This is the story of an international group of drug smugglers, their criminal success and the hunt to bring them to justice. There were sixteen of them, from America, Britain, Australia and Thailand, and together they were called 'The Ring'. They first began exporting marijuana in the aftermath of the Vietnam war, and over the years they smuggled vast shipments into the USA and Europe, becoming multi-millionaires in the process. In 1988, they decided to carry out one final heist that would ensure they could retire forever. However, they were intercepted by the police, and the key Ring members all had to flee to avoid being arrested. With unlimited money at their disposal and contacts in all parts of the globe, they were the ultimate fugitives. Tracking them down would call for a fifteen-year international manhunt. Tony Thompson, bestselling author of Gangland Britain and Gangs, describes their rise, fall and eventual capture in a thrilling, fast-paced true crime adventure.
From the bestselling author of GANGLAND BRITAIN and REEFER MEN. Organised crime is one of Britain's biggest industries. The number of gangland murders, shootings and kidnappings, along with the levels of drug trafficking, people smuggling and money laundering, have all experienced phenomenal growth. Multi-million pound drug deals and vicious turf wars have spread out from the inner cities and now affect even the most rural communities. The day-to-day impact of organised crime on our lives has never been greater. In GANGS, award-winning author Tony Thompson takes us on a gripping journey into the criminal underworld. From Triad human traffickers in Dover and ecstasy factory owners in Liverpool, to Albanian vice barons in London and gun-toting teenage crack dealers in Birmingham, GANGS reveals the inside story of contemporary organised crime.
In the year 1818, Cha Kai Ta-or Crow to the warriors who follow him-has been consumed by a jealous hatred for his clever, younger brother, Nai Pa. He has hidden his feelings from his parents, his brother, and the other members of his tribe for years, but they burn within him growing in intensity with each passing year. Consumed by his rage, Crow commits the ultimate sin. His violence unknowingly unleashes an evil upon the children of the nearby lands for decades to come. Local inhabitants are forced into an unnatural alliance in order to combat a supernatural force. Driven by insatiable hunger and a thirst for revenge, only courage, strength, and a great sacrifice will bring an end to the hunt of the Beast. In this novel, a Great Lakes region tribe is forced to migrate south in order to avoid a coming war with the white settlers from overseas. This migration and the resulting events will trigger the creation of a violent, ravenous monster.
There is a monster within us all - it's how you choose to use it that counts. Mary's life began in shadow. Unwanted and overlooked, her desire was to make something of her existence. So how would meeting a young poet change her path forever? Scandal. Passion. Desire. Mary's choices were clear - but would she ever be free of her loneliness? Tony Thompson's enthralling novel explores Mary Shelley's early life and the famous summer she spent with Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, John Polidori and her stepsister Claire Clairmont, which inspired her iconic novel Frankenstein.
There were sixteen of them. They came from America, Britain, Australia and Thailand, and each and every one of them was hooked on adrenaline. For fifteen years the Ring smuggled vast shipments into the USA and Europe. In 1988, they decided to carry out one final heist that would ensure they could retire forever. It did indeed turn out to be their last heist - but not for the reasons they planned. Their ship was seized, and the key Ring members all scattered all over the world ... With unlimited money at their disposal and contacts in all parts of the globe, they were the ultimate fugitives. Tracking them down would call for a fifteen-year manhunt masterminded by an international team of law enforcement officers every bit as determined as their adversaries.
The shocking inside story of life in a biker gang, from one of Britain’s top true-crime writers As a member of the international motorcycle club known as the Pagans, Daniel “Snake Dog” Boone had a ringside seat to some of the most violent biker battles ever fought. When he joined his small-town club in the early 1980s, Boone could never have imagined that the ragtag group would one day grow to become a part of the Outlaws, a major gang that would challenge the Hell’s Angels for supremacy around the globe in a battle lasting decades. Through Boone’s eyes, true-crime master Tony Thompson takes us into the fray, and into the heart of a shocking subculture. Outlaws is filled with outrageous stories that will have you gasping with equal parts laughter and horror.
