Kerrie Droban's Blog, page 4

Growing Up An Outlaw

Many teenagers are content playing video games or guitar, but even at that age Big Pete was searching for a thrill. His story began in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he grew up often playing “games” such as Risk & Go while questioning his role in society. As Pete shares in his tell-all interview with Fond du Lac Reporter Sarah Razner,

I was a member of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club, but I was an outlaw long before that. I started in my junior, senior year of high school saying that I’m not going to follow this.

Big Pete shares some of the stories behind his roots before he was a leader of one of the largest motorcycle clubs in the United States.

Read the full interview on Fond du Lac Reporter here.

And if you want the full story of Big Pete, well, you’ll have to read The Last Chicago Boss.

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15 Chilling True Crime Podcasts

There’s something so spectacular about a great true crime podcast, which is why a new one seems to pop up almost every day. Just like a great book, each podcast has its own very unique angle and tone that make it memorable. Below is a list of some of my personal favorite true crime podcasts! I’ll admit that I’ve been accumulating this list for a while and I likely haven’t heard of some of the newer ones yet, so feel free to drop a line in the comments if there’s one I’m missing.

Happy listening, true crime fanatics.

1. Criminal

2. Someone Who Knows Something

3. Unsolved

4. Generation Why

5. True Murder

6. Actual Innocence

7. True Crime Garage

8. Missing

9. Reveal

10. Detective

11. The Mind of a Murderer

12. Made in Sweden

13. CrimeFeed

14. Casefile

15. 48 Hours

Have you listened to any of these true crime podcasts? What are your favorites?

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An Explosive Memoir From a Legend in the Biker Community

The Last Chicago Boss: My Life with the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club

The inner workings of motorcycle clubs often remain shrouded in mystery. In THE LAST CHICAGO BOSS: My Life with the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club (St. Martin’s Press; On-sale: September 19, 2017), Peter “Big Pete” James reveals how he became the “Godfather” of the Chicago Outlaws, taking readers inside the secretive club. Written with Kerrie Droban, the critically-acclaimed and award-winning author of Prodigal Father, Pagan Son and Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws, THE LAST CHICAGO BOSS reads like “Sons of Anarchy” come to life. The story is made all the more vivid through never-before-revealed interviews, police files, wiretaps, recordings, and trial transcripts.

Even as a child, Big Pete had grand ambitions. Whether it was besting his father at chess or betting on horse races with his Uncle Tony, Big Pete collected lessons on power, money, and human nature. With nothing less than becoming the boss of Chicago on his mind, Big Pete began working his way into the Outlaws, determined to become a trusted member. Before long, he was a full patch member, working steadily up the ladder. He first set his sights on the Angels, the Outlaws’ main rival. He organized members and launched “Angel Hunts” all over Chicago. As head Outlaw, Big Pete attempted something unprecedented—he persuaded thousands of members of splintered Outlaw clubs to unite. These formerly discontented bikers came together in a new, more powerful, group. They became an extraordinarily commanding criminal syndicate involved in extortion, contract murders, drugs and arms trafficking, money laundering, and assassinations.

Then one day Big Pete found himself doubled over in pain, his body shutting down with fatigue. The diagnosis was cancer—eventually he would have a kidney removed. His cancer would change everything—he realized he could no longer run his club and battle his disease. In a painful process, Big Pete watched his club crumble.

Readers get unprecedented access to the inner workings of a motorcycle club from the perspective of the man who led them in this extraordinary memoir.

About The Authors

Peter “Big Pete” James was known as the “Godfather” of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club having formed and commanded a coalition of 38 motorcycle clubs and 8 Outlaw Motorcycle Club Chapters in the Chicagoland area in his twenty year career.

Kerrie Droban is the co-author of Prodigal Father, Pagan Son: Growing Up Inside the Dangerous World of the Pagans Motorcycle Club and author of Running with the Devil: The True Story of the ATF’s Infiltration of the Hells Angels, winner of the USA Book News National Book Award for Best Memoir/Autobiography and two-time winner for their True Crime award. She is also the author of Vagos, Mongols & Outlaws: My Infiltration of America’s Deadliest Biker Gangs, which is now a television series entitled “Gangland Undercover” produced by the History Channel. She is a criminal defense attorney in Arizona.

