“The serial killer media industrial complex rages on, but what has it taught us? Very little about the crimes in question, and much more about ourselves.”
Crime
Posted inEditor's Pick
Why Did Walter Springs Die?
“In time, it was almost as if he had never existed at all.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Aristocrat Inc.
“How a small computer chip company, owned by the author’s mother, became the target of a sprawling pan-Asian crime ring that operated throughout Silicon Valley.”
Posted inNonfiction
‘Do You Know These Women?’
Sarah Souli | November 2022 | 13 minutes (3,781 words) This is an excerpt from The Atavist’s issue no. 133, “A Matter of Honor.” The story was completed with generous support from the Incubator for Media Education and Development, a nonprofit journalistic organization founded in 2018 with an exclusive donation from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. “Just by being there, […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Cause of the Crime Wave Is Hiding in Plain Sight
When crime goes up, divining the root of the problem is usually as ideologically fraught as it is practically impossible. But this probing feature from Alec MacGillis eludes both traps. Instead, it examines two American cities and comes to a conclusion that’s all the more compelling for its obviousness: stop letting people rot in jail. […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
An Art Crime for the Ages
In the second half of the 20th century, Bangkok-based British businessman Douglas Latchford was at the center of an operation that trafficked ancient Khmer sculptures and archaeological treasures out of Cambodia. These pieces of art traveled far, ending up in rich people’s homes and museums like the Met. Matthew Campbell tells an engrossing story filled with […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Bullet and the Ballplayer
In 2019, beloved baseball player David Ortiz was shot at a bar in the Dominican Republic. The shooting swiftly unraveled the two very different lives the Boston Red Sox star had been living, in Boston and in his home country. Mike Damiano masterfully tells Ortiz’s story for Boston magazine. That frenzied quest for answers has […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
He Spent 25 Years Infiltrating Nazis, the Klan, and Biker Gangs
“At six feet four and 260 pounds, he fills up a room without meaning to, though he never wastes time trying to merge with his surroundings. He’s funny and profane and could charm a lampshade off its base with his whiskey-sour drawl and Harley swagger. Small wonder that even strangers at the Quik Mart call […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
He Was in Witness Protection in Maine. But His Harlem Life Kept Calling.
“Even in death, a coherent picture of Mr. Martinez’s double life — which was once the subject of a Hollywood movie — proves elusive. He was both a loyal confidant and one of the most infamous turncoats in New York lore. He was a kind friend and an admitted, ruthless killer; a selfless neighbor and […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Long Afterlife of a Terrible Crime
“Decades after her mother was killed, Regina Alexander reached out to the son of the people who did it.”