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ARTISTFIRST IS THE REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ARTISTFIRST, INC. |
Listen LIVE in 3 Different Formats
PAST SHOWS & PODCASTS ARE BELOW |
The #1 True Crime Radio Show on the planet!
LIVE Shows Thursdays @ 8PM Eastern Time Hear All Past Shows Below
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Listen LIVE in 3 Different Formats 3. Android Phones Click Here Most non-Android cell phones can use MP3 and OGG links above. Android link also works on most cell phones of any make. SEE BELOW FOR PAST SHOWS & PODCASTS
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RON´S CURRENT BOOK PROJECT:
AN INVESTIGATIVE BIOGRAPHY OF
DRUG TRAFFICKER RYAN WEDDING |
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joined Ron Chepesuik on Crime Beat to discuss his book Framed:
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~~~ Special Thanks To Our Sponsor ~~~
strategicmediabooks@gmail.com 803-366-5440 |
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David Amoruso, owner of the Gangstersinc web site is a Crime Beat Contributor to the ArtistFirst Radio Network. www.gangstersinc.ning.com |
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Ron's Latest Projects Bad Henry - Ron's Newest Book
Paraiso Blanco The new 30 part TV series based on Ron's book Crazy Charlie
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Ron Chepesiuk a native of Thunder Bay, Canada, is a full-time freelance journalist, screen writer, film producer and radio host based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, USA. He has a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) degree from Minnesota State University in Moorhead, Minnesota, a Masters degree in library science (M.L.S) from Atlanta Clark University and a post-graduate diploma in archival administration from the National University of Dublin in Ireland. Before freelancing full-time, he was a professor of library service for twenty-five years at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Ron has also taught online courses in the journalism program of UCLA’s Extension Division. As an award winning screenwriter, Ron has had four screenplays optioned for movies. In all, Ron has published 40 books and more than 4,000 original articles in FHM, USA Today, Black Enterprise, Woman’s World, Modern Maturity, The Rotarian, New York Times Syndicate, Toronto Star, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Collier´s Encyclopedia, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the New York Daily News and more than 400 other print publications. Ron has reported from more than 35 countries, including Cuba, Northern Ireland, Colombia, Kenya, Colombia, Hong Kong, Nepal and Czechoslovakia, and his 16,000 plus interviews include such luminaries as Robert Kennedy, Jr., Gerry Adams, Yasser Arafat, Russell Simmons, John Kerry, Dave Barry, Andie McDowall, Jimmy Carter, Abbie Hoffman, Noam Chomsky, Frank Lucas (the subject of the movie, ¨American Gangster¨), a former president of Nicaragua and three former presidents and two vice presidents of Colombia, South America. He serves as a consultant to the History Channel's ¨Gangland¨ series and has been interviewed by NBC´s Dateline, the Biography Channel’s “Mobsters”, The Discovery Channel’s “Undercover” and Black Entertainment Television's ¨American Gangster¨ Ron has also been interviewed or quoted on radio by the CBC, BBC, CBS, NPR, XM Satellite Radio, Radio Australia and numerous Irish radio stations, among other outlets, and by such newspapers as Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, The Weekly Standard, New York Times, St Petersburg Times, Associated Press, the Guardian (United Kingdom) and the Dallas Morning News. Ron has won numerous writing awards sponsored by such organizations as USA Book News, Foreword Magazine, and Independent Publishers Book Award. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Association of Journalists and Authors, the International Association for the Study of Organized Crime, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Florida Freelance Writers Association and the Professional Writers Association of Canada. Ron's Links :
www.ronchepesiuk.com
www.ikeatkinsonkingpin.com www.strategicmediabooks.com To contact the Crime Beat radio program for interviews, e-mail crimebeat123@yahoo.com or call 803-366-5440. |
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Ron's newest book project!
Miracle Journey: The Chris Washburn Story.
Chris Washburn was a celebrated college basketball star and former NBA player who was banned for life for drug use by the NBA. Washburn's poignant story is one of a tremendous fall and momentous comeback. Stay Tuned. |
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Soon to be the basis for a major documentary to appear on the Discovery Channel.
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The Real Mr. Big. This is the story of an ambitious Colombian refugee
who migrated to the United Kingdom and set up a sophisticated drug
trafficking organization that the British Security Service MI-5 said
made more than a billion pounds over a ten-year period, making him
Britian’s first billion dollar cocaine dealer. Ruiz Henao’s impact on
the British economy was such that the price of cocaine increased 50
percent for several months after his arrest, earning Ruiz Henao the
infamous title, as British law enforcement described him, of being “
the Pablo Escobar of British drug trafficking.” |
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CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARK SIDE
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DOWNLOAD PAST SHOWS BELOW
2 Ways To Listen:
1. Left Click DATE to "Stream" show (it will play like the radio) or . . .
2. "Right Click" on DATE then select "Save Target As" (or similar i.e. 'save link as') and a copy of the show will download to your device which you can then play anytime.
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Jeremy Duda This week's episode takes us inside the dangerous intersection of journalism and justice. In his fourteen years as one of Arizona's top reporters, Don Bolles took on the Mafia, land fraud kingpins, and corrupt politicians. And someone wanted him silenced. We will discuss Jeremy Duda's book, Murder in the Fourth Estate, the first definitive account of the case, which is the most infamous assassination of a journalist in American history. It's a gripping account that explores what happens when those who report the news become part of the story itself. We'll talk about the case at the center of the book, the risks reporters face, and how the pursuit of truth can sometimes come at a deadly cost. It's a fascinating, unsettling look at the power—and vulnerability—of the press. |
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May 7, 2026 Show William Elliott Hazelgrove discusses his book, Capone's Vault: The Real Story of the Biggest Disaster in Television History. In 1986, more people watched The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults than either the Super Bowl or David Frost's interview with Richard Nixon. It was a high-wire, high-reward, high-disaster broadcast that was meant to be a comeback for journalist Geraldo Rivera, who had been fired from ABC after fifteen years. On April 21,1986, at 9:15pm Eastern, Geraldo gave the signal at the midpoint of the broadcast to blow open with dynamite the subterranean vaults of the Lexington Hotel, ready to reveal to thirty million viewers at home the great secrets and treasures of legendary gangster Al Capone-but the live broadcast didn't go to plan. 751
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April 30, 2026 Show Paul Palango discusses his book, Anatomy of a Cover-Up: The Truth
about the RCMP and the Nova Scotia Massacres. Palango's 22
Murders examined the April 2020 shooting spree committed by Gabriel Wortman that
began in Portapique, Nova Scotia, and ended thirteen and a half hours later when
Wortman was shot dead by RCMP officers. The episode left numerous serious
questions in its wake—most especially why was the killer able to evade police in
such limited geography for so long? Since then, the government called a
public inquiry into the massacres—the Mass Casualty Commission. Though Palango
unearthed a treasure trove of evidence pointing to the possibility that Wortman
or someone close to him was acting as a police agent, the commission evaded all
the big questions and let the RCMP off with a slap on the wrist. To this day, no
one has been held accountable. In this new book, Palango continues to
crack the case, delving deeper into the evidence and testimonies of the
witnesses who have been ignored. Drawing on his vast experience as an
investigative reporter, he has mined the thousands of pages of commission
documents to reveal the wall of secrecy and deceptions constructed by the RCMP
and the criminal justice system, exposing new facts that may alter the public's
perception of what really happened. 750 |
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April 23, 2026 Show Briar Lee Mitchell and Dr. Alexander Bardey Tonight on Crime Beat, we confront a story that challenges the very idea of justice. In 1970s Bakersfield, behind privilege and power, a secretive group known as the "Lords of Bakersfield" preyed on the most vulnerable. One of them was Robert Mistriel, just eleven years old when he was pulled into a world of coercion, abuse, and silence. What followed was years of exploitation that reshaped his understanding of survival—and morality itself. At seventeen, pushed beyond a breaking point, he helped plan the murder of one of his abusers. Joining me are co-authors Briar Lee Mitchell and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Bardey to discuss Victim of the Lords, a haunting exploration of trauma, complicity, and the cost of surviving the unimaginable. |
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Joe Broadmeadow This week, we dive deep into the stark reality of law enforcement with a guest who has lived it from the inside out. Joe Broadmeadow, a retired police captain with decades of front-line investigative experience, joins us to pull back the curtain on the world of criminal justice. In his latest work, Pieces of the Past, Joe Broadmeadow delivers a gritty, realistic procedural that dismantles the myths often sold to us by Hollywood. Beyond the sirens and high-speed chases, he explores the meticulous, often grueling process of how cases are truly built—and the uncomfortable truth of how justice can be delayed, compromised, or even denied. 748
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April 9. 2026 Show Peter Edwards is one of Canada's leading experts on organized crime and an award-winning investigative journalist. He has spent decades covering the underworld, bringing readers inside the hidden networks that shape crime in North America. Along with Mexican journalist Luis Horacio Majera, Edwards is the co-author of The Wolfpack, a gripping account of a violent criminal organization that operated with shocking reach and sophistication. In this conversation, we'll explore the real story behind the Wolfpack, how Edwards uncovered it, and what it reveals about modern organized crime. This is a rare chance to hear firsthand from a reporter who has spent a career chasing the truth in dangerous places. Edwards is also a source for my current book project, an investigation of the life and criminal career of Ryan Wedding. 747 |
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April 2, 2026 Show Caroline and Keith Gianmmanco Crime Beat brings brings you an extraordinary story of redemption, resilience, and unexpected love. I'm joined by Caroline Gianmmanco, author of Bank Notes, and her husband Keith Gianmmanco, who was released from prison last year after serving time for bank robbery. Their paths first crossed inside the prison where Caroline was teaching—an environment that would ultimately transform both of their lives in ways neither could have predicted. In this conversation, we explore life after prison, the realities of incarceration, and the deeply human stories often overlooked in discussions about justice and reform. We'll also dive into how Caroline and Keith built a relationship against all odds, and what their journey reveals about second chances, connection, and the power of seeing people beyond their past. 746 |
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March 26, 2026 Show Anthony Arillotta discusses his book, South End Syndicate: How I Took over the Genovese Springfield Crew The book tells the untold story of a young man infatuated with Springfield wiseguys who rose from being a street criminal to becoming his city's Mafia boss. How did a young Italian-American kid from Springfield work his way up the chain to become a Made wiseguy in charge of Western New England? You will listen to Arillotta, now a free man, tell a timeless tale of power, money, and murder. |
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March 19, 2026 Show Carla Conti discusses her new book, The Jacklighter: Murder, Betrayal and Justice in Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains. In 1976, attorney Martin Dillon went hunting with his best friend in Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains — and never came home. The only witness? Dr. Stephen Scher, the man having an affair with Dillon's wife. When investigators called it an accident, Scher married the widow, raised her children as his own, and lived a stolen life for twenty years — until the body was exhumed and everything unraveled. |
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March 12, 2026 Show William Elliot Hazelgrove William Hazelgrove to discuss his book, Evil on the Roof of the World: A Cycling Trip that Ended in Terror. Here is the background. On a bleak highway in the mountains of Tajikistan known as "the roof of the world", in July of 2018, Lauren Geoghegan and Jay Austin, along with two other cyclists, were brutally murdered by five ISIS terrorists. They were both Georgetown University graduates who had quit their well-paying Washington, DC, jobs to pursue a bike trip around the world, looking for a different kind of American Dream. Pieced together from Jay and Lauren's Simply Cycling travel blog and social media posts, interviews with their friends and family, and media coverage of their murder, author William Elliott Hazelgrove creates a complete, narrative retelling of Jay and Lauren's story. Evil on the Roof of the World combines biking and travel adventure with true crime elements, sensitively presenting the trajectory of Jay and Lauren's hopeful beginnings; the difficulties and meaningful experiences they found on their journey; the foreshadowing leading up to the attack; and the way they, their loved ones, the media, and the perpetrators made sense of this violent encounter. It's a story of a couple who went off the grid to find the great adventure of life only to have it end in tragedy. |
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Geoff Kelly This week we investigate the true story of the world's largest art heist, as told by the FBI agent who investigated the case. The author is former FBI agent Geoff Kelley; the book, Thirteen Perfect Fugitives: The True Story of the Mob, Murder, and the World's Largest Art Heist. Here's the background. On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art were plucked from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two subjects posing as police officers. They rang the night bell, claiming they were responding to a call of a disturbance. After incapacitating the guard and his partner with handcuffs and duct tape, the subjects spent the next eighty-one minutes inside the museum, leisurely removing some of the world's most valuable pieces of artwork from the walls, including a rare Vermeer and Rembrandt's only known seascape. The total loss associated with this robbery has been estimated at over $1 billion. Author Geoffrey Kelly's will offer insights and theories about the infamous heist. |
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Jeffrey Sussman We dive into the shadows of American history to explore an organization that defined the 20th century through blood, business, and an uncanny ability to adapt. We are joined by Jeffrey Sussman, a leading authority on organized crime and the prolific author of the gripping new book, Mafia Hits, Misses, Wars, and Prosecutions: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in America. While many have chronicled the "glamour" of the Mafia, Sussman offers a master class in its resilience. He examines how the Five Families didn't just survive the murders of their bosses and the crusades of legendary prosecutors like RFK and Giuliani—they often used that chaos to evolve. From the smoke-filled rooms of the Castellamarese War to the high-stakes drama of the Commission trials, we're uncovering how the Mob turned every "miss" into a lesson in survival. 741 |
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John Dougan This week, Crime Beat goes to Moscow, Russia, to talk with John Dougan, the controversial former Florida sheriff's deputy and author of Badvolf. Once a law enforcement officer in the United States, Dougan became a polarizing figure after releasing sensitive law enforcement data and clashing with U.S. authorities. In 2016, he fled the United States and sought asylum in Russia, where he has lived ever since, reinventing himself as a whistleblower, provocateur, and commentator on Western politics and intelligence. I first met John in 2019, when I traveled to Russia to meet with him. His story raises uncomfortable questions about whistle-blowing, national security, personal motives, and the thin line between exposing wrongdoing and exploiting secrets. We'll dig into Dougan's journey, his book BadVolf, his life in exile, and how he sees the U.S., Russia, and himself today. |
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February 12, 2026 Show Bob Reiss discusses his crime novel, The Impossible Detective. Here's the story. Twelve-year-old Abani Singh claims to have witnessed a self-driving car murder a man and drive away with no one inside. Even private detective Mark St. Johns, grandson of the famous Los Angeles sleuth "The Falcon," believes that the distressed girl made a mistake or fabricated the story. Her claim, that the car hit the man, backed up, struck him again and drove off on a major highway, seems impossible. But when killers target Abani, Mark discovers a threat of impossible power—one that can hide, lie, steal, and kill more destructively than any criminal he's ever faced. 739 |
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February 5, 2026 Show Joan Renner discusses her book, OF MOBSTERS AND MOVIE STARS: The Bloody "Golden Age" of Hollywood. We will explore the shadowy world of fame and crime during Hollywood's most glamorous era. As Los Angeles transformed into the epicenter of film, it also became a haven for notorious criminals and mobsters, weaving an intriguing complex tapestry of allure and danger. We will delve into infamous episodes, such as the shocking case of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, accused of "accidentally" crushing to death a young actress beneath his enormous weight as he raped her, and other lesser-known, but equally hair-raising stories of actors brought down by scandal and corruption. |
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January 29, 2026 Show New York Times best-selling author Eric Van Lustbader, one of the undisputed masters of the modern thriller. Lustbader returns to the best-selling ranks with White Wolf a pulse-pounding new installment in his Evan Ryder series, a novel that plunges readers into a frighteningly plausible future where modern encryption is rendered obsolete and global power structures hang in the balance. As secrets become impossible to hide, Ryder races against time in a world where information itself has become the ultimate weapon. At the center of it all is Ilona Shokova, the lethal assassin known as the White Wolf, whose mastery of this revolutionary technology could reshape nations—or destroy them. With themes of surveillance, totalitarianism, and the dangerous intersection of technology and power, this novel feels ripped from tomorrow's headlines. We'll talk with Eric Van Lustbader about the real-world fears behind the fiction, the evolution of the character, Evan Ryder, and why the future may already be closer than we think, among other topics. |
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January 22, 2026 Show Chris Feistl and Dave Mitchell We welcome Chris Feistl and Dave Mitchell, retired DEA agents to talk about their book, After Escobar: Taking Down the Notorious Cali Godfathers and the Biggest Drug Cartel in History. Feistl and Mitchell were also major sources for my book on the Cali Cartel Cali Drugs Lords, which was originally published as The Bullet or the Bribe and later published as Narcos. DEA agents Chris Feistl and Dave Mitchell led the U.S.-Colombian manhunt that used intelligence, wiretaps, and coordinated raids to locate and arrest Cali Cartel bosses—most notably Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela—bringing down the cartel's leadership in 1995.The two agents also took me for a tour of Cali as I was shown some of spots where the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers hid out as they were hunted by law enforcement. Until the Cali Cartel's take down, the cartel was responsible for nearly 85% of the cocaine that reached US soil and 90% worldwide. They were untouchable. They brazenly corrupted thousands of Colombian authorities and government officials, even buying the outcome of the 1994 presidential election. |
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January 15, 2026 Show Alan Warren is one of the most respected voices in true crime writing and podcasting. A Canadian author, crime historian, and the longtime host of Canada's True Crime, Alan has spent decades documenting some of the country's most notorious murders, serial killers, and unsolved cases. What sets his work apart is not just deep research, but a commitment to accuracy, context, and humanity—telling these stories without sensationalism and never losing sight of the victims. Drawing on a background in journalism and historical research, Alan examines not only the crimes themselves, but the investigative missteps, forensic breakthroughs, and social conditions that allowed them to happen. His books are frequently consulted by law enforcement and researchers, and his podcast has become a trusted platform for detectives, journalists, and firsthand witnesses. Today, we're talking with Alan Warren about his career, writing true crime, the responsibilities of true crime writers, and where the genre is headed next. |
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John Hinckley Jr. and Jason Norman talk about their book Who I Really Am. On March 30, 1981, gunshots rang out outside the Washington Hilton, wounding President Ronald Reagan and three others and searing one name into American history: John Hinckley Jr. The attack shocked the nation—not only for its violence, but for what followed. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity, a verdict that ignited outrage and permanently reshaped how the law understands mental illness. For more than three decades, Hinckley lived under psychiatric confinement and court supervision. His eventual release, and full freedom in 2022, reopened old wounds and hard questions: about accountability, justice, redemption, and whether a person can ever move beyond the worst act of their life. Today, we're joined by John Hinckley Jr. and coauthor Jason Norman to discuss their book Who I Really Am—a first-person account of mental illness, confinement, recovery, and the uneasy space between public memory and private change. This is not a conversation about absolution, but about understanding. 735 |
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January 1, 2026 Show Frank Figliuzzi talks about his book The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence. In our discussion the FBI's former head of counterintelligence will reveal the Bureau's field-tested playbook for unlocking individual and organizational excellence, illustrated through dramatic stories from his own storied career Frank Figliuzzi was the ""Keeper of the Code,"" appointed the FBI's Chief Inspector by then-Director Robert Mueller. Charged with overseeing sensitive internal inquiries, shooting reviews, and performance audits, he ensured each employee met the Bureau's exacting standards of performance, integrity, and conduct. Now, drawing on his distinguished career, Figliuzzi will reveal how the Bureau achieves its extraordinary standard of excellence—from the training of new recruits in ""The FBI Way"" to the Bureau's rigorous maintenance of its standards up and down the organization. Unafraid to identify FBI execs who erred, he will cite them as the exceptions that prove the rule. |
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John Madinger
discusses his book,
Lethal Dose: The Story Behind the 'Godfather of Fentanyl'
This episode will take us deep into one of the deadliest and most complex
criminal crises of our time—the opioid epidemic. My guest, John Madinger, is
a former DEA supervisor. In the book, Madinger pulls back the curtain on how
synthetic opioids like fentanyl have flooded American streets, the
international networks behind their distribution, and why traditional law
enforcement strategies are struggling to keep up. This is a conversation
about crime, corruption, policy failures, and the human cost behind the
statistics. If you want to understand how we got here—and what might stop
the next wave. |
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Dennis Carson talks about his book, Every Killer Leaves A Trace: The Fatal Mistakes That Finally Exposed America's Most Elusive Killers. They got away with murder—until they didn't. They blended in. They raised families, held steady jobs, and hid in plain sight. But behind the mask of normalcy, they were monsters—responsible for decades of terror, pain, and death. They are serial killers. Every Killer Leaves A Trace is a chilling narrative nonfiction thriller that exposes moments that led to the shocking unmasking and ultimate capture of twenty-six of America's most elusive killers. From accidental slips to cutting-edge forensic breakthroughs, each chapter reveals how justice caught up with murderers who thought they'd never be found. This Thursday, December 18, at 8 pm, we will discuss Dennis Carson's findings. 734 |
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December 11, 2025 Show Alan Warren is back to talk about his latest book, Peace, Love, & Murder: The Charles Manson Story. Alan R. Warren work has become a staple for readers seeking deeply sourced, psychologically insightful examinations of some of history's most notorious criminals. In this book, Warren turns his attention to Charles Manson, one of the most enduring and disturbing figures of the 20th century. Through meticulous research, exclusive interviews, and a clear-eyed look at the cultural forces of the late 1960s, Warren revisits the Manson case to separate myth from reality. His book not only re-examines the murders and Manson's manipulative influence, but also explores how the media, the justice system, and American counterculture shaped the public understanding of the crimes. We'll discuss Warren's investigative process, the revelations he uncovered, and why the Manson story continues to fascinate and terrify more than fifty years later. 733 |
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December 4, 2025 Show Burl Barer a storyteller who has spent decades uncovering the darkest corners of human behavior. Legendary true crime author Burl Barer—an Edgar Award–winning writer whose gripping narratives, sharp investigative instincts, and unmistakable voice have made him one of the most respected names in the genre. From notorious cases to behind-the-scenes moments that shaped his career, Burl shares how he brings real-life mysteries to the page with accuracy, empathy, and unforgettable storytelling. Whether you're a true crime junkie, an aspiring writer, or simply fascinated by the craft, this is a conversation you won't want to miss. Tune in for insight, intrigue, and a master at work |
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November
27, 2025 Show Julie K. Brown the journalist who took down the infamous Jeffrey Epstein discusses her book, Perversion of Justice: the Jeffrey Epstein Story. In her book, journalist Julie K. Brown recounts her uncompromising and risky investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's underage sex trafficking operation, and the explosive reporting for the Miami Herald that finally brought him to justice while exposing the powerful people and broken system that protected him. Brown investigates and tracks Epstein’s evolution from a college dropout to one of the most successful financiers in the country—whose associates included Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and Bill Clinton. Brown’s investigation revealed how Epstein ran a global sex trafficking pyramid scheme with impunity for years, targeting vulnerable teens, often from fractured homes and then turning them into recruiters. |
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November 20, 2025 Show Coltan Scrivner discusses his book, Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can't Look Away. What makes us peek at a car wreck or binge-watch true crime shows late into the night? Why are some of us drawn to horror movies while others shudder at the thought? Scientist Coltan Scrivner will discuss the psychology of morbid curiosity and why we can't resist the macabre. From grisly serial killers to spine-chilling paranormal stories, Scrivner will reveal the psychological forces that compel us to explore our darkest fears—and explains how this proclivity is more than just a quirk. It's a powerful survival instinct, helping us mentally prepare for real-world threats, all from the safety of our imaginations. The leading expert on the science behind morbid curiosity will explain our spooky, gory, and macabre fascinations. |
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November 13, 2025 Show Paul Smith to discusses his memoir, Cruel and Unusual Punishment: A Memoir of the Psychological Realities of Federal Prison. Smith, a clinical psychologist, was sentenced to 51 months for healthcare fraud. In his memoir, Smith confronts the harsh realities of federal prison. Incarcerated amid the chaos of the COVID pandemic, he endured a relentless odyssey through eight different prison facilities, caught in a near-perpetual cycle of transfer. Through Smith's expert lens, we will discuss the stark truth about an uncivilized, harsh, and insane system that erodes the very essence of humanity. 729 |
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November 7, 2025 Show Synova Cantrell discusses her book Madman or Messiah? The book is a result of her research on Joseph Jeffers. Joseph Jeffers was a cult leader who left behind a legacy of fraud, violence, and scandal Among the weird ideas Jeffers propagated: his cult managed to construct a pyramid-like structure, tied to their strange belief that Jesus would one day return in a UFO and beam Jeffers' followers into the skies. To most townspeople, Jeffers seemed like nothing more than an eccentric oddball, preaching outrageous ideas. What they didn't realize was just how dangerous and criminal he truly was. |
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October 30, 2025 Show Keith and Caroline Giammanco
This week's guests have a story unlike any other—a story of crime,
redemption, and an unexpected love that defied the odds. Keith and
Caroline Giammanco's journey began behind prison walls, where Keith
was serving time for a string of bank robberies that earned him the
nickname The
Boonie Hat Bandit.
Keith and Caroline married while Keith served time. Their
extraordinary relationship inspired Caroline to write two powerful
books: Bank
Notes: The True Story of the Boonie Hat Bandit and Death
Fences,
the latter now optioned for a screenplay by Crime
Beat host
Ron Chepesiuk. After serving his sentence, Keith walked free on
September 24, 2025. Today, we'll talk about crime, forgiveness, and
how their shared resilience turned a story of downfall into one of
hope, love, and second chances |
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October 23, 2025 Show Michael Randazzo discusses his book, Presiding Over Shadows: From Chaos To Order In The Court. The book is a raw and compelling memoir that chronicles Randazzo's journey from a disadvantaged childhood steeped in generational criminality to his role as one of Missouri's youngest presiding circuit judges. Born prematurely into a family with ties to the Sicilian mafia and Mexican drug cartels, Randazzo navigates a world of moonshining, sexual abuse, addiction and violence—all while keeping alive the hope of breaking free fro the past. With unflinching honesty, he reflects on the paradox of loving his flawed grandfather and wrestling with the legacy of his family's sins. The book asks: What does it take to rise above inherited darkness? And how can one bring order—a life of purpose and service—to a backdrop of chaos? |
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October 16, 2025 Show Ann Butler talks about her book Wife, Mother, Spy - An Extraordinary Life Filled with Ordinary Days. Many mothers shuttle their kids to dance lessons and sports practice, coordinate play dates, read bedtime stories, and struggle to get dinner on the table after a long day at the office. Very few do all this while secretly meeting with spies, carrying a purse retrofitted to conceal a Glock, and tasked with protecting the security of the United States. For several decades, this was the life of Ann Butler - wife, mother of five, and operations operative for the CIA. From New York to Paris to Sarajevo, from Northern Africa to Central Europe, Wife, Mother, Spy provides a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of the rewarding, chaotic, exhausting, often challenging, but always exciting life of a CIA spy who also happens to be a wife and mother. |
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October 9, 2025 Show Barbara Casey discusses her book on the life and times of Assata Shakur, the revolutionary activist, writer, and former Black Panther whose life continues to ignite powerful conversations about justice, race, and resistance. News of her passing last week has reopened dialogue around her controversial past and enduring influence. To help us unpack her complex story, we will be joined by Barbara Casey, her biographer, who has spent years studying Shakur's life, writings, and impact. Barbara is the author of Assata Shakur: A 20th Century Escaped Slave. Together, we'll explore the woman behind the headlines — her journey, her voice, and what her legacy means in today's world. 724 |
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October 2, 2025 Show Rod Sadler talks about his book A Slayer Waits: The True Story of a Michigan Double Murder. The book is the true story of a double murder that rocked the quiet community of Stockbridge, Michigan in 1955, and ultimately led to the killer's case ending up before the United States Supreme Court When the bodies of Howard and Myra Herrick were discovered hidden in their barn on a fall night in 1955, their neighbor suddenly realized the screams she had heard two days earlier were the screams of the retired chicken farmer and his wife being viciously murdered. With escaped convict Nealy Buchanon on the run, law enforcement officials knew he could be anywhere. Thirteen months after the murders, Buchanon was captured in Baltimore and quickly returned to Michigan. What should have been the end of a horrible nightmare for the Herrick family was only the beginning. |
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September 25, 2025 Show Johnny Trevisani discusses his book, The Serial Killer Travel Guide Across America: Your Coast-to-Coast Tour of Terror. The co-author is Brian Whitney. The Serial Killer Travel Guide Across America isn't your typical road trip companion. This darkly fascinating guide is quirky and unconventional and takes readers on a darkly humorous journey through the United States, exploring notorious locations linked to infamous serial killers. From the shadowy forests of the Pacific Northwest to the sun-bleached basements of suburbia, each stop offers true crime devotees an unsettling glimpse into the macabre. Whether you're planning a dark tourism pilgrimage or just indulging your morbid curiosity from the safety of your couch, The Serial Killer Travel Guide Across America will take you closer to the truth—and the horror—than you ever thought possible. |
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September 18, 2025 Show Nate Hendley acclaimed Canadian true crime author known for his gripping and meticulously researched books that delve into the darker corners of history and criminal behavior. With a career spanning over two decades, Nate has written extensively on gangsters, fraudsters, and some of Canada's most notorious figures. His work blends journalistic integrity with a storyteller's flair, bringing true crime to life in a compelling and accessible way. In this episode, we'll explore his writing process, what draws him to crime stories, the nature of the true crime genre. and how he turns real events into powerful narratives. |
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September 11, 2025 Show Jonathan Dyer discusses his book, Greg Scarpa, Legendary Evil: The Many Faces of a Mafia Killer. Goodfellow, capo, killer, thief. Greg Scarpa was a man so diabolically evil that he ordered his eldest son to murder his closest associate, and his youngest son to murder his best friend. When Greg Scarpa was in his early twenties he became a goodfellow in the Profaci family by swearing a blood oath to the Mafia, at the time the country's largest organized-crime syndicate. And for 25 years he betrayed that oath and the men closest to him by acting as a paid informant for the FBI. He fed America's premier law enforcement agency a steady stream of self-serving information accusing the men who trusted him with their lives of every crime he was himself committing. During those 25 years of treachery, Scarpa was a one-man crime wave who spent only 30 days behind bars thanks to his status as the FBI's ultimate Mafia insider. His standing as a prized informant freed him to engage in mayhem and murder knowing he had a virtual license to kill with reckless abandon. |
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September
4, 2025 Show Dave Wedge talks about his book, Blood and Hate: The Untold Story of Marvin Hagler's Battle for Glory. We will discuss the riveting and inspirational tale of how Hagler overcame incredible odds, joined with Goody and Pat Petronelli to rise through the rigged ranks, and morphed from a fatherless teenager in Brockton, Massachusetts, into Marvelous Marvin Hagler, one of the best boxers ever and arguably the greatest middleweight in history. We will talk about Dave's exclusive interviews with Bob Arum, the Petronelli and Hagler families, and a who's who of the boxing world, and they reveal fascinating details about Hagler's early life as well as the legendary Alan Minter fight, and once and for all delivers the definitive chronicle of Marvelous Marvin Hagler. |
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August 28, 2025 Show Megan Abbott discusses her latest book, El Dorado Drive. The three Bishop sisters grew up in privilege in the moneyed suburbs of Detroit. But as the auto industry declined, so did their fortunes. Harper, the youngest, is barely making ends meet when her beloved, charismatic sister Pam—currently in the middle of a contentious battle with her ex-husband—and her eldest sister, Debra, approach her about joining an exciting new club. The Wheel offers women like themselves—middle-aged and of declining means—a way to make their own money, independent of husbands or families. Quickly, however, the Wheel's success, and their own addiction to it, leads to greater and greater risks—and a crime so shocking it threatens to bring everything down with it. |
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Sigmund Wortherly and Sky Taylor We welcome Sigmund Wortherly and Sky Taylor to talk about their book, These Bloody Hands. Sigmund "Ziggy" Wortherly grew up where survival meant following a strict code — and sometimes pulling the trigger before someone else did. A feared hitman from the Bronx, he built his life on loyalty, precision, and silence. But when he's betrayed by the people he trusted most, everything shatters. After taking the fall for a job gone wrong, Ziggy returns to the streets years later to find a city that has forgotten him and ghosts that refuse to stay buried. As he searches for those responsible for his downfall, he realizes the line between revenge and redemption is dangerously thin — and both come at a steep price. 717 |
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August
14, 2025 Show Rick Jervis Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Rick Jervis to discuss his shocking true-crime book, The Devil Behind the Badge: The Horrifying Twelve Days of the Border Patrol Serial Killer. It's the story of a U.S. Border Patrol agent turned serial killer, the four sex workers whom he mercilessly killed, and the upended border town of Laredo where his heinous crimes occurred. The cold-blooded killer was hiding in plain sight. |
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August
7, 2025 Show Jeff Ignatowski talks about his book, BEYOND THE HEADLINES: True Crime's Myths and Legends. Ever wonder about the truth behind the sensationalized headlines when it comes to history's most infamous killers? So did author Jeff Ignatowski, a nationally known speaker on the psychology of serial killers, In his book, Ignatowski attempts to provide a deeper understanding of their stories through historical insight that challenges and explores the integrity of widespread myths surrounding infamous personalities such as Jack The Ripper, Dennis Rader, Elizabeth Bathory, Ed Gein, and Ted Bundy. |
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Dan E. Moldea Welcome to a special edition of the award-nominated Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk, where we mark the 50th anniversary of one of the most enduring mysteries in American crime history—the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. On July 30, 1975, the powerful Teamsters boss vanished without a trace, and half a century later, the case remains unsolved, steeped in speculation, mob ties, and conspiracy theories. We're honored to be joined by the man who literally wrote the book on Hoffa, Dan E. Moldea. An investigative journalist and the author of The Hoffa Wars, Moldea has spent decades digging into the disappearance and the dark underbelly of organized labor and the Mafia. His reporting has shaped the national conversation around Hoffa's fate. If you want facts over folklore, and insight from someone who's been on this case since the beginning, you're in the right place. |
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July 24, 2025 Show Brian Joseph discusses his book, Vegas Concierge: Sex Trafficking, Hip Hop, and Corruption in America. Using public and private records as well as exclusive, first-person accounts from primary sources, Brian Joseph shows how prostitutes and pimps ply their trade, how law enforcement agencies trip up and their investigations become compromised, and how self-interest corrupts news organizations and the corridors of power. More than anything, Joseph examines the disregard American society has towards sex trafficking victims. Vegas Concierge ties together intersecting worlds via a diverse array of characters who played roles in this sordid tale about police corruption and incompetence, the price of celebrity, and the culture of Sin City. 714 |
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July 17, 2025 Show Daniel Zimmerman talks about his book, Chasson's Run: The Prison Break That Captivated America And The Love Story That Fueled It. On September 6, 1982, convicted murderer Leroy James Chasson made a daring break for freedom from the Massachusetts Correctional Institute-Walpole—one of the most infamous, escape-proof prisons in the country. But this wasn't just any prison break. It was a meticulously planned, five-year effort, made possible by an unlikely accomplice—Kathleen MacDonald, Chasson's former pen-pal turned wife. We will talk about the shocking escape, detailing how Chasson, wounded and bleeding from self-inflicted wounds, was first transferred to a hospital for treatment. Then, using a .45 automatic smuggled to him by his wife, who was disguised as a nurse, took hospital guards and staff hostage, before fleeing under a hail of gunfire. |
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July 10, 2025 Show BR Bates discusses her book, THE CRACK CITY STRANGLER: The Homicides of Serial Killer Benjamin Atkins a chilling, in-depth account of the horrifying crimes committed by one of America's most notorious serial killers. We will discuss the twisted life of Benjamin "Tony" Atkins, whose reign of terror in Detroit spanned less than a year in the early 1990s. Known for targeting vulnerable women in Detroit's most dangerous neighborhoods, Atkins attacked at least 12 women along a mile-and-a-half stretch of Woodward Avenue, one of the city's most iconic streets. Atkins' crimes were brutal and relentless, leaving victims abandoned in the dark corners of the Cass Corridor and Highland Park. Only when the lone survivor of his horrific spree came forward did law enforcement begin to connect the dots and ultimately capture the monster behind the killings. |
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July 3, 2025 Show Luke Williams discusses his book, President of Pandemonium: The Mad World of Ike Ibeabuchi. Ike "The President" Ibeabuchi had the boxing world at his feet in 1997 after vanquishing David Tua in a battle for the ages in Sacramento. The Nigerian heavyweight's subsequent descent into a vortex of mental illness and crime and punishment was as shocking as it was tragic. Was Ibeabuchi a vulnerable man exploited by a ruthless sport and a dysfunctional criminal justice system, or was he guilty-as-charged for his deeds and rightly punished? |
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June 26, 2025 Show JA Yates talks about her compelling book, Irma Grese: The Hyena of Auschwitz. Shy schoolgirl and farmer's daughter turned vicious Nazi concentration camp guard Irma Grese is one of the most notorious female perpetrators to emerge from the Hitler regime. She moved quickly through the ranks of the concentration camp hierarchy due to her cruelty and fearlessness. At the age of 20 she was the youngest female camp supervisor in the SS. Prisoners recall Grese using her custom whip, gun, and attack dog as she moved through the camps, causing terror in prisoners with torture and death. She ignored her superior's demands to contain her cruelty. When on trial and punished, she remained defiant to the end. Her attractiveness was legendary among prisoners and staff and - later - the press. Her good looks were used against her at trial. She was complimented by her hangman. What created Irma Grese? Was she a killer given the right tools at the opportune time? Was she a true sadist? Or was she attempting to heal childhood injuries? We discuss. |
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June 19, 2025 Show Rod Sadler talks about his book, To Hell I Must Go. The True Story of Michigan's Lizzie Borden. Way back in 1897 Michigan, Martha Haney's struggle with her own illness reached the point of no return when she lashed out against an easy target, her 85 year old mother in law Mariah Haney Martha told them she spoke frequently with her own dead mother, and her mother had told her to kill the old woman. Over several days, the court decided Martha's ultimate fate. A panel of three doctors was commissioned to determine her sanity. In the end, there would be no prosecution. Deemed insane, she was sentenced to the Michigan Home for the Dangerous and Criminally Insane in Ionia. What made Martha Haney snap and behead her mother-in-law? Had she been insane from the beginning? Had domestic violence pervaded her short life? |
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Jerry Hester The award-nominated Crime Beat has a command appearance of Jerry Hester, who will talk about his book, Mafia Miami: FBI Politics and How an Investigation Was Nearly Sabotaged. We will get the inside look at an FBI undercover operation that exposed an Italian mafioso's global crime network. It's a remarkable and entertaining story that takes readers through the challenges, twists and turns, and inevitable administrative roadblocks one encounters while running a high-profile and complex FBI investigation. Interwoven throughout the story are highlights of key bureaucratic changes driven by culture and policy that took place within the FBI at the time. Jerry Hester will explain how those changes had a negative impact on not only the Paesan Blues investigation but also the entire future of the FBI's effectiveness and reputation. |
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June 5, 2025 Show Rod Sadler discusses his new book Depraved Obsession. During his nearly fifteen-year reign of terror, Ronald Lloyd Bailey's depraved obsession with sexual sadism held communities across southeast Michigan in a shroud of fear. From the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, the former patient at one of Michigan's foremost psychiatric hospitals, abducted as many as fifteen teens and over time became a sadistic serial killer. We will talk about law enforcement's dedicated efforts in connecting the dots to stop an unknown killer and the determination of the victims' families to triumph over tragedy. We will also examine Bailey's insanity defense that centered on the alleged abuse he endured at the hands of his psychiatrist .
