Las Vegas, NV, – Ron Wall, the man known as The Duke of Fremont Street has been a well-recognized figure around the poker rooms of Las Vegas for many years so he is used to defending his hand at the tables. What he wasn’t prepared for was the savage attempt on his life during a robbery in a hotel room on June 26th, 2010 in Primm, Nevada, outside of Las Vegas.
The Duke thought he was meeting a man he had dealt with before at Whiskey Pete’s to purchase gold and silver. Duke was carrying $137,000 in cash and a couple of Smith & Wesson .38 caliber handguns. Instead, as he entered the hotel room he was ambushed, hit on the head, and for the next twenty minutes the man and a female accomplice pummeled and attacked him with any and every item they could find in the room – a lamp, an iron, a two wheel dolly, and even a toilet tank cover! The Duke was stabbed with a knife and also suffered a scalping wound.
“The twenty minutes seemed more like an eternity to me” said Duke. “I fought with all that I had in me. I knew that I had to stay conscious or I would have been killed and dumped in the desert.”
After the two hog-tied The Duke with duct tape and phone cords, they went into the bathroom – either to clean up or count the money – and Duke knew he had to grab the moment to get away or it was all over for him. Dazed and covered in blood, he got out of his restraints and made it out of the room and down the hall to the registration desk for help. “I thought my number was up,” he recalled.
Needless to say, Duke suffered multiple injuries in this vicious attack. He suffered a concussion and numerous head wounds, fractured cheek bones, broken ribs, and had defensive stab wounds and fractures to both hands. Duke had to undergo surgery and had to attend physical therapy sessions for many months.
The suspects fled to California with his money, but Duke identified the man as Edmond Price, who has a prior criminal history, and the woman as 23-year old Victoria Elizabeth Edelman, described as Price’s girlfriend, out of a photo lineup. They were arrested in California soon after the attack and were later extradited from California to Nevada where they were indicted by a grand jury for eight felony counts. They face anywhere from 15 years to life in prison if convicted on all counts. The bail for each defendant was set at $2,000,000 because of potential flight risk and because authorities suspected they would use Duke’s money, which has yet to be recovered, to hire their defense attorneys.
The Duke has a reputation for being cautious and not taking risks at the poker table; however, his adventurous exploits around the globe are well known among his fellow poker players. When his absence was noticed in the poker world it was thought at first by the rumor mill that he must have been ambushed on one of his many adventures to the Amazon, or some other wild and remote place he has visited, but this time it was something much closer to home that just completely caught him off-guard. The Duke refuses to be considered a victim but believes he is a survivor instead. When asked about the attempted murder and robbery Duke said he “was just dealt a bad hand!”
Since The Duke is considered somewhat of a legend in Las Vegas, easily recognized for his 1930 era gangster-look – complete with custom made, pinstriped Italian suits, polka dot ties, fedora, diamond pinky rings, and even spats – it is expected that the trial will be a highly visible one. His many followers on numerous poker blogs will want justice for this gracious gentleman who has been part of the allure of Las Vegas for many years.
The Duke, who’s conservative poker playing style is far less flashy than his persona, has been featured on the cover of Poker Pro magazine and written up in numerous articles. He believes that surviving the recent brutal attack means that he once again made ‘a win in the game of life’ and, in his words…”The Adventure Continues!”
TIP SHEET: ‘Duke’ calls attack just a bad hand – Article in Las Vegas Review Journal
Havertown, PA, – Mildred Gillars was an Ohio-bred woman who simply went to Germany in 1934 to study music and then fell in love. However, after war broke out in 1939 she elected to stay in Germany hoping for marriage, but her fiancée was killed during the war. That is when she became the mistress of Max Otto Koischwicz – a charming former college professor, now Nazi Officer, who enlisted her in the German overseas radio where she went from a simple announcer to master propagandist and became the voice feared by American GI’s. Richard Lucas does a superb job of illustrating the life of this notorious woman in Axis Sally: The American Voice of Nazi Germany (Casemate Publishers ISBN: 978-1-935149-43-9).
A failed Broadway actress, Gillars used her sexy voice to taunt troops into suspecting their wives and girlfriends back home were being unfaithful, and to describe the horrible deaths they were going to meet on the battlefield. With information obtained from German military intelligence, she caused fear and anxiety among the men by conveying personal greetings to individual US units that made GI’s believe the Germans knew their whereabouts and who they were.
