5 comments about The Night Stalker (Pinnacle True Crime).

1. The detail with which Carlo writes of the murders is impressive, although the calibur of his writing could be better. I found it difficult to put the book down up until the apprehension of Ramirez, which takes place at maybe pg. 300 or so. Thereafter, the narrative becomes somewhat bogged down with superfluous details, such as meticulous but frankly boring recitation of courtroom antics and other minutiae that ultimately has no bearing on the outcome of the case or the story in general. Admittedly, it's tough to achieve the same level of excitement in the second act for obvious reasons; however, if you pick up a copy of Bugliosi's "Helter Skelter" you'll find that it's not quite an impossible feat.



2. Philip Carlo certainly did his homework when researching the crimes of Richard Ramirez. After reading his unbiased account of what happened, I am now much more critical when selecting a true-crime novel. He tells the story just as it happened and lets you form your own opinions about Ramirez, good or bad. I disagree with the reviews that criticize Carlo for not giving his own opinion of Richard Ramirez; it was not his purpose for this book. I also disagree with the reviews on this website that criticize Carlo's account of the trial; I found it fascinating, well-written, informative, and full of detail. If you are only a voyeur of blood-lust, put the book down when the courtroom drama begins. He systematically divides the book into sections of time and place, allowing the reader to look at Ramirez's crimes from all points of view of all persons involved. He is what every journalist should strive to be: unbiased and only reports the facts. As a pre-criminology major, I found this book very insightful.



3. Philip Carlo has written a very exhaustive book about the Night Stalker. It's hard to imagine a more complete book on the serial killer.
   
   The first portion of the book dealt with the horrible crimes of the Night Stalker.
   Following that was a section dealing with Richard Ramirez from birth all the way to his arrival in L.A. from El Paso. His temporal lobe epilepsy of childhood and the influence his cousin Miguel had on Ramirez when he was a pre-teen.
   The next section of the book was about his attempts to avoid arrest and his eventual apprehension by citizens.
   The last part gave a detailed summary of Ramirez's trial.
   
   What made the Night Stalker so dangerous was that he was a different breed of serial killer, he didn't victimize a certain type of person. He really didn't stalk his victims, he chose his targets at random from an ever-expanding area.
   
   Philip Carlo effectively connected the combinations of influences that fueled Ramirez's criminal drive;sex,drugs,pornography,heavy metal music,and satanism.
   He was a dedicated satanist reading books authored by Anton LaVey and even meeting him once.
   
   The strange,surreal actions by the Night Stalker "groupies" and Ramirez himself are reminiscent of the Charles Manson trial from "Helter Skelter".
   
   If you want to learn why the Night Stalker was arguably the most feared killer this is the book to read!



4. I've read some complaints here about the fact that this book is too long because the author covers the trial of Richard Ramirez at great length in the second half of this novel. (The first half covers the crimes and the Night Stalker's childhood.) I'll have to disagree with those reviews. Author Philip Carlo is clearly well-researched. He provides a lot of input here not only into the crimes, victims, and the killer. We get to know the key players of this harrowing story of one of the most dangerous and scariest serial killers of the annals of crime. I highly recommend this gripping book. You'll find it hard to put down and even harder to forget.



5. As I am concerned about justice in America, especially in regard to homicide and serial killers, I found Philip Carlo's book completely fascinating in its depth and broad perspective. There were no cardboard
   characters in this book; there were only real, human, feeling, people; people who prayed and cried and despaired. Obviously Carlo researched
   this story thoroughly. What drama! We hear on TV, or read in the newspapers, that the victim was taken to the hospital and is expected to
   survive. But that's not where it ends. Victim Virginia Petersen tells
   what happens afterward in her statement when she was given a chance to speak after the sentencing. If you're the type who cries, you weep as
   you learn of her family's agonies and the devastation and shambles
   and fragmented pieces left of their lives after the attack. Then again,
   some object to giving a killer's family any sympathy. But when Carlo
   told of the family's deep grief, especially of his mother's and father's
   despair over his terrible murders, I felt, these, too, were victims.
   This is a book that helps men and women understand the serial killer
   and perhaps edge toward learning how to better handle such horrors when they arise.

