truecrime
![Brian Piercy](data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="%230A66C2"><path d="M20.447 20.452H16.89v-5.569c0-1.328-.027-3.037-1.852-3.037-1.853 0-2.136 1.445-2.136 2.939v5.667H9.351V9h3.414v1.561h.046c.477-.9 1.637-1.85 3.37-1.85 3.601 0 4.267 2.37 4.267 5.455v6.286zM5.337 7.433a1.982 1.982 0 1 1 0-3.964 1.982 1.982 0 0 1 0 3.964zm1.782 13.019H3.555V9h3.564v11.452zM22.225 0H1.771C.792 0 0 .774 0 1.729v20.542C0 23.227.792 24 1.771 24h20.451C23.2 24 24 23.227 24 22.271V1.729C24 .774 23.2 0 22.222 0h.003z"/></svg>)
Before the cartels took over, Harvey Prager built a life on millions of dollars of drug money. A prosecutor called him “the last of the amateurs."
A forgotten deportation, a family archive, and the cost of belonging.
Adrian Heath was duped into thinking he was on the verge of a new job – only to be held at knifepoint in Morocco. Turns out he's not alone
A 1983 book inspired a triple murder and led to a major First Amendment case. Its until-now anonymous author is a 77-year-old great-grandmother wrestling with decades of guilt.
The 'Social Register' was a who’s who of America’s rich and powerful—the heirs of robber barons, scions of political dynasties, and descendants of 'Mayflower' passengers. It was also the perfect hit list for the country’s hardest-working art thief.
The long read: Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics were stolen from libraries across Europe. Were the thieves merely low-level opportunists, or were bigger forces at work?
A former FBI agent traveled to Louisiana to ask a hired killer about a murder that haunted him. Then Larry Thompson started talking about a different case altogether.
Is the killer behind the 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose? Exclusive revelations by investigators yield the first authoritative account of what happened and who likely did it. James William Lewis, also known as Robert Richardson, left behind a trail of clues while evading prosecution.
Among the vineyards and fruit farms of South Africa’s Western Cape, the mysterious death of a farmworker reveals a violent history.
Noah Musingku made a fortune with a Ponzi scheme and then retreated to a remote armed compound in the jungle, where he still commands the loyalty of his Bougainville subjects
After a decade of elusive wildlife trafficking, we traced one anonymous dealer to a house in Malaysia, all thanks to a customer complaint.
Two scammers, a web of betrayal, and Europe’s fraud of the century.
Zach Horwitz came to Los Angeles hoping to make it in the movies. He ended up running a seven-hundred-million-dollar scam, defrauding a sprawling group of investors, starting with his best friends.
A friendship born out of the ruins of a nation, a dangerous journey home, and a 40-year search for the truth.
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A century ago, two Chicago teenagers killed an acquaintance named Bobby Franks for the thrill of it. The case captivated the nation and continues to fascinate the public today
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Is the killer behind the 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose? Exclusive revelations by investigators yield the first authoritative account of what happened and who likely did it.
"For years, a mysterious figure preyed on gay men in Atlanta. People on the streets called him the Handcuff Man—but the police knew his real name."
After 34 years, not one of the 13 works stolen during the largest art theft in history has surfaced but the puzzling peculiarities of the case still draw interest.
When skeletal remains surfaced in Northern Ireland last year, the discovery was shaded with a discomforting question: Was this an archaeological site, or a crime scene?
Lawrence Livermore's Forensic Science Center played a crucial role in helping to solve a notorious 1990s murder case.
From 1994: Forensic medicine allowed Park Dietz to become a doctor while pursuing his true calling: “to study and spend my time on the strangest of crimes.”
After Zac Brettler mysteriously plummeted into the Thames, his grieving parents discovered that he’d been posing as an oligarch’s son. Would the police help them solve the puzzle of his death?
Kyle de Rothschild Deschanel was an instant New York sensation who seemed to live on a 24/7 carousel of mega-dollar deals and raucous parties. Then his best friend found an ID marked “Aryeh Dodelson.”
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For some of us, dark times call for dark reads.
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Venture inside the minds of some of the greatest scammers.
The company promised customers fast, affordable internet. Now it’s bankrupt and faces allegations of overcharging customers, property damage and unpaid bills.
After possibly the most expensive jewelry heist in U.S. history, Brink’s went after the victims.
Ken Eto rose through the ranks of the Chicago mob, and then it tried to kill him. The underworld would never be the same.
In the spring of 1961, Georges Lemay, a dapper thirty-six-year-old French Canadian, spent his days holed up in his cottage on a private island on a river in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montre…
Tomb raiders, crooked art dealers, and museum curators fed billionaire Michael Steinhardt’s addiction to antiquities. Many also happened to be stolen.
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The comedian and podcast host—and bonafide scam expert—shares her favorite capers, along with what makes them so irresistible.
The tech company Wirecard was embraced by the German élite. But a reporter discovered that behind the façade of innovation were lies and links to Russian intelligence.
Local sleuths help find a suspect in gay porn actor Bill Newton's murder. His dismembered head and feet were found in a Hollywood dumpster in 1990.
Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi’s forgeries infiltrated museums, auction houses and private collections. A decade after their conviction, psychoanalyst Jeannette Fischer asks: Why did they do it?
Anne-Elisabeth Hagen, 68, was married to one of the wealthiest men in Norway. But four years ago, she disappeared, and police still have no solid leads. The entire country has been obsessed by the case ever since.
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A billionaire playboy’s alleged murder is at the center of the world’s most confounding heist job.
Suzanne Wooten did the impossible and became the first candidate to defeat a sitting judge in Collin County. What followed is the unbelievable, epic tale of the craziest case in the history of jurisprudence.
The stolen masterpieces have never turned up—and nobody’s really looking for them
Suddenly, a New York cop remembered a long-ago double murder.
Fifty years ago, a shooting that nearly killed police officer Daril Cinquanta set in motion a decadeslong chase across the American West
Dozens of people were killed, died by suicide, or went missing from the Texas military base last year alone. What is behind the violence and tragedy at Fort Hood?
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A man returns home from the army and gets a surprising offer from his father: Join the family business and help mom & pop pull off a string of daring cross-country heists. No one expects the betrayals coming.
How did Ruja Ignatova make $4bn selling her fake cryptocurrency to the world - and where did she go?
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When nearly $3.5M of rare books were stolen in an audacious heist at Feltham in 2017, police wondered, what’s the story?
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security: An investigation details a $243M crypto heist in August 2024 where attackers used a phone-based social engineering attack on a user of Gemini's crypto exchange