Famous Crimes #19

Dutch Schultz climbs from small-time street crime to underworld kingpin in this hard-hitting account of how a young man's admiration for a criminal mentor spirals into a life of violence, extortion, and racketeering. Starting as muscle for the ruthless Mark Pauf, Schultz builds his own empire behind and beyond prison walls, recruiting loyal soldiers and brilliant schemers to run gambling operations and numbers games across the city. But on October 23, 1935, in a New Jersey barroom, fate deals its final hand to the man who made crime his business.

Chicago police face an impossible case when a priceless diamond vanishes from a triple-locked hotel room—until fingerprint evidence at the scene reveals an unexpected culprit. In "Fingerprints Don't Lie," the detective bureau races to crack a scheme so audacious that even seasoned officers struggle to believe it, chasing leads that point toward the criminals within days. What the lieutenant discovers during his search will prove that the most tamper-proof room has one vulnerability no one thought to guard.

In the remote Kentucky town of Jay Forks, an escaped convict named Lee Gillon forces his way into the home of a neighbor and later takes work with a local family—but his jealous obsession and hair-trigger violence set him on a collision course with tragedy. When a confrontation spirals into bloodshed, Gillon turns to the townspeople with a chilling ultimatum: keep silent about his crimes, or face his murderous revenge from the fields where he hides. "The Whole Town Lied" explores how fear itself can become a criminal's most devastating weapon, trapping an entire community in a nightmare of their own making.

In 1919 Boston, a small-time clerk named Ponzi gets fired from his job and decides to pull off the ultimate con—promising investors 50% returns on their money in just 90 days. When he actually pays off early investors with profits, word spreads like wildfire, and thousands line up to hand over their savings, but authorities soon discover his scheme has no legitimate foundation. This story traces Ponzi's rise and fall as his bubble bursts, along with his subsequent attempts to swindle his way back to the top.

A motorist's horrific discovery on a Philadelphia turnpike—a murdered woman with a slashed throat—sets detectives on the trail of a killer, their only lead a cryptic diamond-shaped mark found on the victim's body. In "Mark of the Diamond," the police race to identify the dead woman and uncover what sinister connection the mysterious marking holds to her death.