Douglas Thompson - Böcker

Invitations to John Aspinall and John Burke's illegal gambling parties were the most sought after in 1950s London - only the wealthy and well-connected were allowed past their door. When the police finally arrested them, Aspinall and Burke challenged the law - and won. As a result gambling was legalised. Which interested crime boss Billy Hill and his lieutenant Bobby McKew, because suddenly clubs sprang up everywhere and Billy had a foolproof way of fixing the cards. He also had his eye on the ultimate prize, Aspinall's exclusive new club, The Clermont...Revealing for the first time how Aspinall and Hill plotted to steal a fortune, based on testimony from Burke and McKew, The Hustlers is a riotous journey back to 50s and 60s London. With a cast of characters that ranges from safecracker Eddie Chapman to the reckless Earl of Derby, from croupier Louis the Rat to unlucky Lord Lucan, it vividly recreates the exploits of the gamblers and gangsters whose lives collided in the clubs and pubs of Mayfair.'a fascinating glimpse into a bygone world . . . when chemmy parties took London by storm and toffs were often found to be rubbing shoulders with gangsters' Daily Express

From the international star of Riverdance, Lord of the Dance and Celtic Tiger, comes a no-holds-barred autobiography that reveals the person, the passion and the drama behind Michael Flatley's astonishing career. Michael describes growing up as the son of Irish immigrants in a tough Chicago neighbourhood and the many years he struggled to make real his dream of becoming a professional Irish dancer. He was in his mid-thirties when he was asked to create Riverdance for the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. Just as his dreams were being realised, Michael was shattered when he and Riverdance parted company. Now Michael explains whas really happened backstage and describes how he went on to create the enormously successful Lord of the Dance.Michael also deals openly with the controversies that have surrounded his success such as his turbulent love life and the illness and injuries that have threatened his career. Filled with commentary from family, friends and colleagues and brimming with Michael's Irish charm and good humour, this book is the very personal story of a man who has lived life to the fullest according to his own credo: nothing is impossible.

Cilla Black is one of Britain's best loved entertainers and an icon of the sixties. Known to one generation for a string of number one hits like 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' and 'You're My World', and loved by another for hosting the classic ITV show Blind Date, Cilla has come a long way from hanging coats in Liverpool's Cavern Club for five bob an hour. In Cilla: Queen of the Swinging Sixties, Douglas Thompson traces her rise to the top, her heart-warming marriage to Bobby Willis and the profound effect his death had on her. This affectionate biography is fitting tribute to 50 years in show-business for 'our Cilla'.

In her own words, the life of the beautiful young model and dancer who helped to bring down the Tory government of Harold Macmillan - the 'Profumo Affair' remains the greatest political sex scandal in recent British history.Following Christine Keeler's death in December 2017, it is now possible to update her book to include revelations that she did not wish to be published in her lifetime. The result is a revised and updated book containing material that has never been officially released, which really does lift the lid on just how far the Establishment will go to protect its own.Published to coincide with the BBC's major new six-part TV drama series, The Trial of Christine Keeler, starring Sophie Cookson as Keeler and James Norton as Stephen Ward

It was said of the young Frank Sinatra that he came across as 'St Francis of Assisi with a shoulder holster'. In Frank Sinatra and the Mafia Murders Mike Rothmiller and Douglas Thompson draw on previously secret Los Angeles Police intelligence files, a cache of FBI documents released to the authors in 2021 and extensive interviews with prime sources, including many who worked with Frank Sinatra and many more who tracked his long and fatal association with the American Mafia, notably his ongoing connection, after his original godfather was assassinated: Sam 'Momo' Giancana, who shared a lover with President John F. Kennedy.Sixteen days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy on 30 November 1963, nineteen-year-old Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped at gunpoint from his hotel room in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. A $240,000 ransom was demanded from his father. While the FBI and Nevada and California law-enforcement agencies sprang into action, Frank secretly contacted his Mafia friends for help. The Mafia believed they could free young Frank much more quickly through their underworld connections. Some of those they questioned died.Revealed here as never before is the extent to which Sinatra was adopted by the Mafia. They promoted his career and 'watched his back' and, in return, Sinatra danced to their tune. New information disclosed here shows that Sinatra also offered to spy for the CIA. Inside sources say Sinatra wanted the CIA to intercede to stop an investigation into his gaming licence in Las Vegas. But the CIA declined because they were already working with the Mob and were concerned Sinatra would learn of the Mafia's connection to the CIA and leak it.

