Crime

Martha Stewart turned her lifestyle advice into a billion-dollar business: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. In addition to her magazines, Stewart has a new book, The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Grow, or Manage a Business. She also has new shows on television and radio this fall.

The new film A History of Violence stars Viggo Mortenson. Director David Cronenberg has made a movie that many viewers will likely find easier to approach than his other movies.

The aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks revitalized New York City's mafia organizations. That's one of the revelations of former 'New York Times' crime reporter Selwyn Raab's new book, 'Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires'.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews The Constant Gardener, the new thriller based on the John Le Carre novel. The film is directed by City of God's Fernando Meirelles and stars Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.

More than 20 years ago, Jody Arlington was at home when her 18-year-old brother murdered their parents and younger sister. She thought she was next, but instead her brother told her they were now free. He went to prison, and Arlington changed her name and had to learn how to live without her family. A similar family slaying has prompted her to speak out about her experiences.

Edward Bunker died Tuesday at age 71 of complications from diabetes. He went to San Quentin prison at age 17 and was their youngest inmate. While incarcerated, Bunker wrote the crime fiction classic No Beast So Fierce. He also acted in more than 20 films, including Reservoir Dogs. This story was originally broadcast on July 12, 1993.

In his new book The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison, chemist John Emsley chronicles cases of accidental and intentional use of lethal substances throughout the ages. Some say Beethoven and Mozart were poisoned to death.

Director Gregg Araki and novelist Scott Heim have collaborated on the new film Mysterious Skin, based on Heim's novel of the same name. It's the story of two young men who were sexually molested as boys, and the different ways in which trauma has shaped their lives.

From 1998 to 2000, William Queen went undercover for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and rode with the Mongols, a southern California motorcycle gang. His new book is Under and Alone.

We talk with Brad Bird, who wrote and directed the Academy Award-winning film The Incredibles, about a suburban family with superpowers. The mix of average characters and extraordinary abilities has turned the animated characters into celebrities.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Sin City, starring Bruce Willis and directed by Robert Rodriguez and comic writer-artist Frank Miller.

Criminal defense attorney Johnnie Cochran died Tuesday at age 67 of cancer, after having been diagnosed in 2003 with an inoperable brain tumor. In 1995, Cochran won O.J. Simpson a not-guilty verdict in the slayings of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Over the years, Cochran defended celebrities as well as lesser-known individuals. He represented football great Jim Brown, as well as rappers Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Sean Combs. (Originial airdate: 10/10/96)

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new season of The Shield. The critically acclaimed show is adding actress Glen Close to its cast of burly, often violent alpha males.

Filmmaker Robert Stone's new documentary tells the story of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the radical group that kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst in 1974. We speak with Stone and with reporter Tim Findley, who covered the kidnapping for the Hearst newspaper The San Francisco Chronicle.

The multi-talented Mos Def plays a police officer in the new indie film The Woodsman, also starring Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, about a pedophile who moves into a suburban neighborhood. He also has a new rap album, The New Danger. Mos Def has appeared in the films Bamboozled, Monster's Ball, and Brown Sugar. He made his Broadway debut with the play Topdog/Underdog, and has also won an Obie Award. Mos Def will be in the upcoming films A Confederacy of Dunces and A Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy.

The first season of the HBO TV series The Wire is now out on DVD. Critic John Powers has a review.

Suketu Mehta's new book is Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found. It's an exploration of Mehta's hometown, where he returned after a 21-year absence. Born in Bombay, one of the world's most populous areas, Mehta still believes it's the city of the future.

Mehta now lives in New York. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Conde Nast Traveler and The Village Voice. He co-wrote a Bollywood movie called Mission Kashmir.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews the new Pixar animated film The Incredibles. Voiced by Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter, among others, the comic film tracks a family of superheroes who must abandon a quiet life in the suburbs to fight evil.

The acclaimed HBO series begins its third season. Simon is the show's creator and executive producer. Simon was a police reporter for The Baltimore Sun who moved to television and wrote for the show Homicide: Life on the Street. Pelecanos is a D.C.-based crime novelist who now writes for TV and film. Esquire magazine calls him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world."