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May 29, 2025 Show Brian and Cameron Santana We talk with Brian and Cameron Santana about their book, A MURDER ON CAMPUS: The Professor, The Cop, And North Carolina's Most Notorious Cold Case The book is the true crime investigation that unveils the shocking story behind the brutal 1973 murder on campus of 19-year-old Virginia Marie Olson. On April 15, 1973, two high school students discovered Olson's body near the campus of the University of North Carolina-Asheville. The cold case that followed would span over 50 years, involving three generations of detectives and the Asheville Police Department and North Carolina SBI as they worked tirelessly to uncover the truth. Olson's murder was horrifically violent—she had been bound, raped, and stabbed to death, leaving the Asheville community in shock. Whispers about the killer's identity have circulated for decades, with theories ranging from an escaped mental health patient to one of North Carolina's most notorious serial killers—until now. |
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May 22, 2025 Show Kevin Lenihan discusses his book, Storm of Suspicion; The Karen Read Murder Trials. The case began in the midst of a massive snowstorm in 2022 and ended the first time in a mistrial. Now, more than two years later, Karen Read is back in the a Boston courtroom once again. At question is whether Karen Read, a 43-year-old college professor, is responsible as charged for the cold-blooded murder of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, a Boston police officer? Or was she framed, by the real killer—another cop—covering his tracks with the help of a corrupt law enforcement establishment? In STORM OF SUSPICION, Lenihan, the COURT TV expert commentator in the case, breaks down the key evidence and shocking conspiracy theories from the first trial. Then he does a deep dive into how the new trial will be fought by both sides, as well as in the court of public opinion, with new revelations, unanticipated twists, and a storm of suspicion. |
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Karen Conti discusses her book, Killing Time with John Wayne Gacy: Defending America's Most Evil Serial Killer on Death Row. John Wayne Gacy raped, tortured, and murdered 33 boys and young men, burying most of them in the crawlspace under his Chicago home. Karen Conti was in high school at the time watching the bodies being removed on the television news. Fourteen years pass. Through a twist of fate, Conti, now a young and inexperienced attorney, is called upon to handle Gacy's final death row appeals. The serial killer soon becomes her most famous, difficult, and haunting client. Thirty years after Gacy's execution, Conti looks back through the eyes of a seasoned professional on the legal and media circus that ensued—and her countless hours of detailed conversation with the killer clown. We hear for the first time about Gacy's gruesome "Body Book." Were there more victims? Conspirators involved in the murders? What secrets were buried with him? |
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May 8, 2025 Show D.R. Bartlette discusses her book, THE DUMOND AFFAIR: How Lies And Politics Freed A Killer. A predator is set loose. A system is manipulated. A catastrophe that could have been prevented. Ashley Stevens, at 17 years old, thought justice would be done when she named Wayne Dumond as the guy who had abducted and sexually assaulted her in 1984. She was unaware that her horror was only getting started. Dumond was a vicious serial predator with a troubling past of assault and homicide, not just another criminal. However, a complex network of deceit, manipulation, and influence freed him from prison. After being freed, he struck once more, ruthlessly killing two more ladies in the process. We will discuss this terrifying true story of how a monster was able to escape punishment due to a corrupt legal system, political ambition, and conspiracy theories. |
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May 1, 2025 Show Jeffrey Sussman discusses his book, Backbeat Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Rock Music During the early days of rock and roll, the mob used every tactic they could, from creating their own record labels, bribing radio DJs and stacking jukeboxes with their own artists, to exploiting and intimidating performers, and creating their own black market of bootlegged records, to make millions. We will discuss how the mob was able to infiltrate and control another aspect of American culture with devastating results. Whatever it took to gain airtime and repeated plays of their songs, the mob made sure it happened . Let's rock and roll! |
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April 24, 2025 Show Bryan Seymour the co-author of The Lady Vanishes. When Marion Barter disappeared in 1997, police initially dismissed it as the actions of a divorced mother abandoning her family. In this book, the creators of the addictive global hit podcast The Lady Vanishes detail the winding investigation into Marion's disappearance, from tentative early police efforts to her daughter's 27-year search for answers. The Lady Vanishes is an engrossing story of how a small team of seasoned investigative journalists and storytellers, a daughter's intuition and a team of listener super-sleuths uncovered a web of intrigue spanning nine decades and three continents, and how - after 57 episodes, 20 million downloads and sparking a coronial inquiry - they discovered at the heart of the mystery a stranger-than-fiction international man of mystery who could hold the key to what really happened to Marion. |
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Ron and Chris Washburn talk about their book, Out of Bounds: From Broken NBA dreams to Redemption: The Chris Washburn Story. Chris Washburn's story is one of extraordinary talent, devastating loss, and ultimate triumph. Highly promising basketball player Chris Washburn was selected third overall in the 1986 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. But a chance encounter with famed basketball player Len Bias introduced him to crack cocaine. Soon, the overwhelming temptations of fame, fortune, and drugs derailed his promising career. And by 1989, after failing his third drug test, Chris was banned from the NBA. His life then spiraled into addiction, homelessness, incarceration, and near-death experiences. Yet, in 2000, a turning point came when he lost his father. This loss fueled Chris's resolve to change. With incredible strength and determination, he fought back from the depths of addiction. Today, Chris is a beacon of hope and resilience. He is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and advocate, inspiring others with his journey of recovery from addiction and redemption. Chris 's remarkable journey, which included finding his birth mother, proves that it's never too late to rise again. 700 |
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April 10, 2025 Show John Lee Bishop talks about his book, The Church of Living Dangerously: Tales of a Drug-Running Mega-church Pastor. We will talk about the unbelievable true story of a former mega-church pastor who ended up running drugs for the Sinaloa Cartel. We'll talk about Bishop's harrowing ride from the rough small town in Washington where he was born all the way to the dirty villages in Mexico where he fell in with some of the most dangerous criminals on the planet. There are backyard fight clubs where John learned to take a punch, the abandoned K-Mart where he used to preach every Sunday (sometimes with the help of wild animals), and the drug dens where he almost lost his life ten times over. It's a story that seems too wild to be true, but is. |
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April 3, 2025 Show Michael Cannell Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation. No episode in NYPD history surpasses the depravities of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, two decorated detectives who covertly acted as mafia informants and paid assassins in the Scorsese world of 1980s Brooklyn. For more than ten years, Eppolito and Caracappa moonlighted as the mob's early warning alert system, leaking names of mobsters secretly cooperating with the government and crippling investigations by sharing details of surveillance, phone taps and impending arrests. The Lucchese boss called the two detectives his crystal ball: Whatever detectives knew, the mafia soon learned. Most grievously, Eppolito and Caracappa earned bonuses by staging eight mob hits, pulling the trigger themselves at least once. Incredibly, when evidence of their wrongdoing arose in 1994, FBI officials failed to muster an indictment. The allegations lay dormant for a decade and were only revisited due to relentless follow up by Tommy Dades, a cop determined to break the cold case before his retirement. Eppolito and Caracappa were finally tried and then sentenced to life in prison in 2009, nearly thirty years after their crimes took place. For the first time in forty years, former New York Times editor Michael Cannell unearths the full story behind two ruthless New York cops who acted as double agents for the Mafia. |
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March 27, 2025 Show Andy Thibault discusses his book, You Thought It was More: New Adventures of the World's Greatest Counterfeiter. The book, done in collaboration with Louis Colavecchio, tells the story of Louis Colavecchio, the man considered the world's greatest counterfeiter. Colavecchio's prowess as a jeweler, manufacturer, and charmer has earned him a place in history, having been featured on prestigious platforms such as The History Channel and The BBC. His profound impact on the casino gaming industry has left a lasting legacy, forever changing it. |
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Carla Conti discusses her book, Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir. After three years in Europe, former journalist Carla Conti* just wanted to settle her family into the suburbs of Philadelphia. But her high school friend Scott Powell, a lawyer handling a brutal prison stabbing case, needed a favor. Before she knew it, Carla became part of the defense team and mired in the terrifying world of federal prison gangs, penal abuse, and corruption. Then, when she agreed to write a tell-all book on the violent machinations behind the court case — with Scott's client as an inside source — the stakes turned deadly. Two different prison gangs issued "hit orders" against the prisoner she and Scott now considered a friend, and the journalist and defense attorney were imperiled by association. Carla Conti is a pseudonym to protect the author's identity. |
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March 13, 2025 Show Casey Sherman New York Times bestselling author Casey Sherman pulls back Tinseltown's velvet curtain to reveal the dark underbelly of celebrity, rife with toxic masculinity and casual violence against women, and tells the story of Lana Turner and her daughter, who finally stood up to the abuse that plagued their family for years. A Murder in Hollywood transports us back to the golden age of film and illuminates one of the 20th century's most notorious true crime tales. 695 |
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Emilio Corseitti discusses his book, I Will Ruin You: The Truth Behind the Kit Martin Murder Trial. Moments before boarding a passenger flight on 11 May 2019 as the first officer, pilot Christian "Kit" Martin, a former army ranger, was arrested by a swarm of heavily armed officers for the murders of three of his neighbors. The arrest captured global attention as Martin's mugshot, clad in a pilot's uniform, spread across the internet, sparking a media firestorm with headlines such as "Monster in the Cockpit." A combat helicopter pilot, Kit Martin had seen his life unravel after seeking a divorce. His wife's threatening words, "If you leave me, I will ruin your life ...," overheard by his daughter, seemed to have become a grim reality, escalating to a court-martial and culminating in a high-stakes murder trial at which he was convicted. Did the State of Kentucky convict an innocent man? |
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Dr. Joane Intrator discusses her book: Summons to Berlin: Nazi Theft and A Daughter's Quest for Justice. On his deathbed, the father of New York psychiatrist Dr. Joanne Intrator poses two unsettling questions: "Are you tough enough? Do they know who you are?" Joanne Intrator soon realizes that these haunting questions relate to a center-city Berlin building at 16 Wallstrasse that the Nazis ripped away from her family in 1938. But a decade will pass before she fully grasps why her father threw down the gauntlet as he did. Repeatedly, Intrator's restitution quest forces her to confront her profound fears surrounding Germany and the Holocaust. 693 |
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Kate Winkler Dawson discuss her book, The Sinners All Bow: Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne. Acclaimed journalist, podcaster, and true-crime historian Kate Winkler Dawson tells the true story of the scandalous murder investigation that became the inspiration for both Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and the first true-crime book published in America. On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead in a quiet farmyard in a small New England town. When her troubled past and a secret correspondence with charismatic Methodist minister Reverend Ephraim Avery was uncovered, more questions emerged. Was Sarah's death a suicide...or something much darker? Determined to uncover the real story, Victorian writer Catharine Read Arnold Williams threw herself into the investigation as the trial was unfolding and wrote what many claim to be the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River. The murder divided the country and inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter—but the reverend was not convicted, and questions linger to this day about what really led to Sarah Cornell's death. Until now. 692 |
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February 13, 2025 Show Michael Vecchione discusses his book, Fallen Angel III: Anarchy, Chaos....Peace?. In a world where heinous crimes go unpunished, a priest from the Vatican's Office of Exorcisms in New York makes a chilling discovery: each acquittal preceded a satanic exorcism. His unsettling conclusion? The Devil himself is orchestrating this chaos, plunging America into lawlessness and despair. This is the third book in Vecchione's Fallen Angel series, where Brooklyn becomes the battleground against the Evil One. Chief Michael Gioca of the Brooklyn District Attorney's Rackets Division is chosen by a secret government agency to confront this malevolent force. 691 |
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February 6, 2025 Show TJ English discusses his book, The Last Kilo: Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire That Seduced America: An Epic Narco Story with Unmatched Intrigue and Corruption, Experience the Rise and Fall of a Drug Empire. TJ English recounts the epic tale of Los Muchachos, the syndicate founded by Falcon that thrived as a major cocaine distribution network in the U.S. from the late 1970's into the early 1990's. At their height, Los Muchachos made more than a hundred million dollars a year The Last Kilo traces the rise and fall of a true cocaine empire—and the lives left in its wake. |
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David McGrath talks about his book OBSESSED: A Survivor's Quest To Find Justice For The Lost Boys Of New England. In the tranquil towns of New England during the 1970s, a sinister mystery unfolded when several boys vanished without a trace and the community's peace was shattered. With law enforcement stymied in its search for answers, whispers of a possible serial killer surfaced, especially after one boy's body was found years after his disappearance. But what happened to the others remained a heart-wrenching puzzle. In 2013, author David McGrath, a former host on the Law Enforcement Today Network and an investigator with a relentless drive for justice, watched a documentary about the cold case investigation regarding the missing boys. Himself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and active in his local community with a sex abuse therapy group, McGrath was struck by the number of unanswered questions in the documentary.. What followed, beginning in January 2014, was a five-year quest to find the answers to this child abduction and murder mystery. Traveling all over the United States, he uncovered a labyrinth of dark secrets just beneath the surface and unknown to most residents of the bucolic communities from which the boys disappeared. Haunted by his own past, he had to navigate these dark waters if he wanted to bring truth and justice to the victims and their families. 689 |
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January 23, 2025 Show Phillip Crawford discusses his book, Railroaded: The Homophobic Prosecution of Brandon Woodruff for His Parents' Murders. Was a Texas youth convicted for a horrific crime because he's gay? Author Phillip Crawford Jr. details how anti-gay bias rather than relevant evidence drove the case against a young defendant. In October 2005 nineteen-year-old Brandon Dale Woodruff was charged with murdering his parents in a rural northeast Texas town in the heart of the Bible belt. Both were shot and stabbed multiple times in their faces. It was a bloodbath. There was no direct evidence tying the couple's son to the gruesome crime to warrant his arrest — no eyewitnesses, no murder weapons, no bloody prints — but investigators were convinced the teen boy was living a double life who killed when his two worlds supposedly collided. Brandon was a horse wrangler and attending Abilene Christian University, and he also was a porn actor and dancing at Dallas gay clubs. There was no double life; just a boy coming out. |
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January 16, 2025 Show Eric Dezenhall discusses his book, Wiseguys and the White House: Gangsters, Presidents, and the Deals They Made. Gangsters and presidents have long captured the American imagination, but how much does the underworld actually affect presidential power? How deep are their "connections"? Eric Dezenhall's book is eye-opening history, in some instances, one couldn't have functioned without the other. From Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Richard Nixon to Joseph R. Biden, the mob has done presidential dirty work, including attempts to assassinate foreign leaders, harass America's enemies, and put our chief executives in office Tonight Wisegwe will talk about how mobsters and presidents have traded favors—and double-crossed each other. |
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January 9, 2025 Show
David Adler discusses his book, BAKER, LIAR, CON MAN, THIEF: Escaping the Law One Identity at a Time. It all starts when Adler secures a bank loan to buy a booming local bakery. With no funds to his name, Adler unlocks his talent for forgery and the art of the scam. Alongside his mother and Italian tough-guy stepfather, he navigates a perilous path of crime, crafting false identities to dupe banks, casinos, and even the World's Fair, accumulating vast sums and dodging law enforcement. Enter Dianne Symmons, a witty, sarcastic FBI agent obsessed with their capture. After she solves an unrelated airline hijacking case, she is assigned to find the trio and make a case against them. Much easier said than done since each uses hundreds of names and disposes of identities like tissue. 686 |
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January 2, 2025 Show Deborah Bonello author of Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America Cartels. Bonello, a former editor and investigator for InSight Crime, explores how women participate in the region's criminal landscape, the common misconceptions about their involvement with criminal groups, how women in crime are represented by the media |
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December 26, 2024 Show Nic Edwards discusses his co-authored book, The Delphi Murders: The Quest to find the Man on the Bridge. The co-author is Brian Whitney. On February 13, 2017, two Indiana teenagers, Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, went for a walk in the woods near the abandoned Monon High Bridge. They never returned home. Their bodies were discovered on Valentine's Day morning, sparking a torrent of news coverage and social media speculation that engrossed the attention of people around the world. A grainy photo of the suspected killer walking across the bridge and a chilling cell phone recording of his voice saying "down the hill" captured the public's attention. Numerous possible suspects were brought to the attention of the authorities but dismissed, leaving everyone wondering who could have committed such a heinous crime. We investigate this story with Nic Edwards.
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December 19, 2024 Show Paul Hodos discusses his book Steel City Mafia: Blood, Betrayal and Pittsburgh's Last Don. Pittsburgh's small but lucrative Cosa Nostra mafia family was on the rise in 1985 with a newly crowned Don.The men who came to dominate the rackets in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia opened the family to massive profits from drug trafficking and a street tax on other criminal activities. At the same time, the Youngstown, OH faction of the family launched a brutal mob war against the weakening Cleveland mafia and the Altoona, PA crew violently clamped down on their city. Tonight we will discover gritty stories of a made member who controlled who a local police department hired, an informant who betrayed his own mafia grandfather and father, numerous unsolved murders and a mob mole in the Pittsburgh office of the FBI. This book is the tale of a mafia family at the pinnacle of its power, willing to do anything to hold on to that power and its downfall in the criminal underworld. |
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December 12, 2024 Show B.R. Bates and Gerald Cliff discuss their book, The 'Baby Doll' Serial Killer: The John Henry Armstrong Homicide. He was unassuming, sweet, and friendly. "Saved" in church as a teen, he never caused trouble. In the Navy, they called him Opie. Though he . was a big guy, he had a soft, boyish demeanor. "The boy next door," said those who worked with and knew him. But John Eric Armstrong had a dark secret—hidden even from those closest to him. Prowling Detroit's well-known pocket of prostitution on historic Michigan Ave, this young husband and father picked up unsuspecting women who thought they were simply meeting a john. He seemed innocent, even driving a Jeep with a front plate reading "Baby Doll." But they soon discovered, he could turn on a dime -- fly into a rage. Sometimes he would leave his victims alive, but sometimes he didn't. 684 |
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December 5, 2024 Show Anthony Arillotta discusses his book, South End Syndicate: How I Took over the Genovese Springfield Crew The book tells the untold story of a young man infatuated with Springfield wiseguys who rose from being a street criminal to becoming his city's Mafia boss. How did a young Italian-American kid from Springfield work his way up the chain to become a Made wiseguy in charge of Western New England? You will listen to Arillotta, now a free man, tell a timeless tale of power, money, and murder. 683 |
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November 28, 2024 Show David Larson is back to discuss his book, The Last Jewish Gangster, The Middle Years, The book is the second installment in a three-part chronicle of Michael Hardy, one of organized crime’s least known but most fascinating gangsters. The book starts in 1968 with gangster Michael Hardy sentenced to twelve years in the world’s most dangerous prison in Mexico after taking the rap for his mother’s counterfeiting scheme, hoping to have finally earned her love and respect. It then follows Hardy, further down his twisted criminal path. Throughout his career as a criminal, Hardy robbed banks and drug dealers alike, ran a finger of an international stolen car ring, kidnapped drug lords, and even became a hired gun.
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John Madinger discusses his book, LETHAL DOSES: The Story Behind 'The Godfather of Fentanyl. Madinger, an award-winning author and former undercover agent for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, tells the remarkable story of DEA's three-year pursuit, the genesis of our fentanyl ,problem today, and the uniquely dangerous evil genius he spent hundreds of hours interviewing. On a cold afternoon in February 1991, a frightening new drug hit the streets of New York City, a synthetic narcotic marketed in packets labeled "Tango & Cash." As police scrambled to warn heroin users of the danger, the overdose victims began piling up in hospital emergency rooms and county morgues across three states. As a Drug Enforcement Administration agent said at the time, "We don't know yet who's putting this stuff out there, but whoever he is, he's an ice-cold son of a bitch." Fentanyl had come to America. This book is the basis for the hit docu-series, The Godfather of Fentanyl |
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November 14, 2024 Show Mike Rothmiller discusses his book, True Stories of the Paranormal and Unexplained: Volume One.: Ufos, Bigfoot, Ghosts, Ghouls and Other Strange Phenomena. Mike Rothmiller promises that These True Stories will amaze and shock you. Most of the stories were written during the 1800s and early 1900s. Mike Rothmiller explains "I intentionally chose stories from before the invention of the radio and TV, when the only methods of receiving NEWS were from newspapers and word of mouth. Unlike today, the public was not pre-conditioned by television, radio, magazines, and books on these subjects. At the time, a flying object was considered ridiculous. Yet, there were thousands of credible witnesses. 680 |
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James T. Bartlett discusses his book, The Alaskan Blonde: Sex, Secrets, and the Hollywood Story that Shocked America. Nicknamed "the most beautiful woman in Alaska," 31-year-old Diane Wells was bruised and bloodied when she screamed for help in the early hours of October 17, 1953. Her husband Cecil, a wealthy Fairbanks businessman, had been shot dead, and she claimed they were the victims of a brutal home invasion. Blonde, glamorous and 20 years younger than Cecil, police were immediately suspicious of Diane's account, and the investigation soon turned toward her alleged lover, musician Johnny Warren, who had left town the night of the murder. Journalist James T. Bartlett re-examines the FBI files, uncovers new evidence including an unpublished memoir and unseen photographs, and tracks down and interviews the people close to Cecil, Diane, Johnny, and the mysterious "Third Suspect", dance instructor William Colombany, to finally reveal what happened on that fateful night nearly 70 years ago. 679 |
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Command Appearance August 18, 2023 Show
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October
31, 2024 Show Colin Dickey a command appearance of Cultural historian Colin Dickey to discuss his book, Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy. Colin Dickey has built a career studying how our most irrational beliefs reach the mainstream, why, and what they tell us about ourselves.
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October 24, 2024 Show Alex Hortis
talks about
his book, The Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the
Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice. Before the sensational cases of
Amanda Knox and Casey Anthony—before even Lizzie Borden—there was Polly
Bodine, the first American woman put on trial for capital murder in our
nation's debut media circus. Christmas night, December 25, 1843, in a serene
village on Staten Island, shocked neighbors discovered the burnt remains of
twenty-four-year-old mother Emeline Houseman and her infant daughter, Ann
Eliza. In a perverse nativity, someone bludgeoned to death a mother and
child in their home—and then covered up the crime with hellfire. When an
ambitious district attorney charges Polly Bodine (Emelin's sister-in-law)
with a double homicide, the new "penny press" explodes. Polly is a perfect
media villain: she's a separated wife who drinks gin, commits adultery, and
has had multiple abortions. Between June 1844 and April 1846, the nation was
enthralled by her three trials—in Staten Island, Manhattan, and Newburgh—for
the "Christmas murders." 678 |
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Frank Figliuzzi discusses his book, The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence. Frank Figliuzzi, a MSCNBC contributor, was the "Keeper of the Code," appointed the FBI's Chief Inspector by then-Director Robert Mueller. Charged with overseeing sensitive internal inquiries, shooting reviews, and performance audits, he ensured each employee met the Bureau's exacting standards of performance, integrity, and conduct. In his book, Frank Figliuzzi draws on his distinguished career to reveal how the Bureau achieves its extraordinary standard of excellence—from the training of new recruits in "The FBI Way" to the Bureau's rigorous maintenance of its standards up and down the organization. Unafraid to identify FBI execs who erred, he cites them as the exceptions that prove the rule. |
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October 10, 2024 Show Phillip Crawford, Jr. discusses his book The Mafia and the Gays. Phillip Crawford illustrates how the gay bars historically were integrated into the Mafia rackets. For example, the establishments often were financed through mob-tied coin-op vendors and their related loan companies. Jukebox king Alfred Miniaci funded dozens of gay bars and other joints controlled by the Mafia in the 1950s and 1960s including the Peppermint Lounge. Miniaci supplied slot machines in the 1930s to Frank Costello, and had dined with the mob boss on the May 2, 1957 night he was shot. Gay bars sometimes served as drug drops. Forget about the pizza connection; this was the pansy connection. Club 82 in New York's East Village was a popular club with drag revues, and in the 1950s also was part of the distribution network in the Genovese family's heroin trade for which boss Vito was convicted in 1959. |
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October 3, 2024 Show Stanley Milford, Jr. talks about his book, The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo investigator's Search for the Unexplained. Milford's chilling and clear-eyed memoir investigates bizarre cases of the paranormal and unexplained in Navajo land. As a Native American with parents of both Navajo and Cherokee descent, Stanley Milford Jr. grew up in a world where the supernatural was both expected and taboo, where shape-shifters roamed, witchcraft was a thing to be feared, and children were taught not to whistle at night. In his youth, Milford never went looking for the paranormal, but it always seemed to find him. When he joined the fabled Navajo Rangers—a law enforcement branch of the Navajo Nation who are equal parts police officers, archeological conservationists, and historians—the paranormal became part of his job. Alongside addressing the mundane duties of overseeing the massive 27,000-square-mile reservation, Milford was assigned to utterly bizarre and shockingly frequent cases involving mysterious livestock mutilations, Bigfoot sightings, UFOs, and malicious hauntings. In The Paranormal Ranger, Milford recounts the stories of these cases from the clinical and deductive perspective of a law enforcement officer. 675 |
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September 26, 2024 Show Joan Renner discusses her book, OF MOBSTERS AND MOVIE STARS: The Bloody "Golden Age" of Hollywood. We will explore the shadowy world of fame and crime during Hollywood's most glamorous era. As Los Angeles transformed into the epicenter of film, it also became a haven for notorious criminals and mobsters, weaving an intriguing complex tapestry of allure and danger. We will delve into infamous episodes, such as the shocking case of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, accused of "accidentally" crushing to death a young actress beneath his enormous weight as he raped her, and other lesser-known, but equally hair-raising stories of actors brought down by scandal and corruption. |
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September 19, 2024 Show Robert Conlin discusses his book The Lewiston Murders. An All-American Tragedy. Author and award-winning journalist Robert Conlin traces the shootings that deeply scarred a community that thought it was the last place on earth where a mass shooting would take place. https://wildbluepress.com/lewiston-shootings-robert-conlin-true-crime/ 673
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Command Appearance December 8, 2022 Show |
Bob Batchelor discusses his book, Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, The Doors and the Death Days of the Sixties. In Roadhouse Blues. |
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September 5, 2024 Show Paul Drexler author of Notorious San Fransico: True Tales of Crime, Passion and Murder.
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August 29, 2024 Show Susan Goldenberg talks about her book, Deadly Triangle: The Famous Architect, His Wife, Their Chauffer and a Murder Most Foul. Glamorous young wife Alma Rattenbury takes her chauffeur as a lover and their scandalous relationship leads to a murder most foul. The 1935 murder of architect Francis Mawson Rattenbury, famous for his design of the iconic Parliament Buildings and Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, and the arrest and lurid trial of his 30-years-younger second wife, Alma, and the family chauffeur, George Percy Stoner, her lover, riveted people. The lovers were tried together for Francis's murder at the Old Bailey Criminal Court in London, resulting in intense public interest and massive, frenzied media coverage. The trial became one of the 20th century's most sensational cases, sparking widespread debate over sexual mores and social strata distinctions. |
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Michel Paradis Michel Paradis, a human rights lawyer discusses his book, The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower. The book is a biography of Dwight Eisenhower set in the months leading up to D-Day, when he grew from a well-liked general into one of the singular figures of American history. In a world of giants—Churchill, Roosevelt, De Gaulle, Marshall, MacArthur—it was a barefoot boy from Abilene, Kansas, who would master the art of power and become a modern-day George Washington. |
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Command Appearance March 11, 2021 Show
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Command appearance of John Wesley Anderson,
author of Lou and JonBenet: A Legendary Law Man’s Quest to Solve the Child Beauty Queen’s Murder https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/7111699.John_Wesley_Anderson |
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August 8, 2024 Show Rick Jervis Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Rick Jervis to discuss his shocking true-crime book, The Devil Behind the Badge: The Horrifying Twelve Days of the Border Patrol Serial Killer. It's the story of a U.S. Border Patrol agent turned serial killer, the four sex workers whom he mercilessly killed, and the upended border town of Laredo where his heinous crimes occurred. The cold-blooded killer was hiding in plain sight. 669 |
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August 1, 2024 Show Peter Houlahan to talk about his book, Reap the Whirlwind: Violence, Race, Justice, and the Story of Sagon Penn. The bestselling author of Norco '80 recounts the riveting story of mid-1980s San Diego that placed one young Black man at the center of a whirlwind of crime and punishment that profoundly altered Southern California. It was March 31, 1985. Two white patrol officers in search of a gang member followed a pickup truck carrying seven young . Black men up a dirt driveway in the Encanto neighborhood of Southeastern San Diego. Minutes later, gunshots rang out, and the truck's driver, Sagon Penn, fled the scene in an officer's patrol car. The incident stunned the city. What followed would change it forever. |
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July 25, 2024 Show Anthony Destefano Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist Anthony Destefano to discuss his book, Broadway Butterfly: Vivian Gordon: The Lady Gangster of Jazz Age New York. Indiana-born Vivian Gordon fluttered to New York in 1920 looking for fame and fortune. Before long, the flame-haired chorus girl parlayed her youth, beauty, and ambition into more profitable means as a tough and glamorous symbol of Prohibition-era excess. She was a speakeasy owner, blackmailer, high-end escort, extortionist, racketeer, and con woman. But given her dangerously intimate associations, Vivian was also a woman who knew too much and who rightfully feared for her life. On February 26, 1931, Vivian's bludgeoned and garroted body was found dumped in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. We will discuss with Anthony DeStefano Vivian Gordon's tumultuous life and the headline-making murder that became an obsession for many. 667 |
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Special FBI agent Jeffrey Iverson discusses his book, In the Belly of the Bear: An FBI journey behind the New Iron Curtain. The collapse of the Soviet Union was a historic turning point when many, especially those who grew up during the Cold War, began to let go of their long-held fears and embrace feelings of hope for the future. That included agents of the FBI, who were, by necessity, busy building bridges with their former adversaries in response to a flood of Russian criminals pouring into the United States. In The Belly of the Bear chronicles this collaboration through the eyes of a key FBI agent who was on the frontlines in Russia. Jeff Iverson explores obstacles he and his colleagues faced on our former rivals' home turf, including counterintelligence challenges that have traditionally posed a danger to American government officials and/or businesspeople traveling to Russia. |
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July 11, 2024 Show Arthur Kane discusses his book, THE LAST STORY: The Murder of an Investigative Journalist in Las Vegas. Jeff German, a veteran Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter, was no stranger to controversy or the danger of his work. For more than four decades, he wrote stories relentlessly confronting the mob, corrupt politicians, and greedy bureaucrats, Then, in the spring of 2022, German received a tip about abuses at a little-known county office. His subsequent investigation unearthed a scandalous, sexually incriminating video of a rising politician. The resulting stories in the Review-Journal ended the man's political aspirations. Less than six months later, on September 3, German's lifeless body was discovered outside his home with multiple stab wounds. His dedicated newsroom colleagues, including Kane, vowed to find the killer. In doing so, they exposed the true depths of corruption and malice in Sin City |
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Command Appearance March 11, 2021 Show
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July 4, 2024 Show Rod Sadler author of Killing Women: The True Story of Serial Killer Don Miller's Reign of Terror www.rodsadler.com
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June 27, 2024 Show Morgen Wetzel aka R.L. Graham England this week and welcomes Morgen Wetzel to discuss his book Death on the Lusitania. The book is written under the pseudonym, of R.L. Graham. The Lusitania was doomed before it ever left port. But what if the mortal danger to passengers was not only from outside enemy forces but also from sinister characters onboard? Wetzel explores this chilling scenario. Drawing on meticulous research, Wetzel presents an atmospheric murder mystery set on a luxurious trans-Atlantic liner headed for certain disaster. What's more, this historical crime thriller introduces an amateur detective with wits to rival Hercule Poirot. |
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Karen Conti discusses her book, Killing Time with John Wayne Gacy: Defending America's Most Evil Serial Killer on Death Row. John Wayne Gacy raped, tortured, and murdered 33 boys and young men, burying most of them in the crawlspace under his Chicago home. Karen Conti was in high school at the time watching the bodies being removed on the television news. Fourteen years pass. Through a twist of fate, Conti, now a young and inexperienced attorney, is called upon to handle Gacy's final death row appeals. The serial killer soon becomes her most famous, difficult, and haunting client. Thirty years after Gacy's execution, Conti looks back through the eyes of a seasoned professional on the legal and media circus that ensued—and her countless hours of detailed conversation with the killer clown. We hear for the first time about Gacy's gruesome "Body Book." Were there more victims? Conspirators involved in the murders? What secrets were buried with him? #663 |
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June 13, 2024 Show Frank Figliuzzi Former FBI assistant director Frank Figliuzzi discusses his book, Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers. Figliuzzi presents a shocking journey to the dark side of America's highways, revealing the FBI Highway Serial Killings Initiative's hunt for the long-haul truckers behind an astonishing 850 murders–and counting. In 2004, the FBI was tipped off to a gruesome pattern of unsolved murders along American roadways. Today at least 850 homicides have been linked to a solitary breed of predators: long-haul truck drivers. They have been given names like the "Truck Stop Killer," who rigged a traveling torture chamber in the rear of his truck and is suspected to have killed fifty women, and "The Interstate Strangler," who once answered a phone call from his mother while killing one of his dozen victims. The crisis was such that the FBI opened a special unit, the Highway Serial Killings Initiative |
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June 6, 2024 Show Lance Williams talks about his book King David and Boss Daley: The Black Disciples, Mayor Daley, and Chicago on the Edge. In Chicago in mid-twentieth century amid the haze and smoke of urban renewal and the sounds of the wrecking balls and bulldozers, there lived two men, both street-savvy, one Black, one Irish, one young, one old and both leaders of their clans. Each ruled with an iron fist. Each embodied the fighting spirit of the turbulent 1960s. One was David Barksdale, the Black Disciples leader, a Black youth club that would give birth to America's largest street gang; the other was Richard J. Daley, the legendary Mayor of the City of Chicago. He was one of the longest-serving, most prominent mayors in American history and the last of the big-city "bosses." Although the two never met, at least not face-to-face, their fates were linked by a time of change, an era of protest, which was a decisive moment of transformational power that was on the verge of a violent uprising in America's second-largest city. |
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May 30, 2024 Show Bruce LeMaster talks about his book The Wolf and the Killer: Volume 1. LeMaster interviewed a serial killer to produce this fascinating book. He talked with the serial killer about his life, his crimes, what made him become a killer and prison life. LeMaster explains: "As I have told you before and as you know I admire a true serial killer. They are the ultimate predator. They think, act, learn from their mistakes, hide in plain sight, and have no remorse for what they do. They are like a shark always hunting and killing." |
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May 23, 2024 Show Maureen Boyle discusses her book Shallow Graves: The Hunt for the New Bedford Serial Killer. In Shallow Graves, investigative reporter Maureen Boyle tells the story of a case that has haunted New England for 30 years. Eleven women went missing over the spring and summer of 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, an old fishing port known as the Whaling City, where Moby Dick, Frederick Douglass, textile mills, and heroin-dealing represent just a few of the many threads in the community's diverse fabric The book spins a riveting narrative about the crimes, the victims, the hunt for the killers, and the search for justice, all played out against the backdrop of an increasingly impoverished community beset by drugs and crime.. Boyle first broke the story in 1988 and stayed with it for decades. |
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Command Appearance January 12, 2023 Show |
May 16, 2024 Show Matthew Gentile In a command appearance, we welcome Matthew Gentile, screenwriter and director to discuss his movie, American Murderer. The thriller is based on the true story of Jason Derek Brown, elusive con man wanted by the FBI after hatching his most elaborate scheme yet. Brown has been on the run for 15 years. The movie stars Ryan Phillippe, Tom Phelphrey and Idina Menzel. We will be discussing movie making, as well as Brown's story brought to the big screen.
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May 9, 2024
Show Marla Bernard talks about her book, Precious Few Clues: The True Crime Investigation of Kansas City's "Precious Doe" Murder. On an unseasonably warm April evening in 2001, the headless body of a tiny girl was found discarded in a makeshift dump site in the woods on the southeast side of Kansas City, Missouri. In Precious Few Clues, Marla Bernard provides a candid and touching account of the painful impact that this brutal murder had on Sgt. Bernard, his family, and the KCPD's 1020 squad. It chronicles the all too frequent story of child abuse, failed social services, a flawed court system, and battered women who sacrificed their own children to shield their abusive lovers, echoing the same preposterous explanations of "...but I love him"
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May 2, 2024 Show Jo Thomas discusses her memoir: Striving: Adventures of a Female Journalist, a True Story. New York Times journalist Jo Thomas' career is amazing. It begins with a plane crash and continues in ruined neighborhoods in Ohio. She undertakes a terrifying investigation of the underworld and the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa on the docks of Detroit. She visits the office of a scientist in New Orleans who did covert experiments for the CIA. She walks the streets of Havana as thousands depart for Miami during the Mariel boatlift. She is in Northern Ireland to investigate undercover police and army shootings during the Troubles. And she is at white right-wing enclaves in the American heartland after the Oklahoma City bombing. Jo Thomas' story speaks to the importance of journalism and the struggles of women in the workplace. 657
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April 25, 2024 Show Jerry Hester talks about his book, Mafia Miami: FBI Politics and How an Investigation Was Nearly Sabotaged. We will talk about the challenges, twists and turns, and inevitable administrative roadblocks one encounters while running a high-profile and complex FBI investigation. Interwoven throughout Hester's story are highlights of key bureaucratic changes driven by culture and policy that took place within the FBI at the time. We will also talk about how those changes had a negative impact on not only the Paesan Blues investigation, the heart of the book, but also the entire future of the FBI's effectiveness and reputation. 656 |
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April 18, 2024 Show Maureen Boyle discusses her book Child Last Seen: The Search for Patty Desmond. The year was 1965. In an unseasonably warm winter evening in Pennsylvania, 15-year-old Patty Desmond sneaked out through the basement of her house. She had a history of running away, and that, combined with an argument with her mother, gave police reason to suspect she'd come home in a week or two. That night was the last time her family ever saw her. Conrad Eugene Miller was well-known to local law enforcement. An older married man with a child, Miller's association with Patty was questionable at best. Yet he was the last person known to have seen her alive—and the suspect police continued to circle back toward. After nothing but false sightings and rumors, the case was moved to the backburner—where it stayed. As decades crept by, reality sunk in: Patty Desmond was never coming back. Then, a tiny crack unleashed a flood of information, and a mystery long kept unraveled. |
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April 11, 2024 Show Nick Parisi to discusses his book, Mafia Confession: King of the Bootleggers. Mafia Confession is a rare inside account of the rise of the "Springfield Crew" in Massachusetts, its ties with the Genovese Crime Family of New York, and its evolution into the present-day Mob. The crime story is from the personal diary of a man sitting in his jail cell awaiting trial. The electrifying trial itself had over 2,000 people huddled around the courthouse, awaiting every word uttered from within by Parisi's defense attorney, the future Governor of Massachusetts. |
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Command Appearance December 8, 2022 Show |
April 4, 2024 Show Bob Batchelor discusses his book, Road house Blues: Morrison, The Doors and the Death Days of the Sixties. In Roadhouse Blues.
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March 28, 2024 Show Burl Barer an Edgar Award-winning author discusses three of his true crime books: MAN OVERBOARD, BETRAYAL IN BLUE, and A TASTE FOR MURDER. The books have been compiled in an anthology titled Murderer's Row. Burl Barer has a long, exceptional career in book publishing, television and radio. He is host of the popular true crime podcast, True Crime Uncensored. 652 |
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March 14, 2024 Show Jeffrey Sussman talks about his book, Tinseltown Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Hollywood. Like sharks to blood in the water, the mob arrived in Hollywood greedy and ready to tear away huge chunks of cash. Opportunistic mobsters saw labor unions as the means for muscling into the movie industry and extorting millions of dollars from studio bosses. Control the unions to which projectionists, art directors, cinematographers, electricians, scene designers, stagehands, extras belong, and you control the whole industry. Sussman paints colorful portraits of numerous mobsters, producers, actors, and directors and tells the gripping, fast-paced, true story of corruption and greed in Hollywood throughout much of the twentieth century. |
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March 7, 2024 Show Eric Ulis is back to talk about his book, Silver Bullet: The Undoing of DB Cooper. In 1971, D.B. Cooper hijacked a flight for a $200,000 ransom, then disappeared after parachuting from the plane. The case remains the only unsolved commercial airline hijacking and one of history's biggest mysteries. Eric Ulis is one of the leading experts on the notable mystery, and we will be talking about his research on topic. |
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February 29, 2024 Show Nate Hendley is back to talk about his latest book, Atrocity at Sea. Attack on a Hospital Ship During the Great War. The book chronicles How a German submarine sank a Canadian military hospital ship during the First World War and sparked outrage. On the evening of June 27, 1918, the Llandovery Castle ― an unarmed, clearly marked hospital ship used by the Canadian military ― was torpedoed off the Irish Coast by U-Boat 86, a German submarine. Sinking hospital ships violated international law. To conceal his actions, the U-86 commander had the submarine deck guns fire on survivors. One lifeboat escaped with witnesses to the atrocity. Global outrage over the attack ensued. The sinking of the Llandovery Castle was adjudicated at the Leipzig War Crimes Trials, an attempt to establish justice after hostilities ceased. The Llandovery Castle case resulted in a historic legal precedent that guided subsequent war crime prosecutions, including the Nuremberg Trials. |
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February 22, 2024 Show Alan Warren talks about his book, the Grindr Serial Killer: Stephen Port. (Killer Queens). It is based on the case of Stephen Port, a serial murderer in London, U.K., who was convicted of drugging, raping, and murdering four young men. He was also convicted of drugging and raping several other men. His victims were found through a new type of gay sex parties called 'Party N Play' or 'Chemsex' parties that have become all the rage. Killer Queens is a new series of historical fiction books based on true stories. The series explores the world of murder in the gay community, whether the victims or the killers themselves, and sometimes both, are homosexual. |
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Nick Parisi talks about his book, Rod Serling: His Life, Work, Imagination. Long before anyone had heard of alien cookbooks, gremlins on the wings of airplanes, or places where pig-faced people are considered beautiful, Rod Serling was the most prestigious writer in American television. As creator, host, and primary writer for The Twilight Zone, Serling became something more: an American icon. When Serling died in 1975, at the age of fifty, he was the most honored, most outspoken, most recognizable, and likely the most prolific writer in television history. Though best known for The Twilight Zone, Serling wrote over 250 scripts for film and television and won an unmatched six Emmy Awards for dramatic writing for four different series. His filmography includes the acclaimed political thriller Seven Days in May and co-writing the original Planet of the Apes. Parisi's book is a painstakingly researched look at all of Serling's work—in and out of The Twilight Zone. 647 |
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February 8, 2024 Show Aquilino Gonell discusses his book, American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy. Aquilino Gonell left the Dominican Republic when he was 12 in pursuit of the American dream. He joined the Army, fought in Iraq and became a police officer at the U.S. Capitol. On Jan. 6, 2021, Sargeant Gonell was attacked and beaten by Trump cultist rioters as he and his fellow officers tried bravely to hold the line in defense of democracy. The brutal injuries he sustained that day would end his career in law enforcement. But when some of the very people he put his life on the line to protect downplayed or denied the truth of that day, he chose to speak out against the injustice done to him and the country. Hear Aquilino Gonell's story. Join us.
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February 1, 2024 Show Mike Rothmiller and Douglas Thompson to talk about their book, Bombshell: The Night Bobby Kennedy Killed Marilyn Monroe. Rothmiller and Thompson pull no punches. They claim to prove that Robert Kennedy was directly responsible for her death. The book details the legendary star's tumultuous personal involvement with him and his brother, President John Kennedy, and how they sought to silence her. The new evidence and testimony is ostensibly provided by Mike Rothmiller who, as a detective of the Organized Crime Intelligence Division (OCID) of the LAPD, had direct personal access to hundreds of secret LAPD files on exactly what happened at Marilyn Monroe's Californian home on August 5, 1962. Rothmiller used that secret information to get to the heart of the matter, to the people who were there the night Marilyn died—two of whom played major roles in the cover-up—and the wider conspiracy to protect the Kennedys at all costs. Explosive indeed!. |
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January 25, 2024 Show Robin Jarossi discusses his book The Real Ted Hastings. The True Story of the Copper at the heart of Line of Duty. The British TV series, Line of Duty, now in its sixth year and available on Amazon Prime, holds its status as the defining TV crime drama of today. The conspiracy theme of the series chimes at a time when public institutions and representatives are distrusted. Ted Hastings, the show's head of anti-corruption, has emerged as the beating heart of the series. The scale of the problem facing Robert Mark, the real life Ted Hastings, was institutionalized corruption in Criminal Investigation Department. During his four years eleven months as commissioner, he saw 478 men leave the force following or in anticipation of criminal/disciplinary proceedings. Departures in the previous decade had averaged about 16 a year. Robin Jarossi's book reveals how the compelling drama reflects real crimes, events and figures, most notably that of Robert Mark and his battle against Met corruption. Line of Duty is one of Crime Beat's favorite TV programs. |
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January 18, 2024 Show Laura Brand discusses her forthcoming book, The Siren of San Quentin: Getting to Know the Tool Box Killers. It's Book one of three books. More than a terrifying true crime trilogy, THE SIREN OF SAN QUENTIN is a deeply personal memoir, tracing Brand's journey from a haunting family tragedy to her quest to unlock the minds of serial killers. She has conducted hundreds of interviews with death row inmates at San Quentin State Prison, north of San Francisco. Brand's persistence earned her the nickname 'The Siren of San Quentin' from the inmates. Among the killers she asked to interview were the notorious 'Toolbox Killers,' Roy Norris and Lawrence Bittacker. Norris was eager to answer Brand's questions; however, Bittaker was initially hostile. But Brand persisted, and he eventually began to open up, sharing invaluable information, including a map pinpointing the locations of buried evidence. |
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January 11, 2024 Show Frank Girardot discusses his book, Becoming Clark Rockefeller: Murder, Love, Deception, and the Conman Behind It all. Girardot delves into the life of a young immigrant entangled in a multi-generational murder investigation ensnaring some of the wealthiest Americans. Posing as bogus aristocrat Clark Rockefeller, the audacious grafter duped the affluent, leaving a trail of deception and national headlines in his wake. Clark Rockefeller's real name: Christian Gerhartsreiter, |
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Command Appearance June 9, 2022 Show |
January 4, 2024 Show Ralph Friedman Ralph Friedman, author of Street Justice: The True Story of the NYPD’s Most Decorated Detective and the Era That Created Him. https://www.bronxstreetwarrior.com/
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Command Appearance April 7, 2022 Show |
December 28, 2023 Show Renee Fehr Renee Fehr, author of Wheels of Justice: The True Story of a 27-year Battle to Convict My Sister’s Killer https://www.facebook.com/FehrAdvocacyandConsultation/
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Command Appearance December 9, 2023 Show |
December
21, 2023 Show Lucy Aldington Lucy Adlington, author of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive. https://www.lucyadlington.com/
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December 14, 2023 Show Richard Carrico discusses his book, Monsters on the Loose: The True Story of Three Unsolved Murders in Prohibition San Diego. In 1931, San Diego's idyllic image as a beach town with peaceful suburbs concealed a harrowing reality: a series of unsolved crimes targeting women, fueling fear and vulnerability. Local law enforcement, out-of-town criminologists, and investigators from what would become the FBI pursued hundreds of leads. Statewide, newspapers covered every angle and clue and sometimes played a role in the investigations. Yet, the killer(s) were never identified and brought to justice. In MONSTERS ON THE LOOSE, award-winning author and historian Richard L. Carrico pieces fragments of evidence together for three cold cases, shedding light on a dark chapter in San Diego's history. |
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December 7, 2023 Show Rod Sadler discusses his book, Grim Paradise: The Cold Case Search for the Mackinac Island Killer. When widow Frances Lacey was murdered in July 1960 on Mackinac Island, only a few meager clues were found by police, and the case soon turned cold. But more than sixty years later, will those same clues finally solve the mystery? In Grim Paradise, true crime author Rod Sadler delves into the secrets of one of Michigan's most perplexing murder cases. Offering an in-depth and suspenseful account of the long-standing mystery, he poses the question: Could advanced DNA technology lead to the identity of the Mackinac Island murderer as it did recently in the case of the Golden State Killer? |
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November 30, 2023 Show Andy Thibault discusses his book, You Thought It was More: New Adventures of the World's Greatest Counterfeiter. The book, done in collaboration with Louis Colavecchio, tells the story of Louis Colavecchio, the man considered the world's greatest counterfeiter. Colavecchio's prowess as a jeweler, manufacturer, and charmer has earned him a place in history, having been featured on prestigious platforms such as The History Channel and The BBC. His profound impact on the casino gaming industry has left a lasting legacy, forever changing it. 639 |
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Command Appearance June 4, 2019 Show |
Carlos Toro former drug trafficker, associate of Carlos Lehder and government informant. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dea-informant-carlostorodeportationcartel-colombia/
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November 16, 2023 Show Alan Warren discusses his book, The Making the Murderer Case. The book covers the Teresa Halbach murder case, made famous from Netflix's Making a Murderer documentary series that began airing in December 2015. Steven Avery was convicted of killing photographer Teresa Halbach just two years after being released from prison for a wrongful conviction of sexual assault and attempted murder in a different case. Warren, host of The House of Mystery Radio Show, interviewed several of the key players involved in the case for the show in what is an in-depth look at this fascinating case. |
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Command Appearance May 26, 2022 Show |
Luis Navia and Jesse Fink, authors of Pure Narco. www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/56992806
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November 2, 2023 Show Mike Rothmiller and Douglas Thompson discuss their book, Frank Sinatra and the Mafia Murders. The authors have drawn on an enormous archive of previously unseen records held by international law agencies, the FBI, the CIA and big-city police departments, to reveal Sinatra's pact with the Mob in shocking detail. With additional evidence from decades of investigations and testimony, the authors have exposed Sinatra's lifelong association with the Mafia, which he always denied, and its deadly collateral damage. Sinatra may not have been an actual made man, but the Mafia certainly made him. |
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October 26, 2023 Show Dan Lawton discusses his book Above the Ground: A True Story of the Troubles in Northern Ireland : On Sunday, November 26, 1978, two IRA gunmen kicked in the front door at 8 Evelyn Gardens in Belfast, Northern Ireland—the home of Maze prison official Albert Miles. They then executed Miles in front of his horrified family and vanished into the night. In 1983, at the end of the longest and most-publicized trial in in the county's history, twenty-four-year-old Catholic taxicab driver Kevin Barry Artt was convicted and sentenced to life for Miles' murder. On his way to the Maze, in manacles and still professing his innocence, Artt prayed for an opportunity to escape. Six weeks later, his prayers were answered—he made a daring and dramatic escape, fleeing to California and going underground. For decades, the British government, aided by the US Department of State and FBI, relentlessly sought him while he managed to stay just steps ahead of his pursuers. Crime Beat will discuss with Dan Lawton about one of the darkest periods in Northern Ireland's history, highlighting themes of injustice, perseverance, and hope through Kevin's escape and struggle 636 |
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October 19, 2023 Briar Lee Mitchell discusses her book, Forensic Analysis of the 1986 FBI Fire Fight. The 1986 FBI Miami shootout occurred on April 11, 1986, in Miami Dade County, Florida, when a small group of field agents for the FBI attempted to apprehend William Russell Matix and Michael Lee Platt, who were suspected of committing a series of violent crimes in and around the Miami metropolitan area.. It turned out to be the bloodiest shootout in FBI history. |
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October 12, 2023 Show Gary Weiss discusses his book, Retail Gangster: The Insane, Real Life Story of Crazy Eddie. The book chronicles the spectacular rise and fall of Eddie Antar, better known as "Crazy Eddie," whose home electronics empire changed the world even as it turned out to be one of the biggest business scams of all time. The story spans continents and generations, reaffirming the old adage that the truth is often stranger than fiction. 634 |
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October 5, 2023 Show Paul Hodos discusses his book Steel City Mafia: Blood, Betrayal and Pittsburgh's Last Don. Pittsburgh's small but lucrative Cosa Nostra mafia family was on the rise in 1985 with a newly crowned Don.The men who came to dominate the rackets in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia opened the family to massive profits from drug trafficking and a street tax on other criminal activities. At the same time, the Youngstown, OH faction of the family launched a brutal mob war against the weakening Cleveland mafia and the Altoona, PA crew violently clamped down on their city. Tonight we will discover gritty stories of a made member who controlled who a local police department hired, an informant who betrayed his own mafia grandfather and father, numerous unsolved murders and a mob mole in the Pittsburgh office of the FBI. This book is the tale of a mafia family at the pinnacle of its power, willing to do anything to hold on to that power and its downfall in the criminal underworld. |
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September 28, 2023 Show Nic Edwards discusses his co-authored book, The Delphi Murders: The Quest to find the Man on the Bridge. The co-author is Brian Whitney. On February 13, 2017, two Indiana teenagers, Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14, went for a walk in the woods near the abandoned Monon High Bridge. They never returned home. Their bodies were discovered on Valentine's Day morning, sparking a torrent of news coverage and social media speculation that engrossed the attention of people around the world. A grainy photo of the suspected killer walking across the bridge and a chilling cell phone recording of his voice saying "down the hill" captured the public's attention. Numerous possible suspects were brought to the attention of the authorities but dismissed, leaving everyone wondering who could have committed such a heinous crime. We investigate this story with Nic Edwards.
