New York City’s own Lizzie Borden, and eleven other true crimes “as ghastly as anything in American Horror Story” (SILive.com). Today, Polly Bodine’s name is lost to history. But on Christmas night of 1843, she was accused of murdering her sister-in-law and infant niece in ways so heinous that the great showman P.T. Barnum, proclaimed her “The Witch of Staten Island.” Even Edgar Allan Poe weighed in on the female fiend, fearing she’d escape justice. He was right. Polly was tried three times, finally acquitted, and disappeared into anonymity—and legend—until her death fifty years later. Her story is just one of a dozen horrific murders unearthed by historian Patricia M. Salmon in this fascinating peek into the gruesome history of the New York borough. Among the other headline-making cases: The Baby Farm Murders, The Jazz Age Kiss Slayer, The Body in the Barrel, and more. These turn-of-the century tabloid tales of serial killers and psychopaths, love gone wrong, cold-blooded revenge, and unsolved mysteries are still the stuff of nightmares.

Historical true crime tales from this not-so-quiet New York City borough. Despite its reputation as the least bustling of New York’s five boroughs, Staten Island has seen its share of violence and murder—dating back even to its days as a sleepy farming community in the mid-eighteenth century. The 1920 discovery of a woman’s body by two young boys walking their dog remains unsolved. An inmate at Sailors’ Snug Harbor—a retirement home for seamen—shot a preacher in cold blood. Shocking and horrific stories of killers and their victims such as these plague Staten Island’s otherwise pleasant past. From the handsome soldier convicted of his Russian wife's shooting in New Dorp Beach to the New Brighton guard beaten to death while protecting seized whiskey during Prohibition, local historian Patricia Salmon uncovers Staten Island’s most chilling tales of crime—both the infamous and the long forgotten. Includes photos

Setting: New York City, the 1980s, the music business and the underworld. Meet Savannah, the sassy, sexy heroine of Assorted Hits: Music, Murder, Mayhem and the Mob©. A girl who fi nds herself in a bit of trouble after aiming her pearl-handled .22 caliber in the direction of Leonardo Ingrasio Pasquale (better known in the music biz as LIP), owner of AlBea Records and Savannah’s boss of several years. (Once, she would have taken a bullet for LIP. Now she put three in him.) After pulling the trigger, her adventures really begin. Surrounded by a cast of characters that includes the suave and oh-so-manly Jimmy Big Balls (Bs to his friends), who loves Savannah like a daughter and has friends in important (read: connected) places to keep her from harm. The Chuppah Boys, record company types who are so busy kissing ass that they are constantly in need of Chapstick and in danger of missing the next big thing. I.C. Greenfi elds, the lawyer extraordinaire who can work both a courtroom and a press junket at the same time. Through it all Savannah fi nds herself on the ride of her life, dishing out attitude and sex appeal in generous doses. There’s the mystery man, whose involvement in her defense reveals juicy tidbits from LIP’s past. The oldworld parents, who raised Savannah née Shoshanna Sneider in Brooklyn to be a good Orthodox Jewish girl. This is the story of Savannah in all her glory. With street-smart savvy, music business mojo and leopard skin stilettos, she’s the girl behind the gun, behind the scenes and in front of the jury. It’s a story you don’t want to miss, because this is only the beginning.

Staten Island has a rich and fascinating cultural legacy that few people outside New York City's greenest borough know about. Chewing gum was invented on the island with the help of Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna. Country music legend Roy Clark got his start as a virtuoso guitar player on the Staten Island Ferry. Anna Leonowens, who worked with the king's children in the Court of Siam and was the basis for The King and I, came back to Staten Island to write about her experiences and run a school for children. Join native authors Theresa Anarumo and Maureen Seaberg as they document the hidden history of Staten Island.

On December 2, 2007, a quiet home in a quiet neighbourhood in Staten Island became immortalized as 'the Mercereau house' when it became a crime scene. A 38-year-old fire marshal widely recognized as a "rising star" in the New York Fire Department, Doug Mercereau, was curled up in the fetal position, dressed in his pajamas - shot to death. As an arson investigator, Doug carried a department handgun on the job, and his pistol was discovered next to the body. While the nearby service pistol initially suggested the death was a suicide, the autopsy revealed three gunshot wounds in the victim's head.

Ash Wednesday Beautiful, bubbly, 20-year-old Kim Antonakos was returning to her New York City apartment after a night of clubbing with a friend. A business major with wild black hair, long polished fingernails, and a new Honda her loving father had bought her, Kim took good care of herself and looked forward to a bright future. But on her way home in the early morning darkness of that Ash Wednesday, Kim was abducted-and her mysterious kidnappers would be the last people to see her alive. Scorching Betrayal As Kim's father, wealthy computer executive Tommy Antonakos, launched a widespread, feverish search for his daughter, he had no idea that her abductors were right under his nose. A cold mastermind had ordered had ordered Kim to be bound, gagged and left in the freezing basement of an abandoned house, hoping to extract ransom from her father. When the plans fell through, he and his henchman panicked, returned to the basement and doused a near-frozen Kim with gasoline, setting her on fire. Burned Alive When the fire was extinguished, all that was left of the lovely coed were her charred, lifeless remains. What would drive the kidnappers to commit such a cruel and senseless murder? How did their plans to cover their tracks result in another killing? And how were the murderers finally snared? Read all of the fascinating facts in a startling expose of extortion, murder, and ultimate justice.