5 comments about Whatever Mother Says...: A True Story of a Mother, Madness and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library).

1. It's not the most well written book but the story line keeps you involved. This woman, Theresa Jimmie Cross Knorr is vain and jealous of her daughters who she victimizes and evenually kills 2 of them. Just when she thinks she got away with murder, her youngest daughter finally manages to bring her to justice. This is a well known case, so if this was a spoiler for you, where have you been? What is laughable to me is how Theresa views herself as some beauty.. the pictures of her, even in her hay day she's an unattractive woman. This book is worth reading, however I wish a more adept writer had taken on this project.



2. Poorly written, which is odd since a reporter wrote the book, but a fascinating story. Sometimes, the writing was stilted, or repetitious, and even contradictory. In one of the earlier chapters, it is said Theresa was introduced to Satanism. Later on she constantly uses Bible quotes, Xty, as an excuse to abuse, as she fears her daughters are Satanic/possessed. Umm , what happened to her own interest in Satanism? Did it change? Or was it a throw away line?
   
   Throughout the book , the author references her weight as some sort of external sign of her loathsomeness. She 'waddled' to the door, the chair creaked under her frame, etc. Very offensive. Fat=abusive. Weight= brutality.
   
   Her control is so complete, the children are portrayed as never leaving the house, so it comes as a shock when in the next chapter the kids are always spending time at other people's houses or regularly fleeing the house to spend time with oddball friends. Or her control being so extensive allegedly because she feared the girls' promiscuity, but the d. Shiela working as a hooker and turning over all her money.
   
   The last two chapter are throw away chapters meander on possible reasons given by 'mind experts' (??) for her actions. He goes with 'sick' ' contagious' traumatized from a childhood experience'. No real investigation into her childhood, aside from the tales she told of herself. And the beginning of the book we meet her as an adult. What did she do for a living (we're told toward the end- worked as an orderly at convalescent homes)? Yet earlier, we're told she's a former nurse when treating her daughter after shooting her. but later she never uses that degree and it seems the author could've found out whether or not she really was a nurse, just said so, why she didn't work as one, etc.
   
   That said, the disjointed accounts of abuse are horrifying.
   
   There is no resolution in the end. It was written before the trial apparantly but mom got 50 to life, William who made good, got 5 yrs probabtion and Robert(?) got 3 yrs.



3. This book is written like a newspaper article. It has all the details but not really in a 'story' form. It's hard to follow but extremely interesting.



4. very disturbing book. I hope this woman died in jail. Should have had the death penalty



5. I read a lot of true crime, and like many others I was shocked and sickened by murderers Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo, the torture and murder finally by burning of Shanda Sharer and Jesse Cummings and his wicked exploits.
   
   Parts of this were even harder for me to read. Poor Suesan's account is horrific enough, but the account of Sheila's final moments is something that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I read it. You just don't treat people like this! Ever! Especially your own flesh and blood.
   
   Extremely disturbing, pretty well written although a little short and it could have had a more detail. Either way, it keeps you riveted to the last page.
   
   I was annoyed when I did some research and found out they didn't give this revolting hag the death penalty because she agreed to plead guilty ironically to avoid it. But I took a closer look and my anger sort of went away. She'll have to turn 80 years old before she's even eligible for parole and ten bucks tells me that she won't make it that long. The guards should lock her up and the dark and forget to feed her. Then she can see how it feels.
   
   Rot in Hell, you nasty old hag. As a post note, I watched a video on her and she was labeled level 22 (torture murderer) on the scale of evil, which is the highest the scale goes up to.