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Larry Sells discusses his book, The Beat of Newcastle: The heart Pounding Battle to Stop a Savage Killer. The co-author is Margie Porter. Maybe Jerry Thompson, the youngest son of a violent criminal named Hoggy Thompson, was born a beast. Maybe rage was beaten into him. One thing was certain, by the time he reached manhood, Jerry Thompson was a savage killer. He had no conscience about rape, child molestation, or thrashing a dozen men in a prison fight. Once he got his hands on a gun, any target would do. He didn't leave witnesses. When he terrorized an entire courtroom and threatened to rip deputy prosecutor Larry Sells apart, people wondered if there would ever be a way to stop his viciousness. Tonight we take a deep dive into the life and crimes of this unrelenting violent offender, and the desperate quest by law enforcement to stop him for good. |
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September 14, 2023 Show Abigail Alvarado and Jamie Collins discuss their book, I Am Abigail: A Texas Woman's Childhood Nightmare and Her Escape from Hell as a Sex Slave/Survivor. The book chronicles one of the most heinous cases of sexual abuse on record and the inspiring true story of the woman who survived to speak the truth. The woman is Abigail Alvarado. When Abigail was nine, Child Protective Services removed her and her siblings from her mother's home—a known crack house—due to neglect. What followed was 17 years of harrowing abuse, brainwashing, manipulation, stalking, physical abuse, sexual assault, and the stripping away of Abigail, as a little girl, bit by bit, until there was nothing left. She became a sex slave to her sadistic aunt and uncle. 630 |
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September 7, 2023 Show Deborah Bonello author of Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America Cartels. Bonello, a former editor and investigator for InSight Crime, explores how women participate in the region's criminal landscape, the common misconceptions about their involvement with criminal groups, how women in crime are represented by the media |
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August 31, 2023 Show Colin Dickey discusses his book, Under the Eye of Power: How Secret Societies shape American democracy. The United States was born in paranoia. From the American Revolution (thought by some to be a conspiracy organized by the French) to the Salem witch trials to the Satanic Panic, the Illuminati, and QAnon, one of the most enduring narratives that defines the United States is simply this: secret groups are conspiring to pervert the will of the people and the rule of law. Cultural historian Colin Dickey has built a career studying how our most irrational beliefs reach the mainstream, why, and what they tell us about ourselves. In Under the Eye of Power, Dickey charts the history of America through its paranoias and fears of secret societies, while seeking to explain why so many people—including some of the most powerful people in the country—continue to subscribe to these conspiracy theories. 628 |
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Command Appearance March 18, 2021 Show
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Richie Salerno From the Mob to the Movies. https://wildbluepress.com/from-the-mob-to-the-movies-richie-salerno-true-crime/ |
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Burl Barer discusses his book, Secrets of a Hollywood Private Eye: A Rollicking No-Holds Barred Expose of Tinsel Town. It's the as told to inside story of the life of Fred Wolfson, perhaps America's most famous private investigator. His client list is a who's who of show biz celebrities, famed politicians including a President of the United States, and those English bad boys, the Rolling Stones. Semi-retired and living in Florida, Wolfson still consults clients worldwide. Wolfson is the star of the popular USA Network reality series Case Closed and consulting credits on hit crime dramas like L.A. Law, Murder She Wrote, and Picket Fences. |
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August 3, 2023 Show Ron Chepesiuk is the guest of his own show, Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk radio show. He discusses with Scott Z, the show's Managing Producer, the TV series, Paraiso Blanco. The series is based on Ron's book, Crazy Charley: Revolutionary or Neo Nazi Bad Henry: The 30- part series was launched last July 20 and airs on Vix, the world's largest Spanish language streaming service. Ron also served as a consultant to the series. Lehder became known as the drug lord who set up the notorious Medellín drug cartel alongside Pablo Escobar. He became known for creating a base for drug smuggling on a private island in the Bahamas. Captured in Colombia in 1987, he was extradited to the US and sentenced to life plus 135 years in jail. Beginning in 2005, Lehder made pleas to various government entities in the United States and Colombia, saying that he was now entitled to be released under the agreement he had made in 1991, but he remained in prison until 2020. He was then deported to Germany, where he held citizenship through his father. |
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July 27, 2023 Leslie Ghiglieri discusses her book, A Decision to Kill: A True Crime Story of a Teenage Killer and the Mother Who Loved Him. In the early morning of October 18, 1986, Cherie Wier's life collapses when her teenage son takes the life of her beloved husband. For years, Cherie grapples with events preceding and following the crime, struggling to overcome the consuming grief she suffers from her loss and the difficulty she faces as she attempts to forgive her son. The courtroom accounts of gruesome details and the shocking testimonies from experts, only add to Cherie's yearning to make sense of the crime. She is tormented, wanting to know how and WHY this tragedy happened and if there was anything she could have done to prevent it. |
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July 20, 2023 Show Richie Roberts Crime Beat welcomes back Richie Roberts to discuss Frank Lucas, the movie American Gangster and Lucas's relationship with drug Kingpin Ike Atkinson. Robert's character was played by Russell Crowe in the blockbuster movie American Gangster, a fictionalized account of Lucas's life. Roberts later became close friends with Lucas after putting him in jail. Crime Beat host Ron Chepesiuk collaborated with Ike Atkinson on his life story, which resulted in the award-winning book Sergeant Smack. Ike was the Nate character in the American Gangster movie, and Frank Lucas was one of his best customers . Chepesiuk interviewed Lucas twice. The show will feature an interesting dialogue between Roberts and Chepesiuk. 624
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July 13, 2023 Show Ron Chepesiuk Zman interrogates Ron about all his successes including today's release of his latest book Bad Henry. The Murderous Rampage Of The Taco Bell Strangler. |
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July 6, 2023 Show David Savitz discusses his book, Just in the Nick of Time. The book tells the story of Ross Carlson, a 19-year-old who kills his parents and is diagnosed with an unusual psychiatric disorder. He spends a torturous six years in the Colorado judicial and mental health systems before his case experiences an unexpected end. It is one of the most profound cases of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) ever, and it's all told from the perspective of the person who interacted most with the personalities, his criminal defense lawyer David Savitz. The book reveals what happens when a mental disease far outpaces the understanding of the courts, the psychiatric community, and the public |
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June 29, 2023 Show Alan Prendergast discusses his book, Gangbuster: One Man's Battle Against Crime Corruption and the Klan: Gangbuster chronicles the battle waged by one rookie District Attorney, Philip Van Cise, against the KKK, organized crime, and government corruption at the highest levels od Denver, Colorado, throughout the 1920s. At the height of the roaring 1920s, the ex-frontier town of Denver emerged from the postwar boom as the future of the American city. But the slick façade of progress and opportunity masked a murky stew of organized crime, elaborate swindles, and widespread government corruption. Van Cise risked everything to alter the course of history.. One century later, in the face of contemporary society's divisiveness and fear mongering politics, the personal courage of this maverick's battle against underworld figures and a mainstream white supremacist movement is more relevant and inspiring than ever. |
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June 22, 2023 Show Kent McGowan Former Harris County, Texas sheriff's deputy Kent McGowen discusses his case in which he was sentenced to 20 years in jail for murder. Here is the story. In August 1992, a warrant is issued for Susan White's residence and Kent is told to go out there with only a few men. They knock for quite some time while Susan calls 911 (apparently while intoxicated and claiming she has a past with Kent) and claims she needs help and protection from the police at her door. After getting permission from his superiors, Kent's squad breaks down the door. After seeing Susan run into her bedroom, Kent follows, only to enter and see Susan pull a gun on him. He ostensibly tells her to drop the gun, but she doesn't. With that, Kent fires three shots. The shooting is initially ruled a good shot. What comes afterwards was a complete nightmare for McGowen! In 2002 McGowan was convicted for the shooting. Now released, McGowan has been on a mission to clear his name. Guilty or innocent? We discuss the case. 620 |
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June 15, 2023 Show Steve Jackson New York Times best-selling author Steve Jackson discusses his co-authored book, Coal Country Killing: A Culture, A Union, And The Murders That Changed It All. The book chronicles the cold-blooded 1969 assassination of United Mineworkers of America "reform candidate" Jock Yablonski, and murder of his wife and daughter in their Pennsylvania farmhouse. Initially, three bumbling small-time criminals, dubbed "The Hillbilly Hitmen," were arrested and charged. But they were the tip of the iceberg as the murders were directed by then-UMWA President "Tough Tony" Boyle as revenge for Yablonski running against him in the bitterly contested 1968 union election and to prevent his corruption from being exposed. At the core of the story are the extraordinary efforts of a tenacious special prosecutor and his "army" of investigators to bring the gunmen, the union boss who ordered the murders, and his henchmen who saw them carried out, to justice. New York Times best-selling Robert K. Tanenbaum is the co-author of the book. |
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June 8, 2023 Show Dewey Reynolds discusses his book, Two Shades of Vice: Based on the True Story of an Interracial Couple's Life in Crime. Reynolds' parents, Gordon McCoyd "Mack" Reynolds, who was white, and Alla Mae Briggs, who was African-American, met when she was plying her trade as a street prostitute After growing up in foster care, Reynolds discovered that his biological parents were career criminals. This startling revelation inspired Reynolds to dive into their history and write this book. |
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Command Appearance March 11, 2021 Show
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Rod Sadler author of Killing Women: The True Story of Serial Killer Don Miller's Reign of Terror www.rodsadler.com |
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Rich Gold discusses his book, Shoot Out on the Upper West Side: The True Story of Francis "Two Gun" Crowley. Crowley made front page headlines in 1931 after fatally shooting a Nassau County police officer. Starting his criminal career at a young age, he graduated from petty theft to automobile theft to armed robbery all the way to first degree murder. Gold's book, Shootout on the Upper West Side, takes us through the life of this young criminal who became the subject of a massive manhunt culminating in a dramatic showdown against 300 NYPD policemen while holed up in a fourth floor apartment. After hours of gunfire and teargas, Crowley is finally captured, indicated, put on trial, found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to the death penalty at the age of 19. An amazing life, an amazing story. |
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May 18, 2023 Show Burl Barer and Punch Stanimirovic discuss their book, Stealing Manhattan: The Untold Story of America's Billion Dollar Gem Heist Masterminds. Punch Stanimirovic was raised to be an exceptional diamond thief. He could work magic on a safe that would have sent Mandrake the Magician back to the novelty store, and Dr. Strange back to medical school. He and his family risked it all to make the patriarch, Mr. Stan, proud. Punch's pop culture sensibilities , his father's proven skills, and his mother's artistic input merged to create cinema-style capers—elaborately planned and executed, including a spectacular 1992 New York mega-heist of over one billion dollars in diamonds, gold, and precious gems—and they got away with it. Many of the crew members went on to invest in real estate, helping to "build the New York skyline", while others moved to Europe and became the Pink Panthers. They had one rule : No One Gets Hurt . From daring heists to the ultimate escape, discover the true story of Punch, his extraordinary crew, and his high-society family. 616 |
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May 11, 2023 Show John Wesley Anderson discusses his book, Lou and JonBenet: A Legendary Lawman's Quest to Solve a Child Beauty Queen's Murder. On Christmas Night 1996, six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in her family's home in Boulder, Colorado. A ransom note was found in the home, but it was hours before her father, John, found her body in the basement. She had been strangled with a garrote and her skull was fractured. Boulder police fixated on JonBenet's parents as suspects. Needing investigative help, the Boulder DA brought in legendary homicide detective Lou Smit. However, he was soon disenchanted with law enforcement's obsession with the Ramsey family as the primary suspects, excluding other possibilities. Smit resigned but continued to work on his own time, and at his own expense, determined to find justice for JonBenet. He determined the Ramsey family was not involved in her death but died in 2010 before he could identify the killer. Now, for the first time in LOU AND JONBENET, John Wesley Anderson tells the story of Smit's investigation and why the Smit family team now believes that the killer can be identified. |
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May 4, 2023 Show Diane Marger Moore discusses her book, 16 Minutes: Was the Death of Baby Matthew an Accident or Murder?. On the early morning of March 6, 1993, an intense fire broke out in a tiny nursery. Sixteen minutes later, firefighters had extinguished the blaze, only to reveal a room burned so severely, everything was virtually unrecognizable. Then, they were told to look for a baby. What they discovered looked more like a monster from a horror film. The small skull had been incinerated, and the legs and arms were nothing more than charred stumps. The only identifiable human feature was the baby's genitals, covered in what remained of his diaper. Two people were home at the time the fire broke out: the newborn's parents. The arson squad declared the fire suspicious and the homeowner's insurance company hired investigators, who determined the fire to indeed be arson. The prosecutor wanted to dismiss the case, but the arson unit had a newly appointed prosecutor who refused to do so. Was it arson? What was the motive? Along with the tenacious and determined Detective Leslie Van Buskirk, Diane Marger Moore persisted for more than two years to find the truth and get justice for Baby Matthew Wise. |
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April 28, 2023 Show Patti McCracken discusses her book, The Angel Makers: Arsenic, a Midwife and Modern History’s Most Astonishing Murder Ring. The Angel Makers is a true-crime story like no other—a 1920s midwife who may have been the century’s most prolific killer leading a murder ring of women responsible for the deaths of at least 160 men. Anonymous notes brought the crimes to light in 1929. A skillful prosecutor hungry for justice ran the investigation, while newsmen from around the world, including the New York Times, poured in to cover the dramatic events as they unfolded. Tune-in to learn about one of the most sensational and astonishing murder rings in all of modern history. |
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April 20, 2023 Show Paul Bleakley discusses his book, The Australian Gamble: Organized Crime Down Under. The Australian Gamble explores Jack Rooklyn’s role as a thread that connects some of the best-recognized characters, and most pivotal events, in Australian criminal history. It is a story that begins overseas, with the origins of the Bally poker machine company — a scandal-prone business with a name that was fated to be forever linked with Rooklyn’s. From humble origins in Al Capone’s Chicago, Bally rode the amusement game wave to become one of the biggest players in the gaming industry worldwide … a status that made it an attractive target for takeover by America’s Italian Mafia. Run out of Cuba on the heels of Castro’s communist revolution, ‘The Families’ were looking for new opportunities to expand their gaming ambitions, both in the desert Mecca Las Vegas and (more quietly) through clandestinely sinking their hooks into a financially struggling Bally. |
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April 13, 2023 Show Ron Fried discusses his book, Frank Costello. The book is a fictionalized account of the life of Frank Costello, an Italian-American crime boss of the Luciano crime family. In 1957, Costello survived an assassination attempt ordered by Vito Genovese and carried out by Vincent Gigante. However, the altercation persuaded Costello to relinquish power to Genovese and retire. Fried gets into the mind of Costello. As Frank Costello looks back over his life as head of the most powerful crime family in America, he doesn't focus on the triumphs of his bootlegging empire, his nationwide gambling network, or his de facto control of Tammany Hall. Instead, Costello--the politically connected "Prime Minister of the Underworld"--remembers the lies he's told, the mistakes he's made, and his fateful decision to testify before the televised Kefauver hearings investigating organized crime in America. |
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Jumata Emill discusses his debut novel, The Black Queen. The book is a thriller set in the deep South. When Lovett High School’s first Black home coming queen is murdered the night of her coronation, her best friend finds an unlikely ally in the search for her killer, her white rival nominee, who is the prime suspect in her death. Jumata Emill is a journalist who has covered crime and local politics in Mississippi and parts of Louisiana. He earned his BA in mass communications from Southern University and A&M University. He’s a Pitch Wars alum and a member of the Crime Writers of Color. |
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March 30, 2023 Show
Briar Lee Mitchell discusses her book, Serial Killers Then and Now. Mitchell interviewed over 20 serial and rampage killers, to gain insight into their lives today. Some have been incarcerated for decades and their outlook on life, their crimes and what purpose they might have was discussed in detail with interesting and sometimes unusual results. |
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March 23, 2023 Show Tiddy Smith discusses his book Death by Talons: Did an Owl ‘Murder’ Kathleen Peterson? On December 9, 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her Durham, NC home. Her scalp was laced with deep incisions, and her blood was strewn from outside to inside the house. The sinister truth of that night turned her murder into North Carolina's most enigmatic criminal case, capturing media attention across the globe. Police zeroed in on Kathleen’s husband, Michael Peterson, and charged him with murder. But Was It The Truth? A neighbor, Larry Pollard, came up with an alternative “killer;” he claimed an owl had attacked Kathleen outside her house. He said it sliced her scalp with its fierce talons and caused her to run inside, collapsing at the stairwell, and bleeding to death. When the media heard about his theory, Larry was mocked. And Michael was convicted. Now, twenty years later, author Tiddy Smith explores Pollard’s theory and questions whether law enforcement ignored, or even hid, evidence to convict Michael Peterson. And was an owl, in fact, the real killer? |
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March 16, 2023 Show Richie Roberts is the author of American Maverick: Target: American Gangsters. Roberts achieved fame when he was played by Russell Crowe in the movie American Gangster. The movie featured Denzel Washington as gangster Frank Lucas and depicted how Richie Roberts led a task force that brought Lucas down and put him in jail.. The film was well received by most film critics, and grossed over US$266.5 million worldwide. Many of the people portrayed, including Roberts and Lucas, have stated that the film took much creative license with the story. After Lucas was incarcerated, Roberts entered private practice as an attorney specializing in criminal defense, and was retained by Lucas as defense counsel. We will discuss Richie Roberts law enforcement career, his relationship with Frank Lucas and other matters relating to the law and crime. |
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Command Appearance March 9, 2023 Show
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David Crow author of The Pale-Face Lie: A True Story Growing Up on the Navajo Indian Reservation. |
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Alan Warren discusses his book, Blood Thirst; The True Story of Wayne Boden Vampire Rapist & Serial Killer. Known as the "Vampire Rapist" or "Strangler Bill" for his distinctive modus operandi, Wayne Boden would rape, strangle and bite the breasts of his victims. His murdering rampage would continue in two cities over three years; he was only caught by superior evidence gathering and the help of an orthodontist. This book asks the question of "How do we really know our boyfriend or lover when we don't want to ask the questions, not only because we don't want to know the answers for what it will tell us about them, but because of what it tells us about ourselves?" |
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February 23, 2023 Show Nathan Bullock discusses his book, The Youngest American Hero: Pfc Dan Bullock. During the summer of 1968, at a time when grown were fleeing to Canada and other places, or enrolling in colleges and universities to avoid being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. Dan Bullock decided to enlist and fight for his country at the tender age of just 14-years old. While looking for a summer job in New York City, he altered his birth certificate from 1953 to 1949, which showed that he was 18-years old, instead of 14-years old. At the foot of Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn, he came upon a recruiting station and decided he would try and enlist into the Marine Corps. To Dan's amazement, he was accepted into the United States Marine Corps at the tender age of 14-years old, not knowing that it was the beginning of his legacy. |
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Command Appearance February 16, 2023 Show |
Julie K. Brown the journalist who took down the infamous Jeffrey Epstein discusses her book, Perversion of Justice: the Jeffrey Epstein Story. |
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 February
9, 2023 ShowJeffrey Sussman discusses his book, Sin City Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Las Vegas, Sussman charts Vegas from the first modest mob-owned casinos to the present billion-dollar-resorts; its cast of characters is an assembly of exceedingly ambitious risk takers who let nothing stand in their way of turning their dreams into stunning realities. Vegas became the domain of Jay Sarno, Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn, and Sheldon Adelson, visionaries who transformed Vegas into the entertainment capital of the world by building billion-dollars-plus resorts and hiring the most popular contemporary entertainers. Sussman chronicles how the most powerful mobsters in the country built, bought, and controlled not only gambling casinos in Vegas, but also many important politicians, who did the mob’s bidding. Some of the more notorious mobsters were Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Moe Dalitz, Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo, and Nick Civella. |
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 February
2, 2023 ShowDon Stradley discusses his book, Boston Tabloid: The Killing of Robin Benedict. The disappearance of Robin Benedict, a twenty-one-year-old woman from a Massachusetts suburb, became one of the most discussed crimes of the twentieth century. The discussion intensified when the public learned that she worked as a prostitute in Boston's notorious red-light district, the “Combat Zone,” and was linked by a trail of blood to a famous professor from Tufts University. When Robin Benedict vanished the investigation and media circus that gripped the city of Boston hadn't been seen since the days of the Boston Strangler case. Stradley reconstructs a grisly murder, and explores one man's bizarre obsession. |
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 January
26, 2023 ShowMarla Bernard discusses her book, By the Side of the Road: The True Story of the Abduction and Murder of Anne Harrison. Bernard chronicles is the true crime story of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Ann Harrison and the long journey forced upon her family who had to wait nearly three decades to see her killers brought to final justice. In the early hours of March 22, 1989, two friends – career criminals with violent felony convictions - drove around the eastern Kansas City area in a stolen car committing a series of crimes. The weather was mild for late March in Kansas City; the sky was clear, and there was the pale remnant of a Full Moon that bore the dubious name of Death Moon, A little before 7 a.m., 15-year-old Ann Harrison walked to the end of her driveway on Kansas City’s east side to wait for the bus to take her to Raytown South High School. Ten minutes later, she disappeared, but no one saw what happened. As if waiting for her return, her belongings were still stacked carefully by the side of the road. |
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 January
19, 2023 ShowNorm Boucher discusses his memoir, Horseplay: My Time Undercover on the Granville Strip. Boucher offers a gripping, account of his eight months as an undercover drug agent for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1983, starting with his insertion into the Granville Street drug scene.. Boucher’s varied career included postings on the national anti-terrorist Special Emergency Response Team, as Marine drug enforcement coordinator on Canada's West Coast, and as liaison officer in Madrid, Spain, and Santo-Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is the recipient of the Governor General's Medal of Bravery, the Carnegie Medal, and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal. |
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Our 600th
Episode!
Matthew Gentile screenwriter and director to discusses his movie, American Murderer. The thriller is based on the true story of Jason Derek Brown, elusive con man wanted by the FBI after hatching his most elaborate scheme yet. Brown has been on the run for 15 years. The movie stars Ryan Phillippe, Tom Phelphrey and Idina Menzel. We will be discussing movie making as well as Brown's story brought to the big screen. |
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Command Appearance January 5, 2023 Show |
Joe Pistone, author of Donnie Brasco. https://gangstersinc.org/blog/real-donnie-brasco-fbi-agent-joe-pistone-still-in-hiding-at-age-8 |
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Command Appearance December 29, 2022 Show |
Sara Gay Forden, author of House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour and Greed. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/house-of-gucci-sara-gay-forden/1102790208 |
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Command Appearance December 22, 2022 Show |
James Patterson, author of The Last Days of John Lennon. www.jamespatterson.com |
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Alan Warren discusses his book, Bruce MaArthur: The Gay Village Murders. During the seven years between 2010 and 2017, Bruce McArthur, a Canadian landscaper, preyed on men from Toronto's gay community and managed to avoid any detection by carefully cutting the bodies of his victims into pieces and burying them in the pot planters and grounds of his landscaping customers. During the first two years of gay men going missing, the LGBTQ community of Toronto suspected that there was someone stalking men in their community. The police didn't feel there was any evidence of this until, in 2012, 42-year-old Faizi, 40-year-old Navaratnam, and 58-year-old Kayhan went missing. By November of that year, police launched an investigation called "Houston "into the gay men who were missing. After two years with no results, they closed the investigation. Three years later, in 2017, after 49-year-old Kinsman and 44-year-old Esen went missing, police launched another investigation. When the investigation finally ended, there were over 1800 pieces of evidence from searches of over 100 properties. McArthur's reign of terror in the gay village of Toronto finally ended on January 17, 2018, when police arrested and eventually charged him with the eight murders. |
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 December
8, 2022 ShowBob Batchelor discusses his book, Road house Blues: Morrison, The Doors and the Death Days of the Sixties. In Roadhouse Blues. Batchelor presents an epic tale of one of rock’s (and America’s) most significant periods, as the Age of Aquarius gave way to a new age of mayhem, presidential misdeeds, and murder. Batchelor combines cultural history, musical and lyrical analysis, and a broad stroke of pop-culture mythos to give fresh perspective on a pivotal time. Roadhouse Blues is a biography of Jim Morrison, a man, a band, and an era that set the tone for the contemporary world. |
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 December
1, 2022 ShowLinda Lou Long discusses her book, The Tuskegee Strangler: The “Nicest” Serial Killer They Ever Met. Jerry Marcus fooled them all. He was “a nice guy,” always helped at home, did well in school, an athlete, and always employed. When things went wrong, he was the first to help clean up the mess. He was the last person anyone suspected of being a serial killer. After Marcus was caught and sentenced to life in prison in the late ’70s, author Linda Lou Long spent years corresponding with him. The Tuskegee Strangler gives an inside look into the workings of a man who is not your typical serial killer. |
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Command Appearance November 24, 2022 Show |
J Chester Johnson, author of Damaged Heritage: The Elaine Race Massacre and a Day of Reconciliation. https://jchesterjohnson.com/ |
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 November
17, 2022 ShowAlan Geik talks about his book, Uncle Charlie Killed Dutch Schultz: The Jewish Mob: A Family Affair. Labor racketeers, casino operators, jewelry thieves and one time Murder Inc. assassins provide an intimate look into the biggest cash flow business in American history—organized crime. They were there from the beginning. They were Alan Geik’s Jewish family crime culture. Alan Geik, his sister, an attorney, and their late brother, a New York Police Department detective, were an appreciative, and often amused, audience for this history that has since become part of American folklore. These same gangsters’ battles with Nazi sympathizers are a recurring theme. They relished street brawls with Henry Ford’s strike breaking thugs and other Nazi sympathizers on American streets. The author’s late father-in-law, Lou Lenart, the first fighter pilot in the Israeli Air force, tells of organized crime’s crucial support of the Israelis in their armed struggle for an independent state in Palestine. |
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 November
10, 2022 ShowJohn Borowski discusses his book Panzram at Leavenworth. On February 1, 1929, Carl Panzram, the self-described “meanest man who ever lived”, stepped through the gates at the Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. Upon entering the penitentiary, Panzram mentioned to the Warden that he would kill the first person who bothered him. Keeping his word, Panzram murdered the civilian laundry foreman who was taunting Panzram about his past crimes. A life of torture and suffering led Panzram to hate the entire human race and himself. His only friend was Washington D.C. corrections officer Henry Lesser, who Panzram continued corresponding with while incarcerated at USP Leavenworth. Eventually, Panzram is placed in segregation across from another famous criminal, Robert Stroud, The Birdman of Alcatraz, who observes Panzram and writes about him. Panzram does not censor himself as he conveys his thoughts on murder, segregation, the death penalty, and his desire to die. Panzram at Leavenworth is the first book to accurately depict murderer Carl Panzram's time at the federal penitentiary. |
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 November
3, 2022 ShowMike Vecchione discusses his book, Homicide Is My Business- Luigi the Zip, A Hitman’s Quest for Honor. The story of Luigi Ronsisvalle is an intimate look at the life of a professional killer. Luigi had done everything asked of him by his Mafia bosses. This included the murder of 13 people. But unlike other hit-men, whose stories have been told in the pages of bestsellers and on movie screens, Luigi was denied the Mafia recognition he felt he deserved. Drawing on personal files, handwritten notes, and official sources, this book attempts to explain his complicated life.. Ronsisvalle once told a presidential commission, “American child falls in love with baseball, I fall in love with Mafia.” |
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 October
27, 2022 ShowDavid Larson is back to discuss his book, The Last Jewish Gangster, The Middle Years, The book is the second installment in a three-part chronicle of Michael Hardy, one of organized crime’s least known but most fascinating gangsters. The book starts in 1968 with gangster Michael Hardy sentenced to twelve years in the world’s most dangerous prison in Mexico after taking the rap for his mother’s counterfeiting scheme, hoping to have finally earned her love and respect. It then follows Hardy, further down his twisted criminal path. Throughout his career as a criminal, Hardy robbed banks and drug dealers alike, ran a finger of an international stolen car ring, kidnapped drug lords, and even became a hired gun. |
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 October
20, 2022 ShowJohn Madinger discusses his book, Going Undercover: Kidnapping, Murder, and A Life Undercover. "What is it like to work undercover?" Here is the skinny. You’re a sheepdog in wolf’s clothing, running with the pack, and Madinger ran with the wolves for almost two decades. Madinger will offer us a unique look at American crime and the "War on Drugs" from the perspective of both cops and criminals. You’ll go with the undercover cops to meetings with street-corner hustlers and rip-off artists and into the lives of America’s biggest rock stars, the world’s richest man, an Academy Award-winning actor, the marijuana traffickers conspiring to assassinate a federal judge, and the President of the United States. It’s an amazing ride, and there has never been another story like it. |
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 October
13, 2022 ShowMichael Benson discusses his book, The Devil at Genesee Junction: The Murders of Kathy Bernhard and George-Ann Formicola. While June 25 started like any other day it ended in a nightmare. In The Devil at Genesee Junction, Benson, returns to his formerly rural hometown to take on the double homicide of his friends Kathy Bernhard and George-Ann Forrmiciola that took place that night. The two girls were missing for a month and then found in the bushes horribly mutilated. The double homicide changed the author’s childhood suddenly, and drastically. He went from living in a rural play land, to being encased in fear, wondering who among them was the werewolf who cut up Kathy and George-Ann. This heinous crime was never resolved, and didn’t go away. In recent years, the author has teamed up with a victim’s mom, and a local private investigator to delve deep into the 6/66 murders, developing along the way some strong new leads and shocking details. Together they have heated up this icy cold case, and their investigation has led them in a startling new direction. |
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Command Appearance October 6, 2022 Show |
Jim Campbell, author of Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Ponzi Scheme Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History. Click Here For Show Audio. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55562053-madoff-talks/ |
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 September
29, 2022 ShowNate Hendley discusses his book, Dutch Schulz, The Brazen Beer Baron of New York. Dutch Schultz was a vicious gangster who rose to prominence as a bootlegger in New York City. “The Dutchman” always seemed to come out on top in conflicts with courts, cops, and disloyal members of his own crew. Uncouth and unpredictable, Schultz was also unpopular with his mob peers who conspired to bring him down. Dutch signed his own death warrant when he defied the powerful Mafia Commission led by Lucky Luciano. |
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 September 22, 2022 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, D.B. Cooper: The Interviews. The book investigates the story of the famous unidentified man who hijacked https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_hijacking Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_727 aircraft operated by Northwest Orient Airlines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Orient_Airlines, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. . We will talk about the facts we know about the hijacking, the primary suspects listed according to the FBI, media, or public opinion, supported by the show’s best interviews with authors and researchers who covered these suspects, the other major suspects popular among the public but not considered Cooper by the FBI or law enforcement authorities and the major suspects who came forward to police and confessed to being D.B. Cooper. The last part of our discussion will focus on the wave of copycat hijackings that occurred after the Cooper case. And there were quite a few. |
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 September
15, 2022 ShowWilliam Craig discusses his book, All Along the Watchtower: Murder at Fort Devins. It was a dreary winter afternoon in Ayer, Massachusetts, a quintessential New England town, the type which is romanticized in Robert Frost’s poems. But on January 30, 1979, a woman’s scream was heard piercing the northeast tempest wind.In an unassuming apartment building on Washington Street, Elaine Tyree, a mother, wife, and US Army soldier, had her life brutally ripped from her. Her husband, William Tyree, a Special Forces soldier, was convicted of this heinous murder, which he has always vehemently denied. The Tyree case sent a shockwave through the idyllic community of Ayer, the United States Army, and the judicial system of Massachusetts. This case provoked suspicions of judicial misconduct, government cover-up, clandestine Black Ops by the military, and various conspiracy theories ultimately implicating “Deep State” involvement. |
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 September
8, 2022 ShowLeslie Ghiglieri
discusses her book, The Decision to Kill: A True Crime Story of a Teenage
Killer and the Mother who Loved Him. The book chronicles the story of a
family tragedy that propels a mother to search for answers in the shocking
murder of her husband—and conviction of her son. In the early morning of
October 18, 1986, Cherie Wier’s life collapses when her teenage son takes
the life of her beloved husband. For years, Cherie grapples with events
preceding and following the crime, struggling to overcome the consuming
grief she suffers from her loss and the difficulty she faces as she attempts
to forgive her son. The courtroom accounts of gruesome details and the
shocking testimonies from experts, only add to Cherie’s yearning to make
sense of the crime. She is tormented, wanting to know how and why this
tragedy happened and if there was anything she could have done to prevent
it. |
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 September
1, 2022 ShowCharles Gardner discusses his book, Dannemora: Two Escaped Killers, Three Weeks of Terror, and the Largest Manhunt Ever in New York State. In June 2015, two convicted murderers broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, in New York’s North Country—launching the most extensive manhunt in state history and dominating the news cycle with the sex scandal linking both inmates to the prison employee who aided them. Double murderer Richard Matt and cop-killer David Sweat slipped out of their cells, followed a network of tunnels and pipes under the thirty-foot prison wall, and climbed out of a manhole to freedom. For three weeks, residents of local communities were prisoners in their own homes as law enforcement swept the wilderness near the Canadian border. Dannemora is a gripping account of the bold breakout and manhunt, and addresses lingering questions about those who set the deadly drama in motion. |
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Command Appearance August 25, 2022 Show |
Anthony Destefano, author of Vito Genovese, Mafia www.anthonydestefano.com/ Originally aired: July 8, 2021. Click To Hear Scroll down for show information. |
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 August
18, 2022 ShowWarren Dudley British filmmaker Warren Dudley talks about his film career and making crime films and working as a screenwriter, something that is dear to my heart. We discuss two of his excellent films, Cage and Six Years Gone, both crime thrillers BOTH and how he got to make those films.
