January 2005 Calendar of Books on True Crime and Justice

Witness: For the Prosecution of Scott Peterson -- An unmarried mother, Amber had been through some unhappy relationships, and she longed for a true and loving partner. In November 2002, she went on a blind date with Scott Peterson. Before long, he began to speak of the future the three of them were destined to share. On December 9, he broke down in tears and told her that he had been married, but had "lost" his wife. S he contacted the Modesto Police Department, in northern California, and offered to help. She began secretly taping her conversations. Those conversations became the basis for the prosecution's case against Scott Peterson for the murder of his wife and unborn child.

Terrify No More --In a small village outside of Phnom Pehn, little children as young as five years old were forced to live as sex slaves. Day after day their hope was slipping away. Tireless workers from International Justice Mission (IJM) infiltrated the ring of brothels and gathered evidence to free the children. Headed up by former war-crimes investigator Gary Haugen, IJM faced impossible odds-police corruption, death threats, and mission-thwarting tip-offs. But they used their expert legal finesse and high-tech investigative techniques to save the lives of 37 young girls and secured the arrest and conviction of several perpetrators. Terrify No More focuses on this dramatic rescue story, and uses flashbacks to tell those of many other victims who were given a second chance at life by this amazing organization.

Faces Of Evil -- Every day, Lois Gibson is able to put power, control and a sense of justice back into the hands of victims of violent crime, heinous rapes, kidnappings and murders. Gibson, herself the victim of a violent rape, uses her skills to coax from the memories of victims the most intimate details possible and, with the stroke of a pencil, reconstructs the faces of their tormentors. These eerily accurate portraits have been directly responsible for the capture of over 700 vicious criminals for which her skills are noted in the Guinness Book of Records. Faces of Evil is Gibson's riveting story of how she became the world's most successful forensic artist, interwoven with her thirteen most suspense-filled cases. Gisbon takes you with her inside the gritty atmosphere of forensics, putting you behind the scenes of terrifying enigma after enigma and into the victims' mind set as they seek vindication. Follow the nine-year-old girl who sees and helps catch her mother's killer, the pregnant blind woman who identifies and aids in the capture of her rapist and the hero cop whose deathbed description leads police to his killer. This is a fascinating true crime book like no other, mixing chilling crime scenes with the inspiring story of one woman's passion for justice. Lois Gibson is a twenty-two-year veteran forensic artist with the Houston, Texas police department and affiliated with the FBI and U.S. Marshall's Service.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia, Second Edition -- by Jerry Capeci -- Here is the most comprehensive introduction to the most infamous crime organization in history. Completely updated with more than 70 pages of new material and photographs, it includes information about the shifts in power and tightening of ranks of different families after convictions of their key members; new inside information on the role of the families in Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, Rochester, and even Montreal; and updates on the DeCavalcante family who bragged they were the real Sopranos on FBI wiretaps.

Jihad In Brooklyn: The NYPD Raid That Stopped America's First Suicide Bombers -- New York has always been a mecca for immigrants, including an Egyptian dishwasher living in a cramped Brooklyn apartment he shared with three other Middle-Eastern men. But on July 31, 1997, the last place he wanted to be was home, where two of his roommates-young, angry Palestinians-were proudly showing off the bomb belts they planned to detonate on a packed rush-hour subway train. Barely able to stifle his panic, the Egyptian told two policemen his story. Within minutes, they were in a Brooklyn precinct house, and the NYPD's famous Emergency Services Unit was on their way. The brave men of the NYPD ESU staged a daring 5 AM raid on the sweltering, filthy tenement apartment, stopping the terrorists- who literally had their fingers on the switches of the bombs. Hundreds-perhaps thousands-of lives were saved. This is their frightening, true story.

Serpico -- by Peter Maas-- It is the late sixties, a time of intense social and generational upheaval. Into this maelstrom came a man who broke the mold. A working class, Brooklyn-born, Italian cop with long hair, a beard, and a taste for operaand ballet. Most of all, Frank Serpico was a man who couldn't be silenced -- or bought. For years a culture of corruption had pervaded the New York City Police Department. Police payoffs, protection, and shakedowns of gambling rackets and drug dealers were common practice. The so-called bluecode of silence protected the minority of crooked cops from the sanction of the majority.

No Backup: My Life as a Female FBI Special Agent -- by Rosemary Dew, Pat Pape --- In thirteen years as special agent for the FBI, Rosemary Dew worked undercover against criminals, spies, and terrorists, earning eight commendations for her service. Despite her achievements she remained the subject of severe discrimination and sexual harassment that the bureau seemed to condone rather than condemn. Dew argues that this climate of corruption and duplicity not only taints the experience of the FBI's few female agents but also leads directly to some of the bureau's most harmful failures, such as the intelligence breakdown that allowed spy Robert Hanssen to operate undetected for more than two decades.