeds, tell of my combats… forgive my failings 46
Phoolan Devi
The fire becomes a mistress, a lover 48
John Leonard Orr
It was the perfect crime 54
The Antwerp Diamond Heist
He was an expert in alarm systems 56
The Theft of the Cellini Salt Cellar
Weird and unbelievable, but it's a very real criminal case 57
The Russia-Estonia Vodka Pipeline
Old-school London criminal gents 58
The Hatton Garden Heist
Con Artists
Under the influence of bad counsels… I fell a martyr 64
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace
People took their hats off to such a sum 66
The Crawford Inheritance
The smoothest con man that ever lived 68
The Sale of the Eiffel Tower
Domela's story rings with the high lunacy of great farce 70
Harry Domela
If my work hangs in a museum long enough, it becomes real 74
Elmyr de Hory
It's not stealing because I'm only taking what they give me 78
Doris Payne
They inflated the raft and left the island. After that nobody seems to know what happened 80
Escape from Alcatraz
At the time, virtue was not one of my virtues 86
Frank Abagnale
I was on a train of lies. I couldn't Jump off 88
Clifford Irving
Originally I copied Hitler's life out of books, but later I began to feel I was Hitler 90
Konrad Kujau
If this is not a ring-in I'm not here 94
The Fine Cotton Scandal
White Collar Crimes
Money… has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes 100
The Mississippi Scheme
Nothing is lost save honor 101
The Black Friday Gold Scandal
The old game of robbing Peter to pay Paul 102
Charles Ponzi
You can't convict a million dollars 108
The Teapot Dome Scandal
Citizens were dying right, left, and center 110
The Bhopal Disaster
The world's biggest mugging 114
The City of London Bonds Theft
It's all just one big lie 116
Bernie Madoff
I know in my mind that I did nothing criminal 122
The Enron Scandal
He put in peril the existence of the bank 124
Jérôme Kerviel
Bribery was tolerated and… rewarded 126
The Siemens Scandal
Not just nerdy kids up to mischief in their parents' basement 128
The Spyeye Malware Data Theft
The irregularities… go against everything Volkswagen stands for 130
The Volkswagen Emissions Scandal
Organized Crime
The most hazardous of all trades, that of the smuggler 136
The Hawkhurst Gang
In Sicily there is a sect of thieves 138
The Sicilian Mafia
They dare do anything 146
The Triads
No more villainous, ruffianly band was ever organized 150
The Wild Bunch
Prohibition has made nothing but trouble 152
The Beer Wars
If the boss says a passing crow is white, you must agree 154
The Yakuza
When we do right, nobody remembers. When we do wrong, nobody forgets 160
Hells Angels
They were the best years of our lives 164
The Krays and the Richardsons
All empires are created of blood and fire 166
The Medellín Cartel
It was always about business, never about gangs 168
"Freeway" Rick Ross
Kidnapping and Extortion
He valued her less than old swords 176
The Abduction of Pocahontas
Marvelous real-life romance 177
The Tichborne Claimant
Anne, they've stolen our baby! 178
The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping
Since Monday I have fallen into the hands of kidnappers 186
The Kidnapping of John Paul Getty III
I'm a coward. I didn't want to die 188
The Kidnapping of Patty Hearst
I still sleep with a night light. I can't ride a subway 190
The Chowchilla Kidnapping
I always felt like a poor chicken in a henhouse 196
The Kidnapping of Natascha Kampusch
Murder Cases
An unusually clear case, like a "smoking gun" 202
The Neanderthal Murder
Perpetrated with the sword of justice 203
Jean Calas
Not guilty by reason of insanity 204
Daniel M'Naghten
Gave Katherine warning to leave 206
The Dripping Killer
Lizzie Borden took an ax and gave her mother forty whacks 208
Lizzie Borden
Fingerprinting alone has proved to be both infallible and feasible 212
The Stratton Brothers
Thank God it's over. The suspense has been too great 216
Dr. Crippen
I was driven by a will that had taken the place of my own 217
Madame Caillaux
She was very good looking with beautiful dark hair 218
The Black Dahlia Murder
The artist was so well informed on chemicals… it was frightening 224
Sadamichi Hirasawa
I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts 226
The Texas Tower Massacre
Now is the time for Helter Skelter 230
The Manson Family
A dingo's got my baby! 238
The Death of Azaria Chamberlain
I was Mr. Nobody until I killed the biggest somebody on Earth 240
The Murder of John Lennon
Who has sent you against me? Who has told you to do this thing? 241
The Murder of Roberto Calvi
I was on death row, and I was innocent 242
Kirk Bloodsworth
An act of unparalleled evil 244
The Murder of James Bulger
I'm afraid this man will kill me some day 246
O. J. Simpson
Foul play while in the Spy Craft store 252
Craig Jacobsen
People are afraid and don't want to talk to us 254
The Murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls
Serial Killers
Murdering people… for sheer sport 262
Liu Pengli
The said Dame Alice had a certain demon 263
Alice Kyteler
The blood of maidens will keep her young 264
Elizabeth Báthory
I will send you another bit of innards 266
Jack the Ripper
They'd rather be dead than be with me 274
Harvey Glatman
I just like to kill 276
Ted Bundy
Calculated, cruel, cold-blooded murders 284
Ian Brady and Myra Hindley
More terrible than words can express 286
Fred and Rosemary West
This is the Zodiac speaking 288
The Zodiac Killer
In his own eyes, he was some sort of medical god 290
Harold Shipman
A mistake of nature 292
Andrei Chikatilo
I was sick or evil, or both 293
Jeffrey Dahmer
A danger to young women 294
Colin Pitchfork
Read your ad. Let's talk about the possibilities 298
John Edward Robinson
Assassinations and Political Plots
Insatiable and disgraceful lust for money 304
The Assassination of Pertinax
Murdering someone by craft 305
The Hashashin
Sic semper tyrannis! 306
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Dreyfus is innocent. I swear it! I stake my life on it-my honor! 310
The Dreyfus Affair
If they shed my blood, their hands will remain soiled 312
The Assassination of Rasputin
There has to be more to it 316
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
I kiss you for the last time 322
The Abduction of Aldo Moro
Barbarity was all around us 324
The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt
Barbaric and ruthless 326
The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko
Directory 332
Index 344
Quote Attributions 351
Acknowledgments 352