She was captured by Americans at the end of the war in spite of an attempt to escape as a refugee, and was returned to the U.S. to stand trial for treason. With a nation still recovering from the horrors of war, her trial in 1949 as an American who betrayed her country was huge! It took just three months for the jury to find her guilty and she was sentenced to 10-30 years in prison. However, she was paroled after just twelve years, and until her death in 1988 she quietly lived out the remainder of her life as a music instructor in a Catholic girl’s school in Ohio.
This is a compelling, often poignant story, brilliantly told by Richard Lucas, of one of the most notorious Americans of the 20th century – a woman who betrayed her country for love, paid the price, and is buried in an unmarked grave in her native Ohio since her death in 1988.
John Batchelor, of the The John Batchelor Radio Show: “An exciting story of things you didn’t know about radio….it would make a wonderful movie.”
Brian Albrecht, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer: “To the author, “Axis Sally” became the final victim of her own propaganda, who “paid a heavy price for that delusion.” She is buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery, south of Columbus, in an unmarked grave. And perhaps in some ways, the author intended his book to serve as that missing marker, explaining the popular perception, if not the person, with the epitaph . . . Those who heard her, hated her. Those who didn’t, now know why.”
Chuck Scarborough, NY Nightly News/NBC Now: “A must read…”
The Washington Times: “What created the monster named Axis Sally? Mr. Lucas makes much of the deprivation suffered by a failed actress and her frantic quest for fame. But even after her arrest, she insisted to CIC interrogators that for her ‘the war was against England and the International Jewry.’ She said, “I just couldn’t get the Jews out of my mind…” Mr. Lucas concludes, “She accepted the Nazi worldview, believed her own propaganda, and paid a heavy price for that delusion.”
The Jerusalem Post: “At the very time Gillars was sent to prison for 10 to 13 years and fined $10,000, Lucas reminds us the US Government was welcoming “dyed-in-the-wool Nazis – some with blood on their hands” into the country as valuable assets in the Cold War struggle against communism. Reluctant as we are to admit it, and who wouldn’t be reluctant, Axis Sally might not have received equal justice under the law.”
Shreveport, LA, – Rodney L. Demery has seen it all in his 22 years of police work and even longer in his life as a serial dater. Whatever you have heard, he probably invented it. He knows all the wiles men use to get what they want from women and what better way for women to find out what’s going on in a man’s head than getting it first-hand from one. He understands what women go through and he wants them to learn how to see their lives in a different way and hopefully get a better outcome in their dating choices.
Demery combined his years of investigative police work and his many personal experiences with the opposite sex and put them into his powerful memoir, Things My Daughters Need To Know: A Cop and Father’s View of Sex, Relationships and Happiness (The Demery Group Publishing). Recently hitting Amazon’s Kindle Bestselling List for Memoirs, this is a virtual handbook of the do’s and don’ts of relationships.
For any woman who has been cheated on, wonders why the guy never calls when he promised he would, or can’t seem to get past the bedroom when they start dating a guy, Demery’s candid book will give answers from his own ‘bad boy’ dating habits. From valuable lessons he learned in over twenty years investigative work on homicides, sex crimes, armed robbery and narcotics, Demery believes he has a lot to share with women to help them get a better understanding of men and what makes them tick.
Graphic at times and told from a father and cop’s point of view, his book paints an honest picture of his sexual exploits, unsettling relationships, and the journey to maturity. In Things My Daughters Need To Know, women will learn that abstinence definitely helps get the man; what men really think when you show up in a skimpy outfit; why career women usually end up single, and the biggest one of all – whether the married man you are dating will really leave his wife for you!
Demery lost his mother to murder at the hands of her husband and he believes having his life framed by infidelity may be one reason he had trouble settling down in a monogamous relationship. The first to admit he was the quintessential bad boy when it came to women, he now prides himself on having learned from his mistakes and now looks to the future filled with optimism that he will find the love of a good woman and the happy ending we all want.
Demery hopes that by writing his book, his daughters will be armed with the information they need to better prepare them in their choices of the men they date.
This talented bestselling author has been a guest on Tom Joyner with Jacque Reid, The Russ Parr Morning Show, and radio broadcasts both here and in Canada. He has been featured in many newspaper articles, has appeared on television news broadcasts, and is an excellent public speaker. For more information on Rodney Demery and his fascinating, often poignant memoir, please visit his website at: www.rldemery.com.
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TIP SHEET:
Rave reviews from Amazon Readers:
“This book was Amazing!!!! It took me only one day to read this book. I couldn’t put it down. This is definitely a must read…”
“…I think many people will be transformed as they read along with Demery as he shares his journey of transformation…A remarkable book.”
