Crime
Mobsters Tremble Before the Crime-Fighting, Red Flying Gondola
Science-fiction pioneer Hugo Gernsback predicted that, as long as police officers were stuck on terra firma, criminals always would have the edge
January 06, 2012 |
By Matt Novak
Pollster George Gallup Jr. Looks to the Year 2000
Gallup Jr., coming from a tradition of opinion polls, hoped that there might be a methodical way to forecast future events—including a nuclear terrorist attack on New York City.
November 30, 2011 |
By Matt Novak
The Man Who Busted the ‘Banksters’
Deceitful loans, self-dealing, unseemly tax avoidance—Ferdinand Pecora exposed it all after the financial collapse of 1929 and helped create a more transparent system
November 29, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
History Heroes: Marc Bloch
The scholar created a whole new way of looking at history, but found time to fight in two World Wars–latterly, aged 60, as a leader of the French Resistance
November 10, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
The Skinny on the Fatty Arbuckle Trial
When the million-dollar movie comedian faced a manslaughter charge, the jury was indeed scandalized—at how his reputation had been trashed
November 08, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
William Shakespeare, Gangster
Could the gentle Bard have been a thug? A scholar's discovery in the British Archives adds a different stroke to the portrait of one of the most admired but least-known men in English letters
November 07, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
Paranormal Activity and the Roots of Faked Footage
The horror movie franchise is just the latest in a long history of movies using so-called "recovered" films
November 02, 2011 |
By Daniel Eagan
Sabotage in New York Harbor
The explosion on Black Tom Island packed the force of an earthquake. It took investigators years to determine that operatives working for Germany were to blame
November 01, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
The Goddess Goes Home
Following years of haggling over its provenance, a celebrated statue once identified as Aphrodite, has returned to Italy
November 2011 |
By Ralph Frammolino
The Battle of Broken Hill
While Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire were fighting World War I, two Afghans opened up a second front in an Australian outback mining town 12,000 miles away
October 20, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
Anger and Anarchy on Wall Street
In the early 20th century, resentment at the concentration of wealth took a violent turn
October 04, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
Long Live the King
A single gunshot rang out in the king of Siam's bedroom in June 1946, ending one reign and beginning another. Uncertainty over how it happened has persisted ever since
September 28, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
Gavrilo Princip’s Sandwich
Was it really a lunch-hour coincidence that led to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914—and, by extension, to the great global catastrophes of the 20th century?
September 15, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
The Life and Crimes of “Old Mother” Mandelbaum
She had the eyes of a sparrow, the neck of a bear and enough business acumen to build an empire as the "Queen of Fences."
September 06, 2011 |
By Karen Abbott
The Knife in Ty Cobb’s Back
Did the baseball great really confess to murder on his deathbed?
August 30, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
Paradise Lost’s Joe Berlinger on the Roots of his West Memphis Three Films
The director of the award-winning documentary reflects on what it was like to film a "real-life Salem Witch Trial"
August 24, 2011 |
By Daniel Eagan
“Mrs. Sherlock Holmes” Takes on the NYPD
When an 18-year-old girl went missing, the police seemed content to let the case grow cold. But Grace Humiston, a soft-spoken private investigator, wouldn't let it lie
August 23, 2011 |
By Karen Abbott
The Body on Somerton Beach
Name: unknown. Cause of death: unknown. Occupation: unknown. Possessions: a scrap of paper with two words in Persian, torn from a rare first edition book. Welcome to the world's most perplexing cold case.
August 12, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
If There’s a Man Among Ye: The Tale of Pirate Queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read
Renowned for their ruthlessness, these two female pirates challenged the sailors’ adage that a woman’s presence on shipboard invites bad luck
August 09, 2011 |
By Karen Abbott
Leaks and the Law: The Story of Thomas Drake
The former NSA official reached a plea deal with the government, but the case still raises questions about the public’s right to know
August 2011 |
By David Wise