3 comments about Evil Summer: Babe Leopold, Dickie Loeb, and the Kidnap-Murder of Bobby Franks (Elmer H Johnson & Carol Holmes Johnson Series in Criminology).

1. What would make two wealthy, seemingly well-raised teenagers gleefully kidnap and murder another neighborhood boy? Each generation has asked this question during the eighty-three years since this event became the "crime of the century," and John Theodore has, to the extent possible, provided an answer in Evil Summer. Theodore begins with his own childhood recollection of becoming aware of the murder, then recreates the 1920s and the atmosphere of wealthy Hyde Park, Chicago, always depicting the humanness of the parents of both victim and perpetrators. The story is interesting throughout; I especially enjoyed the informative and eerie epilogue.



2. I have been aware of this heinous crime for several decades, but have never read a book about its specifics. Therefore, I am assuming this book is correct in its facts. It is certainly an interesting read. Two teen-agers, Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, decide they are intellectually superior to anyone else, and decide to test their theory by murdering a child at random. By the grace of God they lost track of the first boy they spotted coming home from school, and finally settled on 14 year old Bobby Franks. One of the two murderers was playing tennis with him the day before, not knowing that Bobby would be the victim. Clarence Darrow defended Leopold and Loeb by introducing "three wise men from the east" to cast doubt on the sanity of the defendants. Besides the victim you really have to feel for the parents of Bobby Franks. His mother remained in denial repeating that "Bobby will be home soon." Several photographs are included to supplement the text. This despicable crime took place in Chicago in 1924 during the Capone and O'Banion beer wars, and it reminds me of a similar twosome, Robert Tulloch and James Parker, of Chelsea, Vermont, who murdered two Dartmouth professors in 2001 in a thrill killing. Both partners in crime most likely wouldn't have committed the crime without the support of the other, and both believed their intellectual superiority would prevent them from being arrested. Both are very tragic stories. Considering I don't have any other book on Leopold and Loeb to compare it to I would highly recommend this book.



3. As a young girl growing up in Chicago I remember watching Nathan Leopold on television when he was released from Statesville prison. I asked my Mother who he was and she told me he and another young man had killed a boy name Booby Frank. I became interested in the Crime of the Century and read the books Compulsion as well as Life plus 99 years and the Crime of the Century and now add this book to my collection. You can feel Chicago in 1924 and the hysteria that was to be the trial of two young men who held such promise that summer. The question why still haunts after all these years as does the human toll on the boys families..the Franks, The Leopolds and the Loebs. Babe on his way to Europe and the pride of his family with his intellect and potential for greatness. Dickie..handsome, charming, loved by all who meet him collide with Babe to do the unthinkable for what seemed to be just a thrill. Together they could do what as individuals they could not kidnap and kill a superior crime or so they thought. Darlings of the media who sought their every words and then gleefully waited for the hangman to put his noose around their necks. Enter Clarence Darrow the Old lion who surprises by pleading his clients guilty avoiding a jury trial and pleads for his young clients lives instead. The book covers the crime, the trial and the aftermath.. Babe and Dickie slowly adjusted to prison life and found redemption in the library and taught at the prison. Dickie killed in prison by James Day who was upset that his prison bank account could no longer be funded by the Loebs. Babe would continue the work they started until his parole many years later. Nathan Leopold is often used right or wrongly as an example that a prisoner no matter how heinous the crime can be rehabilitated. The sadness of all this is the greatness both Babe and Dickie might have given the world if not for a seemingly innocent ride in a roadster.

5 comments about Almost Home: My Life Story Vol 1.

1. This is a MUST read. Damien Echol's life story is extremely moving...it made me cry to think about the injustice he has faced. He does not belong in prison because he is innocent!!!! I think if you read his story, you will come to the same conclusion.