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 August
11, 2022 ShowS.J. Peddie discusses her book, Sonny: The Last of the Old Time Mafia Bosses: John “Sonny” Franzese. Sonny Franzese reportedly committed his first murder at the age of fourteen. As a “made man” for the Colombo crime family, he operated out of his Long Island home specializing in racketeering, fraud, loan sharking, and other illicit deeds he would deny to his dying day. His career in organized crime spanned over eight decades—and he was sentenced to fifty years in prison for robbery charges. But even behind bars, Sonny Franzese never stopped doing business. Newsday reporter S. J. Peddie interviewed Franzese, an old school mafifioso, in prison—and uncovered a lifetime of shocking secrets from the legend himself |
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 July
28, 2022 ShowCarmine Imbriale and his biographer Craig McGuire discuss their book, Carmine and the 13th Avenue Boys: Surviving Brooklyn’s Colombo Mob. The book is the true story of Carmine Imbriale, gambler, brawler, bandit, bookie, and enforcer with the Colombo crime family. For two decades, Imbriale was a street-level operative in one of the most violent crews in the Colombo Family, and he endeared himself to some of the major figures of organized crime while developing deadly disputes with others. We will go inside the 13th Avenue rackets at the height of their violence. The book is a jarring account of his lawless lifestyle culminating in a gang war in South Brooklyn, from which Imbriale emerged a survivor. |
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 July
14, 2022 ShowAlan Warren to discusses his book, Leopold & Loeb: The Killing of Bobby Franks. The book focuses on what has been called "The Crime of the Century" in 1920s United States. At the center of this murder case were Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb – two wealthy University of Chicago students who, in May of 1924, kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks. With Leopold and Loeb, both males, the dominance shifted from one to the other. Regardless of who held it, the result was the same. They were both very interested in crime and pushing the envelope for the next thrill. The vicious "thrill kill" of Bobby Franks was the bloody result of an intense and unhealthy co-dependent bond between the murdering duo. |
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 July
7, 2022 ShowCraig Shirley Acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author Craig Shirley discusses his book, April, 1945: The Hinge of History, The book is a compelling account of 1945, particularly the watershed events in the month of April, that details how America emerged from World War II as a leading superpower. The year of 1945 bought a series of watershed events that transformed the country into an arsenal of democracy, one that no longer armed the world by necessity but henceforth protected the world by need. In April, 1945, we had the sudden death of President Roosevelt followed by Harry S. Truman's rise to office; Adolph Hitler's suicide; and the horrific discoveries of Dachau and Auschwitz. Americans doubled down on their completion of the atomic bomb and their plans to drop them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the destruction ultimately leading the Japanese Empire to surrender on V-J day and ending World War II for good. The world was transformed. |
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 June
30, 2022 ShowAlice Kay Hill discusses her book, Under a Full Moon: The Last lynching in Kansas. Hill’s book recounts the shocking murder of an eight-year-old girl which in turn led to the last mob lynching in Prohibition Era Kansas. In April of 1932, eight-year-old Dorothy Hunter was abducted while walking home from school. Her mutilated body was later found hidden in a haystack. Not long after, police reported that a local farmer named Richard Read confessed to Dorothy’s rape and murder. But his arrest was not enough for the citizens on Northwestern Kansas. Removing him from his jail cell in Cheyenne County, a mob bound and hanged Read from a tree in what would be the state’s final lynching. |
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 June
23, 2022 ShowDavid Larson discusses his book, The Last Jewish Gangster: The Early Years. Larson chronicles the story of Michael J. Hardy, a chubby Jewish boy from the Brownsville streets in Brooklyn to the world's most dangerous prison in Mexico. Michael wants nothing more than to prove to his "Queen of NYC crime" mother that he deserves her love and is tougher than the famous gangsters she dates (Bugsy Siegel is Michael's godfather). Coming from a mixed heritage of Southern Baptists and Ashkenazic Ukrainian Jews, without a father, and rejected by his mother at birth, Michael Hardy becomes a fearless and lawless gangster over the next five decades. |
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 June
16, 2022 ShowFrank Stanfield discusses his memoir, Vampires, Gators and Wackos: True Stories From a Florida Newspaper Man’s Life. During his decades-long crime coverage in Central Florida, journalist Frank Stanfield covered every atrocity that man or nature could unleash. We will talk about some of the frequently craven, and at times downright stupid, crimes Stanfield covered during his time in the field. He somehow made it through without winding up more mental than the crackpots he tracked. However, his unvarnished, no-holds-barred account of news events reveals just how crazy making a case can be when you are dead set on nailing the truth. |
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Ralph Friedman author of Street Justice: The True Story of the NYPD’s Most Decorated Detective and the Era That Created Him. Two thousand arrests. One hundred off-duty arrests. Six thousand assists. Fifteen shootings. Eight shot. Four kills. These are not the performance statistics of an entire NYPD unit. They are the record that makes Detective 2nd Grade Ralph Friedman a legend. Friedman was arguably the toughest cop ever to wear the shield and was the most decorated detective in the NYPD's 170-year history. Stationed at the South Bronx's notorious 41 Precinct, known by its nickname "Fort Apache", Friedman served during one of the city's most dire times: the 1970s and '80s, when fiscal crisis, political disillusionment, an out-of-control welfare system, and surging crime and drug use were just a few of its problems. Listen to Friedman discuss his career and the era he served in |
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June
2, 2022 Show Michael Benson discusses his book, Gangsters Versus Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Gangsters in World War 11 America. Benson tells the stunning true story of the rise of Nazism in America in the years leading to WWII—and the fearless Jewish gangsters and crime families who joined forces to fight back. Benson reveals the thrilling role of Jewish mobsters like Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. As Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1930s Germany, a growing wave of fascism began to take root on American soil. Nazi activists started to gather in major American cities, and by 1933, there were more than one-hundred anti-Semitic groups operating openly in the United States. Few Americans dared to speak out or fight back—until an organized resistance of notorious mobsters waged their own personal war against the Nazis in their midst, Gangland-style. |
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 May
26, 2022 Show
Luis Navia |
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 May
12, 2022 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, The Butcher of Hanover: Fritz Haarmann. The book focuses on Fritz Haarman, the serial killer of at least 27 young men and boys in Germany in the post-World War 1 era. At the center of this murder case with Fritz Haarmann was Hans Grans. The two were lovers while committing these murders. It wasn't until the skulls and bones started washing ashore from the Leine River in Hanover that Germany realized they had a cold-blooded serial killer in their country. |
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 May
5, 2022 ShowSuzanne Buchanan discusses her book, The Curse of the Turtle: The True Story of Thailand’s” Backpacker Murders. Koh Tao is a small island in the Gulf of Thailand, surrounded by pristine beaches, swathed in sunshine, and a Mecca for tourists, divers, and backpackers. But “Turtle Island” has its dark side. In 2014, Koh Tao was the site of the brutal double murders of two British backpackers, but theirs weren’t the only suspicious backpacker deaths. Suzanne Buchanan was the former owner and editor of the Samui Times, a news publication on Koh Samui, and she covered the stories of the so-called “backpacker murders” and other suspicious deaths. Although she is a British citizen, because of her investigation and stories, as well as her support for the two Burmese migrant workers sentenced to death for the murders, she had to flee Thailand for her own safety. There is currently an active warrant for her arrest should she return to Thailand, which had been her home for more than 20 years, and she continues to receive death threats. |
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 April 28, 2022 ShowChuck Lutz discusses his memoir, Unpopular Causes: A Career in Service to America. The book tells of Lutz’s year in the Vietnam War, the most unpopular in our history, and his thirty-two years as a federal agent in the war on drugs working in virtually every region of the world where drugs were produced or transited through to the United States. It also covers his four years with the Transportation Security Administration, the agency everyone loved to hate and ends with his service in the war on international terrorism with the Department of State. Chuck Luitz was a major source for Ron Chepesiuk's book on Ike Atkinson, Sergeant Smack, for which Lutz received the 1976 Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service. |
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 April
21, 2022 ShowRobert Buschel discusses his novel God’s Ponzi. The novel revolves a genius computer who desires vengeance for the death of his best friend—a man essentially killed by relentless greedy lawyers baiting to possess his revolutionary wok in data mining and analysis. Robert Buschel litigates criminal and civil cases. He often advocates and counsels clients when business and public image issues are at stake. His high profile cases have been featured on 48 Hours, Dateline, People Magazine and other national news outlets, and USA Today. |
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 April
14, 2022 ShowSean Patrick Hazlett is the author of Weird World War IV. What if there was a war after Armageddon? How would the survivors emerging from World War III’s radioactive slag heaps fight in this conflict? Would they wage it with sticks and stones . . . and sorcery? Or would they use more refined weapons, elevating warfare to an art and unleashing bureaucratic nightmares worse than death? Would they struggle against themselves or inter-dimensional invaders? What horrors from the desolate darkness might slither into the light? Hazlett’s book, Weird World War IV wipes away the ashes of civilization and peers into a pit of atomic glass to witness the haunting visions of World War IV from today’s greatest minds in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. |
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 April
7, 2022 ShowRenee Fehr is the author of the Wheels of Justice: The True Story of a 27-year Battle to Convict My Sister’s Killer. The Wheels of Justice is the story of a monstrous killer, a harrowing look at domestic violence, and an inspirational story of a family that wouldn’t quit until justice prevailed. The moment it happened, Renee Fehr knew that Gregory Houser had murdered her sister Sheryl. Cruel, abusive, and increasingly violent, Greg had threatened to kill Sheryl if she tried to leave him. Yet Sheryl’s death was ruled a suicide. And for twenty-seven years after her death, Greg continued walked free. But Renee wouldn’t rest until he was convicted for murder. As the old saying goes, “the wheels of justice turn slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.” |
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 March 24, 2022 Show
Ken Croke (Top) and Dave Wedge (Bottom) the co-authors of the Croke’s memoir, Riding with Evil: Taking Down the Notorious Pagan Motorcycle Gang Former ATF agent Ken Croke was the first federal agent in history to go undercover and successfully infiltrate the infamous—and infamously violent—Pagan Motorcycle Club, a white supremacist biker gang. Croke had earned the right to coast to the end of a storied career, having routinely gone undercover to apprehend white supremacists, gun runners, and gang members. But after a chance encounter with an associate of the Pagan Motorcycle Gang created an opening, he transformed himself into “Slam,” a monstrous, axe-handle wielding enforcer whose duty was to protect the leadership “mother club” at all costs. He befriended the club’s most violent and criminally insane members and lived among them for two years, covertly building a case that would eventually take down the top members of the gang in a massive federal prosecution, even as he risked his marriage, his sanity, and his life. |
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 March
17, 2022 ShowBob Batchelor talks about his book, Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel. In his book, Bob Batchelor offers an eye-opening look at this iconic visionary, a man who created (with talented artists) many of history’s most legendary characters. From the mean streets of Depression-era New York City to recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Lee’s life has been almost as remarkable as the thrilling adventures he spun for decades. From millions of comic books fans of the 1960s through billions of moviegoers around the globe, Stan Lee has touched more people than almost any person in the history of popular culture. Join |
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 March
10, 2022 ShowDavid Crow discusses his best-selling book, The Pale-Faced Lie: A True Story. Growing up on the Navajo Indian Reservation, David Crow and his three siblings idolized their dad, a self-taught Cherokee who loved to tell his children about his World War II feats. But as time passed, David discovered the other side of Thurston Crow, the ex-con with his own code of ethics, one that justified cruelty, violence, lies—even murder. Intimidating David with beatings, Thurston coerced his son into doing his criminal bidding. David’s mom, too mentally ill to care for her children, couldn’t protect him. Through sheer determination, David managed to get into college and achieve professional success. When he finally found the courage to refuse his father’s criminal demands, he unwittingly triggered a plot of revenge that would force him into a deadly showdown with Thurston Crow. David would have only twenty-four hours to outsmart his father—the brilliant, psychotic man who bragged that the three years he spent in the notorious San Quentin State Prison had been the easiest time of his life. |
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 March 3, 2022 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, After Zodiac, an examination of celebrity mystery deaths. We will look at the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Bob Crane, Princess Diana, Natalie Woods, among others. Are questions about their deaths just conspiracy theories or is there some truth to them? |
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 February
24, 2022 ShowBill Kimberlin (R) is the author Watch Me Die: Last Words from Death Row, a firsthand account of Ohio's death row and the state’s execution process unlike any other. In his book, Kimberlin, a trained clinical psychologist and professor of psychology, presents an unbiased look at the realities of death row, in Ohio and America as a whole. This book is much more than an argument about the death penalty. Instead, Kimberlin exposes the harsh truth of what it is like to be on death row, counting the days until your own execution, as told to him by those who have lived it. |
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 February
17, 2022 ShowMatthias McCarn is the co-author of Deadly Associates: A True Story of Murder, Survival, and Bringing Down the Chicago Mob. It is the 1960s, and Danny Seifert, a street-smart and ambitious young man, follows his father’s example in his efforts to provide a good, comfortable life for his wife and children. Soon, however, his path leads him toward the dark heart of the Mob. His career choices eventually bring him to a point where he must choose between loyalty to the Mob and probable prison time, or coming clean to the FBI, testifying against Mob leaders, and risking retaliation to himself and his family. He chooses the latter, which ultimately leads to his murder and decades of living in fear for his widow, Emma, and their children. As they grow into men, Danny’s sons, Joe and Nick, take it upon themselves to find the man responsible for their father’s death and make him pay. In seeking retribution for Danny, will they also succumb to lives of crime, or will they follow the high road of law and justice all the way to the Family Secrets trial in 2007, one of the largest Mob trials in history? |
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 February
10, 2022 ShowPatrick
Strickland
discusses his book, The Marauders: Standing Up to Vigilantes in the American Borderlands. Strickland spotlights one Arizona town’s efforts to fight back against a flood of extremely dangerous, virulently racist, and heavily armed outsiders who have flocked to the U.S. border with Mexico in recent years. Patrick Strickland is a journalist and author based in Athens, Greece. His first book is Alerta! Alerta! Snapshots of Europe's Anti-Fascist Struggle. |
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 January
27, 2022 ShowNate Hendley discusses his book, The Beatle Bandit: A Serial Bank Robber's Deadly Heist, a Cross-Country Manhunt, and the Insanity Plea that Shook the Nation. The book is about Toronto, Canada bank robber Matthew Kerry Smith, who donned a Beatle wig when robbing banks in the mid-1960s Beatles’ era. In 1964, bank robber Matt Smith’s getaway was interrupted by Jack Blanc, an army veteran brandishing a revolver. A wild shootout left Blanc dead and Smith the object of a massive manhunt. Smith, a troubled young man, is hunted down and captured and faces the death penalty for the murder . |
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 January
20, 2022 ShowPeter Bronson discusses his book, Forbidden Fruit: Sin City’s Underworld and the Supper Club Inferno. The Beverly Hills Supper Club was Vegas before Vegas was cool. It was known as the "Showplace of the Nation" before it burned to the ground in 1977, killing at least 165 people—one of the worst fires in U.S. history. But few knew that the Beverly Hills had a violent past of deadly arson beginning in 1936, when it was taken over by the Cleveland mob that ran "Sin City" in Newport, Kentucky—an open city of prostitution, extortion, gambling and violence for decades, until new U.S. Attorney General Bobby Kennedy went to war on the mob in 1961. His first target was Newport. This is the story of a crime empire on the banks of the Ohio River, in the backyard of Ivory clean Cincinnati, and the war to clean it up that led to the assassination of Bobby's brother, President John F. Kennedy. It’s a story of mobsters, hookers, murder and dice; dirty cops, crooked politicians and the underworld bosses whose power reached into the FBI, Congress and the White House. |
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 January
13, 2022 ShowJeffrey Sussman discusses his book, Holocaust Fighters: Boxers, Resisters, and Avengers. The book is a remarkable portrait of the heroic people who faced the threat of extermination by the Nazis and resisted by any means possible—whether through boxing, exposing the reality of death camps, armed guerrilla attacks, or deadly acts of vengeance. The lives of five boxers who were forced to fight for their lives while imprisoned in concentration camps are explored in depth, followed by the stories of those who managed to escape captivity and reveal the truth about the death camps. |
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 December
16, 2021 ShowLarry Loftis discusses his New York Times best-selling book, The Princess Spy: The True Story of World War II Spy Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones. Loftis’ book tells the remarkable and thrilling hidden history of Aline Griffith, an ordinary American girl who became one of the OSS’s most daring spies in World War II before marrying into European nobility. It’s the story of a remarkable American woman who risked everything to serve her country. |
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 December
9, 2021 Show
Lucy Adlington discusses her book, The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive. Lucy Adlington’s book is a powerful chronicle of the women who used their sewing skills to survive the Holocaust, stitching beautiful clothes at an extraordinary fashion workshop created within one of the most notorious WWII death camps. It was the height of the Holocaust, and twenty-five young inmates of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp—mainly Jewish women and girls—were selected to design, cut, and sew beautiful fashions for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon. It was work that they hoped would spare them from the gas chambers. Historian Lucy Adlington exposes the greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy of Hitler’s Third Reich and offers a fresh look at a little-known chapter of World War II and the Holocaust. |
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 December
2, 2021James Stewart discusses his book, Mystery at the Blue Sea Cottage: A True Story of Murder in San Diego’s Jazz Age. Set in Jazz Age San Diego against the backdrop of yellow journalism, notorious Hollywood scandals, Prohibition corruption and a lively culture war, Mystery At The Blue Sea Cottage tells the intriguing true crime story of a beautiful dancer, a playboy actor, and a debonair doctor. In January 1923, 20-year-old Fritzie Mann left home for a remote cottage by the sea to meet a man whose identity she had revealed to no one. The next morning, the barely clad body of the beautiful and bewitching dancer washed up on lonely Torrey Pines beach, her party dress and possessions strewn about on the sand. The scene baffled investigators. Was it suicide, murder, or an accidental drowning? The investigation revealed a scandalous secret and, possibly, a powerful motive for murder. After a suspect was arrested and charged with murder, an ambitious district attorney battled a high-profile L.A. private counsel in the most sensational trial in San Diego’s history that was followed avidly across the nation. The big question: What really happened at the Blue Sea Cottage? |
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 November
18, 2021 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, the The JFK Assassination: The Interviews. The John F. Kennedy assassination is the grandfather of all conspiracies in America and arguably where they all started. A highly popular President with movie star looks and charisma, effecting significant changes in society, was brutally cut down in his prime. The official story was that JFK was killed by a sole assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. However, many conspiracy theorists believe in an assassination plot involving the FBI, CIA, U.S. military, VP LBJ, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Russia's KGB, the Mafia, or some combination of those entities. These fascinating interviews were done for the House of Mystery radio show, presented by Alan Warren. Who killed JFK? |
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 November 11, 2021 ShowCharles Farrell is a world-class jazz pianist who made his living working Mob clubs from the time he was a teenager to the 1960s, to discuss his book, (Low)life: .A Memoir of Jazz, Fight-Fixing and the Mob. Farrell later moved from music to the complex world of professional boxing, managing dozens of fighters, including former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks and former gang leader Mitch “Blood” Green, who famously went toe-to-toe with Mike Tyson―once in the ring and once in the street. A fight-fixer and gangster, Farrell ran afoul of New York mobsters in the 1990s and retreated to the mountains of Puerto Rico, coming home only after an infamous boxing legend brokered his safe return. Retired from the fight game, he returned to jazz and, among other collaborators, played frequently with his friend Ornette Coleman, the godfather of “Free Jazz” and one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century. |
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 November
4, 2021 ShowAlicia Dill discusses her new novel, Beyond Sacrifice. The book tells the story of Concepcion Chapa, an Army veteran, FBI special agent, and the orphaned daughter of two CIA .agents, has lived a life of sacrifice for her country. When she learns that her parents may not be dead, just undercover, she allows herself to be recruited as a killer-for-hire for the CIA. Faking her death and undergoing surgery to change her looks, Concepcion leaves everything behind-her friends, family, and country. Under the identity of Sofia Paltrini, she travels the globe doing the dirty work of the US government. But in a world of subterfuge and hidden motives, no one is quite who they seem. Concepcion is left not knowing who to trust and wondering if there's a way to live a life for herself that's beyond sacrifice. Alicia is an army veteran. |
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 October
28, 2021 ShowSara Gay Forden discusses her book House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour and Greed. The show will be focused on a book that’s been turned into a major motion picture from director Sidley Scott, starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver. The book deals with the murder of Maurizio Gucci and chronicles the sensational true story of murder, madness, glamour, and greed that shook the Gucci dynasty. On the morning of March 27, 1995, four quick shots cracked through Milan’s elegant streets. Maurizio Gucci, heir to the fabulous fashion dynasty, had been ambushed, slain on the steps to his office by an unknown gunman. Two years later, Milan’s chief of police entered the sumptuous palazzo of Maurizio’s ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani—nicknamed “the Black Widow” by the press—and arrested her for murder. Did Patrizia kill her ex-husband because his spending was wildly out of control? Did she do it out of jealousy, because he was preparing to marry his mistress? Or is it possible Patrizia didn’t do it at all? |
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 October
21, 2021 ShowPete Walsh Crime Beat goes across the pond to the United Kingdom and a discussion with investigative journalist Pete Walsh about his book Drug War: The Secret History. Drug War is a landmark modern history: the first ever full account of the United Kingdom's fight against the illegal importation of drugs. It tells for the first time the story of the high-level traffickers who drugged Britain, and the secretive organization that tried to stop them: the Investigation Division of HM Customs and Excise. The ID's elite officers waged a fifty-year battle to stem the tide of cannabis, cocaine and heroin arriving by land, air and sea, and to track, arrest and prosecute the smuggling gangs, both organized and chaotic, who turned an amateur pastime into a multi-billion-pound trade. |
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 October
14, 2021 ShowJanice Hisle discusses her book, Submerged: Ryan Widmer, His Drowned Bride and the Justice System. Sarah Widmer, a young bride, drowns in her bathtub. Ryan, her husband of four months, is accused of murder. What happened in their tiny suburban bathroom--and why--was never resolved? It’s a gripping true-crime drama, based on exclusive new information. In SUBMERGED, Hisle exposes hidden angles of a case that divided an American community, tore apart two families and tested the criminal justice system. |
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 October
7, 2021- ShowRobyn Maharaj Detective Patrick "Pat" Kennedy discusses her book, Grilling Dahmer: The Interrogation of the “Milwaukee Cannibal.” In the late hours of July 22, 1991, Detective Patrick "Pat" Kennedy of the Milwaukee Police Department was asked to respond to a possible homicide. Little did he know that he would soon be delving into the dark mind of one of America's most notorious serial killers, the "Milwaukee Cannibal" Jeffrey Dahmer. As the media clamored for details, Kennedy spent the next six weeks, sixteen hours a day, locked in an interrogation room with Dahmer. There the 31-year-old killer described in lurid detail how he lured several young men to his apartment where he strangled, sexually assaulted, dismembered, and in some cases, cannibalized his victims. It was a horrifying tour into the mind of evil and Robyn Maharaj will share the story. |
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 September
30, 2021 ShowDean Jobb discusses his book, The Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era serial Killer. When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals,” Sherlock Holmes observed during one of his most puzzling murder investigations. Incredibly, at the time the words of the world’s most famous fictional detective appeared in print in the Strand Magazine, a real-life Canadian doctor was stalking and murdering women in London’s downtrodden Lambeth neighborhood. Dr. Thomas Neill Cream had been a suspect in the deaths of two women in Canada, and had killed as many as four people in Chicago before he arrived in London in 1891 and began using pills laced with strychnine to kill prostitutes. The Lambeth Poisoner, as he was dubbed in the press, became one of the most prolific serial killers in history. |
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 September
23, 2021 ShowCarl Denaro In 1976, a killer who called himself ‘The Son of Sam’ shot and killed a half
dozen people and wounded as many more in New York City. During his crime spree,
the madman left bizarre letters mocking the police and promising more deaths.
After months of terrorizing the city while garnering front-page headlines and
international attention, a man named David Berkowitz was arrested. He confessed
to the shootings, claiming to be obeying a demon that resided in a dog that
belonged to his neighbor “Sam.” |
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 September
16, 2021 ShowMonte Barrett former heavyweight boxing challenger who competed from 1996 to 2014 and
challenged once for the WBA heavyweight title in 2006. Barrett fought many top
heavyweight champions and contenders during his career, including Wladimir
Klitschko, Greg Page and David Tua. This past July, Barrett revealed how he was
molested as a child, the trauma it caused, and how it impacts him as an adult.
Monte Barrett shares his story. |
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 September
9, 2021 ShowDaniel Levin discusses his book, Proof of Life: Twenty Days in the Hunt for a Missing Person in the Middle East. Daniel Levin was in his New York office when he got a call from an acquaintance with an urgent, cryptic request to meet in Paris. A young man had gone missing in Syria. No government, embassy, or intelligence agency would help. Could he? Would he? So begins a suspenseful, shocking, and at times brutal true story of one man’s search to find a missing person in Syria over twenty tense days. Levin, a lawyer turned armed-conflict negotiator, chases leads throughout the Middle East, meeting with powerful sheikhs, drug lords, and sex traffickers in his pursuit of the truth. In Proof of Life, Levin dives deep into the shadows—an underground industry of war where everything is for sale, including arms, drugs, and even people. |
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 September
2, 2021 ShowNoah Hurowitz discusses his book, El Chapo: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Infamous Drug Lord. Hurowitz. The book is a stunning investigation of the life and legend of Mexican kingpin Joaquín Archivaldo “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, building on Noah Hurowitz’s revelatory coverage for Rolling Stone of El Chapo’s federal drug-trafficking trial. It’s the true story of how El Chapo built the world’s wealthiest and most powerful drug-trafficking operation, based on months’ worth of trial testimony and dozens of interviews with cartel gunmen, Mexican journalists and political figures, Chapo’s family members, and the DEA agents who brought him down. |
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 August
26, 2021 ShowJulie K. Brown the journalist who took down the infamous Jeffrey Epstein discusses her book, Perversion of Justice: the Jeffrey Epstein Story. In her book, journalist Julie K. Brown recounts her uncompromising and risky investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's underage sex trafficking operation, and the explosive reporting for the Miami Herald that finally brought him to justice while exposing the powerful people and broken system that protected him. Brown investigates and tracks Epstein’s evolution from a college dropout to one of the most successful financiers in the country—whose associates included Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and Bill Clinton. Brown’s investigation revealed how Epstein ran a global sex trafficking pyramid scheme with impunity for years, targeting vulnerable teens, often from fractured homes and then turning them into recruiters |
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 August
12, 2021 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, Conspiracy Culture: The Interviews. The book focuses on theories that go against the scientific facts that we have learned over many generations of the human race. There is something uniquely intriguing about a good conspiracy theory. They tell tales of heroes, villains, and alternative realities. Conspiracy theories represent secret knowledge: real or not, and there is something very pleasing about having supposed insider knowledge. Because of their entertainment value, you can find conspiracy theories everywhere. Implausibility doesn’t make conspiracy theories less entertaining. What if the moon landing was faked? Who would have been involved? How could they have pulled it off, and why? What if the earth is encapsulated by a celestial lid? What if the infamous leader of the Third Reich escaped Germany? What if the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen? These are a few of the theories we will discuss. |
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 August
5, 2021 ShowGabrielle Bluestone discusses her book, Hype: How Scammers, Grifters and Con Artists Are Taking Over the Internet—And Why We're Following, We live in an age where scams are the new normal. A charismatic entrepreneur sells thousands of tickets to a festival that never happened. Respected investors pour millions into a start-up centered around fake blood tests. Reviewers and celebrities flock to London’s top-rated restaurant that’s little more than a backyard shed. These unsettling stories of today’s viral grifters have risen to fame and hit the front-page headlines, yet the curious conundrum remains: Why do these scams happen? Drawing from scientific research, marketing campaigns, and exclusive documents and interviews, former Vice reporter Gabrielle Bluestone delves into the irresistible hype that fuels our social media ecosystem, whether it’s from the trusted influencers that peddled Fyre or the consumer reviews that sold Juicero |
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 July
29, 2021 ShowMike Rothschild discusses of his book, The Storm is upon Us In The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult and Conspiracy of Everything. QAnon is an online conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging a secret war against a deep state of Democratic elites and Hollywood stars who are pedophiles and Satan worshipers. In his book, mike Rothschild takes readers from the background conspiracies and cults that fed the Q phenomenon, to its embrace by right-wing media and Donald Trump, through the rending of families as loved ones became addicted to Q’s increasingly violent rhetoric, to the storming of the Capitol. What is QAnon really, where did it come from, and is the Capitol insurgency a sign of where it’s going next? Tune in to Crime Beat for the answers by one of the leading experts of conspiracy theories. |
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 July
22, 2021 ShowFrank Stanfield discusses his chilling book Cold Blooded: A True Crime Story of a Murderous Teenage Vampire Cult. Investigators and Central Florida residents were horrified when 16-year-old vampire cult leader Rod Ferrell was arrested and charged with bludgeoning a cult member's parents. When they realized the slain couple's 15-year-old daughter was missing, they feared she was a victim, too. Detectives and journalists swarming over three states soon uncovered a web of blood-drinking occult rituals, illicit sex, wildly dysfunctional families and spiritual warfare. Then, when police officers captured the teens, they discovered that the murdered couple's daughter was among them. But was she a victim or a participant? Decide for yourself when you listen to veteran newspaper reporter Frank Stanfield, who has covered the case from the beginning in November 1996, and sheds new light on one of the darkest killers in modern history. |
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 July
15, 2021
Warren Cole Smith
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 July
8, 2021 ShowAnthony Destefano Pulitzer prize winning journalist Anthony Destefano to discuss his newest book, The Deadly Don, Vito Genovese, Mafia Boss. Genovese is the namesake of a crime family that is still considered one of the most viable and dangerous in the U.S. today. From enforcer to Godfather, Vito Genovese rose through the ranks of La Cosa Nostra to head of one of the wealthiest and most dangerous crime families in American history. Destefano’s book is the first comprehensive biography of the legendary mafioso--from his childhood in Naples, Italy, and the beginnings of his bullet-ridden criminal career on lower Manhattan's mean streets, through his self-exile in the mid-1930s back to his homeland where he ran a black market operation under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, and his return to New York where Genovese made a fortune as the head of an illegal narcotics empire. |
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 July
1, 2021 ShowJim Campbell talks about his best-selling book, Madoff Talks: Uncovering the Untold Story Behind the Most Notorious Ponzi Scheme in History. No name is more synonymous with the evils of Wall Street than Bernie Madoff. Arrested for fraud in 2008―during the depths of the global financial crisis―the 70-year-old market maker, investment advisor, and former chairman of the NASDAQ had orchestrated the largest Ponzi scheme in world history, fleecing thousands of investors across the globe to the tune of $65 billion. To this day, questions remain: Why did he do it? How did he get away with it for so long? What did his family know? Who is the elusive Bernie Madoff? In Madoff Talks, author Jim Campbell presents the most comprehensive, insider account of the Madoff saga to date, and he will share his insights with Crime Beat. |
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 June
24, 2021 ShowEric Dezenhall discusses his book, Best of Enemies: The Last Great Spy Story of the Cold War., In Best of Enemies, two espionage cowboys reveal how they became key behind-the-scenes players in solving some of the most celebrated spy stories of the twentieth century. They include the crucial discovery of the Soviet mole Robert Hanssen, the 2010 Spy Swap which freed Gennady from Soviet imprisonment, and how Robert De Niro played a real-life role in helping Gennady stay alive during his incarceration in Russia after being falsely accused of spying for the Americans. We will discuss the distinctions between the Russian and American methods of conducting espionage and the painful birth of the new Russia, whose leader, Vladimir Putin, dreams he can roll back to the ideals of the old USSR. |
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 June
17, 2021 ShowRon Chepesiuk, and Jesus Ruiz Henao, discuss their recently published book, The Real Mrs. Big: How a Colombian Refugee Became the United Kingdom’s Biggest Cocaine Kingpin. The interview will be conducted by Zman, ArtistFirst Radio Founder. British intelligence’s MI6 described Ruiz Henao as “the Pablo Escobar of British trafficking,” and he is considered the UK’s first billion pound cocaine kingpin. After the Real Mr. Big was busted in 2003, the price of cocaine rose 50 percent in the UK, such was his foothold in the British cocaine trade. |
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 June
10, 2021 ShowJeremy N. Smith discusses his fascinating book, Breaking and Entering: The Extraordinary Story of a hacker called Alien. We often hear about the exploits of some of the most infamous cybercriminals--but who are the hackers working against them? Breaking and Entering follows the career of one of the good guys, a brilliant woman who calls herself “Alien”—a moniker she adopted on her first day at MIT—who now runs her own cybersecurity firm. The company is a boutique hacking outfit that caters to some of the world’s biggest and most vulnerable institutions—banks, retailers, government agencies Jeremy Smith has written for the New York Times, the Atlantic, and Discover, among other outlets, and he and his work have been featured by CNN, NPR News, and Wired. |
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 June
3, 2021 ShowJeannette Hensby Her book, Falsely Accused takes a look at how being falsely accused of murder affected the lives of Ian Bernard Spencer, Fred Barlow and William Herbert Wallace. Hensby looks at the three men, who were falsely accused and eventually acquitted and freed by the justice system. But were they ever truly “free” again? What must it feel like to be arrested and accused of a murder that you didn’t commit? In her book, It would appear that sometimes the “Court of Public Opinion” is a far harsher critic than any Court of Justice. If the community decides that “there is no smoke without fire” and that you “got away with murder” there is no need for any real evidence to be produced or for the benefit of an assumption of innocence to be given. In their eyes you are guilty and always will be. What effect does this have on the life of the falsely accused? Crime Beat investigates. |
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 May
27, 2021 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, Zodiac Killer Interviews: House of Mystery presents. Warren’s book covers a serial killer who has stayed in the spotlight for years after their case has gone cold. It's been over 40 years now, and fascination with the Zodiac is still going strong. Experts passionately debate Zodiac suspects, Zodiac’’s letters/ciphers, opinions, and theories. Even which murder victims to include in the case is widely debated. The House of Mystery Interview series is a curated collection of interviews from the show. The diverse mix of authors interviewed includes cryptologist and cipher expert David Oranchak, authors who propose their suspects are already convicted serial killers, authors who claim the Zodiac was their father, authors who offer new or already considered suspects, and an author who argues the Zodiac killer didn't exist at all and that Zodiac was a hoax. |
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 May
20, 2021 ShowHeather Chavez discusses her best-selling book, No Bad Deed. The book is a thrilling debut about a mother desperate to find the connections between her missing husband and a deadly stalker who knows too much about her own dark family history. Driving home one rainy night, Cassie Larkin sees a man and woman fighting on the side of the road. After calling 911, she makes a split-second decision that will throw her suburban life into chaos. Against the dispatcher’s advice, she gets out of her minivan and confronts the attacker. That’s when he turns on her and spits out a chilling ultimatum: “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.” A veterinarian trained to heal, Cassie can’t let the woman die. |
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 May
13, 2021 ShowVince Granata discusses his powerful memoir, Everything is Fine: A Memoir. Vince Granata remembers standing in front of his suburban home in Connecticut the day his mother and father returned from the hospital with his three new siblings in tow. He had just finished scrawling their names in orange chalk on the driveway: Christopher, Timothy, and Elizabeth. Twenty-three years later, Vince was a thousand miles away when he received the news that would change his life—his younger brother, Tim, propelled by unchecked schizophrenia, had killed their mother in their childhood home. Devastated by the grief of losing his mother, Vince is also consumed by an act so incomprehensible that it overshadows every happy memory of life growing up in his seemingly idyllic middle-class family. In this powerful personal memoir, Vince examines the disease that irrevocably changed his family’s destiny. |
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 May
6, 2021 ShowRon Fino discusses the nature and impact of the Russian mafia. Ron Fino is a former mob associate, noted FBI and CIA undercover operative and author of Mr. Undercover: The True Story of Undercover Operative Ron Fino. The Russian mafia has been around since the time of the Czars, but didn’t gain international infamy until after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, when different mobs vied for control of Russia and brought their clashes to the streets of America. Today the Russian mafia presents the FBI’s most formidable adversary as it continues to grow in power and influence. |
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 April
29, 2021Mary Brett discusses her book, Out of the Mouths of Serial Killers. Brett corresponded with some of America’s most evil convicted serial killers and asked just one question: Why? Their return letters give an insightful look into the dark mind of each killer. The reader is able to scrutinize direct quotes, unedited, from interrogation statements, trial testimony, media interviews, and parole hearing inquests. Seventy-five Serial Killers are included in the book. Some only known to the unfortunate victims’ family, friends, and community, while others are the most infamous in the annals of serial killers. |
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 April
22, 2021 ShowSteve Kosareff is the author of Satin Pumps: The Moonlit Murder that Mesmerized a Nation. It was a murder that fascinated a nation and kept it glued for two years to radio, television and newspapers through three trials. Did the handsome, wealthy doctor and his beautiful young paramour plan to kill his glamorous socialite wife? Or did the gun accidentally discharge as he claimed? The book is set against the mid twentieth century CinemaScope glamour of Hollywood, Las Vegas and Palm Springs. |
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April
15, 2021 Show Larry Loftis discusses his New York Times best-selling book, The Princess Spy: The True Story of World War II Spy Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones. Loftis’ book tells the remarkable and thrilling hidden history of Aline Griffith, an ordinary American girl who became one of the OSS’s most daring spies in World War II before marrying into European nobility. It’s the story of a remarkable American woman who risked everything to serve her country. |
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 April 8, 2021 ShowTori Telfer discusses her entertaining book, Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion. From Elizabeth Holmes and Anna Delvey to Frank Abagnale and Charles Ponzi, audacious scams and charismatic scammers continue to intrigue us as a culture. As Tori Telfer reveals in Confident Women, the art of the con has a long and venerable tradition, and its female practitioners are some of the best—or worst. Tori Telfer’s Confident Women book asks the provocative question: Where does chutzpah intersect with a uniquely female pathology—and how were these notorious women able to so spectacularly dupe and swindle their victims? |
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 April
1, 2021 ShowMonique Faison Ross discusses her powerful memoir, Playing Dead: A Memoir of Terror and Survival, Monique, the daughter of San Diego Charger’s football great Earl Faison, married her high school sweetheart soon after she discovered she was pregnant with his child. Her relationship with Chris was shaky from the start, but turned tumultuous as he became verbally and physically abusive. When she could no longer put up with the abuse, she left him with their children. That was when the stalking and genuine threats began. Nothing stopped him—not protection injunctions, police warnings, or even arrests. One fateful Monday morning, Chris kidnapped Monique in front of her children and drove off on a nightmarish car ride that involved car crashes and rape. He mercilessly beat her on the head with a shovel and abandoned her brutalized body in the woods in the rain. He left, presuming she was dead…but was she? |
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 March
25, 2021 ShowRick Riley discusses his memoir, Thief on the Cross. Riley grew up on the tough streets of Los Angeles to become one of the longest active members and leader of one of the nation's bloodiest prison gangs and criminal organizations, La Nuestra Familia. Riley spent thirty-three years of his life in and out of the prison system and has now become an ordained minister. He has created the Thief on the Cross Prison Ministry, which he hopes to be able to help many prisoners with Rick’s mission in life: to speak in public forums on gang-related topics and how he escaped the gang life with God’s help. |
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 March
18, 2021 ShowRichie Salerno the author of From the Mob to the Movies: How I Escaped the Mafia and Landed in Hollywood. Salerno’s book chronicles his journey from the mean streets of Brooklyn and as a child of the mob to the silver screen. The public knows him as the character Tony Darvo in the movie Midnight Run, but Richie Salerno was born into the world of the Brooklyn Mafia during the heyday of the New York mob and for a time it looked like he'd get caught up in a life of crime. After all, some of the most notorious figures in the gangster world he knew as uncles, aunts, cousins and family friends. During a stint in prison for theft, Richie turned his life around using the tailoring skills he learned from his father and butchering abilities he picked up from his father-in-law to ingratiate himself with the warden and guards which got him through one hundred and twenty months without a scratch. As luck would have it, after his release he scored an audition for a film Serpico directed by Sidney Lumet, best known for "12 Angry Men" and "Dog Day Afternoon." That audition turned into a career of long standing as a character actor in major Hollywood films |
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 March
11, 2021 ShowRod Sadler discusses his book, KILLING WOMEN: The True Story of Serial Killer Don Miller's Reign of Terror. Don Miller was quiet and reserved. As a former youth pastor, he seemed a devout Christian. No one would have ever suspected that the recent graduate of the Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice was a serial killer. However, when Miller was arrested for the attempted murder of two teenagers in 1978, police quickly realized he was probably responsible for the disappearances of four women. Offered a still-controversial plea bargain, he led police to the bodies of the missing women. Now, after forty years in prison, Miller has served his time and is due to be released into an unsuspecting population. |
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 March
4, 2021 ShowDavid Bowman top and Dennis Griffin discuss their book, Bringing Down Cullotta. We will hear the untold story of David Bowman, who, in the 1980s, became an associate of the Hole in the Wall Gang, a gang lead by Frank Cullotta. After a series of events, Bowman turned and offered the FBI information on Frank Cullotta, causing the arrest of Cullotta. Following his arrest, Cullotta took an immunity agreement and turned on notorious mobster Tony Spilotro. David Bowman's memoir details his participation in the Chicago Outfit's criminal activities and his subsequent work as a government informant and gives us a fascinating look into a bygone era in Las Vegas. |
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 February
25, 2021 ShowJoe Broadmeadow top Thomas Denniston discusse the article: "Tangled Web: Did the FBI Leave a cop killer on the streets? The article appears on Joe’s blog www.joebroadmeadowblog.com and investigates the murder on December 20, 1980 of Saxonburg, Pennsylvania Police Chief Gregory Adams. Shortly after the Chief’s brutal murder, police identified Donald Eugene Webb, a jewel thief and bank robber with ties to the local Patriarca Crime family, as a suspect . Despite having this evidence, the FBI did little to catch Webb. In fact, It took the FBI thirty-six years to get a search warrant to search a location intimately connected to Webb. .As Joe Broadmeadow writes: “It would seem they put his name on the most wanted list and forgot about it.” So Crime Beat asks: Was this another case of the FBI turning a blind eye to criminal activity in their single-minded pursuit of Organized Crime? Did the FBI let a cop-killer walk free in exchange for information on the mob? |
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 February 18, 2021 ShowJoe Lapello Joe Lapello is the author of Murder Lost To Time: The True Story of One of Canada’s Oldest Unsolved Murders. It was Prohibition, and Carmine Lopello was a self employed taxicab driver who became caught up with notorious people in a small immigrant community of Toronto Ontario Canada, known as “The Ward”. Circumstances would change for the worse, turning this young man from a secretive life of crime, to that of a police informant, and eventually, paying the ultimate price. In the early morning hours of July 20, 1917, Carmine would be found brutally murdered in the street. We will talk to Joe Lapello, Carmine’s great nephew, and unravel Carmine’s unsolved murder. |
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February 11, 2021 Show David Hill discusses his book THE VAPORS: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America's Forgotten Capital of Vice. Back in the days before Vegas was big, when the Mob was at its peak and neon lights were but a glimmer on the horizon, a little Southern town styled itself as a premier destination for the American leisure class. Hot Springs, Arkansas was home to healing waters, Art Deco splendor, and America’s original national park—as well as horse racing, nearly a dozen illegal casinos, countless backrooms and brothels, and some of the country’s most bald-faced criminals. Hill tracks the town’s history through the lives of three central figures: Owney Madden, Dane Harris, and Hazel Hill (the author’s grandmother). It is a story about one of the country's last oases of illegal gambling. |
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 February
4, 2021 ShowDon Stradley
discusses his book, Berserk:
The Shocking Life and Death of Edwin Valero.
Stradley uncovers the gritty details of the undefeated life of troubled
boxer Edwin Valero. Edwin Valero’s life was like a rocket shot into a wall.
With a perfect knockout record in twenty-seven fights, the demonic
Venezuelan boxer, known as “El Inca” and “El Dinamita,” seemed destined for
a clash with all-time great Manny Pacquiao. But the Fates had other ideas.
Fueled by cocaine and booze and
paranoia, Valero blazed into a mania that derailed his career in the ring
and resulted in the brutal death of his young wife Jennifer–and soon
afterward, his own. For the first time, Don Stradley chronicles one of
history’s darkest and most sensational boxing stories. Join us at 8
pm! |
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 January
28, 2021 ShowAlan Warren discusses his latest book, Murder Times Six: The True Story of the Wells Gray Park Murders. On August 2, 1982, three generations of a family set out on a camping trip – Bob and Jackie Johnson, their two daughters, Janet, 13 and Karen, 11, and Jackie's parents, George and Edith Bentley. A month later, the Johnson family car was found off a mountainside logging road near Wells Gray Park completely burned out. In the back seat were the incinerated remains of four adults, and in the trunk were the two girls. But this was not just your average mass murder. It was much worse. Over time, some brutal details were revealed; however, most are still only known to the murderer, David Ennis (formerly Shearing). His crimes had far-reaching impacts on the family, community, and country. It still does today. Every time Shearing attempts freedom from the parole board, the grief is triggered as everyone is forced to relive the horrors once again. |
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 January
21, 2021 ShowAntony Amore Author of The Woman Who Stole Vermeer: The True Story of Rose Dugdale and the Russborough House Art Heist. The book tells the remarkable story of the extraordinary life and crimes of heiress-turned-revolutionary Rose Dugdale, who became the only woman to pull off a major art heist. Dugdale’s life is singularly notorious. Born into extreme wealth, she abandoned her life as an Oxford-trained PhD and heiress to join the cause of Irish Republicanism. While on the surface she appears to be the British version of Patricia Hearst, she is anything but. In 1974, she led a gang into the opulent Russborough House in Ireland and made off with millions in prized paintings, including works by Goya, Gainsborough, and Rubens, as well as Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid by the mysterious master Johannes Vermeer. And it’s likely that this was not her only such heist. |
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Jeffrey Sussman talks about his latest book Big Apple Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in New York. The book reveals how influential the mob in New York City was during the 20th century. We will look at the origins of organized crime in the 20th century by examining the corporate activity that dominated New York City and how these entrepreneurial bosses supported successful criminal enterprises in other cities. We will also look at some of the colorful gangsters who followed in the footsteps of gangland’s original founders. |
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James Patterson one of the world bestselling authors, will be discussing Patterson’s latest book, The Last Days of John Lennon, the biggest true crime story in music history. The Last Days of John Lennon is the thrilling true story of two men who changed history: John Lennon, whose indelible songs enliven our world to this day, and the other, Mark David Chapman, Lennon's killer, who ended the beautiful music with five pulls of a trigger. Patterson’s numerous books have sold more than 300 million copies making him the world’s highest-paid author. He is also the first author to have sold more than one million e-books. Patterson is also recognized by the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ for having the maximum number of books on The New York Times' best-seller list. Patterson has emerged as a passionate advocate of reading and books, donating millions of dollars from his personal wealth to teachers’ colleges, universities, school libraries, students, and independent bookstores. The ‘National Book Foundation’ has awarded the prestigious ‘Literarian Award’ for his efforts “to make books and reading a national priority.” |
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 December
31, 2020 ShowWilliam Rosenau discusses his book, Tonight We Bombed the U.S. Capitol: The Explosive Story of M19, America's First Female Terrorist Group. By the end of the 1970s, many radicals had called it quits, but six veteran women extremists came together to finish the fight. These women had spent their entire adult lives embroiled in political struggles: protesting the Vietnam War, fighting for black and Native American liberation, and confronting US imperialism. They created a new organization to wage their war: The May 19th Communist Organization, or “M19,” a name derived from the birthday shared by Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh, two of their revolutionary idols. Together, these six women carried out some of the most daring operations in the history of domestic terrorism—from prison breakouts and murderous armed robberies, to a bombing campaign that wreaked havoc on the nation’s capital. Three decades later, M19’s actions and shocking tactics still reverberate for many reasons, but one truly sets them apart: unlike any other American terrorist group before or since, M19 was created and led by women. William Rosenau, PhD, is a senior research scientist at CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization, and a fellow in the International Security program at New America. |
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 December
10, 2020 ShowJ. Chester Johnson discusses his book Damaged Heritage: The Elaine Race Massacre and a Story of Reconciliation The 1919 Elaine Race Massacre, arguably the worst in our country’s history, has been widely unknown for the better part of a century, thanks to the whitewashing of history. In 2008, Johnson was asked to write the Litany of Offense and Apology for a National Day of Repentance, where the Episcopal Church formally apologized for its role in transatlantic slavery and related evils. In his research, Johnson came upon a treatise by historian and anti-lynching advocate Ida B. Wells on the Elaine Massacre, where more than a hundred and possibly hundreds of African-American men, women, and children perished at the hands of white posses, vigilantes, and federal troops in rural Phillips County, Arkansas. As he worked, Johnson would discover that his beloved grandfather had participated in the Massacre. The discovery shook him to his core. Determined to find some way to acknowledge and reconcile this terrible truth, Chester would eventually meet Sheila L. Walker, a descendant of African-American victims of the Massacre. She herself had also been on her own migration in family history that led straight to the Elaine Race Massacre. Together, she and Johnson committed themselves to a journey of racial reconciliation and abiding friendship An illuminating journey to racial reconciliation experienced by two Americans—one black and one white. |
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Gerard Koeppel discusses his book, Not a Gentleman’s Work: The Untold Story of a Gruesome Murder at Sea and the Long Road to Truth. It’s the true story of the most notorious crime in American nautical history. The Herbert Fuller, a three-masted sailing ship loaded with New England lumber, left Boston bound for Buenos Aires on July 8, 1896 with twelve people on board: captain and owner Charles Nash, his wife and childhood sweetheart Laura, two mates, the "mulatto" steward, six crewmen, and one passenger. Just before 2 A.M. on the sixth day at sea, the captain, his wife, and the second mate were slaughtered in their individual bunkrooms with the ship's axe, seven or eight blows apiece. Incredibly, no one saw or heard the killings . . . except the killer. After a harrowing voyage back to port for the survivors, the killer among them, it didn't take long for Boston's legal system to convict the first mate, a naturalized American of mixed blood from St. Kitts. But another man on board, a twenty-year-old Harvard passenger from a proper family, had his own dark secrets. Who was the real killer, and what became of these two men |
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 November
26, 2020 ShowJimmy Tobin discusses his book, Killed in Brazil? The Mysterious Death of Arturo “Thunder” Gotti. Arturo Gatti hung up his gloves in 2007, closing the book on a boxing career that bordered on the mythical. At long last, he seemed ready to leave the business of blood behind for a long, happy life outside the ring. His retirement was celebrated―boxing’s modern gladiator had earned his freedom. Two years later, he was gone―found dead in a hotel in Brazil under mysterious circumstances. He was only thirty-seven years old. Did he commit suicide? Or was he killed by his new wife? We will examine the dramatic events surrounding Gatti's tragic demise and explore what may have happened on that fateful night. |
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 November
19, 2020 ShowPatrick Gallagher discusses his book, Til Death Do Us: A True Crime Story of Bigamy and Murder. In August 1945, Gladys Lincoln of Sacramento contacted prosperous Dr. W. D. Broadhurst of Caldwell, Idaho, and rekindled a romance from twenty years earlier. After many passionate letter exchanges and several sexually-charged meetings, they were married in Reno, Nevada on May 20, 1946. After a passion-filled three-day weekend together, the doctor returned to his home in Idaho, and Gladys returned to Sacramento … and to her husband, Leslie Lincoln! But Gladys was much more than a bigamist. Gladys needed something even she didn’t understand. She married her first husband when she was 20, and her second husband only 14 months later. The second marriage lasted only two years, the third less than 16 months. Leslie Lincoln was her fifth, and Dr. Broadhurst became her sixth. But what desperate need drove her to go from marriage to marriage? Then what dark mindset moved her and her young cowboy chauffeur to commit murder? We will find out tonight! |
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November
12, 2020 Show Bob Batchelor talks about his book, Stan Lee: The Man Behind Marvel. In his book, Bob Batchelor offers an eye-opening look at this iconic visionary, a man who created (with talented artists) many of history’s most legendary characters. From the mean streets of Depression-era New York City to recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Lee’s life has been almost as remarkable as the thrilling adventures he spun for decades. From millions of comic books fans of the 1960s through billions of moviegoers around the globe, Stan Lee has touched more people than almost any person in the history of popular culture. Join |
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 November
5, 2020 ShowDon Stradley discusses two of his books, Slaughter in the Streets: When Boxing became Boxton’s Murder Capital, and A Fistful of Murder: The Fights and Crimes of Carlos Monzon. Slaughter in the Streets tells the the true-crime stories of men in Boston in the first half of the 20th century who dreamed of being great fighters but couldn’t make it past the fringe of the sport. In their desperation, they chose criminal plots, resulting in grim ends. A Fistful of Murder tells the story of Carlos Monzon, one of Argentina's most celebrated figures. A renowned boxing champion and movie actor who enjoyed affairs with beautiful women, he also harbored a secret life of drug use, alcohol, and domestic violence. When his estranged wife was found dead―strangled and tossed from a balcony―Monzon confessed that they'd fought the night before, but he couldn't remember what had happened. |
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Steve Hassan discusses his explosive book, The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control. One of America’s leading experts in cults and mind control provides an eye-opening analysis of Trump and the indoctrination tactics he uses to build a fanatical devotion in his supporters. Since his election as President, Trump’s behavior has become both more controversial and yet increasingly familiar. He relies on phrases like “fake news” and “build the wall” and continues to spread the divisive mentality of us vs. them. He lies constantly, has no conscience, never admits when he is wrong, and projects all of his shortcomings onto others. He has become more authoritarian, more outrageous, and yet many of his followers remain blindly devoted. His need to squash alternate information and his insistence of constant ego stroking are all characteristics of other famous leaders - cult leaders argues mind-control and licensed mental-health expert Steven Hassan. Hassan draws parallels between our current president and people like Jim Jones, David Koresh, Ron Hubbard, and Sun Myung Moon, arguing that this presidency is in many ways like a destructive cult.