The Doors remain one of the most original acts in the history of Rock and Roll. However, their actual music is sometimes overshadowed by the cult of Jim Morrison. Those with long memories will recall a point in the 80s when he went from lead singer of an old band to a signifier of cool known as 'Morrison.' His image appeared everywhere on t-shirts, posters, and in the film The Lost Boys, adorning a wall in Keifer Sutherland's vampire cave. A biopic in the 1990s attempted something like realism but managed only to dramatize the legend of the 'Lizard King'. Meanwhile, outside of a few high rotation tracks on 'classic' rock stations, most of their work took a back seat to Jim's ever-growing status as a cultural icon. This book dusts off the vinyl and puts on the headphones for a sustained reappraisal of the band's musical career. Hidden gems, deep cuts, overrated top ten hits, and the enigmatic series of album closers are all subjected to late night interrogations. Let's head to Venice Beach circa 1965, pick up a Fender bass organ on the way, take a face from the ancient gallery and walk on down the hall!
Young, handsome and talented, actor and playwright Will Shakespeare's plays are packing them in The Globe. He is without a doubt the most famous man in London. But Will is more than a celebrity. He is a skilled swordsman who carries two daggers with him at all times. His friend, Christopher Marlowe, has been murdered and Will knows he will have to be smart to avoid the same fate. But being smart comes naturally to William Shakespeare - and he is about to make it bigger than he ever dreamed possible.
An outlaw motorcycle club is a band of brothers like no other. Hidden away from mainstream society behind multiple layers of secrecy, mythology and a sophisticated campaign of misinformation that portrays them as nothing more than loveable rogues, the brutal truth about the biker world has long escaped public scrutiny. In reality, today's outlaw bikers are at the epicentre of a violent underworld subculture, enforced by a ruthless code of silence, and control a global criminal empire worth millions. Spanning the UK, Europe, America, Canada and Australia, OUTLAWS by Tony Thompson is a compelling, shocking and chilling story of how bikers are born and made, and how and why they die.
Living as a normal middle class family of four, this family learns to deal with the old phrase "I thought that only happened to other people" as one of them is framed for a murder. Framed so well the entire family is forced on the run from the law in order to keep them together. Uprooting their lives, and taking on new identities, their adventures take them through hiding out in big cities to living in the wilds in the Ozark mountains. Fighting against the elements of nature to protecting one another from wild animal attacks. Finding lots of adventure and meeting many new friends along the way, and finding out the hard way that blood is not always thicker than water. Coping with deaths of family and friends as they suffer the pain they must continue their journey of protecting themselves and each other as they are each subjected to possibilities of death on their travels to the unknown, driven by destiny surviving by wit and instinct. This family leaves a lifelong favorable impression on the lands they travel and the hearts they touch. That is until the long arm of the law reaches out and tears them from the new lives they had worked so hard to create effecting so many in a devastating manner, as the children are forced by law to live with the true murderer, as ruthless as he is, and made to survive in unspeakable circumstances' protecting each other along the way as Mom and Dad are thrown in jail for a murder they did not commit. Though as the law tightens its grip, unforeseen allies formed along their journey come to the rescue.
Protected Witness Unit (PWU): Designed to hold prisoners who are giving evidence or assistance to the police in cases of serious crime. All inmates are known to staff simply as 'Bloggs', followed by a number...' In December 1995, the bodies of three men were discovered in a Range Rover in a quiet country lane in the Essex village of Rettendon. All three were well-known villains. Each been blasted in the head with a shotgun at point-blank range. The search for the killers had almost ground to a halt when tensions within the gang involved boiled over and one member decided to break ranks. At first his story seemed too incredible to be believed, but as the evidence to support his version of events began to mount up, the motives behind the brutal murders became clear. The plot eventually uncovered involved everything from Irish terror groups and European smuggling rings to prostitution and police corruption. Tony Thompson, crime correspondent of the OBSERVER, is one of the country's leading experts in the field of organised crime. Now, in this extraordinary book, he chronicles the rise of some of Britain's most powerful and notorious villains and of the man whose betrayal led to their downfall - the man known as 'Bloggs 19': arguably the most important supergrass since the time of the Kray twins.