2. This is a book you just can't put down once you start reading it. Even if you've seen the documentaries on the West Memphis Three and read the Everitt book, this autobiography adds so much more in revealing Damien's life up to (and including) his imprisonment, and just how strong a character he has to have survived everything that has been thrown at him to date. Damien's story made me even more angry and frustrated at how he has been treated than I was after seeing the docos and reading Everitt's book, but also made me simply awestruck at how he has come through everything without losing his sanity. He writes in a very flowing/easy to read style, and does not seem to hold back on revealing personal details or feelings along the way. Definitely recommended to anyone, even if you've never heard of the "West Memphis Three" case.



3. A thin book, no surprise from someone who has spent most of his life on death row. Damien Echols is an articulate, intelligent, and an ordinary young man. We are a poorer society because of the circumstances of this book. If we tolerate this then our children could be next. Read it and weep. Please, will the society I believe I live in let you walk free.



4. I am a firm believer of the West Memphis Threes' innocence from the beginning. I believe Damien and his friends were targeted because they were the "different" kids in town. I hope to hear that they are freed from prison someday and can go on with their lives. They have missed out on too much already! May the DNA evidence prove their innocence!



5. What Margaret Cho has to do with this situation, I will never know. She wrote the introduction. I thought at first that this was intended to be some kind of comic writing. Instead, it's the autobiography of Damien Echols, a young man in a small town in Arkansas currently on death row (along with his friend Jason and other friend Jessie serving a life sentance) for murdering three small boys. Cho's hook along with her comedy has always been to defend those who are different or odd, those who feel less alone. I can admire that, but I am just amazed that she would preach the word for this man, who she admits she doesn't know and who she said committed the murder. That aside, this was an excellent look inside the monster, the beast, the horror, the evil that is Damien.
   
   Damien grew up poor white trash in Arkansas, having little advantages, little money, little hope for the future. He turned into a heavy metal poser, wearing all black and getting into magic because it was the cool thing to do for all of those who consider themselves outsiders. Like a lot of kids, we all dabble in the dark arts. It annoys people, makes our parents angry, gives us attention. Most of it is just a show. Not for Damien. In his mind, he was Satan's vessel. He became the subject of a witchhunt after the children were killed because he was different. Granted, he was visably different. But enough witnesses have come forward saying that he did and said things that an innocent person would not. Satan made him do it? No, Damien made Damien do it. Look at that face on the cover of the book. That's not an innocent, sensative, vulnerable child's face. That is the face of a killer, a killer who knows how cute he looks and how he can fool us.
   
   And, Damien became a father while behind bars. He has gotten to physically hold his baby son, he could not be there for his birth, nor will he see him grown up. Instead he has been changed by fatherhood. While he cannot be with his child, experiencing the miracle of life rather than the pain of death he wanted to inflict on not just these three boys but others around him. He is up there with Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein, and all the other truly twisted people who have murdered. I'll bet some of their friends and family said "He was different". Different doesn't make someone a murderer. Evil makes one a murderer.

5 comments about A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder And Its Aftermath.

1. Although this is a true crime book and heartbreaking, it is also a heartwarming story. The love and concern Ms. Cummins had for her brother and cousins radiated from the pages as she told the story of the death of her cousins and near death of her brother. I was so moved by the story that I sent Ms. Cummins an email to let her know how she touched me and that I wished her a great future as an author. I was so surprised a few months later to receive an answer back, thanking me for my email. What a class act and her family should be so proud. May her cousins rest in peace and her brother have a wonderful life.



2. I went to high school with Robin and Julie. I can't drive over the Mississippi River without thinking about them. The newspaper articles, and TV interviews in St Louis were mainly focused on Tom's (the cousin) guilt, and these "mystery 4 men". I was glad to hear a book had been written from "their" point of view. When I say "their" I mean Robin and Julie. Robin and Julie are gone, and no longer have a voice for themselves, so Jeanine did the best she could to capture this horrible moment in time, and the aftermath it caused.
   