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 October
22, 2020 ShowAllan Lichtman discusses his book, Predicting the Next President: The Keys to the White House. In the days after Donald Trump’s unexpected victory on election night 2016, The New York Times, CNN, and other leading media outlets reached out to one of the few pundits who had correctly predicted the outcome, Allan J. Lichtman. For this year’s election, Lichtman predicts Joe Biden the winner. While many election forecasters base their findings exclusively on public opinion polls, Lichtman looks at the underlying fundamentals that have driven every presidential election since 1860. His 13 keys Using his 13 historical factors or “keys” (four political, seven performance, and two personality), that determine the outcome of presidential elections. Lichtman applies the keys to every presidential election since 1860 and shows readers the current state of the 2020 race. In doing so, he dispels much of the mystery behind electoral politics. |
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 October
15, 2020 Show
510Susan Hall discusses her monumental book series, The World Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. The series is the most comprehensive set of its kind in the history of true crime publishing, Hall’s four-volume set has more than 1600 entries of male and female serial killers from around the world. Defined by the FBI as a person who murders 3 or more people over a period of time with a hiatus of weeks or months between murders, serial killers have walked among us from the dawn of time as this series demonstrates. |
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 October
8, 2020 ShowElaine Smith discusses her book, A Gun in My Gucci, a true story of two “outsiders” who helped bring down the Chicago Mob — the middle-aged mobster Ken “Tokyo Joe” Eto, and a determined young woman and FBI agent, Elaine Corbitt Smith. In the early 1980s, Joe Eto was the highest ranking Asian-American mobster in the country. His nemesis, rookie Elaine Smith was one of only a few female Special Agents in the FBI at that time. Her relentless pursuit of Eto resulted in his detention by the Bureau on interstate gambling charges. Afraid that he would “spill his guts”, his Mob bosses decided not to gamble on Joe’s ability to remain silent. He had to be eliminated and a “hit” was ordered. Joe Eto never talked, nevertheless the Mob still tried to kill him. But the “hit” was botched and Tokyo Joe walked away with three bullets in his head. Alive, with his honor intact, he sought revenge. He was ready to talk, but only to Special Agent Elaine Smith. |
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 October
1, 2020 Show
Dennis Griffin
discusses
his book, Survivors: Shocking True Stories about America's Pursuit of
Police Transparency and Justice. The survivors of victims of murder and
suspicious death are often victimized twice—first by the loss of their loved
one and subsequently by the system they rely on for justice. In pursuit of
police transparency and search for justice, retired investigator Dennis
Griffin takes us inside the world of real crime cases to expose the shocking
truth behind the alarming number of unsolved murders and suspicious deaths
classified as accidental, self-inflicted, or natural—with little to no
investigation. Griffin is the founder of The Transparency Project, which
helps families of suspicious death victims gain access to police records
related to the investigation of their loved ones |
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 September
24, 2020 ShowJax Miller the author of Hell in the Heartland: Murder, Meth, and the Case of Two Missing Girls. On December 30, 1999, in rural Oklahoma, sixteen-year-old Ashley Freeman and her best friend, Lauria Bible, were having a sleepover. The next morning, the Freeman family trailer was in flames and both girls were missing. While rumors of drug debts, revenge, and police corruption abounded in the years that followed, the case remained unsolved and the girls were never found. In 2015, crime writer Jax Miller--who had been haunted by the case--decided to travel to Oklahoma to find out what really happened on that winter night in 1999, and why the story was still simmering more than fifteen years later. What she found was more than she could have ever bargained for: evidence of jaw-dropping levels of police negligence, entire communities ravaged by methamphetamine addiction, and a series of interconnected murders with an ominously familiar pattern |
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 September
17, 2020 ShowChris Russo Blackwood discusses her book My Brother's Keeper: A Thirty Year Quest to Bring Two Killers to Justice. The moment he found out his brother was missing and presumed dead, Ted Kergan launched a relentless effort to bring two suspected killers—a teenaged-prostitute and her much older grifter boyfriend—to justice and find Gary Kergan's body. Little did he know his quest would consume a fortune and take thirty years to reach its dramatic conclusion. It's an amazing story with many twists and turns. |
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 September
10, 2020 ShowAlan Warren Crime Beat welcomes back Alan Warren to discuss his book In Chains: The World of Human Trafficking. Human trafficking is the trade of people for forced labor or sex. It also includes the illegal extraction of human organs and tissues. Most of us believe human trafficking occurs in countries with no human rights legislation. This is a myth. All types of human trafficking are alive and well in most of the developed countries of the world like the United States, Canada, and the UK. It is estimated that $150 billion a year is generated in the forced labor industry alone. It is also believed that 21 million people are trapped in modern-day slavery, exploited for sex, labor, or organs. Most of us also believe that since they live in a free country, there is built-in protection against such illegal practices. But for many, this is not the case. Traffickers tend to focus on the most vulnerable in our society, but trafficking can happen to anyone. |
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 September
3, 2020 ShowJamie Collins and Jessica Pelley will be discussing their book, I am Jessica: A Survivor’s Powerful Story of Healing and Hope. When Jessica Pelley was nine, she went to a sleepover at a friend's house for the weekend. While away, Jessica’s entire family was murdered. Jessica spent the next 30 years fighting, crawling, and clawing my way through the darkness and the pain. The author is Jessica's cousin. Jessica's story is indeed powerful as well as eye opening. |
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 August
27, 2020 ShowJohn Collier the author of Inside Out: A Father’s Love. Collier’s story is one of a police officer who overcame a battered and abused childhood. His success as a police officer brought him recognition from the state police, and he was often assigned to personally protect and guard the governor of the state of Indiana. As a police officer his world changed. The anger and hatred he carried for his father eventually changed the outward person he was. The rage that eventually surfaced took him on a self-destructive path of failure and tragedy. His life shattered as he became the person he hated most. It is a life-changing story, a miracle, of how Christ saved him from death, and how his life became transformed.
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 August
20, 2020 ShowBenjamin Risha, is the author of The Son of Seven Mothers. In the book, Benjamin Risha must choose between the life he knows, and was “chosen” to lead, and his freedom. As the adopted son of two cult leaders, Benjamin Risha was raised to someday assume a place of leadership in the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation with the Bible, and his parents’ interpretation of it, as his guide. He believed the prophecies of his adoptive mother and father, which included them being the two prophets foretold in the Book of Revelations as preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ, them raising from the dead when they died, and such dire warnings as the ground opening up to swallow non-believers into hell. He was sure that Susan Alamo could raise the dead as promised. However, when none of it happened, and the foundation slid from bucolic communal lifestyle to insufferable criminality that included absolute obedience to the Alamos, and polygamous marriages with girls as young as eight years old, Benjamin knew he had to escape. If he was caught trying to escape he would be beaten nearly death, forced to go without food and water for his sins, and he would be shamed in the community. He embarked on a journey to locate his birth parents, discover the truth about a world he knew nothing about … and find himself. |
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 August
13, 2020 ShowMark Paul discusses his book, The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told: A True Tale of Three Gamblers, The Kentucky Derby, and the Mexican Cartel. When Mark Paul and two other gamblers unknowingly place their bet with members of a suspected drug cartel at a racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico, they must figure out how to claim their prize -- without getting killed in the process. In a heart-pounding race of their own across the U.S.-Mexico border, the trio come face-to-face with suspected killers, are arrested by the Border Patrol, and fumble their way through the riskiest bet of their lives. An inspiring true crime sports story about a filly who broke through the male-dominated world of horseracing and inspired crowds of men and women alike... along with a trio of gamblers who embark on an epic adventure. It's Seabiscuit meets Narcos, and the best non-fiction adventure and gambling story ever told
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Crime Beat marks the show’s 500th broadcast. We now air in 160 plus countries, and there have been more 60 million downloads of its archived shows since our inception on January 28, 2011, The show has featured such guests as famed lawyer F. Lee Bailey, gangsters Henry Hill, Joe Pistone and George Jung, Robert Kennedy Jr., Noam Chomsky (twice), Russian spy Robert Barsky, Sammy Gravano’s daughter Karen Gravano, Ronald Goldman’s sister Kim, and at least 12 Pulitzer Prize winners, among others.
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 August
6, 2020 ShowSynova Cantrell talks about her just released book, Silenced by the Dixie Mafia. You will learn about the Stateline Mafia, Bufford Pusser (Walking Tall), Louise Hathcock, Toehead White, Kirksey Nix, Jr, and more, and we will compare the Dixie Mafia’s modus operandi to that of the Italian mob. |
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 July
30, 2020 ShowPaula May discusses her book, First Degree Rage: The True Story of ‘The Assassin,’ An Obsession and Murder. First Degree Rage is the true crime story of a homicide case in which Paula May was the lead detective. As a law enforcement officer in the state of North Carolina for over thirty years, she investigated a number of violent and sinister cases, but this one stood out above all others as a story that had to be told, a book that had to be written. It began when a man’s nude, murdered body was found in the snowy woods in the Appalachian Mountains of northwestern North Carolina, where Paula worked in the criminal investigations unit of the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office. The murder victim turned out to be Viktor Gunnarsson, a man accused of assassinating Prime Minister Olof Palme of Sweden. Paula May’s book details the nearly four-year old investigation that followed and the intriguing facts that were uncovered. |
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 July
23, 2020 ShowBob Batchelor Bob Batchelor discusses of his book, The Bourbon King: The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition's Evil Genius. The tale of George Remus is a grand spectacle and a lens into the dark heart of Prohibition. Congress gave teeth to Prohibition in October 1919, but the law didn’t stop George Remus from amassing a fortune that would be worth billions of dollars today. As one Jazz Age journalist put it, “Remus was to bootlegging what Rockefeller was to oil.” Bob Batchelor breathes life into the largest bootlegging operation in America—greater than that of Al Capone—and a man considered the best criminal defense lawyer of his era. Remus bought an empire of distilleries on Kentucky’s “Bourbon Trail” and used his other profession, as a pharmacist, to profit off legal loopholes. He spent millions bribing officials in the Harding Administration, and he created a roaring lifestyle that epitomized the Jazz Age over which he ruled. |
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 July
16, 2020 ShowDonna Hylton discusses her book A Little Piece of Light: A Memoir of Hope, Prison, and a Life Unbound. The book is a memoir of survival, redemption, hope, and sisterhood from a woman on the front lines of the criminal justice reform movement. Donna Hylton's early life was a nightmare of abuse that left her feeling alone and convinced of her worthlessness. In 1986, she took part in a horrific act and was sentenced to 25 years to life for kidnapping and second-degree murder. It seemed that Donna had reached the end--at age 19, due to her own mistakes and bad choices, her life was over. Behind the bars of Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, alongside this generation's most infamous criminals, Donna learned to fight, then thrive. For the first time in her life, she realized she was not alone in the abuse and misogyny she experienced--and she was also not alone in fighting back. Since her release in 2012, Donna has emerged as a leading advocate for criminal justice reform and women's rights who speaks to politicians, violent abusers, prison officials, victims, and students to tell her story. |
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 July
9, 2020 ShowDiane Fanning discusses her book, Death on the River: A Fiancee's Dark Secrets and a Kayak Trip Turned Deadly. Diane Fanning recounts a tragic kayak accident that left one man dead―and his fiancée arrested for his murder. It seemed like the perfect romantic afternoon: a kayaking trip for two on the Hudson River. But it ended in tragedy when beautiful, blonde Angelika Graswald called 911 to report that her fiancé, the handsome and athletic Vincent Viafore, had fallen into the choppy frigid waters. Authorities assumed it was an accident, but when the bereft bride-to-be posted videos of herself doing cartwheels on social media―shortly before Vincent’s body was found―suspicions of murder rose to the surface, After hours of questioning, Angelika made several shocking admissions.
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 July
2, 2020 ShowKate Dawson discusses her book, American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI The book chronicles the fascinating story of Edward Oscar Heinrich, an investigator who would go on to crack at least two thousand cases in his forty-year career. Known as the "American Sherlock Holmes," Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of America's greatest--and first--forensic scientists, with an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence, and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural. .His work, though not without its serious--some would say fatal--flaws, changed the course of American criminal investigation. |
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 June
25, 2020 ShowCasey Sherman (top) and Dave Wedge Boston reporters Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge to talk about their book, Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture and Killing of America’s Most Wanted Crime Boss. The book draws on exclusive interviews and exhaustive investigative reportage to tell the complete story of Whitey Bulger, one of the most notorious crime bosses in American history and a longtime FBI informant. The leader of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang and #1 on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, Bulger was indicted for nineteen counts of murder, racketeering, narcotics distribution, and extortion. But it was his sixteen-year flight from justice on the eve of his arrest that made him a legend and exposed deep corruption within the FBI. |
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 June
18, 2020 ShowTrish Posner discusses her book The Pharmacist of Auschwitz. The book chronicles the little known story of Victor Capesius, a Bayer pharmaceutical salesman from Romania who, at the age of 35, joined the Nazi SS in 1943 and quickly became the chief pharmacist at the largest death camp, Auschwitz. Patricia Posner exposes Capesius’s reign of terror at the camp, his escape from justice, fueled in part by his theft of gold ripped from the mouths of corpses, and how a handful of courageous survivors and a single brave prosecutor finally brought him to trial for murder twenty years after the end of the war. |
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 June
11, 2020 ShowShannon O'Leary a pseudonym for a prolific writer and performer from Australia. Her first book, The Blood on My Hands, told the story of her traumatic and violent childhood in the 1960s and '70s Australia. Her sequel, Out of the Fire and into the Pan, which was published last march, explains how she progressed into the adult world while coming to terms with her terrifying past. It is a story of personal growth and of how O'Leary navigates her transition into adulthood, while seeking out the social norms and finding her place in the world. O'Leary has acted and directed on the stage and on Australian national TV. She also runs her own production company and several music schools.
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 June
4, 2020 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, Doomsday Cults: The Devil’s Hostages. Jim Jones convinced his 1000 followers they would all have to commit suicide since he was going to die. Shoko Asahara convinced his followers to release a weapon of mass destruction, the deadly sarin gas, on a Tokyo subway. Charles Manson convinced his followers to kill, in an attempt to incite an apocalyptic race war. These are a few of the doomsday cults examined by Alan R. Warren in his book. Its focus is on cults whose destructive behavior was due in large part to their apocalyptic beliefs or doomsday movements. |
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 May
28, 2020 ShowRichard Jewkes Richard Jewkes discusses his book, Gabacho: Drugs Landed Me in Mexican Prison, Theater Saved Me. Over Christmas break of his senior year, Richard Jewkes, a University of Utah theatre student disenchanted with his conservative Mormon upbringing, took off for Mexico with a college friend seeking a wild adventure. If the adventure hadn’t included smuggling drugs it might have been another college road trip. But after a disastrous encounter with a drug cartel, they ended up being arrested by Mexican Federales while trying to make it to the US border. Jewkes and friend were tossed into a Mexican prison, where they found themselves anticipating torture, rape and even death. A fight with a notorious killer, struggles with tormenting guards and the difficulties of foreign prison lead to a disastrous escape attempt. To survive, Jewkes starts a theatre group with a rag-tag bunch of Mexican convicts. |
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Rick Porrello Rick Porrello discusses his book Bombs, Bullets and Bribes: The True Story of Notorious Jewish Gangster, Alex Shondor Birns. Birns was Cleveland’s Public Enemy Number One, friend of powerful Jewish and Italian mobsters, and trusted partner of black gambling racketeers. He was actively involved in a wide variety of racketeering and other organized crime related activities such as prostitution, theft, numbers, etc., from the days of Prohibition until his demise. He went toe-to-toe against relentless challenges —the cops wanted him in prison, immigration officials wanted him deported, and the IRS wanted his nightclub, car, and cash. Black gangsters wanted the old white man out of the numbers racket, and rogue underlings wanted to kill the king. For half a century, the charismatic hood beat the odds, cultivating allies high and low. |
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May
14, 2020 Show Pete Walsh Crime Beat goes across the pond to the United Kingdom and a discussion with investigative journalist Pete Walsh about his book Drug War: The Secret History. Drug War is a landmark modern history: the first ever full account of the United Kingdom's fight against the illegal importation of drugs. It tells for the first time the story of the high-level traffickers who drugged Britain, and the secretive organization that tried to stop them: the Investigation Division of HM Customs and Excise. The ID's elite officers waged a fifty-year battle to stem the tide of cannabis, cocaine and heroin arriving by land, air and sea, and to track, arrest and prosecute the smuggling gangs, both organized and chaotic, who turned an amateur pastime into a multi-billion-pound trade. |
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 May
7, 2020 ShowSteve Hodel discusses of his book, Black Dahlia
Avenger: A Genius for Murder: The True Story. In 1947, the brutal, sadistic
murder of a beautiful young woman named Elizabeth Short led to the largest
manhunt in LA history. The killer teased and taunted the police and public
for weeks, but his identity stayed a mystery, and the murder remained the
most tantalizing unsolved case of the last century, until this book revealed
the bizarre solution. |
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Steve Hassan discusses his explosive book, The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control. One of America’s leading experts in cults and mind control provides an eye-opening analysis of Trump and the indoctrination tactics he uses to build a fanatical devotion in his supporters. Since his election as President, Trump’s behavior has become both more controversial and yet increasingly familiar. He relies on phrases like “fake news” and “build the wall” and continues to spread the divisive mentality of us vs. them. He lies constantly, has no conscience, never admits when he is wrong, and projects all of his shortcomings onto others. He has become more authoritarian, more outrageous, and yet many of his followers remain blindly devoted. His need to squash alternate information and his insistence of constant ego stroking are all characteristics of other famous leaders - cult leaders argues mind-control and licensed mental-health expert Steven Hassan. Hassan draws parallels between our current president and people like Jim Jones, David Koresh, Ron Hubbard, and Sun Myung Moon, arguing that this presidency is in many ways like a destructive cult.
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 April
23, 2020 ShowWayne Clingman discusses his co-authored book, The Life and Times of Frank Balistrieri: The Last, Most Powerful Godfather of Milwaukee. Balistrieri known as "Mr. Big", "Frankie Bal", "Mr. Slick", and "Mad Bomber", was a powerful Mafia boss of the Milwaukee crime family who was a central figure in casino skimming during the 1970s in Las Vegas, Nevada. The book chronicles Balistrieri's rise through the ranks of the Italian-American criminal underground and through his time controlling Milwaukee’s underworld. |
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 April
16, 2020 ShowAnthony Raimondi Pope John Paul 1 was elected Pope on August 26, 1978. Just 33 days later, he was dead. This week Crime Beat features Anthony Raimondi, the man who says he helped murder Pope John Paul 1. Raimondi claims he helped his cardinal cousin Paul Marcinkus kill the pope by force-feeding the latter with valium. The reason given was that John Paul had allegedly threatened to expose "a massive stock fraud run by Vatican insiders." Raimondi , a former mob enforcer for the Colombo crime family, is the nephew of Lucky Luciano and author of When the Bullet Hits the Bone: The Dead Don’t Walk |
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Barbara Casey discusses her book Velvalee Dickinson:: The “Doll Woman’s Spy, the story of the first American woman to face the death penalty on charges for spying for a wartime enemy.. In the early 1930s, Velvalee Dickinson moved to New York City where she opened her own exclusive doll shop and built a reputation as an expert in rare, antique, and foreign dolls. She traveled extensively around the country lecturing and exhibiting her dolls while building a wealthy clientele. Due to her husband’s poor health and her failing business, she accepted the role as a spy for the Imperial Japanese Government. |
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 April
2, 2020 ShowDennis Griffin and Ori Spado discuss Vinnie Curto’s memoir, Survival: From Childhood Abuse Victim to World Boxing Champion. Vinnie Curto’s father, Jimmy Curto, was a raving, sick, alcoholic homosexual. The father and his drunken friends sexually abused young Vinnie, frequently raping him and performing other deviant sexual acts on him, while his mother, Loretta, stood by and let it happen. When Vinnie was fourteen, his father forced him to pursue a boxing career. To escape his living hell at home, at the age of sixteen Vinnie lied about his age and joined the Navy. After his stint in the military, Vinnie joined the Olympic boxing team, where he made several more valuable contacts, including the legendary trainer Angelo Dundee. Later he was managed by actor Sylvester Stallone. On September 20, 1996, Curto won the World Boxing Federation Super Cruiserweight Title in Lincoln, Nebraska |
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 March
26, 2020 ShowGerald Posner Pulitzer Prize winning finalist Gerald Posner to discuss his explosive and timely book, Pharma: Greed, Lies and the Poisoning of America. Posner investigates the heroes and villains of the trillion-dollar-a-year pharmaceutical industry and uncovers how those once entrusted with improving life have often betrayed that ideal to corruption and reckless profiteering—with deadly consequences. Pharma also uncovers the real story of the Sacklers, the family that became one of America’s wealthiest from the success of OxyContin, their blockbuster narcotic painkiller at the center of the opioid crisis. |
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 March
19, 2020 ShowCharity Lee author of How Now Butterfly: A Memoir of Murder, Survival, and Transformation Losing a young daughter to murder is the worst nightmare that a mother could possibly imagine, but what if the killer was her son? Charity Lee was thrust into this unimaginable situation when her 13-year-old son Paris murdered her beloved 4-year-old daughter, Ella. Charity Lee goes through intense grief at the loss of her daughter, while at the same time trying to understand why her son would have done something as horrific as this, and how she could have missed the signs that Paris was a true psychopath. |
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 March
12, 2020 ShowChristian Barth discusses his book, The Garden State Parkway Murders: A Cold Case Mystery.” True crime writer and attorney Christian Barth investigates the harrowing story of the unsolved murders of Elizabeth Perry and Susan Davis. College friends, the two women were brutally knifed to death and their bodies left off the New Jersey parkway in the early hours of May 30, 1969. Among the numerous suspects Barth identifies are infamous serial killers Ted Bundy and Gerald Eugene Stano, who were living within an hour’s drive from where the murder scene at the time they occurred. The killers also resided next to one another on Florida’s Death Row, and indirectly confessed to the double homicide. |
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 February
27, 2020 ShowTom Satterly, is the author of All Secure: A Special Operations Soldier's Fight to Survive on the Battlefield and the Homefront. As a senior non-commissioned officer of Delta Force, the most elite and secretive special operations unit in the US military, Command Sergeant Major Tom Satterly fought some of this country's most fearsome enemies. Over the course of 20 years and thousands of missions, he's fought desperately for his life, rescued hostages, killed and captured terrorist leaders, and seen his friends maimed and killed around him. All Secure is in part Tom's journey into a world so dark and dangerous that most Americans can't contemplate its existence. It recounts what it is like to be on the front lines with one of America's most highly trained warriors. All Secure is an insider's view of "The Unit". |
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February
20, 2020 Show William Rosenau discusses his book, Tonight We Bombed the U.S. Capitol: The Explosive Story of M19, America's First Female Terrorist Group. By the end of the 1970s, many radicals had called it quits, but six veteran women extremists came together to finish the fight. These women had spent their entire adult lives embroiled in political struggles: protesting the Vietnam War, fighting for black and Native American liberation, and confronting US imperialism. They created a new organization to wage their war: The May 19th Communist Organization, or “M19,” a name derived from the birthday shared by Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh, two of their revolutionary idols. Together, these six women carried out some of the most daring operations in the history of domestic terrorism—from prison breakouts and murderous armed robberies, to a bombing campaign that wreaked havoc on the nation’s capital. Three decades later, M19’s actions and shocking tactics still reverberate for many reasons, but one truly sets them apart: unlike any other American terrorist group before or since, M19 was created and led by women. William Rosenau, PhD, is a senior research scientist at CNA, a nonprofit research and analysis organization, and a fellow in the International Security program at New America. |
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 February
13, 2020 ShowJesus Ruiz Henao the man MI5 described as the United Kingdom’s first billion dollar cocaine kingpin. Emigrating to the United Kingdom about 1990 as a refugee, Ruiz lived a quiet, suburban life in London while holding down mundane cleaning or bus-driving jobs. But Ruiz was actually importing cocaine with a street value of a billion dollars over the course of 10 years -- the largest operation of its kind British police have ever uncovered. Detectives suspect that up to 20,000 people could have been involved in the operation, mainly in Colombia, collecting the drug money which was transferred there in very small quantities. The scope of their network, supplying drugs to every major UK city, was such that, after their arrest, the price on the streets shot up by 50 per cent. The life rights to Ruiz Henao’s story has been optioned by Crime Beat host Ron Chepesiuk. |
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 February
6, 2020 ShowRoman Martin Author of UNDERWORLD: How To Survive And Thrive In The American Mafia. Have you ever fantasized about being able to do whatever you want, when you want, and to whom you want? Or perhaps you’ve dreamed about never having to take crap off anyone ever again? If so, then the Mafia could be the perfect new profession for you! For the first time in history, Roman Martin has published an easy-to-follow self-help guide on how to join and rise in the most exclusive men’s club in the world—the Italian-American Mafia (aka La Cosa Nostra). He can teach you about everything mob-related, from loan-sharking to leg-breaking to corpse disposal, all without leaving the comfort of your home or prison cell. |
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Alan Warren talks about one of the world’s most scary prisoners: Robert Maudsley. Alan Warren is the author of Hannibal the Cannibal: The True Story of Robert Maudsley. Robert Maudsley is deemed to be the ‘Most Dangerous Prisoner in Britain.’ Even though he only killed one person outside of prison, his remaining victims were claimed while incarcerated. Robert Maudsley was dubbed “Hannibal the Cannibal’ on account of his thirst for eating the brains of his victims. |
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 January
23, 2020 ShowJay Goldberg discusses his book, The Courtroom Is My Theater: My Lifelong Representation of Famous Politicians, Industrialists, Entertainers, "Men of Honor," and More. The book chronicles Goldberg’s journey through the practice of law with some of the world’s most powerful and colorful characters, including Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy, Willie Nelson, Miles Davis and Armand Hammer. In The Courtroom Is My Theater, Jay Goldberg shows why he is one of the preeminent trial attorneys in America, as he shares stories of his high-profile courtroom drama as well as his adventures outside of the courtroom with some of the country’s most prominent politicians, businessmen, entertainers, and “men of honor.” |
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Anthony Celano discusses his novel, The Case of Two in the Trunk: A Sergeant Markie Mystery. Celano is a retired NYPD police officer and Organized Crime Control Bureau investigator. He worked narcotics cases involving John Gotti, Greg Scarpa and other noted mobsters.. Characters in Celano’s entertaining novel include a psychopath detective who alternates between reality and invented fantasy and views this case as a stepping stone that will catapult him to great heights and a women who is a career mafia assassin. |
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 January
9, 2020 Show
Ori Spado discusses his book, The Accidental Gangster: From Insurance Agent to Mob Boss of Hollywood. For nearly forty years Orlando 'Ori' Spado was a friend and associate of John 'Sonny' Franzese, underboss of the Colombo organized crime family. His relationship with Sonny brought him to the attention of the FBI, and eventually led to his being indicted with Sonny on federal RICO charges, and imprisoned. The book documents Spado’s fall from a well-known Hollywood fixer mixing with A list celebrities to serving 62 months in Federal prison, and ultimately making a determined comeback. |
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 January
2, 2020 ShowNick Christophers and John Alite discuss their book, Prison Rules. The book takes an inside look at the U.S. prison system as told through the eyes of ex-mobster John Alite, who was the bodyguard for the son of the notorious mob boss John Gotti. We will take a look at prison life from the time someone is arrested to when they are released from their cell.. You will learn what is needed to survive on the inside and hear some shocking statistics about life in prison. www.NickChristophers.org www.JohnAlite.com
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 December
26, 2019 ShowJota Cardona and Thomas Salme Jota Cardona, a former drug kingpin with the Medellin Cartel and the subject of the documentary, Rescued from Hell. Also appearing on the show is Thomas Salme, the documentary’s director. Cardona made millions in the illicit drug trade, smoked marijuana and worked with Pablo Escobar, as well as Griselda Blanco and other notorious drug lords. Convicted of drug trafficking, Cardona spent 18 years in prison. Cardona is also the author of the book, El Narco Rescatado del Infierno. The cover shows Pablo Escobar in hell surrounded by monsters. |
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 December
19, 2019 ShowElaine Shannon discusses her book, Hunting LeRoux: The Inside Story of the DEA Takedown of a Criminal Genius and His Empire. The book tells the story of Paul LeRoux, the twisted-genius entrepreneur and cold-blooded killer who brought revolutionary innovation to international crime, and the exclusive inside story of how the DEA’s elite, secretive 960 Group brought him down. Shannon’s book introduces a new breed of criminal spawned by the savage, greed-exalting underside of the Age of Innovation—and a new kind of true crime story. We will get a good look into the future of crime—a future that is very dark. |
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Fake News—Is it a Threat to Democracy? This week’s Crime Beat show features a timely panel discussion on the topic of Fake News—Is it a Threat to Democracy? It was not a term many people used four years ago, but "fake news" is now seen as one of the greatest threats to democracy, free debate and the Western order. As well as being a favorite term of U.S. President Donald Trump, it was also named 2017's word of the year raising tensions between nations, and may lead to regulation of social media. So great is the danger, the Doomsday Clock, which symbolizes the threat of global annihilation, remains at two minutes to midnight thanks to the rise of fake news and information warfare, its keepers have said. To discuss this topic, we have three distinguished journalists: On the panel are Diane Dimond, an American investigative journalist, author, syndicated columnist, and TV commentator, John Dedakis, novelist and former editor on CNN's “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer;” and Dr. Ginger Blackstone, an Assistant Professor at Harding University and News Director of the university's cable television station, HU16. |
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 December
5, 2019
ShowCaroline Giammanco discusses her powerful book, Inside the Death Fences: Memoir of a Whistleblower. Giammanco spent two-and-a-half years working within the dark underbelly of a maximum-security men’s prison in Missouri. Death threats, retaliation, and corruption became the backdrop of her life, The dangers lurking inside the death fences—the term used for the electrified fences surrounding the compound—forced her to embark on a journey from naïve school teacher to whistleblower and political activist, |
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 November
28, 2019 ShowAlex Perry discusses his book, The Good Mothers: The True Story of the Women Who Took on the World's Most Powerful Mafia. The boo is described as a feminist saga of true crime and justice. It is the riveting story of a high-stakes battle pitting a brilliant, driven woman fighting to save the nation against ruthless Mafiosi fighting for their existence. Caught in the middle are three women fighting for their children and their lives. Not all will survive. |
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 November
21, 2019 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book The Moors Murderers: Ian Brady and Myra Hindley Serial Killers. It was in Manchester, England in 1965, when the police were called to a possible crime scene at the residence of Ian Brady and girlfriend Myra Hindley. What they found in the upstairs spare bedroom were the remains of 17-year-old Edward Evans, who had been cut into pieces with an axe. After an investigation and search, the police found two suitcases that were full of graphic pictures and a videotape of a young 10-year-old girl, Lesley Ann Downey, who had been missing for months. The pictures showed Leslie tied up and tortured. Soon they would become known as the ‘Moors Murders’ − one of the most infamous serial murder cases to come out of Britain. |
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November
14, 2019 Show Monique Faison Ross discusses her powerful memoir, Playing Dead: A Memoir of Terror and Survival, Monique, the daughter of San Diego Charger’s football great Earl Faison, married her high school sweetheart soon after she discovered she was pregnant with his child. Her relationship with Chris was shaky from the start, but turned tumultuous as he became verbally and physically abusive. When she could no longer put up with the abuse, she left him with their children. That was when the stalking and genuine threats began. Nothing stopped him—not protection injunctions, police warnings, or even arrests. One fateful Monday morning, Chris kidnapped Monique in front of her children and drove off on a nightmarish car ride that involved car crashes and rape. He mercilessly beat her on the head with a shovel and abandoned her brutalized body in the woods in the rain. He left, presuming she was dead…but was she? |
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November
7, 2019 Show Jeremy N. Smith discusses his fascinating book, Breaking and Entering: The Extraordinary Story of a hacker called Alien. We often hear about the exploits of some of the most infamous cybercriminals--but who are the hackers working against them? Breaking and Entering follows the career of one of the good guys, a brilliant woman who calls herself “Alien”—a moniker she adopted on her first day at MIT—who now runs her own cybersecurity firm. The company is a boutique hacking outfit that caters to some of the world’s biggest and most vulnerable institutions—banks, retailers, government agencies Jeremy Smith has written for the New York Times, the Atlantic, and Discover, among other outlets, and he and his work have been featured by CNN, NPR News, and Wired. |
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 October
31, 2019 ShowRosalynde Fenner talks about her 25-year career as a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, including stints in Guatemala, Bolivia, New York City, and Puerto Rico. We also discuss her thoughts on the criminal justice system today. Fenner is currently an associate professor at Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the president of the North Carolina Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) |
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 October
24, 2019 ShowRamon Sosa former professional boxer, discusses his memoir, I Walked on my Own Grave. Ramon Sosa's memoir recounts in vivid detail the unbelievable events that led to his wife plotting to have him killed. The boxer turned businessman and motivational speaker, faked his own death (complete with pictures from the grave) to take back his life and return to his family. Today, Ramon Sosa is a much sought after speaker and advocate who hopes his experience will help men and women everywhere identify and have the courage to speak out about all forms of abuse.
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 October
17, 2019 ShowBridgett Davis discusses her book, The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers. In 1958, the very same year that an unknown songwriter named Berry Gordy borrowed $800 to found Motown Records, a pretty young mother from Nashville, Tennessee borrowed $100 from her brother to run a numbers racket out of her home. That woman was Fannie Davis, Bridgett M. Davis' mother. Part bookie, part banker, mother, wife, granddaughter of slaves, Fannie ran her numbers business for 34 years, doing what it took to survive in a legitimate business that just happened to be illegal. She created a loving, joyful home, sent her children to the best schools, bought them the best clothes, mothered them to the highest standard, and when the tragedy of urban life struck, soldiered on with her stated belief: "Dying is easy. Living takes guts." |
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 October
10, 2019 ShowAnthony Destefano Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Anthony Destefano discusses his book, Gotti’s Boys: The Men Who Killed for John Gotti. They called John Gotti the “Teflon Don,” but in his short reign as the head of the Gambino crime family, John Gotti wracked up a lifetime of charges from gambling, extortion, and tax evasion to racketeering, conspiracy, and five convictions of murder. He didn’t do it alone. Surrounding himself with a rogues gallery of contract killers, fixers, and enforcers, Gotti built one of the richest, most powerful crime empires in modern history. Who were these men? |
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 October
3, 2019 ShowNicki Weisensee Egan is the author of Chasing Cosby: The Downfall of America’s Dad. Bill
Cosby's decades-long career as a sweater-wearing, wholesome TV dad came to a
swift and stunning end on April 26, 2018, when he was convicted of drugging and
sexually assaulting Andrea Constand. The mounting allegations against Bill Cosby
- more than 60 women have come forward to accuse him of similar crimes - and his
ultimate conviction were a shock to Americans, who wanted to cleave to their
image of Cosby as a pudding-pop hero. |
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 September
19, 2019 ShowHallie Ephron This week we have two heavyweight authors. First, we welcome New York best-selling author Hallie Ephron to discuss her latest book, Careful What You Wish For, a mystery novel about a professional organizer with a deadly problem she may not be able to clean up. Hallie Ephron writes about characters who can live next door, but surprise us with who they really are. |
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 September
12, 2019 ShowAl Bradley, Jason Brooks and Azie Faison Crime Beat continues with the second-part of its two-part look at the lives and legacy of three legendary drug kingpins who have passed the scene: Ike Atkinson, Leroy Nicky Barnes and Frank Lucas. Ike Atkinson, code named Sergeant Smack by the DEA,' Nicky Barnes, whose ability to elude the law earned him the nickname “Mr. Untouchable”; and Frank Lucas who achieved fame through the movie American Gangster. All three operated in the late 1960s and 1970s and were responsible for distributing a significant part of the illicit drugs that has helped fuel the War on Drugs the past fifty years. To talk about these late drug kingpins and to give the street perspective on them are two film directors and producers (Jason Brooks and Al Bradley) and a former drug dealer turned entrepreneur (Azie Faison). |
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 September
5, 2019 ShowTonight we look at the lives and legacy of three legendary drug kingpins who have passed the scene; Ike Atkinson, Leroy Nicky Barnes and Frank Lucas. Ike Atkinson, code named Sergeant Smack by the DEA' Nicky Barnes, who ability to elude the law earned him the nickname “Mr. Untouchable”; and Frank Lucas all achieved fame through the movie American Gangster. All three operated in the late 1960s and 1970s and were responsible for distributing a significant part of the illicit drugs that has helped fuel the War on Drugs the past fifty years. To talk about these late drug kingpins and to give the law enforcement perspective on them are three DEA agents, today retired, who helped to take them down: Lou Diaz, Chuck Lutz and Lew Rice. Next week we will examine the street perspective on the three drug kingpins. It’s an ambitious two-part program but one that you will only hear on Crime Beat radio. |
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 August 29, 2019
ShowJeffrey Sussman discusses his book, Boxing and the Mob: The Notorious History of the Sweet Science, More than any other sport, boxing has a history of being easy to rig. There are only two athletes and one or both may be induced to accept a bribe; if not the fighters, then the judges or referee might be swayed. In such inviting circumstances, the mob moved into boxing in the 1930s and profited by corrupting a sport ripe for exploitation. Jeffrey Sussman tells the story of the coercive and criminal underside of boxing, covering nearly the entire twentieth century. He profiles some of its most infamous characters, such as Owney Madden, Frankie Carbo, and Frank Palermo, and details many of the fixed matches in boxing’s storied history. In addition, Sussman examines the influence of the mob on legendary boxers—including Primo Carnera, Sugar Ray Robinson, Max Baer, Carmen Basilio, Sonny Liston, and Jake LaMotta—and whether they caved to the mobsters’ threats or refused to throw their fights. |
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August 22, 2019
Show J. A. Yates author of Bullied to Death? A Story of Bullying, Social Media and the Suicide of Sherokee Harriman On September 5, 2015, in a public park in LaVergne, Tennessee, fourteen-year-old Sherokee Harriman drove a kitchen knife into her stomach as other teens watched in horror. The girl died, and the coroner ruled it a “suicide.” But was it? Or was it a crime perpetuated by other teens who had bullied her? In her book, award-winning author and criminologist Judith Yates peels back the layers of sensational news coverage surrounding a girl’s death, and in context with national interest in the phenomenon of internet bullying tries to answer the question of whether Sherokee Harriman was Bullied to Death. Also on the show is Nancy Willard, the Director of Embrace Civility in the Digital Age who helped with the book. |
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 August
15, 2019 ShowBob Walason (L) and Joe Broadmeadow (R) the authors of Unmade: Honor, Loyalty Redemption. Unmade is the story of Bob Walason, who, as a child, endured abuse no child should ever face. Walason survived, and through the lure of organized crime, descended into the brutal and violent world of a feared mob enforcer. Resilient and determined, Walason escaped the mob and established himself successful entrepreneur. Writer Joe Broadmeadow is a writer and retired captain from the East Providence, Rhode Island Police Department.
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 August
8, 2019 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, Dinner, Drinks and Death: The Dennis Nilsen Story. The quiet and soft spoken Scottish Nilsen, a retired policeman with military service. Nilsen was a necrophile and one of the United Kingdom’s worse serial killers He murdered at least twelve young men between 1978 and 1983 in the middle-class neighborhood of Muswell Hill, London.
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 August
1, 2019 ShowRich Cohen Distinguished journalist Rich Cohen talks about his latest book The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation The book tells the story of Albert Hicks, New York City’s notorious underworld figure, from his humble origins to the wild, globe-crossing, bacchanalian crime spree that forged his ruthlessness and his reputation, to his ultimate incarnation as a demon who terrorized lower Manhattan, at a time when pirates anchored off 14th Street. Albert HIcks could well lay claim to being the Big Apples first big gangster. |
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Laura Lippman New York Times bestselling author. We will be discussing her latest book, Lady in the Lake. It is a novel set in 1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of classic noir. It is about a housewife turned aspiring reporter who pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman. |
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John Dedakis Journalist, Educator, and Writing Coach Jorhn DeDakis. He is is a former CNN Senior Copy Editor for the Emmy and Peabody-Award winning news program "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." His novel Fake offers a real-life look behind-the-scenes at the ethical struggles of a female journalist in a #MeToo world. |
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July
18, 2019 Show Shannon O'Leary a pseudonym for a prolific writer and performer from Australia. Her first book, The Blood on My Hands, told the story of her traumatic and violent childhood in the 1960s and '70s Australia. Her sequel, Out of the Fire and into the Pan, which was published last march, explains how she progressed into the adult world while coming to terms with her terrifying past. It is a story of personal growth and of how O'Leary navigates her transition into adulthood, while seeking out the social norms and finding her place in the world. O'Leary has acted and directed on the stage and on Australian national TV. She also runs her own production company and several music schools.
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 July
11, 2019 ShowJohnny Curry a major Detroit drug dealer from the 1980s. Curry is played by actor Johnathan Majors in the recent White Boy Rick movie. Johnny Curry's story is interesting and significant because he rose to underworld power by taking advantage of Detroit’s corrupt political establishment. Johnny was married to, Cathy Volsan, the favorite niece of Detroit’s politically powerful mayor, Coleman Young, and Detroit’s highly politicized police department knew the mayor’s family was to be treated with kid gloves. A federal grand jury indicted Curry and his gang in the summer of 1987, and after pleading guilty, they received prison sentences of various lengths. |
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 June
27, 2019 ShowTodd Merer and Shaun Attwood discuss the history and legacy of Colombia’s Cali Cartel, arguably history’s most powerful criminal organization. At the height of its reign the early 1990s, the DEA cited the Cali Cartel as hving control over 90% of the world's cocaine market and were said to be directly responsible for the growth of the cocaine market in Europe, controlling 90% of the market there as well. The cartel became dominant after a brutal war of attrition with Pablo Escobar and came close to turning Colombia into a “narco state”. The cartel was led by the brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, Jose "Chepe” Santacruz Londono and Francisco Helmer “Pacho” Herrera. Todd Merer was the American lawyer for Pacho Herrera and met with him and the cartel numerous times in Colombia. Shaun Attwood, who once served time in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s infamous ArIzona jail and is banned from entry to the U.S., is the author of The Cali Cartel: Beyond Narcos (The War on Drugs Crime Beat host Ron Chepesiuk has written and published extensively about the Cali Cartel since the early 1990s. |
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 June
20, 2019 ShowDon Brown the author of Travesty of Justice: The Shocking Prosecution of Lieutenant Clint Lorance. The book chronicles the true story of one of the most controversial prosecutions in American military history. Lorance was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army who in August 2013 was found guilty on two counts of second-degree murder for ordering soldiers in his platoon to open fire at three men on a motorcycle in southern Afghanistan in July 2012. In Travesty of Justice, Brown charges that the prosecution railroaded Lieutenant Lorance into a 20-year sentence by hiding crucial evidence from the military jury and ordering Lorance’s own men to testify against him or face murder charges themselves. Lorance is serving a 20-year prison sentence at Fort Leavenworth. Brown, a best-selling author, is a former military JAG officer and Special U.S, Assistant U.S. Attorney who serves as lead counsel on Clint Lorance's legal team. |
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June
13, 2019 Show Nick Christophers and John Alite discuss their book, Prison Rules. The book takes an inside look at the U.S. prison system as told through the eyes of ex-mobster John Alite, who was the bodyguard for the son of the notorious mob boss John Gotti. We will take a look at prison life from the time someone is arrested to when they are released from their cell.. You will learn what is needed to survive on the inside and hear some shocking statistics about life in prison. www.NickChristophers.org www.JohnAlite.com
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Barbara Casey discusses her book Velvalee Dickinson:: The “Doll Woman’s Spy, the story of the first American woman to face the death penalty on charges for spying for a wartime enemy.. In the early 1930s, Velvalee Dickinson moved to New York City where she opened her own exclusive doll shop and built a reputation as an expert in rare, antique, and foreign dolls. She traveled extensively around the country lecturing and exhibiting her dolls while building a wealthy clientele. Due to her husband’s poor health and her failing business, she accepted the role as a spy for the Imperial Japanese Government. |
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May
30, 2019 Show Jota Cardona and Thomas Salme Jota Cardona, a former drug kingpin with the Medellin Cartel and the subject of the documentary, Rescued from Hell. Also appearing on the show is Thomas Salme, the documentary’s director. Cardona made millions in the illicit drug trade, smoked marijuana and worked with Pablo Escobar, as well as Griselda Blanco and other notorious drug lords. Convicted of drug trafficking, Cardona spent 18 years in prison. Cardona is also the author of the book, El Narco Rescatado del Infierno. The cover shows Pablo Escobar in hell surrounded by monsters. |
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May
23, 2019 Show Elaine Shannon discusses her book, Hunting LeRoux: The Inside Story of the DEA Takedown of a Criminal Genius and His Empire. The book tells the story of Paul LeRoux, the twisted-genius entrepreneur and cold-blooded killer who brought revolutionary innovation to international crime, and the exclusive inside story of how the DEA’s elite, secretive 960 Group brought him down. Shannon’s book introduces a new breed of criminal spawned by the savage, greed-exalting underside of the Age of Innovation—and a new kind of true crime story. We will get a good look into the future of crime—a future that is very dark. |
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 May
16, 2019 ShowHenry J. Cordes discusses his book, Pathological: The Murderous Rage of Dr. Anthony Garcia. Pathological recounts the dramatic tale of deep-seated revenge, determined detectives, and the sensational trial of the doctor-turned-serial killer. The modus operandi of the murders pointed law enforcement in the direction of looking for a serial killer. But no one could have anticipated that path would lead to the Department of Pathology at Creighton University In Omaha, Nebraska. Henry Cordes and co-author Todd Cooper covered the story for the Omaha World-Herald. |
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May
9, 2019 Show Jamie Collins and Jessica Pelley will be discussing their book, I am Jessica: A Survivor’s Powerful Story of Healing and Hope. When Jessica Pelley was nine, she went to a sleepover at a friend's house for the weekend. While away, Jessica’s entire family was murdered. Jessica spent the next 30 years fighting, crawling, and clawing my way through the darkness and the pain. The author is Jessica's cousin. Jessica's story is indeed powerful as well as eye opening. |
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 May
2, 2019 ShowJerry Tillinghast and Joe Broadmeadow discuss their book. Choices: You Make Em’, You Own Em’: The Jerry Tillinghast Story. Born in Providence Rhode Island Jerry Tillinghast is a former marine for whom Raymond L.S. Patriarca, the notorious head of New England Organized Crime family became a father figure. He was involved with two of the most infamous cases in Rhode Island history; BondedVault and the George Basmajian Homicide. Joe Broadmeadow retired with the rank of Captain from the East Providence, Rhode Island Police Department after twenty years and has since established himself as popular writer of novels. Joe also writes for two blogs, The Writing of Joe Broadmeadow and The Heretic and the Holy Man. |
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 April
25, 2019 ShowAnthony Sommers and Robyn Swann discuss their book, Looking for Madeleine, an investigation into the disappearance of a young child that continues to grip the world. Born on May 2003, Madeleine Beth McCann disappeared on the evening of 3 May 2007 from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, a resort in the Algarve region of Portugal, sparking what one newspaper called "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history". Her whereabouts remain unknown. The disappearance has attracted sustained international interest and saturation coverage in the UK reminiscent of the death of Diana in 1997. Tonight we will learn where we are with the investigation. Anthony Summers is the author of ten non-fiction books, many of them with co-author Robbyn Swan. The authors’ book on 9/11 was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History. The authors are featured in the Netflix series, the Disappearance of Madeleine, which takes a good look at the mystery and that you can now see if you have a Netflix subscription. |
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 April
18, 2019 ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, Last Man Standing is Jack Daniel McCullough. The book chronicles the fascinating story of the oldest cold case ,murder case in American jurisprudence. It involves.the kidnapping, murder and subsequent investigations—both in 1957 and 2008—that eventually led to the murder conviction of Jack Daniel McCullough. But the story doesn’t stop there as it delves into the years McCullough spent in prison and the efforts to have his conviction overturned. Was McCullough the brutal killer of a little girl? Or was he the last man standing when the justice system decided he needed to pay for the crime? |
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 April
11, 2019 Show
Bill Purpura Crime Beat features an exclusive appearance by Bill Purpura, a prominent American lawyer who defended Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the world’s most notorious drug lord since Pablo Escobar. Purpura will take us inside the trial and provide insight into El Chapo, the man and the drug kingpin. El Chapo pocketed an estimated $14 billion as the decades-long head of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel. Last February, El Chapo was found guilty on all ten counts, which included engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to launder narcotics proceeds, international distribution of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and other drugs, and use of firearms. Bill Purpura handled most of the cross-examination of witnesses Purpura and El Chapo's legal team waged a vigorous defense of their client but were up against an "avalanche" of evidence and cooperating witnesses. |
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 April
4, 2019 ShowDiane Marger Moore discusses her book, Sharkeyes. Crime Beat listeners will be guided through the actual investigation, interviews, technical aspects, and surrounding drama related to this horrible crime: an eight-week-old child is killed in a nursery fire. The suspects: the child’s firefighter father, his banker mother, or both. The parents claim they left their newborn alone in his room as they fled the house to get help. Diane Marger Moore, a middle aged novice prosecutor in Marion County, Indiana, who is also a wife and the mother of two toddlers, and Leslie Van Buskirk, a diehard homicide detective inhabiting a ballerina's body with a sailor's vocabulary, investigate this complex murder. Conventional wisdom says the case cannot be won, but these women are on a mission to prove they can get the job done in the male-dominated world of prosecution and homicide investigation |
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 March
28, 2019 ShowDennis Griffith and Joey Silvestri discuss their book A Family Business: The Life and
Times of Joey “ the Fixer” Silvestri was a tough kid from the mean
streets of New York who went from street brawler to wearing a tux at the
glamorous Copacabana. He eventually provided “muscle” for the Mob, a highly
respected and feared fixer—the guy you went to if you had a problem that
needed to be resolved. Award-winning author Dennis Griffith has written
several books on the true stories of the Las Vegas mob and the era in which
they reigned. |
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 March
21, 2019 ShowPeter Vronsky discusses his book, Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women become Serial Killers. How many of us are even remotely prepared to imagine our mothers, daughters, sisters or grandmothers as fiendish killers? For centuries we have been conditioned to think of serial murderers and psychopathic predators as men—with women registering low on our paranoia radar. Perhaps that’s why so many trusting husbands, lovers, family friends, and children have fallen prey to “the female monster.” We will discuss women who kill and the political, economic, social and political implications buried with each victim. |
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 3-14-2019
ShowShaun Attwood is a former millionaire stockbroker, ecstasy drug dealer, YouTuber, author, speaker and podcaster. Attwood is banned from America for life. Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio is known as the Angel of Death, and Shaun Attwood served 26 months in Arpaio's jail before being sentenced to prison. His story was featured worldwide on National Geographic Channel as an episode of Banged Up/Locked Up Abroad. Shaun Attwood is also a prolific author and we will be discussing his book on Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. |
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 3-7-2019
ShowPhilip Mause Enrico “Chico” Forti., an Italian national, wind surfing athlete and film maker, who was convicted of first degree murder in Miami in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison. While Forti remains incarcerated in a Miami prison, his case has received little publicity in the United States. In Italy, however, there is major support, including prominent figures in the Italian government. Forti’s supporters believe that the police and prosecution may have been biased against Forti because he had recently made a movie about the Gianni Versace case suggesting the police in Miami botched the investigation and that Andrew Cunnanan did not really commit suicide. We will be speaking with Philip Mause, a prominent retired lawyer who is co-producing a documentary about the case. The Forti case will be featured later this year on the television program 48 Hours. |
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 2-28-2019
ShowEvan Ratliff This week’s Crime Beat will focus on a criminal mastermind I’m sure most of our listeners have never heard of. Pablo Escobar and El Chapo Guzman have become world famous as criminal kingpins. With the publication of Evan Ratliff’s fascinating book, Mastermind: Drugs. Empire. Murder. Betrayal add Paul Le Roux to that notorious level of criminality. Le Roux is the ruthless gangster mastermind for the networked world of the twenty-first century. The creator of an incredibly powerful Internet-enabled cartel, Le Roux combined the ruthlessness of a drug lord with the technological savvy of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk will discuss with Evan Ratliff the incredible true story of the decade-long quest to bring down Paul Le Roux, the kind of self-made crime boss that international law enforcement had never encountered before.