For more information, or to set up an interview with Peter “Big Pete” James and/or Kerrie Droban contact Rebecca Lang, Publicity Manager at Rebecca.Lang@stmartins.com or 646-307-5573

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Kerrie’s Recommendations: Best True Crime Books

See my list of best true crime books below!

[Excerpts and summaries pulled from respective links.]

1. Sleepers by by Lorenzo Carcaterra

The true story of a group of four boys brought up in New York’s notorious Mafia-run Hell’s Kitchen during the 1960s. After nearly causing a man’s death, they were sent to a reformatory where guards routinely brutalized them, leaving them with nothing but an undying loyalty to one another.

2. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The true tale of the 1893 World’s Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

3. Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abignale

Known by the police of twenty-six foreign countries and all fifty states as “The Skywayman,” Abagnale lived a sumptuous life on the lam–until the law caught up with him. Now recognized as the nation’s leading authority on financial foul play, Abagnale is a charming rogue whose hilarious, stranger-than-fiction international escapades, and ingenious escapes-including one from an airplane-make Catch Me If You Can an irresistible tale of deceit.

4. Columbine by Dave Cullen

What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we “know” is wrong. It wasn’t about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world’s leading forensic psychologists, and the killers’ own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors.

5. Shot in the Heart by Mikhal Gilmore

Gary Gilmore, the infamous murderer immortalized by Norman Mailer in The Executioner’s Song, campaigned for his own death and was executed by firing squad in 1977. Writer Mikal Gilmore is his younger brother. In Shot in the Heart, he tells the stunning story of their wildly dysfunctional family destroyed by a multigenerational history of child abuse, alcoholism, crime, adultery, and murder. Mikal, burdened with the guilt of being his father’s favorite and the shame of being Gary’s brother, gracefully and painfully relates a murder tale “from inside the house where murder is born… a house that, in some ways, [he has] never been able to leave.” Shot in the Heart is the history of an American family inextricably tied up with violence, and the story of how the children of this family committed murder and murdered themselves in payment for a long lineage of ruin.

6. The Other Side by Lacy Johnson

Lacy Johnson’s rich and poetic memoir, The Other Side, chronicles her brutal kidnapping and imprisonment at the hands of an ex-boyfriend, her dramatic escape, and her hard-fought struggle to recover.

7. The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, she thinks her position is clear. The child of two lawyers, she is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes—the moment she hears him speak of his crimes — she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.

What do you think are the best true crime books? Comment below or let me know on my Twitter or Facebook page!

P.S. My new book, The Last Chicago Boss: My Life with the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club comes out September 19th. Get the synopsis here!

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The Witness

Last year I discovered something extraordinary, a family secret that blew me away.

I started to watch James Solomon’s fascinating documentary called The Witness about the 1964 Kitty Genovese murder case and the so-called “38 residents of Kew Gardens in Queens, NY who were pilloried in the press for their apparent indifference” to her screams as she was stabbed to death for thirty minutes in the street. In the decades following, Genovese was held up as a tragic victim of “bystander apathy” but the documentary reveals Kitty to be “so much more than her last 30 minutes” and the “38” to be so much more than mere scapegoats.

Particularly fascinating was The New York Times’ original report on those “38 Bad Samaritans” spearheaded by editor A.M. Rosenthal (none other than my Uncle!). Who knew that Rosenthal reported, covered and wrote about the most notorious true crime story of his generation and purposefully misreported the facts because his version made a more compelling story?

That “false story” nearly destroyed Kitty’s brother (who narrated the documentary) as he spent most of his adult life searching for the truth. What he found was surprising; as the brother confronted his sister’s killer in prison, he actually entertained the notion of forgiveness and in the truth suggested that “mercy, rather than danger, might be lying in wait for all of us.”

It is a sobering thought and a reminder to those of us who write true crime, that truth telling is a huge responsibility and has repercussions. In my uncle’s version humanity was cruel and cowardly by nature, but the brother’s documentary reveals the truth:

“Who we really are, and how we might react [when faced with criminal conduct] is a mystery.”