   I feel that as much hatred that she COULD have to the four men that murdered her cousins, and let her brother be blamed for the crimes, Jeanine was fair, and kind to the men. She did not make excuses for their actions, but she did explain how a fun night out, a decision to rob, could turn so dangerous and deadly in minutes.



3. I have little to add to the other reviewers here. But as one who has written about victims myself, I believe this is the best account I've ever read of the devastation criminals leave in their wake.
   
   Read this not merely to learn about a heinous crime or evil men. Read it to meet two wonderful young women, or maybe three -- Julie and Robin, the victims, and Jeanine Cummins, the author.



4. I had this book on my book shelf for a while and hesitated to read it because I knew that it would be painful and depressing. This is the first book that I have read regarding true crime where you really feel to the core the effects and aftermath on the living. This book is excellent, well written, and one of the few books you read that will stay with you and effect how you process stories that you read and watch in the future. After reading this, you truly comprehend the pain and lasting effects that violence has on everyone left behind.



5. As one reviewer has noted, this is not a typical addition to the true crime genre. It shares much in common with Strange Piece of Paradise in that both are attempts by a victim/family member to depict the aftermath of a crime. Where Terri Jentz had to confront years of not knowing who her attacker was, Jeanine Cummins and family had to face having a beloved family member being accused of killing two other beloved family members.
   
   It's hard to review a book such as this without a certain amount of sympathy entering into one's judgment. It is for me, at least. This is not the best written non-fiction book you'll ever read, nor is the prose in it the most fluid. It is also, because of Cummins' decision to tell this in the third-person, the most emotionally wrought. But it is better written than most first person accounts I've read. Cummins takes considerable pains to bring Julie and Robin Kerry to life, to make the reader feel the loss Cummins and her family felt. The horror of their deaths (and the nature of their deaths) is compounded when Cummins' brother is accused of their murders.
   
   This is the story of the death of innocence, both literal and figurative. By the time the murders are caught, turn on each other and three are sentenced to death there little sense of justice for the family. Two girls have been gang-raped and murdered, one of the bodies has never been found. The survivor of the attacks has been first branded the likely suspect by the press then must relive the events over and over, in the trials and the subsequent parole hearings. As if this isn't enough agony, they must endure having the convicted murderers still claim their innocence and blame one of the victims. The question of Why? remains unanswered by the perpetrators and possibly unanswerable.

4 comments about Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia.

1. If you wish to know something in a sober way about what Michael 'the Pope' Greco and Joe "Bananas" Bonnano were up to, how the mafia and the Christian Democrats in Italy greased each others wheels for decades, who almost destroyed the mafia (the fascists) and of course which type of Alfa Romero was the mafiosi car bomb of choice in the 1960s - almost always an Alfa Romero Giulietta - then this is the book for you. One distraction: while much of the book is clearly based on the oral testimony of Tommaso Buscetta, a pentiti or mafia defector near the end of his days, the author repeatedly reminds us that his testimony is not entirely reliable, an annoying and patronising ) sleight of hand.



2. The praise given by critics and reviewers when this book was first published in 2004 are easily understood and justified when reading it in paperback format. While many earlier books have largely relied on a review of recent Sicilian history and events post WWII (Norman Lewis, Claire Sterling) or focussing on a very specific area (such as Alex Stille's "Excellent Cadavers" on the story of investigating magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino), this is the first real recent effort I know of in English to write a full history of the Sicilian Mafia under its correct name of Cosa Nostra.
   
   This is faciltated by the recent outpouring of Italian writings based on the vast amount of new information and evidence now available and which Dickie fully acknowledges in his book. In addition Dickie has also researched a number of historical sources and reports which have been largely ignored by previous English language writers.
   
   What really places this book above the rest is:
   
   Dickie has proven much better at covering the 19th century foundation of Cosa Nostra (and its earlier roots in Sicilian society) and then tracking this organisation's development of being a very tightly controlled killing machine exterminating any competition through the 20th century to date - the fact that nearly half of the book is devoted to the period before the end of WWII reflects this approach.
   