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 2-21-2019
ShowMichael Brodkorb and Allison Mann discuss their book, The Girls are Gone. The book chronicles the true story of two sisters from Minnesota who went missing, the father who kept searching, and the adults who conspired to keep the truth hidden The teenage girls, Samantha and Gianna Rucki, disappeared on the evening of April 19, 2013,. They were two of five children born to David Rucki and Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, and they vanished in the midst of their parents’ divorce. The book provides interesting insights into the workings of justice system while chronicling an intriguing true crime story. www.goodreads.com/book/show/42407370-the-girls-are-gone/ |
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 2-14-2019
ShowNeil Gordon discusses his book, Tony Accardo is Joe Batters. As one of history’s most important mafia godfathers, Tony Accardo rose from small time hoodlum to head of Chicago’s powerful Outfit. Nicknamed Joe Batters and Big Tuna, Accardo was ruthless in his rise to power, killing everyone in his path: family, friends, cops, reporters, movie stars, and politicians. He operated from deep within the shadows but influenced national policy, exploited the FBI, owned politicians, and fixed presidential elections. Accardo was connected to every gangster from Al Capone to Lucky Luciano to John Gotti. |
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 2-7-2019
ShowAlan Warren discusses his book, Deadly Betrayal: The True Story of Jennifer Pan—Daughter from Hell. What happened in a peaceful upscale Toronto, Canada neighborhood was a real life horror story. The Pan family was an example of an immigrant family. Hann and his wife, Bich Pan, fled from Vietnam to Canada after the U.S.-Vietnamese war to find a better life. Their daughter, Jennifer, was an Olympic-caliber figure skater, an award-winning pianist, and a straight A student.. The Pans worked their way up in this rags-to-riches story, now living in a beautiful home with luxury cars in the driveway. So was it these expensive items that lured three intruders with guns into their home on the night of November 8, 2010? Or was it something more shocking? |
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 1-31-2019
ShowSeth Ferranti discusses his book The Supreme Team: The Birth of Crack and Hip Hop, Prince’s Reign of Terror and the Supreme Team/50 Cent Beef Exposed. The Supreme Team was a New York gang that has gone down in street legend and the lyrical lore of hip-hop and gangsta rap as one of the most vicious crews to ever emerge on the streets of New York. The Supreme Team, led by its infamous leaders- Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff and Gerald “Prince” Miller, inspired hip-hop culture and rap superstars like 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Biggie, Nas and Ja Rule, and the gang's influence and relevance has left a lasting impression. In 1993, Seth Ferranti was 22 years old when he was convicted of participating in a first-time, nonviolent drug conspiracy and sentenced to serve a 25-year sentence in federal prison. Ferranti made good use of his time in prison, and today, he is a noted crime writer. |
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 1-24-2019
ShowThis week’s Crime Beat features two fascinating guests. First we have Todd Merer, the author of a new novel, The White Tigress. The story is quite a ride, beginning in World War II, continuing through the Golden Triangle heroin trade, navigating a serpentine trail of spies and international corruption, and ending up on a remote South China Sea atoll, where nuclear war between the United States and China threatens to destroy the world. Todd Merer worked for thirty years as a criminal attorney, specializing in the defense of high-ranking cartel chiefs extradited to the United States. He successfully argued acquittals in more than 150 trials. Our second guest is Sigmund Wortherly, the author of Killing Machine and Tales from Prison. Wortherly is a former New York City hit man whom law enforcement once accused of being responsible for at least 17 killings. |
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 1-17-2019
ShowThomas Salme discusses his book, 13 Years in Heaven. Salme is a former pilot who became a celebrity after flying passenger jets for thirteen years without a commercial pilot's license. After working as a captain from 1997 to 2010 for several international airline companies without incident, Salme was arrested at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in March 2010. Today, Salme works as a professional photographer and documentary filmmaker in Milan, Italy, collaborating on a regular basis with the famous Italian football club Inter Milan. Salme is also the director of Mr. Undercover, a documentary that chronicles Ron Fino’s career as a CIA and FBI operative. Both Salme and Fino appeared on Crime Beat to discuss the making of the documentary. |
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 1-10-2019
ShowDiane Marger Moore discusses her book, Inconvenience Gone: The Short Tragic Life of Brandon Sims. Brandon Sims was a four-year-old who has not been seen since July 3, 1992, when he attended a birthday party with his twenty-year-old mother, Michelle Jones. Jones was employed, confident, talented, smart and assertive and involved in many community activities in Indianapolis, Indiana. In contrast, when he was last seen, Brandon Sims, an only child, was a serious, quiet, thin boy who rarely maintained eye contact with his mother. After that night, he was never seen again, and his body has never been found. What happened to Brandon Sims? |
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 1-3-2019
ShowDr. Emily Dufton is the author of Grassroots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America and one of the country’s leading experts on the history of U.S.’s anti-drug policy. In the last five years, eight states have legalized recreational marijuana. To many, continued progress seems certain, but pot was on a similar trajectory forty years ago, only to encounter a fierce backlash. We will discuss with historian Emily Dufton the remarkable story of marijuana's long path from acceptance to demonized and back again, and of the thousands of grassroots activists who made changing marijuana laws their life's work. This is a timely show. |
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 12-27-2018
ShowRay Lawinger author of Freedom of the Few: The True Story of the Take Back Bandit - Canada's Most Prolific Bank Robber. Freedom of the Few is a funny but unapologetically gritty tale of the many fantastic adventures of Canada's most prolific bank robber. Lawinger paid dearly for his adventures. For 28 years, he spent his days in and out of some of the most notorious prisons in Canada, including the infamous Millhaven Maximum Security and Collins Bay, also known as the Gladiator School.. From a foiled and folly of an escape attempt to being stabbed and stitching himself back up, his luck ran the gamut in prison. Ray takes us on his journey of freedom, loss, and new hope as he struggles to reconcile his own values with the sometimes equally crooked interests of an indifferent justice system. |
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12-20-2018 Show Tommy James of the band Tommy James and the Shondells. Joining Tommy James are Jon Amore, musician and author of Deadfellas, and Scott Zelasko, musician and ArtistFirst Station Founder. We will be discussing Tommy James fascinating book, Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells. Tommy James recorded many top hits in the 60s and 1970s, including "I Think We're Alone Now," "Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Sweet Cherry Wine," "Crystal Blue Persuasion.” among many others. James has sold over 100 million records, has been awarded twenty-three gold singles, and nine gold and platinum albums. His songs are widely used in television and film, and have been covered by Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Tiffany, Tom Jones, Prince, and R.E.M. James’ book has been described as “part rock & roll fairytale, part valentine to a bygone era, and part mob epic” that “reads like a music-industry version of Goodfellas.” |
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 12-13-2018
ShowDaniel Zimmerman discusses his book, Shots in the Dark: The Saga of Rocco Balliro Shots in the Dark tells the story of Boston mobster Rocco Baliro and the 1963 deaths of Balliro's girlfriend and her son in a shootout involving Balliro and the legal developments that followed. Unbeknownst to Rocco at the time, the men who returned his fire were several Boston police officers. |
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 12-06-2018
ShowBruce Sackman, Mike Vecchione and Jerry Schmetterer discuss their book, Behind the Murder Curtain, the true story of Bruce Sackman, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Sackman’s main responsibilities had been investigating white-collar crimes such as embezzlement when he is drawn into the macabre world of doctors and nurses who murder their patients. Sackman evolved from an investigator of routine cases to the world’s leading expert on Medical Serial Killers—MSKs—doctors and nurses who ply their evil trade hidden behind the privacy curtain at a patient’s bedside. |
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 11-29-2018
ShowA. J. Flick discusses of her book, Toxic Rage: A Tale of Murder in Tucson. The book tells the story of Dr. Brian Stidham , a young and talented surgeon, who moved to Tucson, Arizona, for a better life. He would work with an established eye surgeon and take over his practice. Three years later, he was dead. What happened to Dr. Brian Stidham? |
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 11-22-2018
ShowRoger Stone Crime Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Roger Stone, co-author of The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ. The authors claim that Lyndon Baines Johnson was a man of great ambition and enormous greed. In their fascinating book, Roger Stone and Mike Colipietro assert that LBJ used his personal connections in Texas, from the underworld and from the government to seize power by conspiring to murder President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. |
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 11-15-2018
ShowMike Stanton Mike Stanton and a discusses his book Unbeaten: Rocky Marciano’s Fight for Perfection in a Crooked World. Unbeaten is the story of Rocky Marciano, a remarkable champion who accomplished a feat that eluded legendary heavyweight champions like Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson: Rocky never lost a professional fight. His record was a perfect 49-0 Rocky had to overcome injury, doubt, and the schemes of corrupt promoters to achieve greatness. As the champ, he came to know presidents and movie stars – and the organized crime figures who dominated the sport, much to his growing disgust. |
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 11-08-2018
ShowJerry Clark is one of the world’s leading experts on UFOs and other aerial phenomena. Clark has just published the monumental and comprehensive two-volume UFO Encyclopedia, third edition, which covers the UFO phenomena in all its aspects. Crime Beat will explore the subject’s crime angle. Some of the questions we will answer: Has there been a cover up the UFO phenomena? Should suspected alien abductions be covered by the authorities as criminal events? Are there aliens among us with bad intentions? Jerry Clark and host Ron Chepesiuk have been close friends since their college days, so this show be interesting. |
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 11-1-2018
ShowAnton Keating discusses of his book, Room for Rent. Room for Rent tells the fascinating story of con man and killer, James Francis Smith, the 1970s version of a Craigslist Killer, who preyed on older women offering rooms for rent. His elaborate con would cheat women out of money, but those who lost only money were the lucky ones. Others would lose their lives When Baltimore public defender Anton J.S. Keating got a note from his boss that he was assigned to represent accused killer James Francis Smith, he couldn’t imagine how the case would affect him. Keating was used to defending murderers, but something about this sociopath who preyed on innocent women would haunt him in a way other clients didn’t. |
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 10-25-2018
ShowJohn Mark Dougan LIVE from Moscow, Russia, John Mark Dougan, a former police officer, discusses his book, Badvolf, The True Story of an American Cop's Retaliation Against a Corrupt System of Justice and Politics, Forcing Him to Seek Political Asylum in Russia. Dougan was running a website that had been critical of the sheriff of Palm Beach County, Florida, when, on March 14, 2016, he fled after his home was raided by law enforcement authorities. Dougan said that, after the raid on his home, the FBI was following him and his family, so he decided to flee the country. He wore various disguises and snuck into Canada to avoid U.S. Customs, which he suspected had him on a no-fly list. Dougan then took a flight from Toronto to Istanbul, and boarded another flight to his final destination, Moscow, Russia. |
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10-18-2018
Show Alex Perry discusses his book, The Good Mothers: The True Story of the Women Who Took on the World's Most Powerful Mafia. The boo is described as a feminist saga of true crime and justice. It is the riveting story of a high-stakes battle pitting a brilliant, driven woman fighting to save the nation against ruthless Mafiosi fighting for their existence. Caught in the middle are three women fighting for their children and their lives. Not all will survive. |
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 10-11-2018
ShowDr. Mark Hewitt discusses his new book, Exposed: The Zodiac Revealed, the final installment of his Zodiac Serial Killer series. There have been many hypotheses about the killer’s identity, some sober and evidence-based, some wildly speculative, all touching upon any one or more of the 2,500 suspects in the Zodiac serial killer case Dr. Hewitt’s book, Exposed, fills in the gaps in Zodiac timeline, explains how and why the Zodiac originated and where he disappeared to, and reveals what he believes is the identity of one of the most enigmatic and feared serial killers in American history. |
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 10-4-2018
ShowDeborah Vadas Levison discusses her book, THE CRATE: A Story Of War, A Murder, And Justice. The author chronicles a remarkable story. After surviving the horrors of the Holocaust – in ghettos, on death marches, and in concentration camps – a young couple seeks refuge in Canada. They settle into a new life, certain that the terrors of their past are behind them. They build themselves a cozy little cottage on a lake in Muskoka, a cottage that becomes emblematic of their victory over the Nazis. The charming retreat is a safe haven, a refuge from haunted memories. That is, until a single act of unspeakable violence defiles their sanctuary. Poking around the dark crawl space beneath their cottage, they discover a wooden crate, nailed tightly shut and almost hidden from view. Nothing could have prepared them for the horror of the crate’s contents – or how the peace and tranquility of their lives would be shattered. |
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Alan Warren discusses his book, Confessions of Murder: Exposing the False Confessions Created from the Mr. Big Stings. In Canadian jurisprudence, Mr. Big is a covert investigation where undercover detectives create a fictitious criminal gang and seduce their suspects into joining them in their criminal activities. Police then gain their suspects' confidence and elicit a confession from them. In July 2014 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that confessions arising from the Mr. Big operations would be considered presumptively inadmissible So now what is happening to the hundreds of other cases that have been tried by this unreliable procedure in which the Mr. Big coerced confession was the only evidence used to convict the suspect? We will discuss cases that have since been brought back into Canadian court on appeal and talk about their outcomes. We will also discuss possible implications for jurisprudence worldwide. |
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 9-20-2018
ShowDr. Richard Vinen discusses of his book, 1968: Radical Protest and Its Enemies. The year 1968 saw an extraordinary range of protests across much of the western world. Some of these were genuinely revolutionary—around ten million French workers went on strike and the whole state teetered on the brink of collapse. Others were more easily contained, but had profound longer-term implications—terrorist groups, feminist collectives, gay rights activists could all trace important roots to 1968. Dr. Vinen’s book, 1968, is a striking and original attempt half a century later to show how these events, which in some ways still seem so current, stemmed from histories and societies which are in practice now extraordinarily remote from our own time. 1968 pursues the story into the 1970s to show both the ever more violent forms of radicalization that stemmed from 1968 and the brutal reaction that brought the era to an end. |
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 9-13-2018
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Seth Ferranti and Scott Burnstein Seth Ferranti, writer/producer of the documentary White Boy, and Scott Burnstein, who served as a consultant to the much anticipated movie, White Boy Rick, which will be released tomorrow, September 14, 2018. We discuss the making of the movie and the life and times of its principal character, Rick Wershe, Jr. Aka White Boy Rick. The movie tells the story of teenager Richard Wershe Jr., who became an undercover informant for the FBI during the 1980s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison. Three decades later, Rick Wershe is still in jail. |
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 9-6-2018
ShowPeter Vronsky investigative historian discusses his latest book, Sons of Cain: A History of Serial Killers from the Stone Age to the Present. In his investigation, Vronsky goes back in time to serial killing’s prehistoric anthropological evolutionary dimensions in the pre-civilization era (c. 15,000 BC) and investigates how serial killers evolved and why we are drawn to their horrifying crimes. He focuses strictly on sexual serial killers: thrill killers who engage in murder, rape, torture, cannibalism and necrophilia, as opposed to for-profit serial killers, including hit men, or "political" serial killers, like terrorists or genocidal murderers. |
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 8-30-2018
ShowMartin D. Kelly discusses his memoir, Dirty Trickster, Corporate Spy. Kelly was one of the principal saboteurs-provocateurs of the Watergate scandal, and he exposes the full extent of the seedy of politics and negative campaigning. After Watergate, Kelly became a corporate security consultant that provided undercover agents for client companies to spy on their employees. Kelly also specialized in eavesdropping detection, which took him around the world searching for clandestine listening devices for clients such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bob Hope, Ferdinand Marcos, the Miami Dolphins, Eastern Airlines and even suspected drug dealers. He secretly provided debugging training for entities such as IBM, Revlon, the U.S. Navy and dozens of others. Kelly exposes the kind of corporate spying the type of corporate spying going on today. |
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 8-23-2018
ShowThis week’s Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk radio features urban crime and fiction literature. We have noted novelist Thomas Long, the author of the popular High Society Gangster Series, which features the fictional Caprese crime family of Baltimore. We also have Mike Roe, co-author with host Ron Chepesiuk of the newly released book, Robin Hood of the Hood: The Life and Times of Teddy Roe, Policy Kingpin. The book is a historical account of Theodore "Teddy" Roe who courageously fought the Chicago Mafia, more commonly known as The Outfit, for control of the lucrative policy/numbers racket in the Windy City. For decades policy had been a staple in the Black community, but when the white mob flexed its power in the late 1940s , many policy kings in the black community knuckled under the pressure. Not Teddy Roe. Roe famously told mob bosses that he'd rather die first than give up control of his operation. |
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 8-16-2018
ShowNeil Clark discusses his book, Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath and the Westside Waterfront. In the early 20th century, at a time when the Port of New York was ruled by lawless criminals, one hoodlum towered above the rest and secretly controlled the piers for over thirty years. That man was Eddie McGrath, a gangster's who ascended from altar boy to the leader of New York City's violent Irish Mob. Neal Clark and Crime Beat will talk about Eddie McGrath's life and crimes through the tail-end of Prohibition, the gang warfare of the 1930s that propelled him into the position of an organized crime boss, the sordid years of underworld control over the bustling waterfront, McGrath's involvement in dozens of gangland murders, and finally the decline of the dock mobsters following a period of longshoremen rebellion in the 1950s. We will also be introduced to some of the other unsavory characters who operated on the waterfront during McGrath’s time. |
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 8-9-2018
ShowPiper Weiss discusses her true crime memoir, You all grow Up and Leave Me: A Memoir of Teenage Obsession. In 1993 Piper Weiss was fourteen years old when her middle-aged tennis coach, Gary Wilensky, one of New York City’s most prestigious private instructors, killed himself after a failed attempt to kidnap one of his teenage students. In the aftermath, authorities discovered that this well-known figure among the Upper East Side tennis crowd was actually a frightening child predator who had built a secret torture chamber—a "Cabin of Horrors"—in his secluded rental in the Adirondacks. Now more than 25 years later, Weiss examines the event as both a teenage eyewitness and a dispassionate investigative reporter, hoping to understand and exorcise the childhood memories that haunt her to this day |
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 8-2-2018
ShowNicholas Reynolds discusses his book Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway’s Secret Adventures, 1935-1961. The book is the extraordinary untold story of Ernest Hemingway's secret adventures in espionage and intelligence during the 1930s and 1940s, including his role as a Soviet agent codenamed "Argo." Reynolds reveals how Hemingway's secret adventures influenced his literary output and contributed to the writer's block and mental decline (including paranoia) that plagued him during the postwar years -- a period marked by the Red Scare and McCarthy hearings. Nicholas Reynolds is a former historian at the esteemed CIA Museum, a longtime American intelligence officer, former U.S. Marine colonel, and Oxford University-trained historian. |
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 7-26-2018
ShowDaniel Simone discusses his book, The Pierre Hotel Affair: How Eight Gentlemen Thieves Orchestrated the Largest Jewel Heist in History. The book chronicles the startling and sensational true story of the most famous unsolved heist in American history: the theft of $28 million in jewels from the Pierre Hotel. The heist occurred in New York City in 1972. Before becoming a writer, Daniel Simone was an aerospace engineer who worked on the Apollo lunar modules. Besides having ghostwritten the biographies of two prominent actresses, Simone is the author of The Lufthansa Heist. |
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 7-19-2018
ShowDorothy Marcic a playwright, theatrical producer, Fulbright Scholar and university professor iscusses her fascinating book, With One Shot: Family Murder and a Search for Justice. In 2014 Marcic couldn’t put her doubts to rest. So in 2014 she embarked on a two-year mission to uncover the truth. She investigated the brutal murder of LaVerne Stordock, a respected family man and former police detective, which had shocked his Wisconsin community. On the surface, the case seemed closed with the confession of Stordock’s wife, Suzanne. But the trail of secrets and lies that began with his death did not end with his widow’s insanity plea. |
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 7-12-2018
ShowAnthony DeStefano discusses his book, Top Hoodlum: Frank Costello, Prime Minister of the Mafia. The press nicknamed him “The Prime Minister of the Underworld.” The U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of Narcotics described him as “one of the most powerful and influential Mafia leaders in the U.S.” But to friends and associates, he was simply “Uncle Frank.” Who was Frank Costello, the legend, really? That’s the question Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Anthony M. DeStefano sets out to answer—in what is being described as the definitive portrait of one of the most fascinating figures in the annals of American crime. www.tonydestefano.com |
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 7-5-2018
ShowDavid Hirschman discusses his book, Hijacked: The True Story Of The Heroes Of Flight 705. Hijacked is the unbelievable true story of three pilots flying a routine Federal Express flight who must call on their inner courage, strength, and ability to stop a bitter, suicidal hijacker from killing them, and thousands of people below. Hijacked is the gripping record of a what was supposed to be a “routine'' Federal Express fast- freight flight between Memphis and San Jose in April 1994 that went horribly wrong |
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 6-28-2018
ShowCaroline Giammanco discusses her book, Bank Notes: The True Story of the Boonie Hat Bandit. St. Louis, Missouri, is gripped by a rapid series of twelve bank robberies that leave local and federal authorities completely baffled. Dubbed the 'Boonie Hat Bandit' by the fascinated public, this infamous criminal methodically robs banks in broad daylight leaving no clues, causing everyone to wonder, Who is this man? Law enforcement is scrambling, and the robberies make national news. In September 2008, the gentleman bandit is apprehended and the stunned world finds out his shocking identity: Donald Keith Giammanco, a quiet, middle-class, single father of twin daughters. The big mystery remains: How and why would he enter a life of crime? Caroline Giammanco, the author, fell in love with Keith while in prison and is now married to him. |
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6-21-2018 Show Lawrence Gerhold discusses his memoir titled Just a Cop. The memoir is a chronological account of Gerhold's thirty-six years in law enforcement, which included 30 years in narcotics investigation and intelligence. The backdrop of Gerhold's journey are the 1970s, '80s and'90s. He had a front row seat to unfolding events in law enforcement and many important investigations from those decades. |
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 6-13-2018
ShowLeo Rossi well-known veteran character actor and screenwriter, whose 100 plus movie credits include Analyze This, Halloween 2 and The Accused. Mr. Rossi is also the screenwriter for the forthcoming movie, Gotti, which stars John Travolta as John Gotti, the late powerful boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. The movie is now playing. Rossi wrote the screenplay for the movie. |
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 6-7-2018
ShowRebecca Morris author of a Murder in My Hometown. On a fall evening in Corvallis, Oregon in 1967, 17-year-old Dick Kitchel, a senior at the high school, disappeared after attending a party. Ten days later, his body was spotted by two children as it floated down the Willamette River. He had been beaten and strangled. His friends thought his death was ignored because Dick was from the wrong side of the tracks. Police and the District Attorney thought that they knew who had murdered the boy but never made an arrest. Decades later, a cold case detective believed he, too, had solved the case. However, once again, justice was elusive. Nearly 50 years later, a classmate, New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Morris, returned to her hometown to write about how the murder changed the town and the lives Dick Kitchel’s friends. |
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 5-31-2018
ShowDan Moldea noted investigative journalist discusses his book, The Killing of Robert F. Kennedy: An Investigation of Motive, Means, and Opportunity Fifty years ago, on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a former U.S. Attorney General, was shot in a kitchen pantry at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles during an election night victory party. His death the following day stunned a nation still recovering from the murder of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, five years earlier in Dallas. There was an official version of the RFK killing and the killer was identified as Sirhan Sirhan. But in the ensuing years, there have been controversies, conflicting testimonies, and missing evidence. Dan E. Moldea set out to discover the truth and eventually interviewed Sirhan. What Moldea found, many believe, has solved the murder mystery. |
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 5-24-2018
Show This week’s Crime Beat features two guests.
Helene Stapinski talks about her book, Murder in Matera: A True Story of Passion, Family and Forgiveness in Southern Italy. The book is a riveting mystery that goes deep into a century old family history. |
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 Seth
Ferranti
talks about his new documentary, White Boy, the story of legendary gangster White Boy Rick of Detroit City who has been in jail for three decades on a non-violent criminal conviction. |
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 5-17-2018
ShowJ. A. Yates author of Bullied to Death? A Story of Bullying, Social Media and the Suicide of Sherokee Harriman On September 5, 2015, in a public park in LaVergne, Tennessee, fourteen-year-old Sherokee Harriman drove a kitchen knife into her stomach as other teens watched in horror. The girl died, and the coroner ruled it a “suicide.” But was it? Or was it a crime perpetuated by other teens who had bullied her? In her book, award-winning author and criminologist Judith Yates peels back the layers of sensational news coverage surrounding a girl’s death, and in context with national interest in the phenomenon of internet bullying tries to answer the question of whether Sherokee Harriman was Bullied to Death. Also on the show is Nancy Willard, the Director of Embrace Civility in the Digital Age who helped with the book. |
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 5-10-2018
ShowMark Braunstein author of Good Girls on Bad Drugs: Addiction Nonfiction of the Unhappy Hookers. The books portrays the shattered lives of girls next door who became crack, coke, opioid, and heroin addicts, and who in their hustle for drugs became streetwalkers and internet escorts. In jailhouse journals and interviews, they confess with candor and courage to their sex work and drug crimes amid two Connecticut mega-casinos and the three nearby small cities. Doomed by their addictions, most girls never recover, while others die young from AIDS, OD, or murder. In Good Girls on Bad Drugs, Braunstein shines the spotlight on 22 troubled lives and the dark side life on the street |
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 5-3-2018
ShowGunner Lindbloom the author of the novel, To Be a King, Volumes 1 and 2. The novels chronicle the story of Omnio “King” Falcone, a dynamic young Mafioso who takes on the Detroit Syndicate, the Motor City’s resident Mafia faction. Lindbloom is a Detroit native and was a part of Detroit’s notorious Tocco mobster family. He recently finished a 13-year stint in prison for extortion, armed robbery, conspiracy to commit bank robbery and several other crimes and has embarked on a career as a writer and entrepreneur.. |
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 4-26-2018
ShowChristian Picciolini, the author of White American Youth: My Descent into America's Most Violent Hate Movement--and How I Got Out. PIcciolini was the leader of an infamous neo-Nazi skinhead group, and he worked to grow an army of extremists. He used music as a recruitment tool, launching his own propaganda band that performed at white power rallies around the world. But slowly, as he started a family of his own and a job that for the first time brought him face to face with people from all walks of life, he began to recognize the cracks in his hateful ideology. Then a shocking loss at the hands of racial violence changed his life forever, and Picciolini realized too late the full extent of the harm he'd caused. PIcciolini’s life since leaving the white-supremacist movement over two decades ago has been dedicated to helping others counter racism and violent extremism by co-founding the organization Life After Hate. Christian now leads the Free Radicals Project, the world's first global extremism disengagement platform. |
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 4-19-2018
ShowT.J. English discusses his book, The Corporation The book is fascinating multigenerational history of the Cuban mob in the US. By the mid-1980s, when the criminal underworld in the United States had become an ethnic polyglot, one of the most powerful illicit organizations was none other than the Cuban mob. Known on both sides of the law as "the Corporation," the Cuban mob’s power stemmed from a criminal culture embedded in south Florida’s exile community—those who had been chased from the island by Castro’s revolution and planned to overthrow the Marxist dictator and reclaim their nation. T.J. English is a noted journalist, screenwriter, and author of the New York Times bestsellers Havana Nocturne and Paddy Whacked, as well as The Westies, a national bestseller, and Born to Kill, which was nominated for an Edgar Award. |
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Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno, author of There Are No Dead Here: Murder and Denial in Colombia. She is the Drug Policy Alliance’s Executive Director. She brings nearly thirteen years of international and domestic drug policy experience from her work at Human Rights Watch, where she served as Co-Director of the US Program. Maria’s commitment to social justice and drug policy reform dates from her childhood, which she spent mostly in Peru. She was strongly influenced by her early work at Human Rights Watch researching Colombia, where drug profits fueled massacres and official corruption. www.linkedin.com/in/maria-mcfarland-sanchez-moreno-3840197 |
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 4-5-2018
ShowPulitzer Prize journalist David Cay Johnston, discusses his book, The Making of Donald Trump. Drawing on decades of interviews, financial records, court documents, and public statements, David Cay Johnston, who has covered Donald Trump more closely than any other journalist working today, gives us the most in-depth look yet at the man who would be president. From the origins of Trump's family's real estate fortune, to his own too-big-to-fail business empire; from his education and early career, to his whirlwind presidential bid, The Making of Donald Trump provides the fullest picture yet of Trump's extraordinary ascendency. Love him or hate him, Trump's massive influence is undeniable, so join us for a fair and balanced discussion of the man who could potentially lead the free world |
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 3-29-2018
ShowA.E. Sawan is the author of AL SHABAH: An Assassin’s Story, a tale of obsession and revenge. The book is based on the true story of the Sawan’s experiences growing up in Lebanon during that country’s bloody civil war, as well as his time as a counter-terrorist operative. The story follows “Paul” from his childhood in the Bekaa Valley to adulthood when he is recruited and trained as a killer by both Israel’s Mossad and the CIA. Having survived the war in Lebanon, including detention and torture, Sawan now lives in Canada. |
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 3-22-2018
ShowTina Alexis actress and playwright, discusses her book, Hiding Out: A Memoir of Drugs, Deception and Double Lives. Allen’s powerful and candid memoir explores her privileged suburban Catholic upbringing that was shaped by her formidable father—a man whose strict religious devotion and dedication to his large family hid his true nature and a life defined by deep secrets and dangerous lies. When Tina was eighteen her father discovered the truth about her sexuality. Instead of dragging her to the family priest and lecturing her with tearful sermons about sin and damnation, her father shocked her with his honest response. He, too, was gay. Allen recently played the character “Shurn” on the WGN’s hit series “The Outsiders.” |
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 3-15-2018
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the co-authors of the Shawcross Letters: My Journey into the Mind of Evil. The book chronicles the tale of Arthur Shawcross one of America’s most notorious serial killers, and his relationship with his would-be biographer, John Paul Fay, a murderabilia dealer with a troubled past. Arthur Shawcross, also known as the Genesee River Killer, was in prison after being convicted of murdering numerous women (officially 14 in all). Shawcross and Fay created a business relationship, with Fay shopping the drawings of Shawcross and working with him on a book of his life. They also created a bizarre friendship in which Shawcross would let out his darkest secrets and Fay would finally meet someone that he himself felt oddly at home with. Our discussion will explore the mind of serial killer and what makes it tick. |
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 3-8-2018
ShowAlan Warren talks about his book, The Killing Game: The True Story of Rodney Alcala, the Game Show Serial Killer. The book tells the story of Rodney Alcala, the charming, good looking photographer WHO was in NYU studying under famed film director Roman Polanski and who once had even won on the popular TV game show, "Dating Game," but wound up being charged with rape, torture and murder of several young girls. We will discuss the crimes, as well as the trials and the appeals that have been going on for over twenty years while Alcala is on Death Row https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Game-Rodney-Alcala-Serialebook/dp/B077GS9YNS/ |
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Crime Beat features a panel discussion on true crime writing and publishing. Our panel includes Rebecca Morris, New York Times best-selling author; Steve Jackson, New York Times best-selling author and publisher of Wild Blue Press; and Seth Ferranti, the author of The Supreme Team and other best sellers. Do you want to know what is involved in writing a true crime book or how do you go about it? This is the radio show for you.
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 2-22-2018
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A discussion with Ron Fino, former legendary undercover operative, and Thomas Salme, noted Swedish filmmaker. We will be discussing Mr Salme’s documentary, Mr. Undercover, a first-hand account of Ron Fino’s career as one of America’s most fascinating and courageous undercover operatives. Fino’s father was a high-ranking Mafia boss, but Ronald Fino chose a completely different path in life, becoming one of the most important undercover operatives in FBI and CIA history. We will also be discussing Ron Fino’s take on international politics, espionage and arms smuggling by the American, Italian and Russian Mafias. |
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 2-15-2018
ShowCaroline Giammanco discusses her book, Guilty Hearts: The World of Prison Romances. With 2.4 million inmates in America, prison relationships are becoming more mainstream than fringe. Facing the stigma and shame of prison, some abandon inmates. Others cling to the men they love behind bars. But why? Meet eleven families and couples living with an incarceration and discover what brought prison into their worlds. Caroline Giammanco herself is married to an inmate. |
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2-8-2018
Show Dr. Emily Dufton is the author of Grassroots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America and one of the country’s leading experts on the history of U.S.’s anti-drug policy. In the last five years, eight states have legalized recreational marijuana. To many, continued progress seems certain, but pot was on a similar trajectory forty years ago, only to encounter a fierce backlash. We will discuss with historian Emily Dufton the remarkable story of marijuana's long path from acceptance to demonized and back again, and of the thousands of grassroots activists who made changing marijuana laws their life's work. This is a timely show. |
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 2-1-2018
ShowTodd Merer author of The Extraditionist, a novel that tells the story of Benn Bluestone, a private attorney who defends extradited drug cartel bosses, but angles for "the mother of all scores" that will enable him to quit the racket. The author knows well the world of drug trafficking. In his thirty years as a criminal attorney, Todd Merer specialized in the defense of high-ranking cartel chiefs extradited to the United States. He gained acquittals in more than 150 trials, and his high-profile cases have been featured in the New York Times and Time magazine and on 60 Minutes. |
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1-23-2018 Show Tommy James of the band Tommy James and the Shondells. Joining Tommy James are Jon Amore, musician and author of Deadfellas, and Scott Zelasko, musician and ArtistFirst Station Founder. We will be discussing Tommy James fascinating book, Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells. Tommy James recorded many top hits in the 60s and 1970s, including "I Think We're Alone Now," "Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Sweet Cherry Wine," "Crystal Blue Persuasion.” among many others. James has sold over 100 million records, has been awarded twenty-three gold singles, and nine gold and platinum albums. His songs are widely used in television and film, and have been covered by Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Tiffany, Tom Jones, Prince, and R.E.M. James’ book has been described as “part rock & roll fairytale, part valentine to a bygone era, and part mob epic” that “reads like a music-industry version of Goodfellas.” |
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 1-18-2018
ShowCraig Drummond discusses of his book Saving Sandoval.: A True Story. The book chronicles the story of U.S. Army Specialist Jorge G. Sandoval Jr., who in 2007 was charged with murder by the very government he had sworn to serve. While deployed to the most dangerous area in Iraq known as the "Triangle of Death," Sandoval, an airborne infantryman and elite sniper, was instructed to "take the shot" and kill an enemy insurgent wearing civilian clothes. Two weeks later, the Army Criminal Investigation Command descended upon Sandoval's unit and began interrogating the soldiers, trying to link Sandoval and others to war crimes, including murder. The author, Craig Drummond, was the JAG military defense attorney assigned to Sandoval's case. |
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 1-11-2018
ShowMichael Withey lawyer and the author of Summary Execution: The Seattle Assassinations of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes. On June 1, 1981, two young activists, Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, were murdered in Seattle in what was made to appear like a gang slaying. But the victims' families and friends suspected they were murdered because they were considered a threat to the dictatorship of Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his regime's relationship to the United States. But how could they prove it up against such powerful, and ruthless, adversaries? Michael Withey will discuss his dangerous ten-year battle for justice for Domingo and Viernes. |
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1-4-2018 Show
Lost Airmen of which Buchenwald, directed and produced
by Mike Dorsey. The a documentary that chronicles the little-known story of
Allied airmen imprisoned at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in the waning
months of World War II. |
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 12-28-2017
ShowBob Halloran the author of White Devil: The True Story of the First White Asian Crime Boss. White Devil tells the tale of John Willis, aka White Devil, the only white man to ever rise through the ranks in the Chinese mafia. Willis began as an enforcer, riding around with other gang members to “encourage” people to pay their debts. He soon graduated to even more dangerous work as a full-fledged gang member, barely escaping with his life on several occasions. Willis’ ruthless devotion to his adopted culture eventually led to him emerging as a leader. According to prosecutors, Willis was “the kingpin, organizer and leader of a vast conspiracy,” all within the legendarily insular and vicious Chinese mafia. |
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 12-21-2017
ShowKim Goldman, the author of Can’t Forgive: My 20-Year Battle with O.J. Simpson, in a command appearance. Ms. Goldman is the sister of Ron Goldman, who was murdered along with Nicole Brown Simpson, the wife of OJ Simpson, in 1994 at her Brentwood, Los Angeles home. This lead to the criminal investigation and arrest of the former American NFL player turned actor O.J. Simpson. Simpson was acquitted of the murders but was later found liable for Goldman's death in a civil trial. The Goldman family was awarded $19.5 million in damages. For the past 20 years Ms. Goldman has been victims’ advocate, traveling the country as a public speaker on victims’ rights, the role of the media, judicial reform, and other related topics. |
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 12-14-2017
ShowM. William Phelps best-selling author M. William Phelps for a discussion of his latest book, Targeted: a Deputy, Her Love Affairs, a Brutal Murder. When her missing boyfriend is found murdered, his body encased in cement inside a watering trough and dumped in a cattle field, Tracy Fortson, a local sheriff’s deputy, is arrested and charged with his murder. When M. William Phelps digs in, the truth leads to questions about Fortson’s guilt. Fortson is the first female deputy in Oglethorpe County, Georgia, and she claims a sexual harassment suit she filed against the sheriff led to a murder charge. Is Tracy Fortson guilty or innocent? |
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12-7-2017
Show Leo Rossi well-known veteran character actor and screenwriter, whose 100 plus movie credits include Analyze This, Halloween 2 and The Accused. Mr. Rossi is also the screenwriter for the forthcoming movie, Gotti, which stars John Travolta as John Gotti, the late powerful boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. The movie is scheduled for release in June 2018. Rossi wrote the screenplay for the movie. |
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 11-30-2017
ShowBill Fulton discusses his book, The Blood of Patriots: How I took Down an Anti-Government Militia with Beer, Bounty Hunting and Badassery. Bill Fulton was enjoying Life in Alaska until, one day, the FBI asked him to go undercover, His target: Schaeffer Cox, a sovereign citizen who believed no government had authority over him and a private militia commander amassing an arsenal and plotting to kill judges and law enforcement officers. Fulton’s mission: to take down Cox and his militia without a shot being fired. Blood of Patriots offers a witty and unsettling look at political rhetoric gone haywire and a movement the FBI considers the single greatest threat to law enforcement in the nation. Bill Fulton still works for the FBI and lives in an undisclosed location. |
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 11-23-2017
ShowBarbara Casey discusses her new book, Kathryn Kelley: The Moll behind Machine Gun Kelley. The book focuses on one of the fascinating eras in American crime: the 1930’s, an era that produced some of the most violent crimes known in the history of the United States. Fed by need and greed during the era of Prohibition, some of the notorious criminals included women, one of which became a legend in her own right for establishing the feared persona of her husband—Machine Gun Kelly. Her name: Kathryn Kelly. Kelly made a career of crime. With a lust for danger, she masterminded the crimes that took her and her husband, and others who included her own mother and step-father, on a spree across Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas. |
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 11-16-2017
ShowDr. Paul Morjanoff This week, Crime Bank with Ron Chepesiuk focuses on money laundering. corruption and the international banking system. Our special guest is Dr. Paul Morjanoff, world renowned Australian economist and owner of the Financial Recovery and Consulting Services. Dr. Morjanoff has dedicated his professional life to investigating and exposing crime and corruption between multi national bank covers ups. Currently, he is particularly focused on the activities of the Switzerland-based Credit Suisse, one of the world’s biggest financial services holding company. Is your money safe in your bank and how can you protect your money? Tune in to Crime Beat to find out The show originates from Sweden. |
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 11-9-2017
ShowDiane Morton-Gattullo,
author of This Life of Ours: Fairy Tales of Mob Bartenders, one in a series of “female-centric” books she has written about working in the New York City and Brooklyn nightclub world in the 80's & 90's around the mob. Morton-Gattullo says her books “flip the coin on the traditional story about working, living and loving New York mobsters from a girl’s perspective”. |
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 11-2-2017
ShowLew Rice, retired DEA agent; (upper right) Martin Trowery, a former drug kingpin of the 1970s (not shown) Thomas Long (lower left) and Shaun Sinclair (lower right) popular urban fiction writers.
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 10-26-2017
ShowEmily Winslow discusses her new book, Jane Doe January: My Twenty Year Search for Truth and Justice. Emily Winslow was a young drama student at an elite conservatory in Pittsburgh when she was brutally raped one night in January 1992. Twenty years later, a man was arrested in New York City. His DNA, recorded in the FBI’s criminal database because of an old drug conviction, had been matched to evidence from another 1992 rape that was similar to Winslow’s, and the police were able to link the crimes. The victims—one from January of that year, the other from November—were kept anonymous in the media. Emily Winslow now tells her powerful story. |
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10-19-2017 Show Gale Carrier (L) and Judith Yates (R) This week’s show focuses on psychics and how they work with law enforcement to solve crimes. The guests are a well-known psychic who has consulted with police forces, and Judith Yates, criminologist, true crime writer and the author of She is Evil: Murder and Madness in Memphis, who is familiar with Gale Carrier’s work.