“This book is a must read for all, but especially young women. Thanks to the author for sharing his memoir, lessons learned, and journey to a place of healing. This started as a love letter to his children and became a love letter to us all.”
“This book was awesome!!! I only wish I could have read it 10 years ago, it would’ve saved me a ton of heartache…”
“…It also has me reviewing my current relationship, but maybe a little too closely. However, the book and author have opened my eyes a little wider about men, relationships, morals, and work values. Thank you!! I will definitely read this book again when I’m in need of a relationship reminder!”
Los Angeles, CA, – In Eat, Drink and Be Married (Self/iuniverse), Rebecca Bloom blended just the right amount of hilarious dialogue that women savor when in the company of their best friends, with the right amount of tender moments shared during life’s special events, to create a page-turning story that is chick lit at its finest!
When college girlfriends Kate, Nina and Zoë take a break from their busy schedules on opposite coasts to join their former roommate Hannah for her wedding in Lake Tahoe, they not only bring suitcases packed with ‘what-not-to-wear’ bridesmaid dresses, but baggage of a more emotional kind. Supported by a variety of eclectic characters determined to wreak havoc on their carefully organized lives, each woman is forced to come to terms with her past before she walks down the aisle.
Zoë must learn how to reveal a vulnerability that lies beneath her bravado before she can finally open her heart; Kate needs to reclaim her identity before she can regain her strut, and Nina must heal her own inner child so she can provide for another. And we can’t forget Hannah, the bride, who needs to release a ghost in order to recover her spirit.
It takes a bottle of booze, a host of laughs, a hankie or two worth of tears, and seventy-two hours in the presence of those who know and love them the most to make the perfect recipe for four women to Eat, Drink, and Be Married.
Rebecca Bloom has served as the executive editor then editor at large for Los Angeles Confidential Magazine. Her previous novels, Girl Anatomy and Tangled up in Daydreams were featured in numerous national and regional publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, In Style and others, in addition to various electronic outlets including EXTRA, Good Day Live and Dallas Morning News.
For more information on this talented writer, please visit: www.rebeccabloom.com.
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Barnes & Noble.com reader review: “A fun read for anyone who has been to a wedding! Rebecca Bloom captures the spirit of a destination wedding in this book. It is full of funny dialog and conversations you have definitely had with your girlfriends. Keeping with her style of writing, Bloom gives readers another romp with a heart.”
Holmes County, OH, – Daniel Petric is in prison for killing his mother and attempting to kill his father. This is a teen that had a very normal childhood and upbringing – one of three children (two sisters) and son of a pastor at a local church. Because Danny was homebound after a spinal injury, his father purchased an Xbox video game system to keep him entertained – with one rule: no violent video games. Unfortunately, Danny did become hooked on violent games, with his two favorites being Grand Theft Auto and Halo 3. After finding the games, his father locked them in his gun safe.
One day, Danny found the key to the safe and found his games and a loaded handgun. On what started as a normal Saturday afternoon as his parents were lounging in the family room, Danny walked in and asked them to close their eyes “for a surprise.” The surprise was he opened fire – shooting his father in the back of the head and shooting his mother five times. His mother died but his father survived, regained consciousness, and spoke to Danny – who gave the gun to his father, but grabbed the video game and fled. Today, Mrs. Petric is buried, Danny is serving 22 years in prison, and Mark Petric made a full recovery and forgave his son.
For the past three years Mark Petric has refused media interviews. But together with Phil Chalmers, teen murder expert, he has decided it’s time to talk to the media and tell his story and the two are now available for interviews.
Chalmers has been featured on Montel Williams and Howard Stern, has made guest appearances on E! Network’s Billionaire Crime Scenes and Too Young to Kill, as well as Spike TV’s Don’t Be a Victim.’ He is considered America’s leading authority on juvenile homicide and teen mass murder, and he doesn’t learn about them from textbooks or libraries – he speaks to the killers directly to find out what makes them tick and why.
Chalmers latest book Inside the Mind of a Teen Killer (Thomas Nelson) is made up of 15 years of research and face-to-face interviews with the young men who committed some of this country’s most heinous crimes. He has interviewed over 200 teen killers and school shooters and has been studying youth culture and teen murder for 25 years.
