''Miami Psychic: Confessions of a Confidante'' is a 2006 memoir published by the Regan Books division of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

. The authors are listed as Regina Milbourne and Yvonne Carey-Lederer.

Subject matter

The book purports to be a true

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

about a

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...

named Regina Milbourne, who used her supposed

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

"gifts" to help many of Miami's least desirable element: drug dealers, thieves, murderers and

pedophiles Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pubert ...

. Regina claims that she "comes clean" in the book, "divulging the unimaginable horrors and shocking confessions that she witnessed throughout her career".

True identity of author

GINA MARIE MARKS AT MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Shortly after the book was published, the true identity of "Regina" was revealed to be Gina Marie Marks, who had a series of arrests and convictions in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

for perpetrating

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

over many years. Marks continued her criminal activity after the publishing of the book. In 2018, Marks was convicted of stealing more than $340,000 from five victims over three years using the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Natalie Miller. Although she pleaded guilty to psychic fraud charges, Marks blamed her misfortune on racism against "

gypsies {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , ...

", saying "They're racist on my culture. We do have power. We’re not allowed to talk about it." On August 11, 2018,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

broadcast an episode of its true crime TV show, ''Pink Collar Crimes'', titled "The Psychic Didn't See Him Coming". The episode recounts the story of private eye

Bob Nygaard {{Infobox person , name = Bob Nygaard , image = File:Private Investigator Bob Nygaard.jpg , image_size = , caption = Nygaard in 2015 , birth_date = , birth_place = Queens, New York, U.S. , death_date = , death_pla ...

and his numerous pursuits of Marks to obtain justice for his clients between 2008 and 2018.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web, last1=McAfee , first1=David G., author-link = David G. McAfee , title=This Ex-Cop Has Locked Up 28 'Psychic' Scammers, Returned $3.2M to Victims, url=http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nosacredcows/2017/08/ex-cop-psychic-scammers/, website=Patheos.com, publisher=Patheos, accessdate=23 February 2018, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126035505/http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nosacredcows/2017/08/ex-cop-psychic-scammers/, archivedate=26 January 2018, date=21 August 2017, url-status=live {{cite web, last1=Norman, first1=Bob, title=So-called psychic arrested at Miami International Airport on grand theft charge, url=https://www.local10.com/news/crime/so-called-psychic-arrested-at-miami-international-airport-on-grand-theft-charge, website=Local10.com, publisher=ABC Local 10, accessdate=24 February 2018, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126040517/https://www.local10.com/news/crime/so-called-psychic-arrested-at-miami-international-airport-on-grand-theft-charge, archivedate=26 January 2018, date=1 September 2017, url-status=live {{cite web, last1=Fitzgerald, first1=Meagan, title='Psychic' Accused of Swindling Maryland Woman Out of $82,000, url=https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Psychic-Swindles-Maryland-Woman-Out-of-82000-443812333.html, website=NBCwashington.com/news/local/Psychic-Swindles-Maryland-Woman-Out-of-82000-443812333.html, publisher=NBC, accessdate=24 February 2018, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210230625/https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Psychic-Swindles-Maryland-Woman-Out-of-82000-443812333.html, archivedate=10 February 2018, date=11 September 2017, url-status=live {{cite web, last1=McAfee, first1=David G., author-link=David G. McAfee, title="Psychic" Convicted of Stealing $340K from Her Clients, Blames Racism Against Gypsies, url=http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nosacredcows/2018/02/psychic-convicted-stealing-340k-clients-blames-racism-gypsies/, website=Patheos.com, publisher=Patheos, accessdate=13 March 2018, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313112232/http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nosacredcows/2018/02/psychic-convicted-stealing-340k-clients-blames-racism-gypsies/, archivedate=13 March 2018, date=11 February 2018, url-status=live {{cite web , title=The Psychic Didn't See Him Coming , url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/pink-collar-crimes/episode-3-season-1/the-psychic-didnt-see-him-coming/1213292/ , website=TV Guide , accessdate=12 August 2018 {{cite web , last1=Vaughan , first1=Jacob , title=Meet The Private Investigator Who Cracks Down on Fraudulent Psychics , url=https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/bob-nygaard-is-a-private-investigator-and-smu-graduate-who-helps-people-get-their-money-back-from-fraudulent-psychics-10983120 , website=Dallasobserver.com , publisher=Dallas Observer , accessdate=13 August 2018 , archiveurl=https://archive.today/20180812235953/https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/bob-nygaard-is-a-private-investigator-and-smu-graduate-who-helps-people-get-their-money-back-from-fraudulent-psychics-10983120 , archivedate=12 August 2018 , date=6 August 2018 , url-status=live {{cite web , title=Pink Collar Crimes – The Tip Of The Iceberg , url=https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/food/pink-collar-crimes-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/vp-BBLPyFW , website=MSN.com , publisher=MSN , accessdate=12 August 2018

External links

HarperCollins book page
2006 non-fiction books American memoirs Fictional representations of Romani people HarperCollins books

Subject matter

True identity of author

See also

References

External links