Inside True Crime Magazine

Inside True Crime is a premier magazine dedicated to exploring the most fascinating, unique criminal cases, unsolved mysteries, and remarkable stories from the criminal under world.

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My name is Matthew B. Cox, and I served more than a decade in federal prison for bank fraud. During my years at FCC Coleman, I spent countless hours in the prison library listening to and writing the stories of fellow inmates—con men, drug traffickers, fugitives, bank robbers, and kingpins. Many of their lives were stranger than fiction, filled with twists, triumphs, and tragedy.

Inside True Crime magazine is dedicated to telling these remarkable true stories—not just the crimes, but the people behind them. The goal is simple: uncover extraordinary lives and bring them to a wider audience through journalism, documentaries, and film.

True Crime Stories

BAILOUT: The Life & Lies of Marcus Schrenker

By Matthew B. Cox AT NEARLY 24,000 FEET over Alabama, Schrenker shouted "Four-two-eight-delta-charlie!" into his headset. He was cutting through the freezing January air at 300 mph in a single engine turbo-prop Piper Meridian. "Atlanta Center! This is an emergency! I'm experiencing severe turbulence and my windshield is spider cracking ... Windshield has failed!" At just shy of five miles above the Earth it was a devastating admission. Over 200 Miles away in Peachtree City,

Matthew B. Cox

42 min read

INDEFENSIBLE: A Story of Government Corruption, Murder & One Man's Fight for Freedom

EX-DEA TASK FORCE AGENT Donald Nides, placed his Taurus .357 revolver to the right-side of his head. He pushed the steel cylindrical barrel against the soft tissue of his grey temple; then pulled the hammer back until it clicked into the locked position and wrapped a finger around the trigger. It was November 5, 2014, a sticky, grey, Wednesday morning in the Big Easy. The humidity was so thick, it was as if the levees had never been repaired. Inside the single-story brick hou

Matthew B. Cox

36 min read

THE GAP: The Outrageous Story of how a Confidence Man Reinvented a Classic Con and Left the Mark Holding the Bag

IT’S UNCLEAR IF Sebastian Black[1] was wearing one of his signature Brioni suits and suspenders during the long flight to Australia. Nor do we know if the seasoned confidence man drank Sambuca on the rocks–his favorite liqueur–or flat soda. He may or may not have flirted with the attractive flight attendants in first-class. Regardless, when Sebastian stepped out of the Boeing Triple-Seven at Perth International Airport, it appeared he’d pulled off the perfect scam. It wasn’t

Matthew B. Cox & Pierre Rausini

50 min read

IT'S INSANITY: The Bizarre Story of a Bipolar Megalomaniac's Insane Plan for Total World Domination

THE U.S. MARINES STOOD TAUT at the edge of the gatehouse, the black Suburbans and Lincoln Towncar entered the White House grounds. Inside the Lincoln sat Frank L. Amodeo, the founder of Mirabilis Ventures Inc, a conglomerate of over seventy companies in various industries—including consulting, corporate security, manufacturing, employee leasing and hotel ownership—with 40,000 employees and nearly a billion dollars in annual revenue. At the corporate mogul's mental core he was

Matthew B. Cox & Pierre Rausini

72 min read

SHARK IN THE HOUSING POOL: On the Run with the Secret Service's Most Wanted

WHEN I PLACED MY GARY SULLIVAN ID on the counter of the pristine Columbia, South Carolina branch of Wachovia Bank in March 2005, I appeared to be just another clean-cut businessman sporting a Rolex in Dolce & Gabbana; conducting a routine bank transaction, removing some cash from one of my many accounts scattered throughout the city’s banks. In fact, I was the U.S. Secret Service’s most wanted fugitive, Matthew B. Cox, one of the most notorious, mortgage fraud con artists of

Matthew B. Cox

29 min read

The Twins Who Brought Down El Chapo

How Pedro and Margarito Flores Built a Drug Empire—and Then Betrayed the World's Most Powerful Cartel Boss For years, Pedro and Margarito Flores lived a life most drug traffickers only dream about. They moved multi-ton quantities of narcotics across the United States. They handled hundreds of millions of dollars. They dealt directly with some of the most feared cartel leaders in the world. And then they walked away. In one of the most remarkable reversals in modern organized-

Greg P. Thomason

3 min read

Skinny Joey

How a Philadelphia Mob Boss Survived the Mafia Wars and Reinvented Himself Behind a Microphone For most mob bosses, the story ends in one of two places: a cemetery or a prison cell. Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino found a third option. Today, Merlino hosts a podcast, gives interviews, and discusses organized crime from the comfort of a recording studio. But long before he became a media personality, he was one of the most feared and controversial figures in the Philadelphia unde

William Stortz

3 min read

The Hacker Who Stole America

How Albert Gonzalez Orchestrated the Largest Credit Card Theft in History By the time federal agents arrested Albert Gonzalez in 2008, he had helped steal more credit card numbers than any criminal in American history. The number was almost impossible to comprehend. More than 170 million credit and debit card numbers. Banks lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Retailers scrambled to contain the damage. Consumers across the country discovered fraudulent charges appearing on a

Christopher Todd

3 min read

Feature Articles

BAILOUT: The Life & Lies of Marcus Schrenker

By Matthew B. Cox AT NEARLY 24,000 FEET over Alabama, Schrenker shouted "Four-two-eight-delta-charlie!" into his headset. He was cutting through the freezing January air at 300 mph in a single engine turbo-prop Piper Meridian. "Atlanta Center! This is an emergency! I'm experiencing severe turbulence and my windshield is spider cracking ... Windshield has failed!" At just shy of five miles above the Earth it was a devastating admission. Over 200 Miles away in Peachtree City,

INDEFENSIBLE: A Story of Government Corruption, Murder & One Man's Fight for Freedom

EX-DEA TASK FORCE AGENT Donald Nides, placed his Taurus .357 revolver to the right-side of his head. He pushed the steel cylindrical barrel against the soft tissue of his grey temple; then pulled the hammer back until it clicked into the locked position and wrapped a finger around the trigger. It was November 5, 2014, a sticky, grey, Wednesday morning in the Big Easy. The humidity was so thick, it was as if the levees had never been repaired. Inside the single-story brick hou

THE GAP: The Outrageous Story of how a Confidence Man Reinvented a Classic Con and Left the Mark Holding the Bag

IT’S UNCLEAR IF Sebastian Black[1] was wearing one of his signature Brioni suits and suspenders during the long flight to Australia. Nor do we know if the seasoned confidence man drank Sambuca on the rocks–his favorite liqueur–or flat soda. He may or may not have flirted with the attractive flight attendants in first-class. Regardless, when Sebastian stepped out of the Boeing Triple-Seven at Perth International Airport, it appeared he’d pulled off the perfect scam. It wasn’t