This was the most introspective book I have read. If you think that you know alot about scandals you do not. This is one big conspiracy theory supported by compelling evidence. You ask yourself is this story true. Hoover was one of the most corrupt figures in American history. The deeds that transpired in his years of running the FBI are incomprehensible. It needs to be information to the general public. A must read.

Nash gives us a chapter by chapter review of most every famous celebrity murder occuring from 1877 (Jim Fisk) to 1982 (Sunny Von Bulow). His details about the murders are very good. In some chapters he gives a strong psychological evaluation of the killer. In others he doesnt, so you have to figure out why the killer did what they did. I guess Nash did most of his writing from secondary sources, so one can see that some murders flat out puzzled people. Overall I really enjoyed this book.

From Louis Masset on Jan. 9, 1900 to Joseph M. Majczek in May 29, 1983. This book gives a dated and graphic acoount of every Headliner in the business. It includes the real interviews, with some of the criminals themselves. It is divided into the major areas of crime. Take your pick and enjoy the ride.

Truth in advertising? This is solely about the U.S., with a very few token entries on people and place outside it. Nothing on the Triads, nothing on the Golden Triangle, nothing on Marseilles or Hong Kong, nothing on modern international gangs such as the Jamaicans or Nigerians, etc., etc. I returned my copy to Amazon in great disappointment. If you want biographies of some U.S. figures (only some: nothing on Harold Meltzer, for example) with ugly pictures, this might be of some use. But it's solely oriented to personalities, not to analysis

Trying to find a good reference book about organized crime? Want one at a good price? Jay Robert Nash has created the perfect book for you with World Encyclopedia of Organized Crime from De Capo Press.

The over 600 pages of the Who's Who in organized crime is covered in an A to Z format. From Joe Adonis, Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Bugs Moran and so many others, you'll find the fascinating stories and cross-references.

You may find other books more detailed, but I have found this book to be complete in the overall number of people covered. The book is an easy read and the index makes it easy to look up anybody or any topic.

You'll be hard pressed to find a better value for your money. About the only thing missing is a cd-rom software application.

I don't think there has to be much explanation here. I've been studying the American Mafia for a couple of years and I have never seen or found such a variety of information. I have movies and books alike and I have to say that this is probably my best investment in any book or movie I own.

Shoddy speculative fiction from one of America's worst crime writers.

This book is largely a reprint of Nash's wildly implausible 1970 book, Dillinger: Dead or Alive?, though coauthor Ron Offen is left out of the credits this time. The "evidence" for Dillinger's survival as presented in Nash's first book was based mainly on erroneous notations in Dillinger's long missing autopsy report and has been largely rebutted by more serious Dillinger researchers, notably Girardin and Helmer in Dillinger: The Untold Story. New "evidence" introduced by Nash in The Dillinger Dossier consists mostly of the revelations of "Blackie" Audett, an obscure ex-con and author of a volume of tall tales entitled Rap Sheet. Audett, now deceased, claimed to have known every major outlaw of the 30s, to have been involved in nearly every crime of the period, and to have aided John Dillinger in his permanent escape from justice. This alleged eyewitness to the Kansas City Massacre, who was in Leavenworth at the time, seems to have found a willing dupe in Nash but Audett's word doesn't hold a candle to the three known sets of postmortem fingerprints taken from the dead man by the FBI. While scarred by acid, the prints remained easily identifiable as Dillinger's. This book originally came with a mail order offer of Nash's taped interviews of Audett. It seems that few, if any, who ordered the tape ever received it and at least some got a refund check, with no further explanation. The late Joe Pinkston, author of Dillinger, A Short and Violent Life, owner of the John Dillinger Historical Museum and himself a trained lie detector examiner, once suggested to this reviewer that possibly Nash, or his publisher, realized that the tape could be tested with a PSE (Psychological Stress Evaluator) which would indicate Audett was lying, and removed the tape offer for this reason. At any rate, The Dillinger Dossier, like most of Nash's books, is one best avoided by serious historians but perfect for conspiracy freaks and anyone who appreciates a good joke.

This book (an expanded and updated version of Nash's earlier "Dillinger: Dead or Alive") tells a fascinating tale and (as is always the case with Nash) tells it well. Was John Dillinger really gunned down at the Biograph Theatre in July, 1934, or was the dead man a double set up to take the fall? At first, the idea that Dillinger might have survived the Biograph shooting for several decades seems right up there with alien abductions, but Nash makes an excellent case. And with what we now know about Hoover's FBI, the idea that the Bureau would have covered up the debacle for decades to avoid criticism is hardly shocking -- in fact, it's pretty hard to believe that Hoover would *not* have covered it up.

Even if you don't buy Nash's central hypothesis, the book is a great read, full of colorful period detail. If you have any interest in Dillinger or the early history of the FBI, buy it.