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The Twisted Truth

For two years I interviewed The Last Chicago Boss; we spoke every Sunday morning for nearly three hours. Inexplicably, the recording always stopped at 2 hours and 59 minutes. He was dying and I was like his Priest in Confessional, listening intently, offering him prompts, marveling at his plot twists and character developments. He had spent his career avoiding being recorded; the fact that he allowed me to tape our conversations was not only extraordinary but a testament to the trust he placed in me. Be sure to tune in late September when some of those conversations will be replayed on TheLastChicagoBoss.com.

Until then, you can hear more behind the scenes as I discuss with John Taylor on Twisted Podcast the thrills (and perils) of writing The Last Chicago Boss and other true crime “biker books.”

Part 1

Part 2

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The Medallion

True crime would not have been my first genre choice; after all, I began as a poet but even my early writings were rife with violence and, if I’m being honest, somewhat autobiographical. Little known fact, I lived a double life as a child (born to undercover operatives) and later, as an adult, when I married an undercover cop and wrote my first true crime book, Running with the Devil, the ATF’s landmark criminal investigation into the Hell’s Angels, for two years in secret.

Several more “biker books” followed (also written in secret) and soon I found myself navigating a complex world of organized crime, violent subcultures and undercover operations. I had almost daily conversations with crime bosses, informants and government agents. All told, it has been an extraordinary, fascinating ten-year odyssey that has culminated in my latest book (to be released September 19, 2017), The Last Chicago Boss.

And through it all, I questioned why God tasked me with this enormous responsibility and risk, since many operatives still worked undercover and their lives were in constant danger.

The answer eventually revealed itself in sparks of miracles, all of which inspired The Medallion, designed and crafted by renowned artist Scott Berger.

This piece is a symbol of faith. On the front is an iron cross – a symbol often worn by bikers – overlaid by a compass. The cross and compass together symbolizes divine direction and protection. Etched on the back are angel wings with the inscription, “with faith, we are never lost.” I’m excited to share this Medallion as a symbol of faith for my wonderful readers and those who have been on this journey with me from the start, available for purchase on my website via Paypal below.

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All 14 True Crime Cases in one post for Valentine’s Day

My (Unlucky) Valentine…

First, some notable facts:

One in 25 people is a sociopath. Only 20 percent of male and female prison inmates are sociopaths, although they are probably responsible for about half of all serious crimes committed. Most sociopaths are not incarcerated. In fact, the silent majority live freely, anonymously, holding down jobs, getting married, dating, having children. Most have a blazing smile. They are likeable, fun, exciting, and the perfect escort. All sustain eye contact. All have, what has been dubbed, “the predator stare.”

What follows are 13 true cases (one of them is a close friend’s). The 14tth is not a case but some helpful information.

Case #1 xoxoxo: The Lawyer

She was a successful attorney (trial law being a sociopath’s dream), law professor and a Sunday school teacher with a host of family and friends. But her interpersonal calculus centered on how to manipulate and outmaneuver the many people in her life. She was the middle child in a family with a violent father and an indifferent mother. Her father spent thousands of dollars on expensive hobbies, while she picked oranges from her backyard for her school lunches. She had a recurring dream that started in childhood: killing her father with her bare hands.

There was something thrilling about the thought. But, despite having imagined it many times, she quickly pointed out, “I’ve never slit anyone’s throat.”

She was a stellar student but never studied for a single exam. She was an excellent lawyer because she was a sociopath: cool under pressure, completely void of empathy (handy in such a dirty business), unaffected by fear. She had an uncanny ability to seduce others into confessing their vulnerabilities. This was part of her power. She liked to imagine she “ruined people.” When she dated she quickly lost interest but when they didn’t she found other uses for her lovers. “I know my heart is blacker and colder than most people’s; maybe that’s why it’s tempting to break theirs.”

“I may have a disorder, but I am not crazy. In a world filled with gloomy, mediocre nothings populating a go-nowhere race, people are attracted to exceptionalism like moths to a flame.” She had no remorse and a penchant for deceit. She was strategic and canny, intelligent and confident, but also struggled to react appropriately to other people’s confusing and emotion-driven social cues. She was not a victim of child abuse, not a murderer or a criminal. She never skulked behind prison walls; she preferred hers to be covered in ivy. She was a dangerous predator and she lived (lives) openly among us.

