Bøker av Pete Bird

Some murders offer more questions than answers. The vicious slaying of Michael McMorrow, a forty-four-year-old real estate worker, is such a case. That his murder was carried out by fifteen-year-old kids is just one of the bizarre elements to the crime, which took place in the Strawberry Fields area of Central Park, New York City, in 1997.Who actually wielded the blows that killed Michael? Was it Daphne Abdela, the rich girl gone bad? Or Christopher Vasquez, the boy from the other side of the tracks whose numerous emotional issues saw him placed on prescription drugs to help him cope with anxiety and depression? Or was it the two, egging each other on in a fit of alcohol fuelled frenzy?

'The Irishman' is a great film. OK, so at almost three and a half hours running time it's a tad on the long side. But with stars like Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro working under the direction of Martin Scorsese, those hours are bound to pass quickly, and with, if not exactly enjoyment (it's not that kind of film), then certainly plenty of interest. But for all the qualities of the movie, we should not lose sight that its primary purpose is as a piece of public entertainment. In terms of relating the true story of Jimmy Hoffa, some of its story lines can be taken with a liberal pinch of salt.What really happened to Jimmy Hoffa, the controversial union leader who straddled the lines between the Mafia and the blue collar world? Is he really buried under a football goalpost or was he chopped into pieces and thrown to sea? Who benefitted the most from his mysterious disappearance?