   He has avoided the trap of spending too much time on the US Mafia with its more public image and history, instead only referring to it as it actually impacts and helps our understanding of the Sicilian society's history.
   
   Finally he has done a much fuller job than many prior books in tracking the Cosa Nostra linkage through Sicilian politics with Italian political history since Italian unification in late 19th century and especially since WWII, with the rise of Christian Democrats party who dominated Italian politics, especially under Andreotti. He makes a very strong case that without such political links and Rome's constant vacillation, Cosa Nostra would never have become as endemic and protected from the forces of law and order.
   
   One ends the book feeling that the whole tragedy while not at an end is certainly moving into a model seen in many other countries, where criminal or terrorist elements have realised their best chances of survival are lower profile protection and corruption activities plus control of drugs, kidnapping and prostitution rather than seeking to always be in the public eye. This development as the book explains was almost wholly down to an almost public civil war started and executed by Leggio and Rinna with numerous public killings between 1970 and 1982. The murdering of a number of high profile police and anti-Mafia lawyers and politicians, ultimately created the environment where Falcone and Borsellino were able to achieve the maxi-trials in 1986 which used pentiti (defectors) such as Tomasso Buscetta. This led to many (but not all) leading Cosa Nostra old style heads being jailed for long terms under better enforced new Italian laws and those persons failing to date to obtain their freedom by political corruption in Rome, even after the murders by Cosa Nostra of Falcone and Borsellino.
   
   The book is likely to be the classic text of the area for some time given all these strengths and with the organisation becoming more circumspect.



3. CN is well-written and starts out being very interesting: the early chapters discuss the origins and traditions of the Mafia. As the book progresses, however, it starts to drag. I think I skimmed the last 40 pages or so because I had gotten bored.
   
   I can't really blame the author; it must be very hard (or impossible) to get enough information on a secret society to write a coherent history. CN is mostly a patchwork of accounts of individual criminals and specific crimes. It's decent work but not really what one thinks of when one is bying a "history" of something.



4. The author has written a compelling, well researched and substantial account of the history of the Sicilian Mafia. The bibliography is very impressive as Mr. Dickie has read widely and deeply to produce this book with careful attention to details of persons and events.
   
   He argues that the Sicilian Mafia did not originate centuries ago as an Honored Society but contends that its genesis was a criminal organization during the troubled period of 1860 to 1876. Sicily during this period became part of the nation of Italy after decades of rule from Naples as part of the Bourbon Kingdom. During these chaotic years the organization that we know today as the Mafia took shape, organized and began to proper. However its genesis was a complex affair and the author is able to unravel the puzzle and produce a very readable and fascinating account from its beginnings to the present day.
   
   One of the most fascinating figures to emerge from the book was the very competent and efficient Ermanno Sangiorgi who was Chief of Police of Palermo at the turn of the 20th century. He conducted criminal investigations made raids and arrests and was able to lay the ground for prosecution of Mafia figures. He produced a very comprehensive report on the Sicilian Mafia with details of criminal family structures, individual profiles, Mafia initiation rituals, codes of behavior as well as it business methods and operations. Despite his best efforts the Mafia survived his attempt to shut it down, however with more support from the government and certain officials he would certainly have seriously weakened it but probably not shut it down. Sadly all the good work Sangiorgi did was filed away and forgotten about and a valuable chance to seriously weaken the Mafia was lost.
   
   The author is able to peel away the layers of myth and mist that surround the history of the Sicilian Mafia and reveal an organization that is very adaptable and sophisticated. There is much information about it workings in the affairs of government and private industry as well as its international relationships

No comments about The Last Undercover: The True Story of an FBI Agent's Dangerous Dance with Evil.

5 comments about Behind Bars: Surviving Prison.