Case #2 xoxoxo: The Vampire

She directed others to lure men to her so she could stab them to death and drink their blood. She convinced her lover she survived “only” on blood and manipulated him into slicing his own veins four times so she could receive nourishment. Others under her spell said she “mentally restrained” them. She enjoyed “frightening people to death.” After her first kill she told police “I can still smell the river—it was really salty smelling—the smell of blood, the smell of metal that had been left to rust in the rain. And it was cold that night, very cold.” She confessed to the court psychologist that she was like “the shell of a volcano….you think nothing. Nothing goes through your mind. There is no emotion, just blind fury.”

Case #3 xoxoxo: The Couple on the Beach

He was charming, handsome, and seemed interested in everything she liked. After their first date it seemed they had known each other their whole lives. He had pet names for her, loved her friends, waited for her after classes, bragged about her as if she were a trophy, “look how pretty she is,” and complimented her as if he were rare art piece, “isn’t she beautiful,” he gushed. They enjoyed the same films, ordered the same meals and even shared the same exotic background (having both once lived overseas). When he proposed three months later, she told her mother, “I feel so lucky!”

On their honeymoon, he terrified her. Caught in a thunderstorm on a deserted beach, he laughed as she begged him to get on the last boat to safety. And when the waves crashed on the cliffs higher than a tall building and threatened to drown them both he stared at her coldly and told her to stop being such a baby.

In time, he grew even more distant and indifferent, snapping easily and suddenly into a darker personality that confused her. She suspected him of cheating but when she confronted him he accused her of being promiscuous. And when work required him to travel he thought nothing of going dancing with his boss, taking “day trips” with her to tourist attractions, going to the movies and sharing lobster dinners; when she suggested he was “dating” his boss, he became irate. When she finally divorced him she discovered his secret life—his multiple affairs, even another family. She learned why he had been passed up for several promotions—why he could never pass the psychological.

She learned she was married to a sociopath.

Case #4 xoxoxo: Monster

She was 32, a single mother, raising her toddler son. He was handsome, like a “character from a romance novel.” He smiled rakishly and there was an instant attraction between them. He was the perfect gentleman and she could not believe she had met someone so wonderful. Four days later he announced, “we’re going to be together.”

She was in heaven. He moved into her three-bedroom house; he adored her son. He poured her wine, bought her flowers and gave her CDs of love songs. He quoted romantic lines, his favorite from Jerry McGuire, “you complete me.” (Quoting films or lyrics is typical sociopathic behavior).

In time, the loving husband seemed distant, lovemaking mechanical. He stopped kissing (another red flag). And when she asked if he had found someone else, he exploded with rage. He blamed her. Soon she discovered other women he had and when confronted about them he was indifferent. Later, she discovered that her seemingly devoted husband had been on sex sites and had even created a fictitious profile.

After ten years, she realized she had married a monster.

Case #5 xoxoxo. American Psycho

They met one summer and seemed to have so much in common, most importantly, music. He was quick to tell her how beautiful she was, that no one understood him like she did. He told her secrets, including his depression. She would later discover he spent time in a mental hospital for extremely disturbed individuals.

He professed his love for her freely and easily. He put her on a pedestal. She was “the best thing that ever happened to him,” he said. He showered her daily, even hourly sometimes, with compliments. He “love bombed” her.

He was charming and funny and it was not difficult to fall in love with him. They moved in together just 4 months later.

The next Spring she discovered he was cheating on her and when she confronted him he ended their relationship….after beating her so severely he bruised her entire body.

Several months later, he returned, said he was “sorry”, “missed her”, “She was the One.” They got engaged a year later and several weeks before they married she discovered he’d been having cyber sex with women he found on Craigslist. They argued again, (these lasted hours, days even). If she left, he threatened to throw their cats off the balcony.

“You’re lucky,” he snarled. “I let you live to see 30.”

