Pure Narco by Jesse Fink; Luis Navia

$34.99 AUD

Category: true crime

It's a life story that reads like something out of a John Grisham or Elmore Leonard novel that it's remarkable it has remained untold for so long. Careers in the cocaine-trafficking business are usually short. It's not only a dangerous profession, fraught with the possibility of capture and long jail se ntences, but it can be deadly if the cartels get to you first. Not for Luis Antonio Navia. For 25 years the Cuban-American smuggled hundreds of tons of white powder for the biggest cartels in Colombia and Mexico, including Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel. In a profession populated by thugs, Navia's dress sense and good manners earned him the nickname 'El Senador' (The Senator). He refused to carry a weapon. What made him good at his job was amassing trusted contacts, losing very few shipments of coke, and keeping a low profile. He also maintained a normal family life with a Colombian wife and two young children. But he was never far removed from the most brutal violence imaginable. One friend got his head cut off. Another was hit over the head, put in a 55-gallon drum full of cement and dumped in a canal. Navia himself was kidnapped three times and went close to being fed alive to crocodiles. Somehow through it all he managed to survive and spent two decades fooling the DEA and other law-enforcement agencies. That was until he came under the radar of Robert Harley, a tenacious US Customs special agent in Key West, Florida, who was determined to bring him to justice. What followed was an international game of cat-and-mouse that culminated in Navia's 2000 arrest in Venezuela in one of the biggest antinarcotics takedowns of all time, the 12-nation Operation Journey. Spanning decades, continents and featuring a who's who of the drug trade, Pure Narco is a fast-paced adventure ride into the dark underworld of cocaine trafficking, written with the cooperation of a dozen law-enforcement agents from the world's top antinarcotics forces in the United States and Great Britain. It also contains insider insights into how the global drug business operates and offers some cogent solutions to the never-ending 'war on drugs'. Navia served his time in jail and is now free to tell his tale. His is the rare perspective of someone who has worked on both sides of that war- as a cocaine trafficker and US Government consultant. This book is a redemption story. Luis Navia, the pure narco, has gone full circle. ...Show more

Traitors and Spies by John Fahey

$34.99 AUD

Category: true crime

The history of Australia's intelligence operations in the early 20th century reveals the dark underside of Australian politics, including early infiltration by Russian agents, persecution of innocent civilians, and corruption, right up to the prime minister's office. Dozens of Russian anarchists, social ists and communists arrived in Australia from 1905, fleeing repression in their homeland. Finding work in the Queensland cane fields, Russian activists recruited in working men's groups for their revolutionary cause, laying the foundations for infiltration by Soviet intelligence services of the unions and Communist Party of Australia decades later. This is just one of the many fascinating stories former intelligence officer John Fahey has uncovered in the archives of Australia, MI5 and the CIA. He shows that Australia was under sustained attack from external threats as early as 1908, threats the country consistently failed to address effectively. He identifies the first German spy in Australia, as well as a group of highly respected Jewish businessmen in Melbourne who were Soviet agents, and an Australian woman who worked for Soviet military intelligence in the United States. Internal security work is dirty work, and never more so than when ruthless politicians and police use intelligence services for their own ends. Fahey has discovered that old boys' networks at the highest levels enabled security agencies to mislead judicial inquiries, spy on members of parliament and other bureaucrats, and persecute innocent citizens in the interwar years. Traitors and Spies tells the story of Australia's intelligence operations before ASIO was established, and reveals the dark side of Australian politics in the first half of the twentieth century. ...Show more

Mal Walden's Crazy Crims by Mal Walden

$24.99 AUD

Category: true crime

We are fascinated by true crime stories. Psychologists say one of the main reasons for our obsession is that it gives us an opportunity to feel relieved when we discover someone else is the victim! But while living in a world of rapid social, political, economic, and technological change, true crime ca n also provide us with comfort and reassurance when we discover 'good overcomes evil' and that 'crime really does NOT pay'. In this collection of Crazy Aussie Crims, some of whom Mal Walden has met personally, the reader is taken on a journey of discovery of some of Australia's most notorious, and bumbling, criminals.   ...Show more

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde by Mark Bowden

$29.99 AUD

Category: true crime

From Mark Bowden, a 'master of narrative journalism' (New York Times), comes a true crime collection both deeply chilling and impossible to put down.

Public Enemies: Ray Denning, Russell (Maddog) Cox an the Golden Age of Armed Robbery by Mark Dapin

$32.99 AUD

Category: true crime

The gripping and revealing inside story of Australia's most notorious armed robbers.

El Jefe: The Stalking of Chapo Guzman by Alan Feuer

$32.99 AUD

Category: true crime

"As portrayed in the hit Netflix series Narcos, Guzman was the most legendary and notorious of the deadly Mexican cartel leaders. As leader of the deadly Sinaloa drug cartel, he was one of the most dangerous men in the world. His nickname El Chapo translates as ‘shorty’, but there was no question about his power as El Jefe, ‘The Boss’. His fearless climb to power, his brutality, his charm, his taste for luxury, his penchant for disguise, his multiple dramatic prison escapes, his unlikely encounters with Sean Penn—all of these burnished the image of the world's most famous outlaw. It’s not surprising that his story inspired the writers of a top-rating drama. El Chapo’s Robin Hood-like appearances at rural Mexican restaurants to the unlikely role a twenty-four year old ‘IT guy’ played in his downfall – make for a surprising, cinematic story. He was finally captured by US and Mexican law enforcement in a daring operation years in the making. From El Chapo's humble origins to his conviction in a Brooklyn courthouse, this is the definitive story of his life by the New York Times criminal justice reporter Alan Feuer's whose gripping coverage of his trial went viral. There will be other ‘El Chapo’ narratives, but author Alan Feuer is in a unique position. Feuer’s mastery of the complex facts of the case, his unparalleled access to confidential sources in law enforcement in both the US and Mexico, and his powerful understanding of disturbing larger themes—what this one man's life says about drugs, walls, class and money —will ensure that this is the one book to read about ‘El Chapo’. " ...Show more

