“The first thing I always notice… is that I’m not alone.”

The International Criminal Court embodied the hope of bringing warlords and demagogues to justice. Then Luis Moreno-Ocampo took on the heir to Kenya’s most powerful political dynasty.

They call me the Greeter. I sell shoes at the Boca Raton Town Center mall — bedazzled stilettos and platforms, neon-strapped pumps saved for special occasions. I stand by the entrance of the store, heels dug into the carpet, tummy tucked in, and I greet people. Hi, how are you, sunshine? Have you seen our shoes today?

Those who survived tell the story of twenty three ISIS hostages’ shared months of brutal captivity before some were ransomed and some executed.

The story of Universe 25, a mouse utopia that became an overcrowded hell, and its implications for the future of humankind.

The story of Christopher and Jeffrey George, the twin proprietors of a pain clinic empire.

The short-lived literary career of Breece DʼJ Pancake and his roadmap to a world of oppressive poverty.

On Tse Chi Lop, “the Jeff Bezos of the drug trade” and ringleader of a $21-billion crime syndicate.

Convicted and facing jail time plus a crippling fine in Sweden, the founders of the torrent site The Pirate’s Bay have scattered across the world towards new lives: fatherhood in Laos, a junkie’s life in Phnom Penh, and start-up work in Berlin.

A murder case in Los Angeles, cold since the late ’80s, heats up thanks to breakthroughs in forensic science and leads detectives to “one of the unlikeliest murder suspects in the city’s history.”

In 2005, the prisoner who had set the U.S. penal system record for years in solitary confinement was moved to what’s called “the Alcatraz of the Rockies”—a jail in Colorado built just for him.

How the seizure of Europe’s largest heroin shipment created bloody fallout throughout the world—and sparked still-raging political corruption scandals in Turkey, Greece, and the Middle East.

“Stanley McChrystal, Obama’s top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House.”

In 1991, Edwin Debrow shot and killed a cab driver on the east side of San Antonio. He was twelve years old. Twenty-five years later, he is still in prison. Is that justice? And is there room for mercy?

In high school, I started to become like a local legend. A hood celebrity, if you will. And you really gotta understand how poppin’ New York City basketball was at that time. I’m playing against Stephon Marbury, Skip 2 My Lou, Alimoe (rest in peace), all these guys who would become household names, they were just kids from around the way. Man, even Cam’ron was super nice!!!

I knew all these guys from when we was little kids playing church basketball, and now all of a sudden we got Jay-Z, Puff, Dame Dash — all these guys are showing up to our games. That’s how insane New York City basketball was at that time.

Guatemala discovers, in bat-guano spotted documents, the truth about its violent past.

The internet has made porn ubiquitous. It’s also ruined the industry.

The case of Brett Kimberlin.

The story of twelve men trapped in a West Virginia mine, as remembered by the lone survivor.

How General Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, became the most powerful intelligence officer in U.S. history.

The murky legacy of the former Attorney General.

On the unlikely survival (for the second time) of Kamaishi, Japan.

On a failed attack in Spokane and the fragments of homegrown terrorism in the United States.