Case #6 xoxoxo: How to Spot a Sociopath

He lies consistently.
He acts impulsively: he spends little time weighing the pros and cons of a situation and never considers the consequences. He does things because he “feels like it.” He will change his plans often, and may even spend money from the joint account without accounting for the funds.
He Shirks His Responsibilities: Obligations and commitments mean nothing to him. Their good intentions are promises written on the wind. Poor credit history, mounting child support, inability to hold a job and poor parenting are signs of a sociopath.
He’s Violent At Times: he displays this in bursts and may be extremely remorseful afterwards and apologetic.
He’s a Charmer: he is manipulative and cunning and often highly intelligent.
He may lead a double life.
He will reveal personal details about himself strategically; revelations of actual truth are rare.
He will have cold indifference to one or more family members.
A disconnect between what the sociopath says and does; he seems charitable but does not give money to homeless or vice versa
He is….Ted Bundy.

Case #7 xoxoxo: They Met In A Laundromat

She met him in a Laundromat after a stormy and exhausting divorce. She’d seen him around the neighborhood and when they finally started to talk she felt as if she knew him. He was open and friendly and they hit it off right away. From the start she thought he was hilarious. They went to dinner and after dessert he was embarrassed to discover he’d forgotten his wallet. She was more than happy to pay for him, more than happy to sit through the double feature she had seen earlier in the week. At the pub, over drinks, he told her he was a translator for the United Nations. They saw each other four times that week, five the next. Soon, he moved in. It was against her nature, she wasn’t even sure how it happened. But she had been so lonely. Still, there were details, unexplained, undiscussed that she had shoved out of her mind. He never invited her to his home. She never met his friends. He stayed away for three days without so much as a phone call. When he finally resurfaced and she demanded to know “what happened” he told her to mind her own business….then quickly snapped back to his “old self.”

Excerpt, Without Conscience by Dr. Robert O. Hare.

Case #8 xoxoxo: Bob, The Sociopath

I can be whomever you want me to be, your best friend, most trusted confidante, man of your dreams. I will learn discreetly everything that you love or what makes you tick. And from there I will gradually build myself up. Love what you love and hate what you hate. Not too much as to make you feel that I’m patronizing you, but just enough diversity to make you feel that I am normal, that I am the right person. For you.

I will listen to you. To your most boring problems. To issues as mundane or as complicated as the world. And make you feel that I sympathize. I can make you feel like I am the only person you can trust and understand you.

To you I will always be perfect. But to me, you’re just one of the many opportunities for me to re-invent myself. I’ve lived hundreds of different lives. And I see my past acquaintances, friends and lovers, as one hit wonders.

One day they will interest me so much that I will be constantly thinking about them. Manipulating ways and tricks to reel them in. It never fails. It also helps that I take really good care of myself. I work out excessively everyday. Eat right. Of course I have vices, smoking and drinking. But those vices fall in shadows once I magnetize a person.

I can be the most charming, graceful, articulate man and turn into a laid-back hippie or country guy, depends on who I’m with. I have no real identity. Fascinating really, I get my self worth by being fake.

I read, study, work, converse with anyone from the most idiotic moron to the most intellectual people, men and women. And I always get away with it.

Problem is, when I get tired of someone, I move on. Disappear without a trace. And I hurt people that way. I know I do, but I feel no guilt. This is how I am, how I operate. I apologize and say sorry but I never feel sorry.

So when you meet anyone who seems too good to be true. A person of your dreams. Remember what I said here. It could save you a lot of heartaches.

Take it from me, I’m a sociopath.

Case #9 xoxoxo: He Had Another Family

She remembers what it was like to date him, a man who she met on the Internet. “He was just so charming and funny,” she says. “We could talk for hours, and laugh.” He was romantic, too—cuddly and affectionate. He sent her e-cards and brought her roses.

She worked as a government contractor and was impressed by her beau’s credentials—he was a federal government employee with a Department of Defense secret security clearance. He had a degree in mechanical engineering from the prestigious California Polytechnic State University and an MBA from the University of Washington, Seattle.

He told her he was a single father and had raised his two children since they were in diapers. But whe wanted to meet his children, he hesitated, told her “I want to take them into this slow; there has never been another woman in their life other than their mother,” he said, according to her. “When I think the time is right, I’ll invite you down.”

