In this gritty exposé, a firsthand look inside U.S. undercover operations targeting the immigrant smuggling, counterfeiting, and drug rings of Mexico’s dangerous mafia.Living under an assumed identity and risking his life were all in a day’s work for U.S. Government Agent Hipolito Acosta. He worked regularly in high-stakes undercover operations infiltrating Mexico’s murderous immigrant smuggling rings and drug cartels. Acosta’s investigations are legendary, both inside law enforcement and the crime cartels he helped neutralize. He had himself smuggled from Mexico to Chicago with a truckload of poor immigrants; worked his way into the confidences of a gang of international counterfeiters; socialized with some of Mexico’s most vicious drug lords; arrested a female smuggler by luring her across the U.S. border for an amorous rendezvous; and was the target of multiple murder plots by the criminals he put in jail. For three decades, Hipolito Acosta’s work routinely made national headlines, and he quickly gained a reputation as a daring crime fighter who used his intelligence and audacity to stay one step ahead of those who would kill him if his cover were ever blown. Acosta’s stories read like chapters from a page-turning crime novel, but The Shadow Catcher is more than a front-seat ride through the criminal underworld along the U.S./Mexico border. This heartbreaking exposé goes beyond sensational headlines and medals of honor to divulge what an agent endures in order to ensure that U.S. law is enforced and to reveal the unseen human side of illegal immigration.

In September 2007, a packed courtroom in St. George, Utah, sat hushed as Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at age fourteen. This harrowing and vivid account proved to be the most compelling evidence against Jeffs, showing the harsh realities of this closed community and the lengths to which Jeffs went in order to control the sect's women. Now, in this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells the incredible and inspirational story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice. Offering a child's perspective on life in the FLDS, Wall discusses her tumultuous youth, explaining how her family's turbulent past intersected with her strong will and identified her as a girl who needed to be controlled through marriage. Detailing how Warren Jeffs's influence over the church twisted its already rigid beliefs in dangerous new directions, Wall portrays the inescapable mind-set and unrelenting pressure that forced her to wed despite her repeated protests that she was too young. Once she was married, Wall's childhood shattered as she was obligated to follow Jeffs's directives and submit to her husband in "mind, body, and soul." With little money and no knowledge of the outside world, she was trapped and forced to endure the pain and abuse of her loveless relationship, which eventually pushed her to spend nights sleeping in her truck rather than face the tormentor in her bed. Yet even in those bleak times, she retained a sliver of hope that one day she would find a way out, and one snowy night that came in the form of a rugged stranger named Lamont Barlow. Their chance encounter set in motion a friendship and eventual romance that gave her the strength she needed to break free from her past and sever the chains of the church. But though she was out of the FLDS, Wall would still have to face Jeffs-this time in court. In Stolen Innocence, she delves into the difficult months on the outside that led her to come forward against him, working with prosecutors on one of the biggest criminal cases in Utah's history, so that other girls still inside the church might be spared her cruel fate. More than a tale of survival and freedom, Stolen Innocence is the story of one heroic woman who stood up for what was right and reclaimed her life.

Jeff Ashton, part of the prosecuting team in the Casey Anthony trial, gives the definitive story of the investigation, the trial, and the acquittal that shocked a nation. With behind-the-scenes information, including many details that have not been made public, Ashton describes what the prosecution got right, what they got wrong, and why he remains completely convinced of Casey Anthony's guilt. For three years, the case of the death of Caylee Anthony gripped the American public. People watched in disbelief as Caylee's mother tried to justify her bizarre behavior surrounding her daughter's disappearance, and eventual death. The resulting media firestorm reached a fever pitch when Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder by a Florida jury.

Documents the confirmed murders of more than 300 women in the border city of Juâarez, Mexico, as well as reports of hundreds of missing women, traces the work of the Mexican police, and speculates on who is behind the attacks.

For more than twelve years the Mexican border city of Juâarez has been the center of an epidemic of horrific crimes against women and girls: kidnappings, rape, mutilation, and murder, with most of the victims conforming to a specific profile--young, slender, and poor. Speculation that the killer or killers are American citizens has led the U.S. government to send in criminal profilers from the FBI, but little real information about this international atrocity has emerged. As of 2006 more than 400 bodies have been recovered, with hundreds still missing. Among the theories being considered are illegal trafficking in human organs, ritualistic satanic sacrifices, copycat killers, and a conspiracy between members of the powerful Juâarez drug cartel and some corrupt Mexican officials who have turned a blind eye to the felonies. This book is the first to examine the brutal killings and draw attention to these atrocities on the border.--From publisher description.Documents the confirmed murders of more than 300 women in the border city of Juâarez, Mexico, as well as reports of hundreds of missing women, traces the work of the Mexican police, and speculates on who is behind the attacks.

Describes the murder of Lois McMillen, a Connecticut artist vacationing in the British Virgin Islands, and the arrest of four wealthy, young American jetsetters for the killing. Original.

An account of a romance gone terribly wrong chronicles the true-life case of romance novelist Nancy Richards-Akers, whose abusive marriage ended in her execution-style murder and the suicide of her estranged husband. Original.

The shocking true story of billionairess Susan Cummings, who shot her cheating Argentinean lover and told police she killed him in self-defense, offers a provocative look at the truth behind a privileged world where ordinary rules do not apply and money can buy almost anything. Reissue.