'Wickedly entertaining', Lynn Barber, Daily TelegraphApril Ashley was a trailblazing figure in the history of transgender rights and advocacy. Born in 1935 in Liverpool, Ashley was assigned male at birth, but knew from a young age that she identified as a woman.At the age of sixteen, April left home and began her journey of self-discovery, eventually transitioning and undergoing gender-reassignment surgery in 1960. She became one of the first British people to undergo the procedure, which was illegal at the time in the UK.April's transition was met with both admiration and hostility from the media and the public. Despite facing discrimination and transphobia, she remained dedicated to promoting trans visibility and acceptance.In the 1960s, she moved to Paris and became a successful model and cabaret performer, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau. She also appeared in films and on television, becoming a prominent figure in the entertainment industry.Throughout her life, April Ashley was a tireless advocate for the rights of trans people, speaking out on issues such as discrimination, health care, and legal recognition. She received numerous awards for her activism, including an MBE in 2012 for services to transgender equality.Today, April's legacy continues to inspire and empower trans people around the world. Her courageous journey and unwavering dedication to fighting for trans rights will undoubtedly be remembered as a vital part of the LGBTQ+ movement.

John F. Kennedy's life is promoted by sentimental and careless myth-makers as pure legend. But a sinister shadow lies across it.His death was such a shocking event that the vivid memory of his assassination still blinds us to much of what went before. When it is recalled, it is almost always seen through the prism of that single, terrible day in Dallas, obscuring the dark corners of his time and government.For JFK, power was soundbites over policy, the White House a fairytale castle, and the President manifested as a hypersexualised movie star. As with Hollywood, the willing suspension of belief was required.Reality imposes no such limits.Drawing on essential new material derived from decades-long investigations, Detective Mike Rothmiller and Douglas Thompson shatter the secrets and lies with a revelatory and dramatic true-life thriller focusing on JFK and Robert F. Kennedy, both before and after they bought the White House.All the usual suspects, from FBI titan J. Edgar Hoover and billionaire Howard Hughes to CIA rogue agents and Mob hitmen appear in a narrative which sweeps from wartime London to the salons of Washington, from the bedrooms of Hollywood to the torture chambers and jungles of central America, and on to revolutionary Cuba and the tragic, bloody political carousel of Vietnam.

The astonishing true story of the Scottish coal miner's daughter who took on the Mafia-backed creators of the world's biggest financial fraud and helped the FBI to convict themSoon to be a major Hollywood film directed by Scott Z Burns 'In the 1990s, Erin Brockovich showed what a difference one smart, angry woman can make in a world that marginalized her. Jen McAdam stepped forward in our time to shut down a diabolical fraud that preys those most desperate.' Scott Z Burns, Director (Contagion and The Bourne Ultimatum)As featured on the hit BBC podcast The Missing CryptoqueenJen McAdam was a victim of the OneCoin global cryptocurrency fraud, which stole an estimated $27 billion from ordinary people around the world. The evil genius of the scam was its target, society's 'unbanked,' not wealthy investors, and it robbed millions of their livelihood and futures. The poor became poorer.The brutal plundering led by self-styled Cryptoqueen Ruja Ignatova defied all legal and banking barriers bamboozling financial authorities " until Jen McAdam fought back.With a £15,000 inheritance from her father, saved from a careful life in a west of Scotland mining town, Jen wanted to invest wisely for her family's future and was enraptured by the possibilities offered by OneCoin's promotional material and convincing endorsements from celebrities and financial institutions. They, like all Dr Ruja's flamboyant promises, were bogus.Jen McAdam was the first victim brave enough to fight back and despite death threats and an intimidating campaign to shut her down, and through a debilitating illness, strived tirelessly for justice - for herself, her family and friends, and the millions around the world who lost everything. She created and continues to lead victims 'support groups and in 2023, as the OneCoin bandits were being punished by international courts, spearheaded a move to get financial compensation for the many whose life hopes were cruelly crushed by the Cryptoqueen.This is a true David-and-Goliath story. It shows us the power we can have as individuals, even when things seem hopeless.

'Bobby called. He's coming to California. He wants to see me.'Drawing on secret police files, Marilyn Monroe's private diary and never before published first-hand testimony, this book proves that Robert Kennedy was directly responsible for her death. It details the legendary star's tumultuous personal involvement with him and his brother, President John Kennedy, and how they plotted to silence her.The new evidence and revelatory statements are provided by Mike Rothmiller who, as a detective of the Organized Crime Intelligence Division (OCID) of the LAPD, had direct personal access to hundreds of restricted LAPD files on exactly what happened at Marilyn Monroe's Californian home on August 5, 1962.With his training and investigator's knowledge, Rothmiller used that confidential information to get to the heart of the matter, to the people who were there the night Marilyn died - two of whom played major roles in the cover-up - and the wider conspiracy to protect the Kennedys whatever the collateral damage.There will be those with doubts, but to them, the lawman - who directed international intelligence operations targeting organized crime - says the printed, forensic and oral evidence are totally convincing. He insists: 'If I presented my evidence in any court of law, I'd get a conviction.'