Once, when he called her from his home, she noticed the name on the caller ID—it was a woman’s. “Who is that?” she asked. He explained that he had a cousin stay with him to help take care of the kids. He asked her to get the phone put in, so the phone is actually in the name of his cousin.

After dating for two years, they got married—a courthouse ceremony in the Bahamas. Marriage, however, wasn’t the same as dating. “He was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” she says. “You never knew what his mood would be.”

If he was in a bad mood, she says, he claimed it was her fault. She says her husband accused her of being controlling and self-centered, telling her she never smiled and never talked. He told her that she did not make him and his children feel welcome in her home.

“He had my self-esteem to the point that I thought I was going to go nuts,” she says. “I was walking on eggshells in my own home.”

Although he contributed somewhat to household expenses, she was carrying most of the financial burden. She says her husband did, however, spend a lot of money on Ebay, buying “toys” such as diving, fishing, golf and windsurfing equipment.

They filed joint income tax returns. By the following summer, they had still not received their refund, and she called the Virginia Department of Taxation. She was told her state refund had been applied to a former tax lien against her husband and the woman from the caller ID. Then she called the IRS and learned her husband had filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in California.

She then knew that the woman on the caller ID was not her husband’s cousin, but his wife.

Case #10 xoxoxo The ConMan

The man was a sympathetic listener. They both worked for the airlines—she was a flight attendant and he was a pilot. One day they were flying as extra crew—passengers—for a flight from Chicago to St. Lucia to Aruba and back to Chicago. She was facing personal difficulties—her son had been in a terrible car accident, and her marriage was faltering. During that long flight, she talked to him about her problems. He listened and offered words of encouragement.

A year later their flight paths crossed again. She was now divorced, and he asked for her phone number. Even though she lived near Chicago, Illinois and he lived 1,700 miles away near Seattle, Washington, they started seeing each other. After awhile, he would stay with her whenever his flights took him to Chicago. But they kept their relationship secret from their co-workers, because neither wanted to be stars of the company rumor mill.

Her divorce had been amicable, and she left her marriage with a mortgage-free townhouse and about $250,000 in cash. She knew she should invest the money for her future. But where should she put it? She made an appointment to see a financial planner. He had helped her get a good deal on a new car, so she asked him to accompany her.

The financial planner discussed all the usual options—stocks, bonds, mutual funds. But he had a better idea—they should invest her money in a business. They could offer sightseeing tours, via boat or plane, of the beautiful San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state. He would be the tour guide. As a pilot he had many days off, days that he could use to ferry passengers around. She wouldn’t have to do anything except make an investment.

They started putting the plan into action. She paid for a new 21-foot Bayliner speedboat and a Cessna 172XP, a four-seat, single-engine airplane. They had the plane equipped with amphibious floats so it could make water landings. The total cost was $110,700. At first both were listed as owners of the plane. But she was concerned about personal liability if something went wrong, so she had the registration changed—he became the owner, and she had a secured interest in the plane.

Now that they had a boat and a plane, they established a corporation. All they needed to get the business going was a way to transport their customers from place to place while on the ground. She paid for a used conversion van.

She took responsibility for filing the business’ quarterly tax reports and for four consecutive quarters, she submitted forms that showed business income of exactly zero. She also discovered there was no proof anywhere that she had any right to the boat or plane. And soon, her partner disappeared….with all her money.

Case #11 xoxoxo: Happily Ever After

He showed up for his wedding with two broken hands. He said he’d dropped heavy equipment on them at work.

“We urged him to seek medical attention,” said the mother of the bride. “But he refused. His hands were so swollen that it was hard to fit the ring on his finger.”

She did not have a good feeling about this marriage. Her daughter was 21, vivacious and as beautiful as a Miss America contestant. She was working a full-time job at a title company and studying to be a nurse. They had been dating for less than a year, and she had only met her new son-in-law a few times. The most the mother could say about him was that he was clean cut, didn’t have any tattoos or body piercings, and had a full-time job. A week before the wedding, she found out that the groom was a high school dropout. Her daughter knew this, but hadn’t told her parents.

