Mark of a Murderer
Two killers and one cop: The story of the LaMarca family, told over three generations.
Two killers and one cop: The story of the LaMarca family, told over three generations.
Mike McAlary Esquire Sep 1997 30min Permalink
A polygamist clan descended from four original families, the Order are believed to run the largest organized crime operation in Utah. When a chest full of gold disappeared, suspicion immediately fell on a group of boys who had split with the cult.
Jesse Hyde Rolling Stone Jun 2011 25min Permalink
How what was once one of the most popular websites on Earth—with ambitions to redefine music, dating, and pop culture—became a graveyard of terrible design and failed corporate initiatives:
In retrospect, DeWolfe says, the imperative to monetize the site stunted its evolution: "When we did the Google deal, we basically doubled the ads on our site," making it more cluttered. The size, quality, and placement of ads became another source of tension with News Corp., according to DeWolfe and another executive. "Remember the rotten teeth ad?" DeWolfe says. "And the weight-loss ads that would show a stomach bulging over a pair of pants?"
Felix Gillette Businessweek Jun 2011 Permalink
On the brother of the Sultan of Brunei, Prince Jefri Bolkiah, who has “probably gone through more cash than any other human being on earth.”
Mark Seal Vanity Fair Jul 2011 45min Permalink
This past Memorial Day weekend, Steven T. Florio, the president and CEO of Conde Nast Publications, made a dramatic change at The New Yorker, the most illustrious of the 17 magazines he runs for billionaire S.I. "Si" Newhouse Jr. He fired his own brother.
Joseph Nocera, Peter Elkind Fortune Jul 1998 25min Permalink
A profile of GOP hopeful Jon Huntsman.
Chris Jones Esquire Aug 2011 25min Permalink
On the cross-country travels of the fugitive mob boss.
Shelley Murphy The Boston Globe Jan 1998 15min Permalink
On animal cremation and burial in New York:
Riding around Manhattan on a delivery run with a car full of pet cremains, it's hard not to look at the world differently. The omnipresence of pets becomes glaringly obvious, and their inevitable fate is never far from the mind. It's easy to imagine the whippet being jaywalked across Eighth Avenue getting hit by a car. The cocker spaniel on 23rd Street? A bucket of cocker bones in the making.
Steven Thrasher Village Voice Nov 2009 15min Permalink
On digital animators’ quest to capture the endlessly complex human face.
Lawrence Weschler Wired Oct 2006 15min Permalink
There are believed to be 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. We’re not always who you think we are. Some pick your strawberries or care for your children. Some are in high school or college. And some, it turns out, write news articles you might read. I grew up here. This is my home. Yet even though I think of myself as an American and consider America my country, my country doesn’t think of me as one of its own.
Jose Antonio Vargas New York Times Magazine Jun 2011 20min Permalink
On his legacy, his impact on California, and why “saints should be judged guilty until proven innocent.”
Caitlin Flanagan The Atlantic Jul 2011 20min Permalink
With Osama dead, U.S. intelligence is zeroing in on the remaining most dangerous terrorists alive, and one man is at the top of the list. Of the eighteen terror attacks attempted in the United States over the past two years, Anwar al-Awlaki’s fingerprints are on eight of them. The moderate turned radical is eloquent, he is popular— and he’s American.
Patrick Symmes GQ Jul 2011 15min Permalink
Noel Morris’s place in history? Noel Morris was my older brother, who had dropped out of MIT and spent most of his waking hours holed up in an apartment working at a computer terminal. This was in the ‘60s, long before there was anything close to a home computer. The name Tom Van Vleck was not unfamiliar. He was a friend of my brother’s who worked with him at MIT in those days. I called him.
Errol Morris New York Times Jun 2011 1h25min Permalink
Dr. Drew has turned addiction television into a mini-empire, offering treatment and cameras to celebrities who have fallen far enough to take the bait. His motivations, he insists, are pure:
Whether the doctor purposefully cultivates his celebrity stature for noble means or wittingly invites it because he himself likes being in the spotlight, he is operating on the assumption that his empathetic brand of TV will breed empathy instead of the more likely outcome, that it will just breed more TV.
Natasha Vargas-Cooper GQ Jul 2011 15min Permalink
A two-part breakdown of how mental illness is diagnosed and treated.
Marcia Angell New York Review of Books Jul 2011 35min Permalink
On the prosecution of former hedge fund star Raj Rajaratnam.
George Packer New Yorker Jun 2011 45min Permalink
On therapists who help people stay in the closet.
Mimi Swartz New York Times Magazine Jun 2011 30min Permalink
Duke Nukem 3D made its creators filthy rich. Trying to complete its sequel nearly destroyed them.
Clive Thompson Wired Dec 2009 20min Permalink
Eagleman, a neuroscientist, describes how groundbreaking advances in the science of brain have changed our understanding of volition in criminal acts, and may erode the underpinnings of our justice system.
David Eagleman The Atlantic Jul 2011 30min Permalink
On the Birthright Israel program, which sends young American Jews on a tour of Israel free of charge, thanks to massive funding from both the Israeli government and philanthropists like the conservative casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
A new era is dawning for Birthright. What began as an identity booster has become an ideology machine, pumping out not only Jewish baby-makers but defenders of Israel. Or that’s the hope.
Kiera Feldman The Nation Jun 2011 15min Permalink
The surreal existence of an AOL content writer:
I was given eight to ten article assignments a night, writing about television shows that I had never seen before. AOL would send me short video clips, ranging from one-to-two minutes in length — clips from “Law & Order,” “Family Guy,” “Dancing With the Stars,” the Grammys, and so on and so forth… My job was then to write about them. But really, my job was to lie.
Oliver Miller The Faster Times Jun 2011 10min Permalink
A schizophrenic man kills his counselor at a group home in Massachusetts:
Many people wondered aloud whether the system had failed both the suspect and the victim. How had Ms. Moulton ended up alone in a home with a psychotic man who had a history of violence and was off his medication? How had Mr. Chappell been allowed to deteriorate without setting off alarms?
Deborah Sontag New York Times Jun 2011 20min Permalink
An oral history of The Simpsons.
John Ortved Vanity Fair Aug 2007 40min Permalink
How synthetic drugs became a booming (and mostly legal) business.
Ben Paynter Businessweek Jun 2011 Permalink
This new strain of Republican is not one Wisconsin, nor the United States, has ever seen...The new Republicans are corporate wrecking crews, given a sledgehammer, a piece of legislation and a command to "make it fit."