True Crime

The Mafia, the FBI and the Klan

By Maximilian C. James

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Length4h 37m

About this audiobook

An evidence-led narrative about Gregory Scarpa, the FBI, the Ku Klux Klan and the murder of civil-rights activist Vernon Dahmer. The book examines the collision of organised crime, federal informants, law enforcement and the struggle for civil rights, separating documented evidence from allegation and interpretation.

Crime Political Intrigue Mystery Conspiracy Espionage Noir Thriller Rebellion

Audiobook details

GenreTrue Crime

Length4 hrs 37 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

Publish dateSep 5, 2026

LanguageEnglish

1Copyright

2Author's Note: What This Book Claims and What It Does Not

3PART I MISSISSIPPI

4They Came Before Dawn

5A County Built Around the Ballot Box

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6Vernon Dahmer

7The Dahmer Household

8The White Knights

9Fear as Government

10After the Voting Rights Act

11The Attack

12A Murder the Country Could Not Ignore

13PART II THE SECRET WEAPON

14The Man from Brooklyn

15Gregory Scarpa Before the Legend

16Gregory Scarpa: Criminal and Informant

17The Informant Bargain

18The Mississippi Story

19Lawrence Byrd and the Confession

20What the Record Proves and What It Does Not

21The 1964 Shadow: Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner

22PART III THE LONG ROAD TO JUSTICE

23Trials, Mistrials and the Long Failure of Justice

24Thirty-Two Years to a Verdict

25Jerry Mitchell and the Cold Case Revolution

26The Cases That Would Not Stay Buried

27Sam Bowers Finally Faces a Jury

28PART IV THE INFORMANT AND THE FBI

29Scarpa Returns to War

30Inside the Colombo War

31The FBI Handler

32Too Close to the Source

33When an Informant Becomes a Liability

34What the Government Owes a Defendant

35The Other Mississippi Story

36Justice by Any Means?

37PART V HISTORY, HOLLYWOOD AND THE PRICE OF SHORTCUTS

38Hollywood and the Compression of Truth

39Where the Film Ends and History Begins

40The Price of a Useful Monster

41Epilogue: The Ballot Box

42Timeline

43People in the Story

44A Reader's Guide to Evidence

45Notes by Chapter

46Chapters 10-17: Gregory Scarpa and Mississippi

47Chapters 18-22: Trials and the 1998 Bowers conviction Contemporary Associated Press reporting of August 21, 1998, republished by CBS News, is used for the length of the jury deliberation and the verdict sequence.

48Chapters 23-30: Colombo war, DeVecchio and informant controls

49Chapters 31-34: Dramatization, evidence and institutional lessons

50Sources and Bibliography