Why are you here and why am I doing this?

Why are you here and why am I doing this?

If you're like me, THIS is as close to crime as you want to get.

You want to maintain a safe distance and delve into it when it's convenient for you; not when some lunatic knocks on your door in the middle of the night, runs you off the road or approaches you in a parking lot.

Maybe you are a Murderino?

I'm someone who resolves every New Year's Eve to NOT be the victim of a crime.

Some of the crimes I'll describe here aren't horrific or even result in death, but they're still situations to be avoided. Who wants the drama or the paperwork associated with a non-violent crime? Not me.

I know I'm not the only one who's interested in reading about crime & criminals. I hope to use this blog to share that interest with others.

My process is to find something in an old newspaper, news broadcast or my own memory that grabs my attention and delve deep. I research the cases and people using newspaper and magazine archives, genealogy sites plus court or prison documents (when I can afford them). Lately the way I write the stories has changed. I'm starting to show the effort I've made to track down specific details. I also seem to be posting less frequently. This can be attributed to the fact that I'm now concerned with the As Close to Crime YouTube channel as well as my habit of falling deeper and deeper into rabbit holes with each new entry. I'd rather have quality than quantity, so I've come to terms with the lessening output.

I try not rely too heavily on other websites or books but I credit people when it's appropriate. In fact, if my main source of information is someone else's book, I'll just recommend the book. This was the case with "The Bobbed Haired Bandit."

Don't expect too many Top 10 lists from me. I instead prefer to select the more obscure crimes that some visitors to this blog have either never heard of or haven't thought about in awhile.

I also like to give attention to not just those who break the law but those who uphold the law. So you can expect to see some of that here.

There's a companion YouTube Channel for this blog, called As Close to Crime, where I occasionally post clips related to particular blog entries or just random clips concerning criminal activity. I'm never going to post an entire commercially available film.

Be sure to subscribe to the channel or this blog.

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Saturday, April 14, 2018

An Intriguing Reveal


I'm not going to use this blog entry to tell the story of Ed and Celia Cooney but instead I want to suggest you read the book "The Bobbed Haired Bandit" by Stephen Duncombe and Andrew Mattson.


Their research methods are very similar to mine in that they rely heavily on newspaper archives. I doubt I'd uncover something they didn't. Plus, they each have the benefit of a formal education and do a very good job of telling not just the Cooneys' story but placing it in the context of everything else that was happening both politically and socially in NYC at the time.

Maybe you'll be sold on this book for the same reason I was?

Imagine your 85-year-old mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's, routinely wandering away from her Florida home and starting to walk back toward NYC until the police locate her and bring her back. Now, imagine your mother tells you that she's worried "They'll find out who I am." And who is that? Why, "The Bobbed Haired Bandit," of course. Who? Everyone assumed it was the Alzheimer's talking.

Ed and Celia Cooney
Celia Cooney was very big news in 1924 and was still worthy of the public's attention in 1936. However, her exploits were all but forgotten by 1989 when Celia made this confession to her youngest son Ed, Jr. It was only after Celia's death that he and his older brother Patrick learned the truth about their parents' crime spree.

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