1. Prison is a mean ugly horrible place. The rules are all subjective until someone wants them to be otherwise. Prison is about politics not justice in America. Prison is about so much more than just what what happens in the court room.
   
   There is NO book that can teach you to survive in prision because, life in prison is never a static picture. Prison life is just that LIFE. The minute you take an physical or intellectual snapshot of a living thing it changes in the next instant. The whole deal about surviving in prison is being able to adapt to change. Prison is an environment whose constantly changing factors are designed to keep newbie's and punks off guard. Prisons are run by the convicts with the help of the officers in ways designed to maintain many differing constantly shifting balances of power.
   
   In prison Alliances needs passions angers and the power that goes with them are in constant play shifting ebbing and flowing to meet the needs of the moment. Survival in prison is all about making sure you know what the next game is BEFORE IT IS PLAYED by the officers or inmates. Each prison has its own heartbeat, culture and niches' that no one book could ever prepare you for. Simplistic answers to complex problems like to avoid rape fight for all you are worth in prison is stupid. Yes fighting will delay a rape but fighting alone is just posponing a rape in prison.
   
   Surviving in prison is about fighting but also includes using your cunning to situate yourself in ways that give others reason not to see you hurt. Sometimes surviving prison is about being more brutal, cold hearted or creul than others. Smart people with skills can sometimes survive because, if you can write great legal breifs or have other other legal skills valued in prison you can work it to your advantage so you have protectors.
   
   Develop non-sexual skills that help those with power in prison so they help you in return. Help strong respected inmates who have nothing but personal protection to offer you in return write, draw, learn to read or achieve some other life goal they want for themselves. I guess what I am saying is their is no one cut and dry way of surviving prison. What you must do to survive prison is learn to see opportunities that allow you to survive without being turned out before anyone else sees and takes advantage of them.
   
   Funny as it seems there are some inmates who are tired of the stupidity of prison and they would protect from all harm someone who is teaching them. Prison is about learning how to see and exploit every opportunity to survive you can identify before it is detected by your fellow inmates or destroyed by prison staff \ administration. No book can teach you how to survive prison because surviving prison part instinct, part psychology, part bluff, part bare handed fight and part a sadistic will to do whatever it takes to survive. A book that hopes to teach you how to survive prison is obsolete the minute the words are written because, prison life changes in real time.
   
   In prison you can get your head kicked in for just being unimaginative with your game because, if your game is lame it is considered a disrespectful insult to those you are trying to run it on and that can lead to a brutal fight. Read the book for fun and background but don't expect any book to prepare you for survival in prison because no matter how good a book is, prison life is so much more hellish and real than even the best intentioned man's words can convey.
   
   Surviving prison has to be done in a way that conveys your own style because trying to follow a books advice on surviving prison is like thinking living in prison is a recipe you can copy. Surviving in prison is no recipe it must become part of who you are on the deepest levels of your psyche and soul because it it is not you will be beat down for being fake, not real. See if you think a book will prepare you for prison life you will be up hells creek without a paddle when that book runs out of ideas. This book will not have the right solution for every issue you will face in prison life. The book can not supply dynamic solutions and problems in prison are the most dynamic you will ever face because, change from moment to moment is how convicts and officers keep you off guard and ready to be used and exploited. Real inmates don't need no book to survive prison and that will be your down fall that will tell on you.
   
   Use the book to get in touch with the person you are on the level of the most real and prepare that person for prison situations you see in this book. First rule of survival in prison is keep it real, if you can really fight fight, if you can really con then con, if you can exploit then do it but be true to your skills. There is no such thing as fair in prison anything that allows you to survive another minute in prison is as an intact man is always fair. Your job in prison is to survive by fighting to be and stay real without BS about your life and your dealings with others. See everything and say nothing. Never snicth and sometimes to avoid more beatings by knowing when to take a beating prison is filled with complicated decisions that no single book can ever deal with fully. Thats the problem with this book it answers questions but not in the detailed ways that take into considerations all the complexities of prison life.
   