Anita Cobby: The Crime That Shocked the Nation by Alan Whiticker

$19.99 AUD

Category: true crime

The abduction, rape and murderof 26 year old nurse Anita Cobbyin the Western Sydney suburb ofBlacktown in February 1986 shockedhardened detectives, the widercommunity and ultimately the entirenation.That five young men from adjoiningsuburbs were responsible localthieves and hoods with nothing to fear or lose horrified theentirenation. Quickly captured, they were found guilty oftheir crimes and jailed for life, their papers marked never tobe released . ...Show more

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

$22.99 AUD

Category: true crime

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER   A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post - Maureen Corrigan, NPR - Paste - Seattle Times - Entertainment Weekly - Esquire - Slate - Buzzfeed - Jezebel - Philadelphia Inquirer - Publishers Weekly - Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal - Bustle - Mother Jones - Real Simple - Cri me Reads - Book Riot - Bookish - Amazon - Barnes and Noble -Hudson Booksellers New York Public Library - Chicago Public Library Winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for Nonfiction - SCIBA Book Award Winner - Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence The haunting true story of the elusive serial rapist turned murderer who terrorized California during the 70s and 80s, and of the gifted journalist who died tragically while investigating the case--which was solved in April 2018.   Introduction by Gillian Flynn - Afterword by Patton Oswalt "A brilliant genre-buster.... Propulsive, can't-stop-now reading." --Stephen King   For more than ten years, a mysterious and violent predator committed fifty sexual assaults in Northern California before moving south, where he perpetrated ten sadistic murders. Then he disappeared, eluding capture by multiple police forces and some of the best detectives in the area. Three decades later, Michelle McNamara, a true crime journalist who created the popular website TrueCrimeDiary.com, was determined to find the violent psychopath she called "the Golden State Killer." Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was. I'll Be Gone in the Dark--the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death--offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman's obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Utterly original and compelling, it has been hailed as a modern true crime classic--one which fulfilled Michelle's dream: helping unmask the Golden State Killer. ...Show more

Russian Affair: The True Story of the Couple who Uncovered the Greatest Sporting Scandal by David Walsh

$32.99 AUD

Category: true crime

It was the story that shocked the world: Russian athletics was revealed to be corrupt from top to bottom, with institutionalised doping used to help the nation's athletes win medals they did not truly deserve. There had always been suspicions, but now WADA had the clearest evidence of what had gone on. As a result, Russia was banned from international athletics until they could show that they were competing clean. With the Rio Olympics imminent, it was a shattering blow to the country's prestige. At the heart of it all, however, was a very personal story of a couple who had risked everything. Vitaliy Stepanov had been part of the Russian anti-doping squad, and during his work he had met and fallen in love with Yuliya, one of the country's most promising 800m athletes. But soon Vitaliy discovered that his bride was not all she seemed: she was taking performance-enhancing drugs. It could have been the end of their relationship, but instead they decided they would reveal the scale and the scope of the corruption in Russian athletics - the bribes, the drugs, the abuse. At enormous personal risk to their marriage and even their lives, they recorded and filmed athletes and officials involved in the scandal, and then escaped to Germany to pass on their devastating evidence. Now, with award-winning journalist David Walsh, the man who broke the Lance Armstrong story, they reveal the full truth of what went on in Russia, and the corrupt system that surrounded everything they did. But it is not only an unrivalled and comprehensive account of the biggest sporting scandal, it is a warm and human story of a couple fighting to tell the truth and to save their family at the same time. ...Show more

Reasonable Doubt by Xanthé Mallett

$32.99 AUD

Category: true crime

We all put our faith in the criminal justice system. We trust the professionals: the police, the lawyers, the judges, the expert witnesses. But what happens when the process lets us down and the wrong person ends up in jail? Henry Keogh spent almost twenty years locked away for a murder that never even happened. Khalid Baker was imprisoned for the death of a man his best friend has openly admitted to causing. And the exposure of 'Lawyer X' Nicola Gobbo's double-dealing could lead to some of Australia's most notorious convictions being overturned. Forensic scientist Xanthé Mallett is used to dealing with the darker side of humanity. Now she's turning her skills and insight to miscarriages of justice and cases of Australians who have been wrongfully convicted. Exposing false confessions, polices biases, misplaced evidence and dodgy science, Reasonable Doubt is an expert's account of the murky underbelly of our justice system - and the way it affects us all. ...Show more

The Killing Chronicle - Police Service and Shattered Lives by Alan Leek

$29.99 AUD

Category: true crime

The Hollywood Kid by JUAN. MARTINEZ MARTINEZ (OSCAR.)

$29.99 AUD

Category: true crime

As a boy, Miguel ngel Tobar fled a small town in El Salvador torn apart by warring guerrillas and US-backed death squads. As a teen in Los Angeles, he fought discrimination and beatings by joining a gang, MS-13. By the time the US deported him to San Salvador, the Hollywood Kid joined a wave of US-bred gangsters, whose violence in concert with corrupt offiicals have in turn helped propel new waves of refugees. The incomparable Salvadoran journalist oscar Martinez got to know the Hollywood Kid and met with him as he first turned on MS-13, killing gang members, and then in turn was assassinated by other gang members. In intensely vivid scenes, Mart inez and his anthropologist brother Juan tell the story of a violent life and death and of the geopolitical forces that propelled a country into becoming one of the most violent on earth. ...Show more