She had rented an apartment—against her parents’ wishes—and he had quickly moved in. The engagement was announced at Christmas.

“Why don’t you wait awhile?” the mother had asked her daughter.

She didn’t reply. She was strangely subdued during the wedding preparations—so unlike what the mother remembered about her own wedding. In fact, the groom was making all the plans, and bride wasn’t saying a word.

The next time the mother saw the newlyweds the groom had stitches in his fist—he said he was at a party, some guy slapped him on the back a little too hard, and he fell through a plate glass window. A few days later, the mother learned from her daughter that the police had been called to the home of the groom’s parents because of a family disturbance, but her daughter did not elaborate.

Shortly after the marriage, the bride started asking her parents about the savings account that they’d established for her when she was born. Although much of the money had been spent on college, $3,500 remained. Withdrawals required two signatures—from the daughter and her father. The mother suspected that the husband was urging his bride to get the money, so she and her husband refused to release it.

Several days later her daughter was dead.

Case #12 xoxoxo: Dating A Sociopath

“ The person’s an opportunist. Agreements don’t mean anything.” –Dr. Anne Brown

Q: What would you say to a patient who you believe is in a relationship with a sociopath?

A: I can smell the bullshit. I can taste it. I can see it. So if you’re telling me, “He’s so great, I paid for dinner, he’s moving into my place, and I loaned him my car…” I’m going to be like, “Wait a minute. What about him taking care of you?” And then you’re going to say, “We had a date Wednesday night and he didn’t show up because he told me somebody had a flat tire…” and it’s going to be an outrageous story. And I’m going to say, “You can keep going, because he’s really got you. He’s charismatic, he’s telling you what you want to hear. You’re putting up with bad behavior, but you like him, he’s funny. The sex might be great, but I don’t think you can hang your hat on this.”

Case #13 xoxoxo: My Mother Married A Sociopath

My mother married a sociopath. She didn’t know it. No one knew it.

She was a 33-year-old widow with three young daughters to raise. She later met and married a decorated war hero, a lieutenant in the navy, a recipient of the Silver Star and Bronze Medal for his heroics as a fighter pilot during World War II and Korea. Almost 30 years later, his daughter learned he was an imposter. He was a two-bit conman with a shady and criminal past, impersonating a Naval Officer and collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in military benefits over the years. He was a textbook example of a sociopath.

He served in the navy for less than three years as an electrician first mate. He spent the rest of his time in a hospital for mental problems, where he got his hands on the paperwork to turn himself into a naval lieutenant.

He moved into her life, seemingly showing up with no background, family or friends of past. He was a mystery man introduced to his mother by a friend of a friend who met him at a racetrack and thought he was some kind of high roller. He wined her, dined her, took her on lavish vacations and showed her a world that she’d only heard about but never lived. This stranger was quickly accepted into our family and into our home with little questioning.

He was well liked and revered in his new community. He was a chameleon, easily adapting to any situation and fitting in. He was an accomplished pathological liar, spinning gold out of horse manure.

But a sociopath can’t keep up the charade forever. Small cracks began to appear. Stories he told don’t add up. Strange and scary men showed up at the house looking for him at odd hours. A late-night phone call claimed his son had been run over by a garbage truck. Checks were missing from my her mother’s checkbook, found after her account was overdrawn. Repossessed cars. Jewelry and clothing that had to be returned due to bad checks written for their purchase. Last-minute family vacations had the family scrambling to get packed and out with urgency. All, came with a plausible excuse. Everything, when he explained it, was believable.

Case #14 xoxoxo: How to Recover from a Sociopathic Relationship

Find a therapist! You’ll need to learn to sort through the anger and grief and remember you can and likely will love again. Your sociopathic ex may have convinced you everything that went wrong in the relationship was your fault.
Disappear from the sociopath’s life. No phone calls, no emails, no contact. The longer you are away from a sociopath the clearer it will become that he was lyig to you and the more grounded you’ll become in reality.
Protect yourself physically. Change your locks, your phone number and install a security system. Create physical distance. It’s moving to another home if it allows you to fall asleep at night without fear.
Document everything! Keep a journal, photograph injuries or property damage and file a police report. Save threatening voice mails, emails or letters. Hire an attorney and draw up a restraining order.
Surround yourself with loving people. It can be easy to mistrust the world after being fooled by a sociopath.