   You are a fool if you think prison inmates are not smart. Convicts are some of the smartest people alive they are in prison because they chose to employ their vast skills to antisocial tasks. No one single book will ever explain the complex nature of surviving prison life so read the book for insight but don't go inside thinking you KNOW prison life because this book could make you just smart enough to make dumb mistakes prison might not decide to forgive.



2. KK REVIEWER' Guidebook to a Distant Country
   Yes, you are a good person. But a relative or friend may not be so law-abiding. And stuff happens. Here is what to do if you are ever arrested (mostly what not to do) and what you can expect if put behind bars. Written by two professors of criminology one was a former correctional officer, and the other served eleven years in federal custody, including maximum security. They know what they are talking about, and they dispense their straight dope with surprising clarity and uncommon elegance and wit. (One chapter is called 'You've Got Jail!'). They've written a guidebook to a distant country and its alien customs and ways may you never arrive there. You get street-smarts from inmates and wise counsel from the Man. I rank my books by how dog-eared they are this one had nearly every page marked and underlined. This is one of the books you want to read before you need it.



3. There is some good advice in this book, but it is really only for men who face incarceration. There is a scant chapter devoted to women, which in my experience offers little useful info.
   
   Of course, if one is facing incarceration, any good advice is very slightly comforting.



4. My sister is in a county prison, so I sent her this book. She said she loved it ... even found some things to laugh about ... and passed the book amongst all her acquaintances there.



5. My daughter was the victim of a stalker, who will soon be facing years in prison. Unlike a lot of the people who read this book, I purchased it because I wanted to read what a terrible place prison is so that I can feel that he is truly being punished. While this book did answer many questions that we had about the arrest procedure, bail, etc. I would have liked more in-depth information about day to day prison life. The book just gives a brief summary about most topics, and doesn't go into detail at all.

5 comments about The Mexican Mafia.

1. I was expecting more. The writing is poor. It is more like an investigative report aimed at the law enforcement community. For a lay person, it is so crammed with names and details, it is hard to read. I ended up skimming after the first half of the book. Also, the author is clearly pushing some of his own bias against immigration. Basically, I find the book irritating, even though I am very interested in the topic.



2. I bought this book before boarding a long flight. The topic interested me and I thought it would give me a good insight into the Mexican Mafia. I was wrong.
   I started reading and very soon realized is was confusing, extremely detailed with uninteresting facts and poorly written. The story revolved more around 1 La Eme crew, their trial, the DA and the investigative detectives. It really failed to provide detailed information or analysis of the origins, rise and present strength or organization of la Eme / Mexican Mafia. The author spends more time describing the life of Manzella the DA than he does key players of the mob.
   Finally I skimmed through great parts of the book to arrive at the end knowing the same I already knew before reading it.



3. Well researched,deals mainly with small crew on trial for homicide.Detailed account of their exploits,fair amount of history coverd. One of the better books on la Eme.



4. A well researched and investigated book. If you want to learn about the Mexican Mafia then read this book. Although it is a little too cop/prosecutor orientated it is still good- you just have to skip the cop parts to get to the good gangster stuff. But not a bad read by any means. I would like to see something from Tony Rapheal with more gangster profiles. I know he has it in him. Check out his blog, In the hat.



5. This book was GARBAGE. I thought it was going to be like Machine Gun Mundos' book (Mexican Mafia), but, was not! Very disappointing.
   This guy is obsessed with The Avenues targeting Blacks.
   Well, Sr. Rafael: Get your facts straight! Why didn't you write anything about blacks targeting Mexicans? This has been going on for years, and I don't see the Media/books saying anything about this.
   And what the hell does this have to with IMMIGRATION? Jesus Christ, no wonder there is a green light on this guy (good).

No comments about The Spy's Bedside Book.