Joe Navarro - Dangerous Personalities: An FBI Profiler Shows You How to Identify and Protect Yourself from Harmful People

Also by Joe Navarro

Hunting Terrorists: A Look at the Psychopathology of Terror, 2nd ed.

Louder Than Words (with Toni Sciarra Poynter)

Advanced Interviewing Techniques, 2nd ed. (John Schafer, coauthor)

What Every Body Is Saying (with Marvin Karlins)

Phil Hellmuth Presents Read Em and Reap (with Marvin Karlins)

200 Poker Tells

Clues to Deceit: A Practical List

Narcissists Among Us

How to Spot a Psychopath

How to Spot a Histrionic Personality

How to Spot a Borderline Personality

Interviewing Terrorists

As riveting as a true crime thriller and as lifesaving as a self-help detox book. Every woman should read this.

DR. WENDY WALSH , host of Investigation Discovery Networks Happily Never After

Having spent the last 34 years responding to crisis incidents involving dangerous personalities, I can attest to the amazing insight provided by Joe Navarro in this landmark book. Well-known characters from Hollywood fiction and real-life historical figures provide clear examples and show us the warning signs. A must-read for anyone interested in understanding and dealing with dangerous personalities.

GARY NOESNER , chief, FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit (ret.), and author of Stalling for Time

Joe Navarro opens your eyes to these toxic individuals who wreck so many lives physically, emotionally, spiritually, even financially. What society is often unwilling to acknowledge or recognize, Joe exposes for all to see with one intentionto save lives.

LAURA QUIONES URQUIZA , diplomat in Criminology, University Institute of Argentine Federal Police

There are a variety of tools and books to assess the risk of violence, but few books are as accessible and useful in everyday life.

MICHEL ST-YVES , forensic psychologist, Quebec

A must-read. Readers will learn how to avoid the pitfalls of trust, fraud, and deceit and the emotional tolls dangerous personalities levy on their victims.

WERNER U. SPITZ, MD , forensic pathologist, Michigan

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher.

Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

Copyright 2014 by Joe Navarro

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

While the manuscript for this book was reviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) prior to publication, the opinions and thoughts expressed herein are those of the author exclusively.

The Dangerous Personalities Checklists in this book have been adapted from the following books previously published by Joe Navarro and are used by permission:

Narcissists Among Us by Joe Navarro

How to Spot a Borderline Personality by Joe Navarro

How to Spot a Psychopath by Joe Navarro

Book design by Amy C. King

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Navarro, Joe

Dangerous personalities : an FBI profiler shows how to identify and protect yourself from harmful people / Joe Navarro, MA, FBI Special Agent (Ret.) with Toni Sciarra Poynter.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-62336-192-1 (trade hardcover)

eISBN 978-1-62336-193-8

1. Crime prevention. 2. Criminals. 3. Crime. 4. Psychopaths. 5. Antisocial personality disorders. I. Poynter, Toni Sciarra. II. Title.

HV7431.N38 2014

We inspire and enable people to improve their lives and the world around them.

rodalebooks.com

FOR THE VICTIMS

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who fill your cup, and those who drain it. Joe Navarro

THIS BOOK IS INTENDED TO inform the reader or to validate what the reader may have witnessed or experienced. It is not intended as a clinical guide and should not replace the services of a trained or licensed professional.

Whenever I talk to victims, I am keenly aware of what they have suffered and the need to protect their privacy and dignity, and so I have changed the names of all the victims I have interviewed. To further protect them, I altered slightly the details of events, dates, time, and location because some police reports and divorce filings are now searchable by specific words or groups of words. In the end, I have done my best to protect the victims without losing the character or manner of the offense and what they endured.

ANYTIME YOU UNDERTAKE AN INTELLECTUAL journey, there are so many people to thank. The bibliography is full of such individuals who took the time to share what they knowthey have my deepest appreciation.

The late Dr. Phil Quinn, who persuaded me to join the adjunct faculty at the University of Tampas criminology department, served as a mentor for more than a decade as I studied and explored these individuals flawed of character and personality. To me, his perspective as a humanitarian, priest, psychologist, and criminologist was indeed unique and contributed significantly to my understanding of a complex subject.

Michel St-Yves of the Sret du Qubec and fellow author has always honored me with his friendship and collaboration over the years on numerous projects here and in Canada, where he is a giant in his field. Once more, he did not let me down with his critiques of this book.

A special thanks goes to Kaja Perina, editor in chief at Psychology Today, who took time from her busy schedule to comment on early drafts of the manuscript. Dr. Leonard Territo receives my admiration as well as my thanks. While finishing his 12th book, he took the time from his cramped schedule to go through this manuscript meticulously with me line by line. His vast experience working with dangerous personalities, including Ted Bundy, was extremely helpful. His foreword is most kind.

This book would not be possible without Steve Ross, director of the Book Division at Abrams Artists Agency. Steve is the kind of literary agent who gets things done, and he is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting people with whom to share a meal.

I want to thank Alex Postman, Jennifer Levesque, and the rest of the team at Rodale Books who have an appreciation for the welfare of others both physically and mentally and who, upon seeing this manuscript, immediately understood its potential to save lives. To our editors Michael Zimmerman and Jeff Csatari, thank you for landing on this project on the run; you brought it all togetherwell done.

Early drafts of this work were carefully read and reread by Janice Hillary. I thank her for her insightful support and guidance. If only we could all have teachers like hera teacher who cares about her studentseven old ones like me.