As one of the UK’s leading forensic scientists, Mike Silverman has helped to identify and convict dozens of murderers, rapists, armed robbers, burglars and muggers, thanks to the evidence they – or their victims – unwittingly left behind at the scenes of their crimes. Mike Silverman started his career in the days when fingerprints were still kept on card files and DNA profiling was just a pipe dream, so Written in Blood is more than just a casebook – it is also a definitive history of the development of forensic science over the course of the past thirty-five years. From collecting blood samples at gangland executions to investigating forensic science failings, including in the murders of Rachel Nickell and Damilola Taylor, Mike Silverman’s unique career provides a fascinating insight into the ways forensic science is used to help solve real-life crimes. Packed with genuine crime scene photographs and original sketches, Written in Blood is the ultimate insider’s account of the fascinating world of forensic science.
A stormy night on Lake Geneva almost 200 years ago.A scandalous gathering of A-list celebrities and a ghost-story contest that would produce not only the most famous horror story of all time ¿ Frankenstein ¿ but the first modern vampire.Meet the terrifying Count Orlock, the first film vampire whowould inspire Bela Lugosi and so many others. Take the Transylvania express and find out about the novel that inspired the scariest TV show of all time, the vampire who nearly destroyed Spiderman, and Anne Rice¿s suave rock-star vampire.Bella may have fallen for one vamp, but there are many others out there¿
The original GANGLAND BRITAIN was conceived and written at a time when organised crime in the UK was still in its infancy. Eight years on the picture has changed dramatically. Organised crime is now the country's third biggest industry. The number of gangland murders, shootings and kidnappings, along with the levels of drug trafficking, people smuggling and money laundering, have all experienced phenomenal growth. Multi million pound drug deals and vicious turf wars have spread out from the inner cities and now affect even the most rural communities. The day-to-day impact of organised crime on our lives has never been greater. In GANGS, award-winning author Tony Thompson takes us on a gripping journey into the underworld. From Triad human traffickers in Dover and ecstasy factor owners in Liverpool, to Albanian vice barons in London and gun-toting teenage crack dealers in Birmingham, GANGS reveals the inside story of contemporary organised crime.
There is a monster within us all – it’s how you choose to use it that counts. Mary Shelley’s life began in shadow. Unwanted and overlooked, her desire was to make something of her existence. So how would meeting a young poet change her path forever? Scandal. Passion. Desire. Mary’s choices were clear – but would she ever be free of her loneliness? Summer of Monsters is a Gothic coming-of-age story by Australian-based author Tony Thompson, perfect for lovers of young adult fiction. It explores Mary’s teenage life and the famous summer she spent with Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, which inspired her iconic horror/science fiction novel Frankenstein. To learn more about Tony and his books, visit him online at www.tonythompson.net
Cambridge, 1961. A group of students set off on the trip of a lifetime. Against the backdrop of the Cold War they travel through the Soviet Union to the Middle East, South Asia and on to Africa. Their mode of transport? The iconic VW Kombi. This book tells the story of that trip, not just the people they met and the places they saw, but the many experiences - sometimes nerve-wracking, sometimes bizarre - that they encountered along the way. It provides a fascinating insight into a world on the brink of change - seen through the eyes of nine young men fresh from university. The two VW Kombis doggedly traversed treacherous mountain passes, near-impossible roads, jungle tracks and river crossings on their journey through Anatolia, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. This book is an affectionate and highly entertaining re-creation of the relationship between the nine young travellers and their companions, the two VW Kombis which functioned as transport, shelter, canteen and home. It is also a tribute to the determined and rugged determination of the VW Kombi whose descendants still tackle the highways and the more daunting roads of the world.
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