Anti-Valentine Contest & Giveaway

One in 25 people is a sociopath. Only 20 percent of male and female prison inmates are sociopaths, although they are probably responsible for about half of all serious crimes committed. Most sociopaths are not incarcerated. In fact, the silent majority live freely, anonymously, holding down jobs, getting married, dating, having children. Most have a blazing smile. They are likeable, fun, exciting, and the perfect escort. All sustain eye contact. All have, what has been dubbed, “the predator stare.”

 Valentine’s Day is coming up and what a perfect way to celebrate with 14 true-crime cases along with a contest and giveaway!

Each day I’ll be posting an anti-Valentine case, which will make you think twice about falling in love this February 1st to the 14th. You can visit my Facebook author page for the daily countdown of all 14 cases at: https://www.facebook.com/Author.Kerrie.Droban/

For the Anti-Valentine contest, which ends on the 14th, you can do as many or as few options as you like in the Rafflecopter Badge below. (the more you do the more chance of winning!) By entering, you will be included in my newsletter for updates, prizes and contests. In no way will your email be shared with anyone! The winners will be announced on February 16th! Good luck!!

Visit and like Kerrie Droban on Facebook.
Comment, Like, and Share this blog post. If it reaches 100 shares I’ll give away a $25 gift card on top of the Kindle Ereader!
Share this Facebook post.
Tag a few true crime and book lovers with the post above.
Recommend A Socialite Scorned on Goodreads
Re-pin this pin on Pinterest
Follow @kerriedroban on Twitter
Change your profile picture on Facebook to the cover of A Socialite Scorned (cover included in this post)
Post on Facebook/Twitter: Amazon Gift Card & autographed copy of true crime novel by @kerriedroban #giveaways #books Un-Valentine Giveaway!
Post on Facebook/Twitter: Blonde bombshell or black widow? Murder for hire – A Socialite Scorned @kerriedroban #truecrime #books #GaryTriano http://amzn.to/1PpOAfi

Again, you can do as much or as little as you’d like! Just be sure to let me know what you did in the comments section below if you decide NOT to use the Rafflecopter badge.

Lots of luck to you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Christmas Contest and Giveaway!

Let’s have some Christmas fun!!! Behind one of these trees is a copy of one of my books and a Kindle. Come play along and enter to win. The only thing you need to do to win is signup for my newsletter for the latest news, contests and giveaways, and pick out the book you would like to read, which I will autograph. My son Dimitri will pick one winner Christmas morning. Thank you all for supporting me and adding some excitement to my holidays!

Remember to enter you need to pick a tree and then you can do as many or as few options as you like in the list below OR in the Rafflecopter Badge below. (the more you do the more chance of winning!) But please make sure if you do any of the items in the list and you DON’T use the Rafflecopter badge, you mention what they are in the comments section of this post! By entering, you will be included in my newsletter for updates, prizes and contests. In no way will your email be shared with anyone! The winners will be announced on December 28th! Good luck!!

Pick the tree you think the present is under.
Visit and like Kerrie Droban on Facebook.
Comment, Like, and Share this blog post. If it reaches 300 shares I’ll give away a $10 gift card on top of the Kindle Ereader!
Share this Facebook post.
Tag a few true crime and book lovers with the post above.
Recommend Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws on Goodreads
Re-pin this pin on Pinterest
Follow @kerriedroban on Twitter
Change your profile picture on Facebook to the cover of Vagos, Mongols and Outlaws (cover included in this post)
Tweet:Seen #GanglandUndercover from the History Channel? Read the book next by @kerriedroban #truecrime #books http://amzn.to/1O7v5gV
Tweet: FREE Kindle & autographed copy of true crime novel by @kerriedroban #contests Christmas Giveaway! http://bit.ly/1QKoxnl

Again, you can do as much or as little as you’d like! Just be sure to let me know what you did in the comments section below if you decide NOT to use the Rafflecopter badge.

Good luck and Happy Holidays!

a Rafflecopter giveaway