Military And Police Forces

In this disturbing and wide-ranging account, acclaimed journalist Juliette Volcler looks at the long history of efforts by military and police forces to deploy sound against enemies, criminals, and law-abiding citizens.

The New England Mafia was a hugely powerful organization that survived by using violence to ruthlessly crush anyone that threatened it, or its lucrative gambling, loansharking, bootlegging, and other enterprises. Psychopathic strongman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza was one of the most feared mob enforcers of all time, killing as many as 30 people for business and pleasure.

…Close protection is defined as the provision of armed or unarmed specialists to protect a nominated principal from harm' - Excerpt from a Standing Committee on Army Organisation by the Director of Military Operations, dated 30 November 1979.

By Florian Lahner

In turbulent Shanghai in the years between the World Wars, the International Settlement was a mercantile powerhouse that faced unrest from Communist labor unions, criminal gangs, spies, political agitators, armed kidnappers and assassins. Adjoining the Settlement were the French Concession and the Chinese city, both hotbeds of intrigue and crime themselves. Called the most sinful in the world, the Settlement relied on its police: the Shanghai Municipal Police, one of the most advanced forces in the world.