Phil Chalmers has interviewed numerous teen killers, school shooters, serial killers, and sexual predator killers. Included in his interview list are serial killers Charles Manson and David Berkowitz, and school shooters Luke Woodham, Michael Carneal, Barry Loukaitis, Andrew Wurst, Mitchell Johnson, Hans Kristofer and Evan Ramsey, among others. Considered America’s leading authority on juvenile homicide, Phil Chalmers’ new book and his informational seminars make him in great demand across the country. Knowing what drives today’s youth culture and how they think makes him an excellent trainer for law enforcement, school administrators and criminal justice students. He is the author of three books and regularly writes for numerous national magazines and newspapers. He has produced two documentaries, including the hit series True Lies, and is developing a television series entitled Teen Killer.
Ann Rule, America’s #1 Crime Writer: “A must read for anyone concerned about the rage and depression of so many lost youths. Fascinating!”
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer: “Phil Chalmers has interviewed the killers. He has corresponded with them extensively. He has exhaustively researched their crimes. There is no human being alive who knows more about these killers.”
Joe Schillaci, former Miami Homicide Detective and star of A&E’s ‘The First 48:’ “Phil Chalmers has found what I’ve been searching for the last 27 years of my life, my law enforcement career. To go into the minds of a teen killer, you must go into their hearts, and Phil has done that. Phil raises your awareness of where we have gone wrong and how we can make changes with simple steps.”
Idaho Springs, CO, — Marshall Ulrich went 3,063 miles on foot, running about 60 miles a day for 52 days straight, from San Francisco to New York City. He was 57 years old when he ran the equivalent of 117 back-to-back marathons in an attempt to break a world record set by a man half his age. Ultimately, he set two new records and completed the third fastest trans-American crossing in history.
At the end, he ran right into Times Square on election night, November 4, 2008. As he watched people shouting and dancing in the streets as the election returns blared on the CNN jumbo screen, Ulrich remembers, “I pretended all the hoopla was for me.”
He returns to New York this year on the anniversary of his finish. As part of the celebration, he will attend the ING New York City Marathon (Nov. 3–5) as one of the elder statesmen of running, on hand all weekend to meet and encourage this year’s racers. At the Expo held in the Javits Convention Center, he’ll be signing his book, Running on Empty: An Ultramarathoner’s Story of Love, Loss, and a Record-Setting Run Across America (Avery, $26).
While the book centers on the transcontinental run, this legendary athlete has been competing in extreme endurance sports for nearly three decades:
• He began running ultra distances in his thirties, and in his forties he set records on some of the world’s most difficult courses. Known primarily for his exploits in Death Valley, Ulrich won the infamous Badwater Ultramarathon a record four times — a race dubbed by National Geographic as the toughest in the world. He still holds the record for the original 146-mile course, which starts at below sea level and concludes at almost 14,500 feet, on the peak of Mt. Whitney.
• Then he began adventure racing; competing in multi-day events with a team of hard-core athletes. He’s one of only three people to complete all nine Eco-Challenges; contests that make the TV show Survivor look like a resort vacation. At the same time, he became an innovator in the sport of ultrarunning; finishing feats of endurance no one had accomplished before. To mark his 50th birthday in 2001, he ran across Death Valley four times in a row for a total of nearly 600 miles, crossing the scorching desert and going up and down Mt. Whitney to raise money for orphans who live in some of the poorest countries in the world.
• In his 50’s, he ascended all Seven Summits on first attempts, including reaching the top of Mt. Everest in 2004. Outside magazine crowned him an “endurance king;” Trail Runner named him one of the legends of the trail, and Adventure Sports highlighted him as an athlete “Over 50 and Kicking Your Butt.”
• Four years later he completed the run across the United States, breaking the Masters and Grand Masters records and outpacing all but two of his peers – both of whom were 20 years younger than Ulrich when they ran it.
• Since then, Ulrich has continued to take on new challenges. This summer, to celebrate his 60th birthday, he ran the Badwater Ultramarathon again, and then headed directly to the Alps. There he summitted five peaks over 13,000 feet, including an ascent of Mt. Moench in near white-out conditions.
Revered by those who have heard of his exploits, but relatively unknown until publication of his book, Ulrich is frequently asked why he waited so long to write about his accomplishments. He says this book is richer and more reflective than one he might have written as a younger man. “Before, I didn’t feel qualified to speak with authority,” he admits, though many would argue the point. “Finally, I felt comfortable to write about something more than sport, to communicate some valuable lessons I’ve learned about living.”
One important element in the book is a recounting of how Ulrich met his wife, Heather, late in life and how she taught him to love again after great personal tragedy. He credits her not only with helping him to become a better man, but also with being essential to his completing this epic, record-setting transcontinental run.