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 10-12-2017
ShowShaun Assael ESPN award-winning journalist Shaun Assael, and a discussion of his book, The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin and Heavyweights. The Murder of Sonny Liston takes a fresh look at Sonny Liston, the legendary boxer; Las Vegas, the town he called home; and Liston’s murder, one of America’s most enduring mysteries. Sonny Liston is known as the boxer who fought Muhammad Ali and lost in two memorable fights. On January 5, 1971, Sonny Liston was found dead in his home of an apparent heroin overdose. But no one close to Liston believed that his death was accidental. Assael’s book is a fascinating investigation into the mysterious death of heavyweight champion Sonny Liston, set against the dawn of the 1970s, when the mob was fighting to keep control of the Las Vegas Strip, Richard Nixon was launching America's first war on heroin, and boxing was in its glory days. |
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Kenny K discusses his book, How to Sell Cocaine: # 1 Introduction to the Business. Kenny K, a pseudonym for a former drug dealer, says the book is the first textbook in the world that teaches drug dealers how to become a professional in the illicit business. Kenny K believes the learning curve is so steep that many aspiring drug dealers die or end up in jail even before they learn anything. His hope is that readers of the book, who enter the drug trade, will someday be able to exit the illicit business so they can make it legitimately in the world. By inviting the author on Crime Beat we hope to educate people not to be drug dealers but to learn more about how the world of drug dealing works. Through education comes knowledge and with knowledge comes power. Perhaps we can in a little way contribute to the debate about our long running war on drugs. |
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 9-28-2017
ShowAndy Caldwell who will discuss his book, Room 1203: O.J. Simpson’s Las Vegas Conviction. O.J. Simpson beat a murder rap for the death of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. But in 2007 his luck with avoiding Lady Justice ran out in Las Vegas. ROOM 1203 is the true story of the convoluted and bizarre events surrounding a violent armed robbery of a sports memorabilia collector in a Vegas hotel. Caldwell was the lead detective assigned to the case, and his book provides details, insights and facts not previously reported, as well as the investigation that pieced the crime together and landed O.J. Simpson in jail. |
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 9-21-2017
ShowJohn D’Amore, talks about his book, Deadfellas. Amore’s book is far from your normal mob story. Four guys from New Jersey are sent to Nevada to whack a two-bit casino manager, then accidentally invoke an Indian curse that awakens the dead who've been buried there over the last four decades.. All the dead are mobsters. DEADFELLAS is based on a screenplay that Jon D’Amore wrote with writer Steve Barr. |
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 9-14-2017
ShowLarry Lawton discusses his book, Gangster Redemption. Lawton was sentenced to four twelve year sentences to run concurrently in some of America s most brutal prisons. He was sent to solitary, tortured by guards, and after he began a letter writing campaign to publicize the brutality of prison life, he was targeted by the warden for further abuse. After Lawton served his term, he was asked by a friend to talk to the friend's son, a boy who clearly was headed for a life of crime. Lawton vividly told the boy about what prison life really was about, and after a couple of weeks the boy s father said to Lawton, You ought to make this your life s work. I don t know what you told him, but he s a different kid. Since then Lawton has dedicated his life to working with America s teens and young adults, telling them the truth about prison life, what they will lose, avoiding and dissolving bad associations, helping them to turn their lives around. His program, the nationally recognized Reality Check Program, is used by judges, law enforcement, government officials, attorneys and parents all over the country and has kept thousands of teens and young adults from going to prison. Larry Lawton will share his amazing story with Crime Beat listeners. |
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 9-7-2017
ShowF. Lee Bailey Criminal defense lawyer. During his legal career, Mr. Bailey has represented such as high-profile clients as Sam Sheppard, Patty Hearst, and Albert DeSalvo, the so called Boston Strangler. He has become best known for the case, California v. OJ Simpson, which tried former football great OJ Simpson for the murders of his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman. Bailey was part of a defense team nicknamed "The "Dream Team" because the team consisted of prominent lawyers that also included Robert Shapiro, Robert Kardashian and Alan Dershowitz, all led by Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Bailey still believes O.J. Simpson is innocent and that the jury made the right decision. We are delighted to have Mr. Bailey on our show to talk about his remarkable career as a criminal defense lawyer and to hear what he has to say about the law and the American judicial system. |
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 8-31-2017 Show
(2 Guests)
Anthony Destefano discusses his new book, The Big Heist: The Real Story of the Lufthansa Heist, the Mafia and Murder. The book is a comprehensive account of the legendary 1978 heist, which inspired the movie Goodfellas . On December 11, 1978, a daring armed robbery at Kennedy Airport in New York City resulted in one of the largest unrecovered cash haul in world history, totaling six million dollars. The perpetrators were never apprehended and thirteen people connected to the crime were murdered in homicides that, like the crime itself, remain unsolved to this day. |
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Ron Chepesiuk host of Crime Beat will also be interviewed about his new book, Narcos Inc, the upcoming Netflix’s Narcos TV series and the legacy of the Cali Cartel. |
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 8-24-2017
ShowAlan R. Warren, discusses his book, Blood Thirst: True Story of Wayne Boden: Vampire, Rapist, Serial Killer. Wayne Boden was known as the “Vampire Rapist” or “Strangler Bill” for his distinctive modus operandi. He would rape, strangle and bite the breasts of his victims. His murdering rampage would continue in two cities over three years; he was only caught by superior evidence gathering and the help of an orthodontist. Author Alan R. Warren will take us through the details of the case, including the dental impressions used in court to convict Boden, a first in Canadian history, as well as Boden's escape from a maximum-security prison.
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 8-17-2017
ShowLaurence Leamer author of The Lynching: The Epic Court Battle that Brought Down the Klan. The Lynching chronicles the true story of a brutal race-based killing in 1981 and the subsequent trials that undid one of the most vile and destructive organizations in American history—the Ku Klux Klan. The book also sheds light on the KKK and its activities in the second half the twentieth century, and examines its effect on race relations in America today.
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8-10-2017
Show Ray Lawinger author of Freedom of the Few: The True Story of the Take Back Bandit - Canada's Most Prolific Bank Robber. Freedom of the Few is a funny but unapologetically gritty tale of the many fantastic adventures of Canada's most prolific bank robber. Lawinger paid dearly for his adventures. For 28 years, he spent his days in and out of some of the most notorious prisons in Canada, including the infamous Millhaven Maximum Security and Collins Bay, also known as the Gladiator School.. From a foiled and folly of an escape attempt to being stabbed and stitching himself back up, his luck ran the gamut in prison. Ray takes us on his journey of freedom, loss, and new hope as he struggles to reconcile his own values with the sometimes equally crooked interests of an indifferent justice system. |
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 8-3-2017
ShowPeter Chiaramonte and a discussion of his book, No Journey’s End: My Tragic Romance with E-x Manson Girl, Leslie Van Houten. No Journey’s End provides a captivating, behind-the-scenes account into the life and romance of convicted Charles Manson Family member, Leslie Van Houten, and Canadian academic, Peter Chiaramonte, as told through Chiaramonte's first-hand recollections of their relationship. Van Houten—a homecoming princess at her California high school—evolved from an intelligent and beautiful young girl into a Manson puppet, enslaved in a world of drugs and sex. This bizarre trail of twisted circumstances is set against the counterculture movement of the 1960s |
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 7-27-2017
ShowFrank Cullotta (R) and Dennis Griffin (L) discuss their book The Rise and Fall of a ‘Casio’ Mobster: The Tony Spilotro Story through a Hitman’s Eyes. The books chronicles the true story behind the hit film 'Casino' as told by Frank Cullotta, an enforcer’ and hitman who Lived It. Tony Spilotro was the Mob’s man in Las Vegas, a feared enforcer the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. Spilotro built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta helped him do it. |
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 7-20-2017Richard Stratton the author of Kingpin: Prisoner of the War on Drugs. Stratton was arrested following a fifteen-year run smuggling marijuana and hashish as part of the hippie mafia. The book is the story of the eight years that followed, through two federal trials and the underworld of the federal prison system, at a time when it was undergoing unprecedented expansion due to the War on Drugs. Resisting pressure to falsely implicate his friend and mentor, Norman Mailer, Stratton was convicted in his second trial under the kingpin statute and sentenced to twenty-five years without the possibility of parole. |
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 7-13-2017
Show
William “Red” Wemette the author of Nobody Cares and What I Did About It! The Red Wemette Story of the Chicago Outfit. Red Wemette is reportedly the longest operating organized crime undercover informant [other than for espionage] for the FBI in U.S. History. He spent eighteen years as an FBI mole. We will discuss Wemette’s memoir and his role in the Family Secret’s Trial, the take down of one of the Outfit’s most feared hit-man, Frank Schweihs, and the forty-year-old triple homicide that sparked the opening of cold case files in Cook County and throughout the U.S. |
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Judith Yates, a criminologist and author of She is Evil: Madness and Murder in Memphis. SHE IS EVIL is an unusual book: It chronicles a sad and unusual case of male victim of domestic abuse. The victim was Ejaz Ahmad a handsome, charismatic, and a self-made businessman who arrived in the United States from Pakistan and settled in Memphis, Tennessee, Ejaz had good life, but he felt he needed a wife, someone special to protect, honor, and love. The woman he chose was Leah Ward, a pretty girl, but a prison parolee with a history of drug charges, petty crime, and a questionable past. In May of 2003 Ejaz paid the ultimate price SHE IS EVIL is a story of trust, abuse, religion, and murder, of a kind man who tried to help a troubled woman and became the victim of abuse and, eventually, a heinous murder. |
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6-29-2017
Show Neil Clark discusses his book, Dock Boss: Eddie McGrath and the Westside Waterfront. In the early 20th century, at a time when the Port of New York was ruled by lawless criminals, one hoodlum towered above the rest and secretly controlled the piers for over thirty years. That man was Eddie McGrath, a gangster's who ascended from altar boy to the leader of New York City's violent Irish Mob. Neal Clark and Crime Beat will talk about Eddie McGrath's life and crimes through the tail-end of Prohibition, the gang warfare of the 1930s that propelled him into the position of an organized crime boss, the sordid years of underworld control over the bustling waterfront, McGrath's involvement in dozens of gangland murders, and finally the decline of the dock mobsters following a period of longshoremen rebellion in the 1950s. We will also be introduced to some of the other unsavory characters who operated on the waterfront during McGrath’s time. |
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Rebecca Morris beat-selling New York Times author, to discuss her book, Bad Apples: Inside the Teacher/Student Scandal Epidemic. Why are more female teachers, coaches and even school board members risking it all by having sex with underage students? Are they pedophiles? We discuss this timely topic and examine a host of related issues, including gender bias in sentencing, the psychological effect on the children molested, the role of social networking and the media, and how parents and schools can keep students safe. Rebecca Morris has been on the show several times before to talk about a number fascinating true crime cases. |
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James Neff discusses his new book, Vendetta: Bobby Kennedy versus Jimmy Hoffa. From 1957 to 1964, Robert Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa channeled nearly all of their considerable powers into destroying each other. Kennedy's battle with Hoffa burst into the public consciousness with the 1957 Senate Rackets Committee hearings and intensified when his brother named him attorney general in 1961. RFK put together a "Get Hoffa" squad within the Justice Department, devoted to destroying one man. But Hoffa, with nearly unlimited Teamster funds, was not about to roll over. The battle royal was the political version of Ali versus Frazier. |
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John Binder discusses his book, Al Capone’s Beer Wars: A Complete History of Organized Crime in Chicago during Prohibition. Much has been written about Al Capone, but-until now, there has not been a complete history of organized crime in Chicago during Prohibition from 1920 to 1933. In his book, John J. Binder, a recognized authority on the history of organized crime in Chicago, will discuss all the important bootlegging gangs in the city and the suburbs and also examines the other major rackets, such as prostitution, gambling, labor and business racketeering, and narcotics.
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 6-1-2017
ShowMargarita Nalipa discusses her book, Killing Rasputin: The Murder that Ended the Russian Empire. Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is one of the most fascinating and controversial characters in human history. Nicknamed the Mad Monk, Rasputin was a simple unkempt “holy man” from the wilds of Siberia who befriended Emperor Nicholas II and his empress, Alexandra, at the most crucial moment in Russian history. In the early morning of December 30, 1916, Rasputin was assassinated by a group of conservative noblemen who opposed his influence over Alexandra and the Tsar. Nalipa’s book examines the connection between a cold-blooded assassination and the revolution that followed. It was a revolution that led to civil war and the rise of the Soviet Union. |
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 5-25-2017
ShowMel Ayton discusses his new book, Plotting to Kill the President: Assassination Attempts from Washington to Hoover. Since the birth of the U.S. and the election of the first president, groups of organized plotters or individuals have been determined to assassinate the chief executive. From the Founding Fathers to the Great Depression, three presidents have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and William McKinley. However, unknown to the general public, almost all presidents have been threatened, put in danger, or survived “near lethal approaches” during their terms. Plotting to Kill the President reveals the numerous, previously untold incidents when assassins, plotters, and individuals have threatened the lives of American presidents, from George Washington to Herbert Hoover. |
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 5-18-2017
ShowJohn Hook discusses his book, Who killed Bob Crane: The Final Closeup. Bob Crane was the star of the hugely popular 1990s TV show Hogan’s Heroes. The 1978 murder of actor and the American actor and icon remains one of the most high-profile unsolved celebrity murders of all time. Thirty-eight years after his brutal murder in Scottsdale, Arizona, millions around the world still want answers. Was John Carpenter the killer? Or did police arrest an innocent man? For nearly 40 years, police remained convinced of Carpenter’s guilt. Early DNA testing, decades ago, was unable to positively link Carpenter to the crime. The two friends lived on the edge, sharing a dark obsession—videotaping women during their sexual encounters. In an unprecedented investigation, reporter John Hook retested the original blood evidence using modern DNA science in a final search for answers. Scientists believe this is the last chance to test DNA from the crime scene— the final close-up—in identifying Bob Crane’s killer. Hook has exhausted all remaining avenues to unearth answers in this intriguing and haunting cold case. Will he close the book on the Crane murder once and for all? |
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 5-11-2017
ShowAlan R. Warren discusses his co-authored book, Above Suspicion: The True Story of Serial Killer Russell Williams. William was an elite pilot of Canada’s Air Force One, a decorated military pilot who had flown Canadian Forces VIP aircraft for dignitaries such as the Queen of England, Prince Philip, the Governor General and Prime Minister of Canada. In his book, Warren describes Williams’ secret life, the abductions, rape and murders that were unleashed on an unsuspecting community. Included are letters written to the victims by Williams and descriptions of the assaults and rapes as seen on videos and photos taken by Williams during the attacks. |
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 5-4-2017
Show
Tom Wescott discusses his new book, Ripper Confidential: New Research on the Whitechapel Murders. The book offers fresh insights that pull us deeper into the world of Jack the Ripper, history’s most famous serial killer, and closer to the man himself. Although Wescott does not promote a suspect for Jack the Ripper, he does comprehensively investigates murder victims Polly Nichols and Elizabeth Stride, bringing to light new medical evidence, crucial new material on important witnesses, and – revealed for the first time – the name of a woman who may have met Jack the Ripper and survived to tell the tale. |
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 4-27-2017
ShowClaudia Rowe discusses her book, The Spider and the Fly: A Reporter, A Serial Killer and the Meaning of Murder. From 1996 to 1998, eight women went missing in Poughkeepsie, New York, and few were looking for them. But the police had a lead. Kendall Francois had confessed to a prosecutor that he had eight bodies stored in his Poughkeepsie home. Police had largely written off Francois, an African American man, as a suspect because he didn’t fit the familiar serial killer stereotypes. As a young reporter living in Poughkeepsie at the time, Claudia Rowe wanted to understand how this man could have committed such brazen crimes. Over five years and through a series of letters, phone calls, and visits that consumed her life, Rowe engaged with Francois in a dizzying conversation about cruelty, compassion, and control. The result is a sociological dissection of class, race and crime. www.claudiarowejournalist.com |
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 4-20-2017
ShowJack Barsky will discuss his remarkable life and compelling memoir, Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Alliances as a KGB Spy in America. My Secret Life is an intimate memoir about Mr. Barsky’s life as a high achieving East German academic recruited by the KGB and trained to pass undetected into American society. The plan succeeded, and the spy’s new identity was born. Mr. Barsky worked undercover for a decade, carrying out secret operations during the Cold War years until a surprising shift in his allegiance challenged everything he thought he believed. We will also discuss Mr. Barsky’s views on current U.S.-Russia relations. |
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 4-13-2017
ShowLuellen Smiley discusses her latest book, Cradle of Crime: A Daughter’s Tribute. Luellen Smiley, an award-winning journalist, is the daughter of Allen Smiley, famed gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s best friend and business partner. Ten years after her father’s death, Smiley evolved into a gangster authority through researching thousands of classified FBI and Department of Justice documents and interviews and conversations with relatives, ex–mob guys, and authors. Cradle of Crime is a mafia book told by a family member about what it’s like to live with a man in the mafia, and the personal costs on him, his family and his relationships. |
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 4-6-2017
ShowAnthony Amore art expert, who will talk about his book, The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, frauds and Forgeries in the Art World. The book tells the stories of some of history’s most notorious yet untold cons. They involve stolen art hidden for decades; elaborate ruses that involve the Nazis and allegedly plundered art; the theft of a conceptual prototype from a well-known artist by his assistant to be used later to create copies; the use of online and television auction sites to scam buyers out of millions; and other confidence scams incredible not only for their boldness but more so because they actually worked. |
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 3-30-2017
ShowMargo Nash author of The Politics of Murder: The Power and Ambition behind the Altar Boy Murder Case. On a hot night in July 1995, Janet Downing, a 42-year-old mother of four, was brutally stabbed 98 times in her home in Somerville, a city two miles northwest of Boston. Within hours, a suspect was identified: 15-year-old Eddie O’Brien, the best friend of one of Janet’s sons. But why Eddie? As laid out in THE POLITICS OF MURDER, the timing of this case did not bode well for Eddie. A movement hoping to stop the supposed rise of young “superpredators” was sweeping the nation, and juvenile offenders were the targets. Both the Massachusetts governor and an elected district attorney who personally litigated this case supported juvenile justice reform, and both aspired to higher offices. Eddie O’Brien’s case garnered both local and national publicity: He was the youthful Irish Catholic boy next door. His grandfather was the retired chief of the Somerville Police Department. Court TV covered the trial in adult court gavel to gavel, calling it the altar boy murder case. His highly publicized case changed the juvenile laws in Massachusetts. Other states began to follow suit. But did the justice system fail Eddie? That’s the contention of author-attorney Margo Nash in her explosive expose. |
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 3-23-2017
ShowRebecca Morris discusses her book Ted and Ann: The Mystery of a Missing Child and her Neighbor Ted Bundy. Ted and Ann is the story of one of the most fascinating crime cold cases of the 20th century. Eight-year-old Ann Marie Burr disappeared from their Tacoma, Washington neighborhood early on a summer morning in 1961. Her body was never found, there were no clues, no ransom demand and no arrest. Was notorious serial killer Ted Bundy telling the truth when he told a hypothetical story about killing Ann and dumping her into a muddy pit? Was Ann Marie Burr his first victim? Rebecca Morris uses new information about Ted Bundy’s childhood, interviews with those who knew him best, and the memories of the Burr family to examine the mystery. |
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 3-16-2017
ShowAlex Kershaw New York Times best-selling author of Avenue of Spies: A True Story of
Terror, Espionage, and One American Family’s Heroic Resistance in
Nazi-Occupied Paris. Avenue of Spies chronicles the incredible true
story of Sumner Jackson, an American doctor in Paris, and his heroic
espionage efforts during World War II. Jackson lived with his wife and young
son Phillip at Number 11, Avenue de Foch, one of the most exclusive
residential streets in Nazi-occupied France, but also Paris’s hotbed of
daring spies, murderous secret police, amoral informers, and Vichy
collaborators. From his office at the hospital where he worked, Jackson
risked everything by defying Hitler and smuggling fallen Allied fighter
pilots safely out of France. |
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 3-9-2017
ShowMathew Richer co-author of The Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain: Murder or Suicide? You Decide. As the lead singer and guitarist of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain's musical success began in his twenties and was heightened when he formed the band Nirvana. Hits such as "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Come as You Are," and "Heart Shaped Box" helped the group achieve international success. Just days before Kurt Cobain's body was discovered on April 8, 1994, Courtney Love hired private investigator Tom Grant to locate him. In the Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain, Matthew Richer and Tom Grant take readers behind the scenes of the investigation to learn about the evidence for murder regarding Kurt Cobain's death. There are many new details contained in The Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain, including new transcripts of recorded telephone conversations with Courtney Love and others, as well as an updated list of "persons of interest" in the crime. The book also contains a compelling account of Tom Grant's struggles to blow the whistle on the botched investigation into Cobain's death. |
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 3-2-2017
ShowBarbara Casey discusses her book, Assata Shakur: a Twentieth Century Escape Slave. Shakur, whose married name was Chesimard, is a political activist who was convicted of murder in 1977. Two years later, she broke out of the maximum-security wing of Clinton Correctional Facility in New Jersey and fled to Cuba. In 1984, Cuba gave her political asylum. On May 2, 2013, the FBI added her to the Most Wanted Terrorist List, the first woman to be listed. Shakur remains a controversial figure today, a criminal to some, a heroine to others. |
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 2-23-2017
ShowGil Valle (R) and Brian Whitney (L) the authors of Raw Deal: The Untold Story of the NYPD’s Cannibal Cop. Raw Deal is the untold story of former New York City police officer Gil Valle, who in 2012 became known throughout the world as “The Cannibal Cop.” It is part the controversial saga of a man who was imprisoned for “thought crimes,” and part a look into a world of dark sexuality and violence that most readers don’t know exists, except maybe in their nightmares. Valle faced life in prison for his charges, and served 21 months for nothing more than having online chats about his fantasies. He was finally exonerated of all charges. The show will focus on the intriguing question: When, if ever, does a thought cross the line and become a crime? |
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 2-16-2017
ShowBill Friedman author of 30 Illegal Years to the Strip: The Untold Stories of the Gangsters Who Built the Early Las Vegas Strip. The gangsters were Prohibition’s most powerful leaders, who later ran elegant, illegal casinos across America, before moving on to build the glamorous Las Vegas Strip gambling resorts. Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and the other key leaders of the three dominating Prohibition gangs imported the world’s finest liquors on a massive scale. Although in an illegal and dangerous business, these gangsters espoused traditional business values and rejected the key tools of organized crime - monopoly, violence, and vendetta. This made them the most unlikely gangsters to rise to underworld leadership. But they earned every criminal’s respect, and fate made them the most powerful gangland leaders in American history. Mr. Friedman’s book is based on 48 years of research that began, when Friedman was drafted during the Vietnam War. A conscientious objector, he was ordered to spend his alternative service in Las Vegas hanging out with gangsters to study the history and operation of organized crime. |
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2-9-2017 Show Lou DiVita will discuss his book, A Wiser Guy, a collection of stories about Wise Guys and the wisdom that DiVita has accrued about them over the course of his lifetime. DiVita is the grandson of Paul Palmieri, the brother of Benedetto Angelo Palmieri, both of whom were founding members of the post Castellammarse mafia. DiVita will recount the torment he faced in dealing with the choice he faced: follow his ancestors’ gangster lifestyle or pursue the path to white collar success. |
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 2-2-2017
ShowBradley Nickell, discusses his book, Repeat Offender: Sin City’s Most Prolific Criminal and the Cop who Caught Him. Bradley Nickell, a Las Vegas police detective, will reveal the inside scoop on the investigation, arrest and conviction of the most prolific repeat offender Las Vegas has ever known. Daimon Monroe looked like an average guy raising a family with his diffident schoolteacher girlfriend. But just below the surface, he was an accomplished thief with an uncontrollable lust for excess. His criminal mind had no bounds—he was capable of anything given the proper circumstances. Bradley Nickell will talk about Monroe’s amassed wealth through thievery, his plot to kill Detective Nickell, a judge and a prosecutor, and the physical and sexual abuse to which Monroe subjected his daughters. |
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1-26-2017 Show 2 Special Guests:
Laurence Leamer
Laurence Leamer discusses his book, The President's Butler, a comic look at contemporary American politics. Vincent V. Victor, a colorful New Yorker, is on the most wildly improbable journey of our time, from the most hated businessman in America to a populist hero. When Victor falls on financial hard times, he decides to run for president and sets off on a campaign that changes America forever. The story is told through Victor’s butler Billy Baxter.
Mike Pizzi Our second guest is Mike Pizzi, author of Mike Pizzi, U.S. Marshal Adapt and Overcome. The book tells the exciting story of Pizzi’s career as a U.S. Marshal and chasing some of the biggest fugitives in U.S. history. |
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 1-19-2017
ShowDenis O. Smith & Maxim Jakubowski Tonight’s show originates from the United Kingdom and focuses on one of the most famous characters in the world of crime: Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and first appearing in print in 1887. Though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the most well-known, with Guinness World Records listing him as the "most portrayed movie character" in history. Holmes's popularity and fame are such that many have believed him to be not a fictional character but a real individual. Tonight, we have two guests to talk about Sherlock Holmes. The first is Denis O. Smith, author of THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF THE NEW CHRONICLES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES: 12 Original Stories. The second is Maxim Jakubowski, author of The MAMMOTH BOOK OF THE ADVENTURES OF PROFESSOR MORIARTY: 37 Short Stories about the Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes’s Nemesis. |
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 1-12-2017
ShowBurl Barer (L) and Frank Girardot (R) and Frank Girardot will discuss their book, Betrayal in Blue: The Shocking Memoir of the Scandal That Rocked The NYPD. Betrayal in Blue is the story of perhaps the biggest corruption scandal in New York City history. Ken Eurell and his partner Michael Dowd were the two cops who ran the most powerful gang in New York’s dangerous 75th Precinct, the crack cocaine capitol of 1980s America. They formed a lucrative alliance with Adam Diaz, the kingpin of an ever-expanding Dominican drug cartel. The police exploded into the headlines with the arrest of Eurell, Dowd and their fellow crooked cops. |
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1-5-2017
Show Chris Cipollini, Alex Hortis, & David Amoruso Crime Beat radio features a command appearance of a panel of crime
experts who will discuss the intriguing question: Is the American Mafia
finished? The experts are Chris Cipollini, author of Murder
Inc., Alex Hortis, author of The Mob and the City, and
David Amoruso, owners of Gangstersinc, the biggest crime web site on the
Internet. The American Mafia, an Italian-American organized-crime network
with operations in cities across the United States, particularly New York
and Chicago, is the most famous crime organization in America. It rose to
power through its success in the illicit liquor trade during the 1920s
Prohibition era and then moved into other criminal ventures, from drug
trafficking to illegal gambling, while also infiltrating labor unions and
legitimate businesses such as construction and New York’s garment industry.
Beginning in the 1970s, the U.S. government used anti-racketeering laws to
weaken the mafia and convict and imprison many of high ranking members. At
one time the Mafia adhered to Omerta, a strict code of silence, but today
even its godfathers sing like canaries for the law. Today, the American
Mafia is shell of its formal self, or is it? |
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 12-29-16
Show
talks about his book, The Witness: A Tale of the Life and Death of Mafia Mad Man. Witness is the compelling account of the hard and fast life of an "up-and-coming star" within the Mafia ranks as a member of the Gambino crime family, the downward spiral created by his addiction to drugs, and his spiritual rebirth spurred by the heart-wrenching plea of his little girl. Join us as we talk about Robert Borelli’s powerful story. |
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 12-22-2016
ShowStephen Singular and Joyce Singular talk about Stephen Singular’s new book, Presumed Guilty: An investigation into the JohnBenet Ramsey Case, The Media and the Culture of Pornography. The book is an update on their continuing research on the JonBenet murder case, one of the biggest cases in true crime history. JonBenet Ramsey was a six-year-old American beauty queen who was killed in her family's home in Boulder, Colorado, on December 25, 1996. Bizarre factors surrounding the unsolved case continue to raise questions, grab headlines and fascinate the public. |
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 12-15-2016
Show
noted rock music critic talks about his new book Altamont: The Rolling Stones, the Hell's Angels and the Inside story of Rock's Darkest Day. Altamont is the Rolling Stones' infamous and legendary concert in San Francisco on December 6, 1969, a disastrous event that historians say marked the end of the idealistic 1960s. A concertgoer was killed at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival by a member of the Hells Angels, the notorious biker club acting as security. While most people know of the events from the film Gimme Shelter, the whole story has remained buried in varied accounts, rumor, and myth—until now with Joel Selvin's book. |
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 12-8-2016
Show
discuss their book, Murdering the President: Alexander Graham Bell and the Race to Save President James Garfield. Shortly after being elected the 20th president of the United States in 1981, James Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau. Garfield survived. Alexander Graham Bell raced against time to invent the world's first metal detector to locate the bullet in Garfield's body so that doctors could safely operate. Despite Bell's efforts to save Garfield, however, and as never before fully revealed, the interventions of Garfield's friend and doctor, Dr. D. W. Bliss, brought about the demise of the nation's twentieth president. What was Bliss' role in Garfield drawn out and painful death? Was it incompetence or murder? |
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 12-1-2016
ShowAnthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, Pulitzer Prize finalists, who discuss their timely book, A Matter of Honor: Pearl Harbor: Betrayal, Blame and a Family’s Quest for Justice. This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack shocked America and precipitated the U.S.’s entry into World War II. In their book, the authors unravel the mysteries of Pearl Harbor to expose the scapegoating of Admiral Husband Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, who was in command the day 2,000 Americans who died that day. Kimmel, was relieved of command, accused of negligence and dereliction of duty and publicly disgraced. The authors discuss the continuing struggle to restore the Admiral’s honor—and clear President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the charge that he knew the attack was coming. |
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 11-24-2016
Show
Anthony DeStefano discusses his new book, Gangland New York—The Places and Faces of History. From the Bowery Boys and the Five Points Gang through the rise of the Jewish “Kosher Nostra” and the ascendance of the Italian Mafia, mobsters have played a major role in the New York City’s history. Some of the biggest names in crime history-- Bill “the Butcher” Poole, Paul Kelly, Monk Eastman, “Lucky” Luciano, Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, Mickey Spillane, John Gotti, for example—each held sway over New York neighborhoods that nurtured them and gave them power. As families and factions fought for control, the city became a backdrop for crime scenes, the rackets spreading after World War II to docks, airports, food markets, and garment districts. The streets of Brooklyn, swamps of Staten Island, and vacant lots near LaGuardia Airport hosted assassinations and hasty burials for the unlucky. |
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 11-17-2016
Show
discusses her book, DADDY'S LITTLE SECRET: A Daughter's Quest To Solve Her Father's Brutal Murder. The book tells the poignant true crime story about a daughter who, upon her father's murder, learns of his secret double-life. Wesley Wallace, her father was a trusted security guard of the Ritz Carlton Palm Beach hotel who was supposed to protect those who found themselves in his care. But a closer look into his brutal murder revealed a split personality -- one that his daughter may have seen but tried to ignore She had looked the other way about other hidden facets of his life - deadly secrets that could help his killer escape the death penalty, should she not come forward. However, detectives assigned to the case persuaded her to help put her father away. The story ends in a courtroom where Denise’s father's secret life and a shocking secret is revealed. |
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 11-10-2016
Show
discusses his book My Sweet Angel:
The True Story of Lacey Spears, the Seemingly Perfect Mother who
Murdered her Son in Cold Blood. Lacey Spears made international headlines in
January 2015 when she was charged with the “depraved mind” murder of her
five-year-old son Garnett. Prosecutors alleged that the 27-year old mother
had poisoned him with high concentrations of salt through his stomach tube.
To the outside world Lacey had seemed like the perfect mother, regularly
posting dramatic updates on her son’s harrowing medical problems. But in
reality, Lacey was a text book case of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. Using
Lacey’s own never-before-seen Facebook, Twitter, and blog posts, an
exclusive prison interview with Lacey herself, as well as interviews with
her family and the three police investigators who broke the case, My Sweet
Angel gives the definitive account of this extraordinary case that shocked
the world. |
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 11-03-2016
Show
the co-author If I Can’t Have You:
Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance and the Murder of Her Children.
The book investigates one the 21st Century's most puzzling disappearances
and how it resulted in the murder of two children by their father. Over a
three year period, bombshell after bombshell revealed one shocking family
secret after another. In terms of notoriety, the tragic story of Susan
Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden, has been described as the
only case that rivals the Jon Benet Ramsey saga in the annals of true crime. |
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 10-27-2016
ShowRonald J. Sales aka "Joey The Needle" Crime Beat's featured guest this evening is Ronald J. Sales (AKA Joey the Needle), the author of Joey the Needle. Sales ran a 20-year illegal anabolic steroid operation, part of an international drug ring that shipped in drugs from Ukraine and China that was easily the largest in Iowa. He was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison in Pennsylvania for distribution and money laundering in a ring that involved tens of thousands of doses of anabolic steroids. Steroids is a big problem in sports and big problem among our youth, especially here in America. Tonight we talk to Sales and go inside steroid trafficking to learn what it's all about. |
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 10-20-2016
Show
talks about his book, Shallow Grave: The Unsolved Crime that Shook the Midwest “Shallow Grave” features a series of colorful characters and shines light on the resourceful gangsters who operate in what looks like the most innocent of cities. Here’s some of what we have in Shallow Grave: an upright citizen kidnapped in public and dumped in a shallow grave. a police chief's wife arrested for murder, a mobster kidnapped and threatened by the FBI, and an ongoing corruption probe looking at everyone from the lowest bookie all the way up to judges and prosecutors. What’s happening? The Midwest's two most powerful gangs, the Chicago Outfit and The Milwaukee Mafia, are fighting over territory, and no one is safe. |
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10-13-2016 Show (2 Guests)
is the author of Watch Me Die a first-hand account of Ohio's death row and the state’s execution process which is unlike any other. Dr. Kimberlin, a trained clinical psychologist, spends time one-on-one with some of Ohio's worst killers to learn about their life on death row. |
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 (Second
half of show)
Michael Streed
author of Sketch Cop is an internationally-recognized forensic facial imaging expert. For 35 years he has blended his rich law enforcement experience and artistic skills to provide forensic facial imaging services to some of the largest, most diverse, police agencies in the United States. |
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10-06-2016
Show Pulitzer Prize journalist David Cay Johnston, discusses his book, The Making of Donald Trump. Drawing on decades of interviews, financial records, court documents, and public statements, David Cay Johnston, who has covered Donald Trump more closely than any other journalist working today, gives us the most in-depth look yet at the man who would be president. From the origins of Trump's family's real estate fortune, to his own too-big-to-fail business empire; from his education and early career, to his whirlwind presidential bid, The Making of Donald Trump provides the fullest picture yet of Trump's extraordinary ascendency. Love him or hate him, Trump's massive influence is undeniable, so join us for a fair and balanced discussion of the man who could potentially lead the free world |
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 9-29-2016
Show
talks about her book, The Hostage’s Daughter: A Story of Family, Madness and the Middle East. Miss Anderson is the daughter of one of the world’s most famous hostages, Terry Anderson, who was kidnapped by Hezbollah Shiite Muslims in 1985 and not released until 1991. Ms. Anderson’s memoir takes an intimate look at her father’s captivity during the Lebanese Hostage Crisis and the ensuing political firestorm on both her family and the United States—as well as the far-reaching implications of those events on Middle Eastern politics today.
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 9-22-2016
Show
talks about his book, The Jolly Roger Social Club: A True Story of a Killer in Paradise. The book is a tale of greed, political history, and murder and chronicles the true story of a series of bold killings which took place in a shadowy American ex-pat community in remote Bocas del Toro, Panama. The story is told through the fascinating history of the country of Panama, a paradise with sinister ties to the political and economic interests of the United States |
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 9-15-2016
Show
will discuss his two books, Shadow War and The Private Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order. In Shadow War, an elite American mercenary on a secret mission to save a businessman’s family in Eastern Europe must navigate perilous setbacks and deadly enemies that threaten to tip the balance of power between Russia and the United States. In The Modern Mercenary, Sean McFate lays bare this opaque world, explaining the economic structure of the industry and showing in detail how firms operate on the ground. A former officer and paratrooper in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, Dr. McFate is Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, an Associate Professor at the National Defense University and an expert on modern warfare. |
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 9-8-2016
Show
discusses his book, True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray. The book is the story of James Renner fascinating investigation of the missing person's case of Maura Murray, an UMass student who went missing after wrecking her car in rural New Hampshire in 2004. The case had a tremendous impact on Renner’s life, while taking on a life of its own for armchair sleuths across the web. Over the course of his investigation, Renner uncovered numerous important and shocking new clues about what may have happened to Maura, but also found himself in increasingly dangerous situations with little regard for his own well-being. |
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 9-1-2016
Show
discusses his book FAILURE OF JUSTICE: A BRUTAL MURDER, AN OBSESSED COP, SIX WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS. On February 5, 1985, one of the coldest nights on record in Nebraska, Helen Wilson, a kind 68-year widow, was murdered inside her second-floor apartment. The crime went unsolved for four years, but then six people - three men and three women-- were arrested and charged with the widow's rape murder. All six were convicted and went to prison. It looked like justice had been served. For nearly twenty years, the Beatrice 6 rotted in prison. Then in 2008 a shocking development. Could there be a failure of justice? |
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8-25-2016
Show
discusses her new book, Jane Doe January: My Twenty Year Search for Truth and Justice. Emily Winslow was a young drama student at an elite conservatory in Pittsburgh when she was brutally raped one night in January 1992. Twenty years later, a man was arrested in New York City. His DNA, recorded in the FBI’s criminal database because of an old drug conviction, had been matched to evidence from another 1992 rape that was similar to Winslow’s, and the police were able to link the crimes. The victims—one from January of that year, the other from November—were kept anonymous in the media. Emily Winslow now tells her powerful story. |
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8-18-2016
Show
author of The Lynching: The Epic Court Battle that Brought Down the Klan. The Lynching chronicles the true story of a brutal race-based killing in 1981 and the subsequent trials that undid one of the most vile and destructive organizations in American history—the Ku Klux Klan. The book also sheds light on the KKK and its activities in the second half the twentieth century, and examines its effect on race relations in America today. |
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 8-11-2016
Show
New York
Times best-selling author Steve Jackson, who will discuss his book Smooth
Talker: Trail of Death. The book chronicles the story of serial killer
Roy Melanson, who for decades raped and killed women all over the country.
Smooth Talker shows the importance of DNA in criminal investigations and the
amazing things law enforcement teams must often do to solve crime. |
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 8-4-2016
Show
the author of The Trail of Ted Bundy: Digging Up the Untold Stories, Kevin M. Sullivan is the author of eleven books, a former investigative journalist for both print and online media and a recognized authority on serial sex killer Ted Bundy, one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history. Bundy confessed to the brutal murders of thirty-six women, although it is believed that he killed many more. The Trail of Ted Bundy contains a lot of new and previously unpublished information about Ted Bundy and this most infamous case. |
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 7-28-2016
ShowPulitzer Prize Winning Journalists: Wendy Ruderman (Left) Barbara Laker (right) Busted is the shocking true story of the biggest police corruption scandal in Philadelphia history. It's a tale of drugs, power, and abuse involving a rogue narcotics squad, a confidential informant, and two veteran journalists, In 2003, Benny Martinez became a Confidential Informant for a member of the Philadelphia Police Department's narcotics squad, helping arrest nearly 200 drug and gun dealers over seven years. But that success masked a dark and dangerous reality: the cops were as corrupt as the criminals they targeted. Busted chronicles how journalists Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker —both middle-class working mothers—formed an unlikely bond with Martinez, a convicted street dealer, to uncover the secrets of ruthless kingpins and dirty cops. Ruderman and Laker, whose reporting drove a full-scale FBI probe, rocked the City of Brotherly Love and earned them a Pulitzer Prize. |
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 7-21-2016
Show
This week's Crime Beat show features a command appearance by Chris
Cipollini, author of Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangster
Legend. Charles “Lucky” Luciano is one of the most researched, discussed
and dissected American mobsters of all time. His name has become synonymous
with New York City’s high drama gangland days of prohibition bootlegging,
the formation of the infamous five families, and controversy over his
alleged ‘Last Testament’. Yet, there exist many fascinating and lurid tales
and theories regarding Lucky’s rise and fall from the mob’s top spot. Now in
his new book, Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangland Legend,
journalist Chris Cipollini, for first time ever, focuses exclusively on some
of the mysteries major surrounding Charles "Lucky" Luciano, one of the
biggest organized crime figures in history.! |
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 7-14-2016
Show (2 guests)Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. discusses his latest book, Framed. Why Michael Skakel Spent a Decade a Prison for a Murder He Didn’t Commit. Fourteen years after Michael Skakel was convicted of murdering 15-year-old friend Martha Moxley, his cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argues in his new book that the authorities got the wrong man. Kennedy writes that Skakel, whose conviction was set aside in 2013 and now faces the possibility of a new trial, was "railroaded" for a murder he never could have committed. |
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 7-14-2016
Show second guest
Monte Francis discusses his new book, Ice and Bone: Tracking an Alaska Serial Killer, is the chilling, true account of how a notorious murderer evaded police and avoided conviction only to slip back into the shadows and kill again. |
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 7-7-2016
ShowRebecca Morris Rebecca Morris, co-author of A Killing in Amish County: Sex, Betrayal and a Cold-Blooded Murder. There had only been three murders in the long history of Amish life America and the murder of Barbara Weaver was one of them. The book investigates the work of Edna Boyle, a young assistant prosecutor to seek justice for Barbara Weaver |
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 6-30-2016
ShowRich Gold Rich Gold, coauthor of the book Mad Dog Coll: An Irish Gangster. In 1931, the year of the bloodiest gang war in New York City up until that time, Coll emerged as front-page news and Public Enemy Number One . The roughest and toughest gangsters in New York City’s five boroughs had to run for cover from the ruthless and fearless killer known as Vincent “Mad Dog Coll. Coll’s arrest, trial, and acquittal, and his eventual demise at the tender age of 23, all served as inspiration to writers of gangster films that followed. |
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 6-23-2016
ShowBurl Barer (L) and Frank Girardot (R) talk about their book A Taste for Murder. The book chronicles the murder of Frank Rodriguez, a popular counselor for troubled teens in San Luis Obispo, California, on September 9, 2000. Rodriguez’s wife Angelina could not get a death certificate for Frank’s life insurance because his cause of death was initially ruled undetermined. So she pushed for more testing. When the results showed that Frank Rodriguez had been intentionally poisoned, Angelina was arrested for murder in February 2001. |
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 6-16-2013
Show
Del Quentin Wilber bestselling author and Los Angeles Times reporter, who tells the inside story of how a homicide squad---a dedicated, colorful team of detectives―does its almost impossible job After gaining unparalleled access to the homicide unit in Prince George's County, which borders the nation's capital, Del Quentin Wilber begins shadowing the talented, often quirky detectives who get the call when a body falls. After a quiet couple of months, all hell breaks loose. Twelve homicides, three police-involved shootings and the furious hunt for an especially brutal killer--February 2013 was a good month for murder in suburban Washington, D.C. |
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 6-9-2016
Show
discusses her new book American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who
Should Stand Trial for Post/9-11 War Crimes. In American Nuremberg,
Gordon points out that the United States helped establish the international
principles guiding the prosecution of war crimes – starting with the
Nuremberg tribunal following World War II, when Nazi officials were held
accountable for their crimes against humanity. But Gordon charges that the
American government and legal system have consistently refused to apply
these same principles to our own officials. Now Rebecca Gordon takes on the
explosive task of “indicting” the officials who – in a just society – should
be put on trial for war crimes. |
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 6-2-2016
Show
the author of Smugglers’ Blues: A True Tale of the Hippie Mafia. Stratton’s book is described as Goodfellas meets Savages meets Catch Me If You Can. It’s a true tale of high-stakes smuggling from pot’s outlaw years. Richard Stratton was a member of the Hippie Mafia –Yes, the Hippies had a Mafia-- and traveled the world to keep America high, living the underground life while embracing the hippie credo, rejecting hard drugs in favor of marijuana and hashish. Join us to hear fascinating tales of Whitey Bulger, Mick Jagger, Dave Bowie, Norman Mailer, and other luminaries
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 5-26-2016
Show
Catherine Pelonero |
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5-19-2016 Show
Jeffry Weiss (a nom de plume), the author of Six Years Inside the Mafia: How I Worked My Way Through College: A True Story. Weiss worked with the Italian, Black and Jewish Mafias of Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York from the age of 16 to 22. During that time he earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree at accredited institutions of higher learning. After escaping from the clutches of crime, he became technical rock climber and completed a PhD.