So Running On Empty is both a gripping love story and an inspirational look into the life of someone who has accomplished more than most people can comprehend – and who insists that everyone is capable of much more than they may think. He continues to take on new challenges to reveal that the human body and the will to endure are miraculous indeed. Ulrich shows all of us that there are no such things as “too old,” “too far,” or “too difficult.”
Please visit www.MarshallUlrich.com for a closer look at the life of this extraordinary man.
“Searing, obsessive honesty …” – The Sydney Morning Herald
“Not really about running at all …” – The Denver Post
“Loaded with drama …” – The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Dean Karnazes, acclaimed endurance athlete and bestselling author of Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner: “Marshall is The Man. Definitively. His run across America at the age of 57 sealed that distinction forever. He’s living proof that endurance never sleeps, never gets old, never tires. Nothing can stop him, and that gives us all hope, gives us resolve to keep trying.” — Aron Ralston, author of Between a Rock and a Hard Place and subject of 127 Hours: “Usually, graceful would be applied to a runner’s form. With Marshall Ulrich, it’s even more apt a descriptor of his spirit, his soul, which he generously shares with us in Running on Empty. Tempting as it might also be to describe him as superhuman, Marshall has fallen and struggled and risen and struggled some more. His story, therefore, is ours, and whatever one might admire in him is also, therefore, in each of us.”
Mark Burnett, Emmy-award winning producer of Survivor, Eco-Challenge, The Apprentice, and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? “Marshall and I go way back to the first Eco-Challenge in 1995. An athlete of astonishing grit both then and now, he never fails to push the limits of his sport, no matter what extreme endurance event he’s chosen. Running on Empty tells the story of Marshall’s greatest test: reading it, you get a sense of how tough this man is, but there’s also a bit of Everyman in Marsh. He’s an inspiration to all of us.” —
Midway, GA, –The latest news from The White House that all troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the end of December 2011 makes understanding the history of events occurring in Iraq that brought us to this point seem more relevant than ever. Awakening Victory: How Iraqi Tribes and American Troops Reclaimed al Anbar Province and Defeated al Qaeda in Iraq (Casemate Publishing) by Lt. Col. Michael E. Silverman (ret), provides exactly that.
This book, that debuts next week, is a true account of how the partnership between Iraqi tribes and American troops reclaimed al Anbar and defeated al Qaeda in Iraq. Michael Silverman was Commander of the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment and he was right in the middle of the fight. His battalion contributed a great deal to the war in Iraq and was the only one to participate in the campaign to reclaim al Anbar Province from start to finish. Silverman offers an expert perspective on the surge in Iraq and the role of Iraqis in securing their country.
Awakening Victory reveals actions and incidents that were not released to the public before now and tells of this battalion’s actions in taking the war from one of bombs and bullets to one of partnership and ideas. Silverman’s book shows the contrast between why we were so successful in Iraq versus the failed campaign in Afghanistan, where this Administration’s heavy-handed approach to the Taliban ruined our relationship with Pakistan.
Silverman explains how many senior U.S. officials thought we had lost the war in Iraq back in 2006 after being told by Marine Corps Intelligence that al Anbar Province, the seat of the raging Sunni insurgency, was lost to insurgents. Things looked very grim – with over 100 attacks a day against U.S. military and Iraqi forces in al Anbar that led to al Qaeda planting their flag in the provincial capital of Ramadi and declaring it the new ‘Islamic State of Iraq.’
Silverman’s battalion played a huge part in the ‘surge’ in Ramadi in early 2007 in a campaign that is hailed as the D-Day of the global war on terror, and was hugely successful in clearing out al Qaeda and replacing them with locally raised and trained Iraqi police. This reduced the attacks within Ramadi from twenty a day to one or two a week within just a couple of months, and a 90 percent reduction from the previous year in attacks in the entire province.
Michael Silverman was involved throughout the entire Iraqi insurgency. His book shows a deep insight not found in most Americans’ perceptions of the war, and offers a fresh perspective of the ‘surge’ and the role of Iraqis in securing their country. Being on the front lines, his book expertly describes the exact turning point where the U.S. turned a supposedly failed war into a possibly enduring success.
Lt. Col. Michael E. Silverman, a 25 year veteran with the United States Army, is the recipient of numerous awards, medals and commendations. Retired in 2008, he spends his time writing about the war on terror and serving as a consultant to the U.S. Army on counterinsurgency. He is well-versed in international affairs and world religions and writes with the authority of someone who has both been blown-up by an IED and assisted in shaping U.S. strategic policy for the global war on terror.