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 5-12-2016
Show
co-author of The Man Who Stalked Einstein: How Nazi Scientist Philipp Lenard Changed the Course of History. The book focuses on personal war between two Nobel Prize winners, Albert Einstein and Philip Lenard, and how Lenard, because of his obsessive dislike for and jealousy of Einstein, fueled by his huge ego and rabid anti-Semitism, attempted to destroy Einstein. Ironically, Lenard campaign helped drive Einstein and other leading Jewish scientists out of Germany, consequently, denying Adolph Hitler the Nazis of the scientists and the scientific insights that may well have won them World War II. |
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5-5-2016 Show
film director and producer and a Crime Beat contributor to the ArtistFirst Radio Network. Mr. Shaquel will discuss his new documentary, Black Girls Die Too: The Back Page Murders. Backpage is an online classified portal, which has a lucrative and explicit sex ad section. Mr. Shaquel’s documentary investigates the section’s links to a wide range of crimes around the country, including the murder of several black women, commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking. |
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 4-28-2016
Show
authors of Shadow on the Mountain: Nancy Pfister, Dr. William Styler and the Murder of Aspen’s Golden Girl. The book investigates the case of Nancy Pfister, an Aspen, Colorado socialite who was found murdered on February 26, 2014, in a walk-in closet of her secluded home in the Rocky Mountain. She had been beaten in the head with a hammer. William Styler III, who was renting the $4,000-a-month Pfiister home with his wife Nancy, confessed to the murder. Styler was sentenced to 20 years in jail and committed suicide in his prison cell in August, 2015 |
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 4-21-2016
Show
the author of I’m Not Really Guilty, the true story of the brutal 1979 contract murder of Mary Ruth Myers, the 27-month long investigation of that murder, and the prosecution of the three co-conspirators. It led to the longest murder trial in the history of Maryland. |
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 4-14-2016
Show
The Twiggs-Mays baby swap, which took place in Florida in 1978, has attracted huge media attention, including the popular TV movie “Switched at Birth”. Much of the reporting over the time focused on the Mays family side of the story. The book, the Baby Swap Conspiracy; The Shocking Truth Behind the Florida Case of Two Babies Switched at Birth by Loretta Schwartz-Nobel, is the first book tells the Twiggs side and suggests that the swap was no "accident" but a deliberate, unethical act. Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk interviews the subject of Nobel’s book, Regina Twiggs, one of the two mothers involved, to get new insight into this fascinating case. |
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 4-7-2016
ShowKai Bird Crime Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of Pulitzer Prize winner Kai Bird, the author of The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames. Mr. Bird’s compelling portrait of Robert Ames sheds light on the remarkable life and death of one of the most important operatives in CIA history. Indeed, as the Good Spy reveals, Ames is a man who, had he lived, might have helped heal the rift between Arabs and the West. In a review of the Good Spy, the New York Times wrote: “The Good Spy provides a fresh and grainy view of the rise of organizations like Hezbollah, and of figures like Osama bin Laden. It allows us to meet in Ames a quiet but strong personality, a man whose fundamental decency allowed him to see both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict clearly." |
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 3-31-2016
Show
discusses her book, Against the Tide: The Turbulent Times of a Black Entrepreneur. Against the Tide is the true story of Hansford C. Bayton, and book captures the fear and hardships faced by African Americans during a disturbing time in American history the post-Reconstruction period that led to the introduction of Jim Crow laws. Through hard work and determination, Hansford C. Bayton would rise from humble beginnings to become the captain and owner of five excursion and mail delivery steamboats that plied the Rappahannock River during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Unusual for an African American in a time of brutal segregation, Bayton would acquire wealth, as well as the respect of both blacks and whites. Nevertheless, his boats were burned one by one. But with each malicious burning, and with lynching on the rise, he would build again. |
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 3-24-2016
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will discuss his book, Empire of Deception, a fascinating tale of fraud and deception set mostly in Chicago during the Roaring Twenties. The book focuses on Leo Koretz, a lawyer and conman, who managed to bilk millions from mostly rich “investors” who thought they were getting entrée into oil and timber interests in Panama. Koretz could have taught Bernie Madoff a thing or two about being a financial conman. |
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 3-17-2016
Show
the author of Accused: My Fight for Truth, Justice, and the
Strength to Forgive. We will talk about Tonya’s incredible but
true story in which she survived false accusations that turned her
life upside down and that could easily have destroyed her. The
false accusations accused Tonya of child molestation. The trial
that followed dragged her reputation through the mud and lent
nationwide notoriety to her name. But Tonya Craft fought back and
justice was ultimately served. |
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3-10-2016 Show American prisons: (click to hear) Issues and solutions. We believe it’s a consensus of opinion in America that something is wrong with our prison system. So our topic is Prison reform. Issues and Solutions. Although the United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, it has almost 25 percent of the total prison population. A significant percentage of the more than 2 million Americans incarcerated today are nonviolent offenders African American men are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged with crimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms than white men found guilty of the same offenses. |
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3-3-2016
Show
the author of White Devil: The True Story of the First White Asian Crime Boss. White Devil tells the tale of John Willis, aka White Devil, the only white man to ever rise through the ranks in the Chinese mafia. Willis began as an enforcer, riding around with other gang members to “encourage” people to pay their debts. He soon graduated to even more dangerous work as a full-fledged gang member, barely escaping with his life on several occasions. Willis’ ruthless devotion to his adopted culture eventually led to him emerging as a leader. According to prosecutors, Willis was “the kingpin, organizer and leader of a vast conspiracy,” all within the legendarily insular and vicious Chinese mafia. |
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2-25-2016
Show
the author of Can’t Forgive: My 20-Year Battle with O.J. Simpson. Ms. Goldman is the sister of murder victim Ron Goldman. Famed football player turned actor O.J. Simpson was tried for Mr. Goldman’s murder in a criminal trial but acquitted of the murders. Later Simpson was found liable for Ron Goldman's death in a civil trial. For the past 18 years Ms. Goldman has been victims’ advocate, traveling the country as a public speaker on victims’ rights, the role of the media, judicial reform, and other related topics.
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2-11-2016 Show
Lost Airmen of which Buchenwald, directed and produced
by Mike Dorsey. The a documentary that chronicles the little-known story of
Allied airmen imprisoned at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in the waning
months of World War II. |
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2-4-2016
Show
discusses her new book, Kathryn Kelley: The Moll behind Machine Gun Kelley. The book focuses on one of the fascinating eras in American crime: the 1930’s, an era that produced some of the most violent crimes known in the history of the United States. Fed by need and greed during the era of Prohibition, some of the notorious criminals included women, one of which became a legend in her own right for establishing the feared persona of her husband—Machine Gun Kelly. Her name: Kathryn Kelly. Kelly made a career of crime. With a lust for danger, she masterminded the crimes that took her and her husband, and others who included her own mother and step-father, on a spree across Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas. |
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 1-28-2016
Show
This week’s Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk radio show
marks its fifth anniversary. Today, as the biggest show of its kind in Wi-Fi
radio, Crime Beat airs in more 140 countries. In recognition of this special
milestone, the featured guest will be Matthew Dunn, international
best-selling |
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 1-21-2016
Show
This week’s Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk, will
feature the show’s host Ron Chepesiuk who will be interviewed by Scott Z,
Producer and Host, Artist first Radio, about his new book, Crazy Charlie:
Revolutionary or Neo Nazi. The book chronicles the story of Carlos
Lehder. a member of Colombia’s Medellin Cartel who revolutionized the Latin
American drug trade in the way drug traffickers smuggled drugs to the U.S.,
the world’s biggest illicit drug market . .
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Also on the show is Ron Fino, author of The Triangle Exit, who will discuss his recent work as a crime investigator and current developments in international l crime |
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 1-14-2016
Show
the author of The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Shepard Murder Case. Until O.J. Simpson’s sensational murder trial exploded on the national scene, Sam Shepard was the most famous person in U.S. history to be acquitted of murder. For starters it precipitated a popular television series (The Fugitive), two hit films and the federal appeals case that made F. Lee Bailey famous. In 1954, Shepard’s wife Marilyn was brutally murdered in their Cleveland suburban home. Shepard was convicted and spent nearly ten years in prison before a re-trial found him innocent. In his book, The Wrong Man, investigative journalist James Neff makes a compelling case for Shepard’s innocence and offers a plausible alternative to Dr. Sam Sheppard as the killer. |
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 12-17-2015
Show
an investigative journalist who will discuss his book, The Spy's Son: The True Story of the Highest-Ranking CIA Officer Ever Convicted of Espionage and the Son He Trained to Spy for Russia. The book chronicles the story of Jim Nicholson, a CIA case officer, who led a double life as a spy for Russia, turning over troves of classified documents. In 1997, Nicholson became the highest ranking CIA officer ever convicted of espionage. But his treason didn’t end there. While behind the bars, the former mole systematically groomed the one person he trusted most to serve as his stand-in: his youngest son, Nathan. |
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 12-10-2015
Show
the authors of Crooked Brooklyn: Corrupt Judges, Dirty Politicians, Killers and Body Snatchers. Mike Vecchione was chief of the Rackets Division in the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, which was the largest urban prosecution agency in the country. As chief, Vecchione grappled with organized crime and dirty politicians, during which he supervised, investigated, and prosecuted major felony cases. Crooked Brooklyn recounts Mr. Vecchione’s experiences dealing with corruption, greed and law enforcement. |
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 12-3-2015 Show
This week’s Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk radio show welcomes Richard
Muti, who will discuss his timely new book Cent’Anni: The Sinatra Legend
at 100. This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the birth of Frank
Sinatra, perhaps the 20th century’s most fascinating entertainers. Muti will
discuss the forces, both positive and negative, that made Sinatra a legend,
including his relationship with the Mafia. |
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 11-26-2015
Show
Steven Leroy Jackson, the author of Gangsters of Virtue: The Wise Sorrowful Hearts. In a command appearance, Jackson will discuss his compelling book , which deals largely the life and times of his father Lawrence Slippery Jackson Washington DC's first Black Mafia crime boss. Steven Jackson will also have a lot to say about drugs, the black community and the War on Drugs. |
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 11-19-2015 Show
The new face of urban crime fiction.
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 11-12-2015 Show This week Crime Beat radio welcomes noted journalist T.J. English, who will discuss his latest book, Where the Bodies Were Buried: Whitey Bulger and the World that made him. Whitey Bulger is now one of the famous gangsters in American history. He was a prominent figure in Boston's organized crime scene from the 1970s until the mid-'90s, when he fled the area and became a fugitive. Captured in 2011, he was later found guilty of federal racketeering, extortion, conspiracy and 11 counts of murder. In Where the Bodies Were Buried, T.J. English offer a fresh look of at Bulger story and the decades-long culture of collusion between the Feds and the Irish and Italian mob factions that have ruled New England since the 1970s when a fateful deal left the FBI fatally compromised. English looks at Bulger’s own understanding of his relationship with the FBI and his alleged immunity deal, and illuminates how gangsterism, politics, and law enforcement have continued to be intertwined in Boston. |
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11-05-2015 Show Mike Dorsey (left) and Greg Kading (right) The new documentary, Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders and features Mike Dorsey, the documentary’s director and Greg Kading, the lead detective on the investigation of the murders and one of the documentary’s principle sources of information. The murders of rap artists Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls in late 1996 and early 1997 are two of the most notorious unsolved cases in the history of American crime. They have been the subject of exhaustive investigations, relentless speculation, and a web of conspiracy theories and dark secrets. Using invaluable information sourced from hundreds of police case files, as well as taped confessions never before shown on film, and interviews with Kading and other witnesses, Murder Rap tells the story behind these sensational cases and provides a riveting account of the task force that worked to expose the shocking truth behind the deaths of these two rap music icons. |
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 10-29-2015 Show Pulitzer Prize winner journalist with the Washington Post. Crime Beat will discuss Hoffman's best-selling book, The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal. The Billion Dollar Spy tells the story of Adolph Tolkachev, an engineer in a Soviet military design bureau, who used his high-level access to hand over tens of thousands of pages of technical secrets. His revelations allowed America to reshape its weapons systems to defeat Soviet radar on the ground and in the air, giving the United States near total superiority in the skies over Europe. Indeed, Tolkachev was one of the most valuable spies to work for the United States in the four decades of global confrontation with the Soviet Union. |
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 10-22-2015 Show discusses his new book, Vendetta: Bobby Kennedy versus Jimmy Hoffa. From 1957 to 1964, Robert Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa channeled nearly all of their considerable powers into destroying each other. Kennedy's battle with Hoffa burst into the public consciousness with the 1957 Senate Rackets Committee hearings and intensified when his brother named him attorney general in 1961. RFK put together a "Get Hoffa" squad within the Justice Department, devoted to destroying one man. But Hoffa, with nearly unlimited Teamster funds, was not about to roll over. The battle royal was the political version of Ali versus Frazier. |
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10-15-2015
Show
New York Times best-selling author of Avenue of Spies: A True Story of
Terror, Espionage, and One American Family’s Heroic Resistance in
Nazi-Occupied Paris. Avenue of Spies chronicles the incredible true
story of Sumner Jackson, an American doctor in Paris, and his heroic
espionage efforts during World War II. Jackson lived with his wife and young
son Phillip at Number 11, Avenue de Foch, one of the most exclusive
residential streets in Nazi-occupied France, but also Paris’s hotbed of
daring spies, murderous secret police, amoral informers, and Vichy
collaborators. From his office at the hospital where he worked, Jackson
risked everything by defying Hitler and smuggling fallen Allied fighter
pilots safely out of France. |
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10-8-2015 Show Robert Edward Forchion (aka NJWeedman) joins us for his second appearance.. NJWeedman, is a cannabis activist and a perennial candidate for various New Jersey elected offices. He identifies himself as a member of the Legalize Marijuana Party and campaigns primarily on the single issue of cannabis legalization. Forchion has done various stunts to bring attention to cannabis legalization, including smoking cannabis in front of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia as well as attempting to legally change his name to NJWeedman.
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 10-1-2015 Show an associate and former close friend of John Gotti and his son, and the subject of George Anastasia’s book, Gotti’s Rules The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti and the Demise of the American Mafia . An Albanian-American from Queens, New York, the4 charismatic Alite was an unlikely ally to the Gottis and the Italian mob, but with his street smarts he was eventually recruited to be Junior Gotti's protector and muscle. For decades Alite worked as an enforcer, drug dealer, and killer for Junior Gotti and his infamous father. |
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 9-17-2015 Show investigative journalist Gerald Posner, who is no stranger to the show. Gerald is a Crime Beat Contributor to the Artist First Radio Network and has been on our show to discuss a variety of subjects he has researched, including The JFK and Martin Luther King assassinations and the story of Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele. He is currently riding the wave of a New York Times best-seller, God’s Bankers, an investigation of the Vatican’s Finances. Gerald will bring us up to date on that book. We will also be discussing the War on Terrorism. The two books of Gerald Posner we will be discussing tonight are Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9-11 and Secrets of the Kingdom: The Inside Story of the Secret Saudi-US connection. |
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9-10-2015 Show A panel of crime experts will discuss the intriguing question: Is the American Mafia finished? They include Chris Cipollini, author of Murder Inc., Alex Hortis, author of The Mob and the City, and David Amoruso, owners of Gangstersinc, the biggest crime web site on the Internet. The American Mafia, an Italian-American organized-crime network with
operations in cities across the United States, particularly New York and
Chicago, is the most famous crime organization in America. It rose to power
through its success in the illicit liquor trade during the 1920s Prohibition
era and then moved into other criminal ventures, from drug trafficking to
illegal gambling, while also infiltrating labor unions and legitimate
businesses such as construction and New York’s garment industry. Beginning
in the 1970s, the U.S. government used anti-racketeering laws to weaken the
mafia and convict and imprison many of high ranking members. At one time the
Mafia adhered to Omerta, a strict code of silence, but today even its
godfathers sing like canaries for the law. Today, the American Mafia is
shell of its formal self. |
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 9-3-15
ShowTamiko Lowry-Pugh & Dee Dawkins-Haigler This week’s Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk radio show focuses on the international crime problems of sex trafficking and domestic violence. Feature guests are Tamiko Lowry-Pugh, the author of Wounds to Wisdom: I’m Still Standing, and founder of the Still Standing Foundation, an organization providing positive outlet for survivors of domestic violence, and Dee Dawkins-Haigler, Georgia State Representative and Chair of Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. |
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8-20-15
Show
art expert, who will talk about his book, The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, frauds and Forgeries in the Art World. The book tells the stories of some of history’s most notorious yet untold cons. They involve stolen art hidden for decades; elaborate ruses that involve the Nazis and allegedly plundered art; the theft of a conceptual prototype from a well-known artist by his assistant to be used later to create copies; the use of online and television auction sites to scam buyers out of millions; and other confidence scams incredible not only for their boldness but more so because they actually worked. |
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 8-13-15
ShowSteve Jackson and Peter Sarandinaki discuss their forthcoming book, FINDING ANASTASIA. The book
chronicles the fascinating story of the authors’ trek to Russia to search
for the remains of last tsar of Russia, the grand duke Mikhail Alexandrovich,
the brother of Tsar Nicholas II. The czar was a member of the Romanoff
family, and he, along with other members of his family, were murdered in
June 1918 by Bolshevik revolutionaries. |
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8-6-15
Show
talks about his book, The Witness: A Tale of the Life and Death of Mafia Mad Man. Witness is the compelling account of the hard and fast life of an "up-and-coming star" within the Mafia ranks as a member of the Gambino crime family, the downward spiral created by his addiction to drugs, and his spiritual rebirth spurred by the heart-wrenching plea of his little girl. Join us as we talk about Robert Borelli’s powerful story. |
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7-30-15
Show
Anthony DeStefano discusses his new book, Gangland New York—The Places and Faces of History. From the Bowery Boys and the Five Points Gang through the rise of the Jewish “Kosher Nostra” and the ascendance of the Italian Mafia, mobsters have played a major role in the New York City’s history. Some of the biggest names in crime history-- Bill “the Butcher” Poole, Paul Kelly, Monk Eastman, “Lucky” Luciano, Carlo Gambino, Meyer Lansky, Mickey Spillane, John Gotti, for example—each held sway over New York neighborhoods that nurtured them and gave them power. As families and factions fought for control, the city became a backdrop for crime scenes, the rackets spreading after World War II to docks, airports, food markets, and garment districts. The streets of Brooklyn, swamps of Staten Island, and vacant lots near LaGuardia Airport hosted assassinations and hasty burials for the unlucky. |
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7-23-15
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 7-16-15Vito Colucci This week we have Vito Colucci, noted private investigator and author of Rogue Town. the true story of Stamford, Connecticut, a city that from 1965 through 1985 was under the stranglehold of organized crime and run by corrupt officials. At that time, Stamford was known as one of the most corrupt cities in the country. Disgusted by what was happening in his home town, Stamford police officer Vito Colucci vowed he would do whatever it took to bring the corruption to light. It was a decision that eventually placed him in an undercover role, wearing a wire to gather evidence against senior officers in the Stamford Police Department, and nearly cost him his life. Join us for a great show. |
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 7-2-15Tonight’s Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk show features two guests. To hear show, click here The first, Dana Owen, is the author of
Shotgunned, The Long Ordeal of a Wounded Cop Seeking Justice.
Shotgunned is a true crime thriller that tells the story of a
Massachusetts Police Officer who is shot in the line of duty. The officer is
left for dead and fights for his life. This story is very personal to Dana
Owen, because he was that Police Officer! Michael Schlossberg, our second
guest, will discuss his book, Tweets or Consequences: 60 Social Media
Disasters and How You Can Avoid a Career-Ending Mistake. Tweets and
Consequences analyzes real world examples of elected officials and
government employees who committed major errors while using social media,
assesses the end result for the politician in question and provides the
lessons to be learned. The book is a must read for anyone involved in
politics or social media, or who is just looking for a good chuckle.
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 Second Guest: To hear show, click here
Mike Schlossberg Author of Tweets and Consequences 60 Social Media Disasters in Politics and How You Can Avoid Career Ending Mistakes |
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 6-25-15
New York Times best-Selling Author discusses her latest book: The Stranger She Loved His Beautiful Wife, and an Almost Perfect Murder
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 6-18-15
the author of Nat Turner: Anything for Freedom, an analysis of one of the most explosive events in American history: the Nat Turner slave rebellion. Nathanial “Nat” Turner (1800-1831) was a black American slave who led the only effective, sustained slave rebellion (August 1831) in U.S. history. Turner's rebellion spread terror throughout the white South and led to a new wave of oppressive legislation against African Americans that lasted until the American Civil War (1861–65). Turner's actions remain controversial today. Was Nat Turner a terrorist or a freedom fighter?
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 6-11-15
the New York Times bestselling author of the spy thriller Six Days of the
Condor, which became the popular Robert Redford movie, Three Days Of The
Condor. Grady's new novel is Last Days of the Condor. Grady, whom John
Grisham hails as "a master of intrigue," is an American Edgar nominee, and a
winner of the France's Grand Prix Du Roman Noir and Italy's Raymond Chandler
award. The multitalented Grady is also a screenwriter and investigative
journalist. |
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6-4-15
Carlos Toro, boyhood friend of drug kingpin Carlos Lehder. who, at Lehder’s invitation, joined the drug trade as a “public relations” representative in the early 1980s. Toro handled bribes, political payoffs and money laundering for the Medellin Cartel during its most powerful period. After Lehder’s was busted and Pablo Escobar put a price on Toro’s head, Toro became an undercover operative for DEA for several years. It’s going to be another dynamic show.
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 5-28-15
Jon D’Amore, author of The Boss Always Sits in the Back. Through Jon
D’Amore’s eyes and from the words of his Godfather, an underboss who told
his story before he died, The Boss Always Sits In The Back reveals the
demise of the mobsters who ran northern New Jersey. This isn't just another
mob story. It's a suspenseful, exciting and entertaining account of one of
the greatest scams to hit Las Vegas…a scam that's never been exposed
before…one that changed history and gambling laws across America forever!
Stay tuned for another great show. |
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 5-21-15
Gavin Schmitt, the author of The Milwaukee Mafia: Mobsters in
the Heartland. The Milwaukee Mafia is a long overdue assessment of the
substantial role of Milwaukee underworld figures in the evolution of
American organized crime. Gavin Schmitt relies on previously unseen police
reports, FBI investigative notes, coroner's records, newspaper articles,
family lore and more to bring to light an era of Milwaukee's history that
has been largely undocumented and shrouded in myth. |
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 5-14-15
Tonight we have rapper LA Sno and Caliph Shaquel, co-authors of Rhymes to Riches: Robbed by Bitches. The book chronicles LA Snow’s fascinating life story and his experiences with and battles against the corruption in the music industry. LA Snow’s rap single Dazzey Duks, was an instant smash in 1993, eventually selling more than 18 million copies internationally and peaking at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The single was certified Double Platinum on January 27, 1994 ink by the RIAA. Their album, Dazzey Duks, was certified gold on the same date. |
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 5-7-15
Meili Cady, the author of Smoke How a Small-Town Girl Accidentally Wound Up Smuggling 7,000 Pounds of Marijuana with the Pot Princess of Beverly Hills. Smoke is an electrifying tale of vice, corruption, hubris, and lost innocence. It’s the story of aspiring actress Meili Cady who left small-town Washington State for the glamorous lure of Los Angeles and got sucked up into a bold criminal enterprise. Young and alone, and struggling to make her big break, Meili met Lisette Lee and became her friend and personal assistant. Lee called herself the "Korean Paris Hilton" and claimed she was a model and a Korean pop star. She lived in a $1.2-million-dollar apartment in West Hollywood, owned a fleet of luxury cars, and flitted from one red-carpet event to the next. Meili was mesmerized. But Lisette Lee was also a con artist and drug queen pin who smuggled millions of dollars worth of pot into the Midwest. Meili eventually realized she was in too deep, but it was too late. Join us as another fascinating Crime Beat radio guest recounts her amazing story. |
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 4-30-15Alex Hortis This week's guest is Alex Hortis, the author of The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia captured New York. Alex Hortis's first full-length book is devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s. Based on exhaustive research of archives and secret files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, author and attorney C. Alexander Hortis draws on the deepest collection of primary sources, many newly discovered, of any history of the modern mob. Hortis shatter myths and reveals how Cosa Nostra actually obtained power at the inception. The author goes beyond conventional who-shot-who mob stories, providing answers to fresh questions. Jon us for a great show. |
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 4-16-15
(2 Guests)First on the show is William Northrop, author of Spook War: A Memoir from the Trench, a book about espionage and the Middle East. |
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second guest is
Carl Senna, co-author of Never Arrested, Never Convicted,
a memoir of Boston native Marvin Clark relates in which Clark relates
what it was like to have lived on the edge as drug dealer while experiencing
some of the seminal events of American history. What a great show! |
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 4-9-15
This week’s Crime Beat radio show focuses on the life and legend of Ike
Atkinson, who is the focus of host Ron Chepesiuk’s book, Sergeant Smack.
Leslie “Ike” Atkinson was an adventurer, gambler and one of U.S. history’s
most original gangsters. Under the cover of the Vietnam War and through the
use of the U.S. military infrastructure, Atkinson masterminded an
enterprising group of family members and former African American GIs that
the DEA identified as one of history’s ten top drug trafficking rings. Ike’s
organization moved heroin from Thailand to North Carolina and beyond. The
movie “American Gangster” largely fabricated the relationship between Ike
and Frank Lucas. Ike Atkinson died on November 11, 2014. |
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4-2-15
Crime Beat Contributor to the ArtistFirst Radio Network, who will discuss
his book, Murder Inc: Mysteries of the Mob's Most Deadly Hit Squad..
Murder Inc. was the most unusual, brutal and extensive collection of
characters the American underworld had ever produced. Culled primarily from
Brooklyn's Brownsville and Ocean Hill sections, these official on-call
killers of New York's larger crime Syndicate were a unified force of Jewish
and Italian gangsters that treated murder as an art form for an entire
decade. |
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3-26-15 Caliph Shaquel, director of the documentary, "Unfortunate: What Really Happened to Kendrick Johnson." Also on the show will be the parents of Kendrick Johnson. On January 11, 2013, Kendrick Johnson's body was found in a rolled up wrestling mat in the gymnasium of Lowndes High School, Valdosta, Georgia, USA, where he was a student. Local authorities did a preliminary investigation and autopsy and concluded that the death was accidental. Not satisfied, Johnson's family had a private pathologist conduct another autopsy, which concluded that Johnson died from blunt force trauma. On October 31, 2013, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia announced that the office would open a formal review into Johnson's death. Kendrick Johnson's family have since filed a $100 million civil lawsuit in the Superior Court of DeKalb County against 38 individuals.
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3-19-15 2-Guests: (click names)
On the show is David Amoruso, founder and owner of the Gangstersinc web site, the largest crime-related site on the web. Join us! |
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Craig McGuire, author of Beyond the Ides: Why March is the Unluckiest Month of All. What do Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan all have in common? HINT: They share the same fateful phenomenon that afflicted the Titanic, the Deepwater Horizon, Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Facility, the Exxon Valdez and so many more. From John Belushi to John Candy, Sharon Tate to Watergate, countless ill-fated pop stars, politicians and personalities also suffered tragically from this eerie link. Give up? They all fell victim to sudden, sick twists of epic bad luck during the third month of the year, sending them spinning off into catastrophic disaster — proof that March is, and always has been, the unluckiest month of all. Just ask Julius Caesar. |
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 3-12-15
This week's Crime Beat radio show features street legend Azie Faison.
Azie was a ninth grade dropout who earned more than $100,000 a week selling
cocaine in Harlem, New York, during the peak of America's "War on Drugs"
between 1983 and 1990. His legacy has been recognized by hip-hop's top names
in their lyrics, and his life was the basis for the urban cult classic film
Paid in Full starring Mekhi Phifer, Wood Harris, and rapper Cam'ron and
produced by Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Films. In Game Over, Azie brings forth a
powerful memoir of New York's perilous drug underworld and music industry,
and he challenges the street culture he knows so very well. Azie will
discuss his life, the drug game, street culture and his new documentary on
Rich Porter. Join us! |
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 3-5-15
Crime Beat welcomes Kevin Deutsch, the author of The Triangle: A Year
on the Ground with New York's Bloods and Crips. The Triangle refers to
The Linden Triangle at Linden Avenue and Linden Place, Hempstead, Long
Island. The book tells the true story of one year in the life of a suburban
village-turned-war-zone and follows two warring gangs and the anti-violence
activists and police desperate to stop them. Author Kevin Deutsch is an
award-winning criminal justice reporter for Newsday. |
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2-26-15
Crime Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of noted journalist
George Anastasia, the author of a new book, Gotti's Rules: The Story of John
Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia., As the boss of
the Gambino crime family in New York City, John Gotti (1940-2002) became one
of the most famous mobsters in American history. He was known as the “Dapper
Don" for his expensive clothes and personality in front of news cameras. He
was later given the nickname "The Teflon Don" after three high-profile
trials in the 1980s resulted in his acquittal Anastasia’s book gives us a
very rare glimpse into the Gotti family, from an insider’s perspective
through the figure of John Alite, who was Gotti Jr.’s friend and protector.
Tune in for a great show. |
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2-19-15
This week's Crime Beat with Ron Chepesiuk radio show features investigative journalist Gerald Posner who will discuss his book, God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican. The best-selling book traces the political intrigue and inner workings of the Catholic Church. Decidedly not about faith, belief in God, or religious doctrine, this book is about the church’s accumulation of wealth and its byzantine entanglements with financial markets across the world. Told through 200 years of prelates, bishops, cardinals, and the Popes who oversee it all, Gerald Posner uncovers an eyebrow-raising account of money and power in perhaps the most influential organization in the history of the world. The New York Times hails the book as a "deeply reported, fast-paced exposé of the money and the cardinals-turned-financiers at the heart of the Vatican—the world’s biggest, most powerful religious institution—from an acclaimed journalist with “exhaustive research techniques." Join us for an exciting hour of discussion.. |
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2-12-15
author of the Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for
Hitler's Men America's connection to World War II did not end with the
defeat of Nazi Germany. Thousands of Nazis — from concentration camp guards
to high-level officers in the Third Reich — came to the United States after
World War II and quietly settled into new lives. They had little trouble
getting in. With scant scrutiny, many gained entry on their own as
self-styled war "refugees," their pasts easily disguised and their war
crimes soon forgotten. But some had help and protection from the U.S.
government. The CIA, the FBI, and the military all put Hitler's minions to
work as spies, intelligence assets, and leading scientists and engineers,
whitewashing their histories. Tune in for an eye-opening show. |
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2-5-15
Tonight's Guest is David Berg, the author of Run, Brother run: A
Memoir of a Murder in my family..In 1968, Charles Harrelson, a notorious
hit man and father of Woody Harrelson, was arrested for the murder of David
Berg’s brother, Alan. Alan was only thirty-one when he disappeared (David
was twenty-six) and for more than six months his family did not know what
had happened to him—until his remains were found in a ditch in Texas. There
was an eyewitness to the murder: Charles Harrelson’s girlfriend, who agreed
to testify. For his defense, Harrelson hired Percy Foreman, then the most
famous criminal lawyer in America. Despite the strong evidence against him,
Harrelson was acquitted. |
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 1-29-15
This week's Crime Beat program features Seth Ferranti, author of Gorilla
Convict: The Prison Writings of Seth Ferranti and other books. In 1993,
after spending two years as a top-15 fugitive on the US Marshal’s most
wanted list, he was captured and sentenced to 304 months under the federal
sentencing guidelines for an LSD kingpin conviction and committed to the
custody of the Attorney General. A first-time, non-violent offender, Seth
served 21 years of his 25 year mandatory minimum sentence. His case was
widely covered by The Washington Post and Washington Times, and his story
was profiled in the pages of Rolling Stone and Don Diva magazines. He is
currently out of federal prison and embarking on his career as a multi-media
content king. |
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 1-22-15
Steve Jackson |
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1-15-15 Gerald PosnerThis week's show features Gerald Posner, who will discuss his book, Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis, Tennessee, by a single assassin’s bullet. A career criminal named James Earl Ray was seen fleeing from a rooming house that overlooked the hotel balcony from where King was cut down. An international manhunt ended two months later with Ray’s capture. Though Ray initially pled guilty, he quickly recanted and for the rest of his life insisted he was an unwitting pawn in a grand conspiracy. In Killing the Dream, expert investigative reporter Gerald Posner reexamines Ray and the evidence, even tracking down the mystery man Ray claimed was the conspiracy’s mastermind. The New York Times described Killing the Dream, as “A superb book: a model of investigation, meticulous in its discovery and presentation of evidence, unbiased in its exploration of every claim. And it is a wonderfully readable book, as gripping as a first-class detective story.” It's going to be a great show. |
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 1-01-15
Mike Russell |
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12-18-14
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12-11-14
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12-4-14
Born in New Jersey, Todd Rafael Cimino grew up in Key Largo, Florida, in
the Florida Keys. He is an American writer and film producer and is the
youngest member of the Cimino Family of American film producers. He has
been credited contributing to such films as
Lost in
Translation
(2003) ,
A Love Song for Bobby Long
(2004) , and
The Other Boleyn Girl
(2008) and the television series Miami Vice (1984-90) and
Studio 60 on
the Sunset Strip
(2006). He has been a writer for the Bill Maher show. Cimino has also
authored the best-selling "Mid Ocean"
and "Table 21" and collaborated with legendary former drug dealer
George Jung on the book "Heavy".
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 11-20-14
author of A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer As the Nazi war machine caused death and destruction throughout Europe, one man in the Fatherland began his own reign of terror.. For all appearances, Paul Ogorzow was a model German. An employed family man, party member, and sergeant in the infamous Brownshirts, he had worked his way up in the Berlin railroad from a manual laborer laying track to assistant signalman. But he also had a secret need to harass and frighten women. Ogorzow's crimes grew more and more horrific. He escalated from simply frightening women to physically attacking them, eventually raping and murdering them. Beginning in September 1940, he started casually tossing their bodies off the moving train. Though the Nazi party tried to censor news of the attacks, the women of Berlin soon lived in a state of constant fear. Tonight ,Scott Andrew Selby talks about true story of the pursuit of a serial killer in the heart of the Third Reich. |
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CRIME BEAT'S 200TH SHOW!
author of The Bank Holiday Murders: The True Story of the First White Chapel Murders. Jack the Ripper is the best known name given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. He's probably the most famous serial killer in history. The history books show five women are generally attributed to this infamous killer, but women were being murdered in the weeks before his murderous spree is believed to have begun. What about some of these victims suggests they could have met their end by his hand as well. So what clues can be gleaned by looking into their histories and movements in Whitechapel? Are we any closer to discovering the identity of the brutal killer Jack the Ripper? Tom Wescott is a leading expert in a field know as Ripperology that is, the study of the infamous serial Jack the Ripper, and, tonight, he shares his research.
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 11-6-14
author of Why We Love Serial Killers, The Curious Appeal of the World's Most Savage Murderers. In Why we love Serial Killers, criminology professor Dr. Scott Bonn explores our powerful appetite for the macabre, while also providing new and unique insights into the world of the serial killer, including those he has gained from his correspondence with two of the world’s most notorious examples, David Berkowitz (“Son of Sam”) and Dennis Rader (“Bind, Torture, Kill”). In addition, Bonn examines the criminal profiling techniques used by law enforcement professionals to identify and apprehend serial predators, he discusses the various behaviors—such as the charisma of the sociopath— that manifest themselves in serial killers, and he explains how and why these killers often become popular cultural figures. |
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 10-30-14
author of Killing the Messenger, How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine
Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb. Kill the Messenger tells the
story of the tragic death of Gary Webb, the controversial newspaper reporter
who committed suicide in December 2004. Webb is the former San Jose Mercury
News reporter whose 1996 "Dark Alliance" series on the so-called CIA-crack
cocaine connection created a firestorm of controversy and led to his
resignation from the paper amid escalating attacks on his work by the
mainstream media. |
  Rena Kopystenski & Charleen Davis |
10-23-14
author of An Unbelievable Life – The Woman Who Became the Vietnam Veterans' Voice Against Agent Orange, and Charleen Davis, who helped edit the book. An Unbelievable Life chronicles and investigates the shocking story and largely untold story of what the Vietnam Combat Veterans and their families had to endure upon the veterans return from the Vietnam War. The sad truth--Vietnam Vets found not only a country that did not welcome them home, but also, more importantly, ignored the symptoms and effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a disabling and debilitating disorder caused by the indiscriminate spraying of dioxin poisons during the war. Rena Kopystenski talks about her life and the Agent Orange issue. |
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 10-9-14
discusses his book, Gentlemen Bootleggers: The True Story of Templeton Rye, Prohibition, and a Small Town in Cahoots. During Prohibition, while Al Capone was rising to worldwide prominence as Public Enemy Number One, the townspeople of rural Templeton, Iowa—population just 428—were busy with a bootlegging empire of their own. Led by Joe Irlbeck, the whip-smart and gregarious son of a Bavarian immigrant, the outfit of farmers, small merchants, and even the church Monsignor worked together to create a whiskey so excellent it was ordered by name: Templeton Rye. |
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 10-2-14
Author of Boston Mob: The Rise and Fall of the New England Mob and Its Most Notorious Killer. Mark is a Boston-area journalist whose work has appeared in the Boston
Herald, the Boston Globe and numerous other major publications.
He is also the acclaimed author of The Lost Fleet, a chronicle of
Yankee whaling and disaster at sea. |
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 9-25-14
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 9-18-14
S Street Rising: Crack Murder and redemption in D.C. During the height of the crack epidemic that decimated the streets of D.C. in the early to mid '90s, Ruben Castaneda covered the crime beat for the Washington Post. He was a big success by all standards. The first in his family to graduate from college, he had landed a job at one of the country’s premier newspapers. But his apparent success masked a devastating secret: he was a crack addict. Even as he covered the drug-fueled violence that was destroying the city, he was prowling S Street, a 24/7 open-air crack market, during his off hours, looking for his next fix. Mr. Castaneda shares his powerful story with us. |
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 9-11-14
Joanne Drayton, author of The Search for Ann Perry: The Hidden Life of a Best Selling Crime Writer. It is an authorized, literary biography of noted crime writer Anne Perry. Perry is formerly known as Juliet Hulme, one of the murderers immortalized in the acclaimed film HEAVENLY CREATURES. Director Peter Jackson released the film HEAVENLY CREATURES in 1994. It's based on a famous 1950s matricide committed in New Zealand by two teenage girls embroiled in an obsessive relationship. This film launched Jackson's international career. It also forever changed the life of Anne Perry, an award-winning, bestselling crime writer, who at the time of the film's release was publicly outed as Juliet Hulme, one of the murderers. |
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 9-4-14
co-author of Blood Sport: Alex Rodriguez, Biogenesis, and the Quest to End Baseball's Steroid Era. On January 29th, 2013, an exposé by Miami New Times reporter Tim Elfrink caused a firestorm in the sports world. Elfrink revealed that a Miami clinic, Biogenesis, had been supplying illegal performance enhancing drugs – PEDs – to many of the nation’s top baseball stars. One name stood out among all the others: Alex Rodriguez, the highest-earning player in the game. Rodriguez is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. During his 20-year career, Rodriguez has amassed staggering statistics. However, he has led a highly controversial career due to his lucrative contracts and his use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Tonight we chat with Tim Elfrink and learn more about this explosive story. |
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 8-28-14
(r) legendary drug trafficker whose life was depicted in the movie Blow by Johnny Depp, (l) appears on Crime Beat in his first radio interview since his recent release from prison. Tonight we have former and still legendary drug dealer George Jung. George's Story was told in the book BLOW: How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All and the movie Blow, which starred Johnny Depp as George. George Jung was released from prison on June 2, 2014 after serving nearly 20 years for drug-smuggling. He has a new book coming out title "Heavy" and we will talk about it. George Jung is joining us for what will be his first radio interview since his release. |
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8-14-14 Ronald J. Sales aka "Joey The Needle" Crime Beat's featured guest this evening is Ronald J. Sales (AKA Joey the Needle), the author of Joey the Needle. Sales ran a 20-year illegal anabolic steroid operation, part of an international drug ring that shipped in drugs from Ukraine and China that was easily the largest in Iowa. He was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison in Pennsylvania for distribution and money laundering in a ring that involved tens of thousands of doses of anabolic steroids. Steroids is a big problem in sports and big problem among our youth, especially here in America. Tonight we talk to Sales and go inside steroid trafficking to learn what it's all about. |
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8-7-14 Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalists: Wendy Ruderman (Left) Barbara Laker (right) Busted is the shocking true story of the biggest police corruption scandal in Philadelphia history. It's a tale of drugs, power, and abuse involving a rogue narcotics squad, a confidential informant, and two veteran journalists, In 2003, Benny Martinez became a Confidential Informant for a member of the Philadelphia Police Department's narcotics squad, helping arrest nearly 200 drug and gun dealers over seven years. But that success masked a dark and dangerous reality: the cops were as corrupt as the criminals they targeted. Busted chronicles how journalists Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker —both middle-class working mothers—formed an unlikely bond with Martinez, a convicted street dealer, to uncover the secrets of ruthless kingpins and dirty cops. Ruderman and Laker, whose reporting drove a full-scale FBI probe, rocked the City of Brotherly Love and earned them a Pulitzer Prize. |
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 7-31-14Burl Barer Burl Barer is a Edgar Award winning author and two-time Anthony Award nominee with extensive media, advertising, marketing, and public relations experience. Garnering accolades for his creative contributions to radio, television, and print media, Barer's career has been highlighted in The Hollywood Reporter, London Sunday Telegraph, New York Times, USA Today, Variety, Broadcasting, Electronic Media, and ABC's Good Morning America. Barer is a frequent commentator on numerous television programs seen world wide, including "Deadly Sins," "Deadly Women," "Motives and Murders" "Snapped" "Scorned," "Behind Mansion Walls" and Hart Fisher's AMERICAN HORRORS channel via Filmon.TV Burl Barer hosts the award winning Internet radio show, TRUE CRIME UNCENSORED with co-host, show business legend Howard Lapides, on Outlawradiousa.com, and TRUE CRIME CLASSICS with famed attorney Don Woldman. |
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 7-24-14Chris Cipollini This week's Crime Beat show features Chris Cipollini, author of Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangster Legend. Charles “Lucky” Luciano is one of the most researched, discussed and dissected American mobsters of all time. His name has become synonymous with New York City’s high drama gangland days of prohibition bootlegging, the formation of the infamous five families, and controversy over his alleged ‘Last Testament’. Yet, there exist many fascinating and lurid tales and theories regarding Lucky’s rise and fall from the mob’s top spot. Now in his new book, Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangland Legend, journalist Chris Cipollini, for first time ever, focuses exclusively on some of the mysteries major surrounding Charles "Lucky" Luciano, one of the biggest organized crime figures in history. |
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7-17-14 Catherine Pelonero Crime Beat is please to announce the appearance of Catherine Pelonero, who
will discuss her new book, Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder
and Its Private Consequences. Pelonero's fascinating book deals with the
horrific and infamous murder of Kitty Genovese, a young woman stalked and
stabbed on the street where she lived in Queens, New York in 1964. The case
sparked national outrage when the New York Times revealed that dozens of
witnesses had seen or heard the attacks on Kitty Genovese and her struggle
to reach safety but had failed to come to her aid—or even call police until
after the killer had fled.Based on six years of research, Catherine Pelonero’s book presents the facts from the police reports, archival material, court documents, and first-hand interviews. Pelonero offers a personal look at Kitty Genovese, an ambitious young woman viciously struck down in the prime of her life; Winston Moseley, the killer who led a double life as a responsible family man by day and a deadly predator by night; the consequences for a community condemned; and others touched by the tragedy.
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7-10-14 Kai Bird Crime Beat
is pleased to announce the appearance of Pulitzer Prize winner Kai Bird, the
author of The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames. Mr. Bird’s
compelling portrait of Robert Ames sheds light on the remarkable life and
death of one of the most important operatives in CIA history. Indeed, as the
Good Spy reveals, Ames is a man who, had he lived, might have helped heal
the rift between Arabs and the West. In a review of the Good Spy, the New York Times wrote: “The Good Spy provides a fresh and grainy view of the rise of organizations like Hezbollah, and of figures like Osama bin Laden. It allows us to meet in Ames a quiet but strong personality, a man whose fundamental decency allowed him to see both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict clearly." |
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7-3-14 Marcus Valdespino  The White
Boy Confessions is the powerful autobiography of Marcus Valdespino and
deals with gang life and violence in San Antonio and such controversial
subjects as race relations, poverty, and interracial crime. The first 29
years of Valdespino's was compelling and tragic. He witnessed his father's
drug dealing to high profile people and Marcus, unfortunately followed in
his footsteps. Valdespino's story shows the worst of humanity and is
chilling in its depiction of sex and violence and heartfelt, poignant and
sad in its betrayal of the rite of passage of a young person growing up in
this world.The White Boys Confessions is also extremely powerful in its social and political commentary. There are several layers of the story contained within it that are both frightening and humorous. All of Valdespino's story - the bad and the ugly - is in The White Boy Confessions. It is a story of not just survival but also redemption. |
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6-26-14 Mel Ayton  Tonight
we have Mel Ayton, author of Hunting the President: Threats, Plots and
Assassination Attempts--From FDR to Obama. In American history, four U.S.
Presidents have been murdered at the hands of an assassin. In each case the
assassinations changed the course of American history.But most historians have overlooked or downplayed the many threats modern presidents have faced, and survived. Author Mel Ayton sets the record straight in his new book Hunting the President: Threats, Plots and Assassination Attempts—From FDR to Obama, telling the sensational story of largely forgotten—or never-before revealed—malicious attempts to slay America’s leaders. |
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6-19-13 Jeff Guinn  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance Jeff Guinn, author of MANSON: THE
LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES MANSON. Jeff Guinn's book is the most
authoritative account ever written of how an ordinary juvenile delinquent
named Charles Manson became the notorious murderer whose crimes still shock
and horrify us today. More than forty years ago Charles Manson and his
mostly female commune killed nine people, among them the pregnant actress
Sharon Tate. Be sure to tune in Thursday September 26, 2013 at 8:00 p.m EST
where you will have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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6-12-14 Gerald Posner  noted
investigative journalist who will be talking about his books on Adolph
Hitler and the Third Reich: Mengele: The Complete Story and Hitler's
Children.:
Sons and Daughters of Leaders of the Third Reich Talk About Their Fathers
and Themselves.
In the past, Gerald Posner has been a freelance writer on investigative
issues for several news magazines, and a regular contributor to NBC, the
History Channel, CNN, FOX News, CBS, and MSNBC. In 2009 he was the Chief
Investigative Reporter for The Daily Beast. John Martin of ABC News
says "Gerald Posner is one of the most resourceful investigators I have
encountered in thirty years of journalism." Garry Wills, another noted
American writer, calls Posner "a superb investigative reporter," while
the Los Angeles Times dubs him "a classic-style investigative
journalist." Gerald Posner was on the show last Fall to talk about his
classic book on the John F. Kennedy Assassination: Case Closed.
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5-29-14 Alex Hortis This
week's guest is Alex Hortis, the author of The Mob and the City: The Hidden
History of How the Mafia captured New York. Alex Hortis's first full-length
book is devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the
Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s
through 1950s. Based on exhaustive research of archives and secret files
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, author and attorney C.
Alexander Hortis draws on the deepest collection of primary sources, many
newly discovered, of any history of the modern mob.Hortis shatter myths and reveals how Cosa Nostra actually obtained power at the inception. The author goes beyond conventional who-shot-who mob stories, providing answers to fresh questions. Jon us for a great show. |
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5-22-14 Vito Colucci This
week we have Vito Colucci, noted private investigator and author of Rogue
Town. the true story of Stamford, Connecticut, a city that from 1965 through
1985 was under the stranglehold of organized crime and run by corrupt
officials. At that time, Stamford was known as one of the most corrupt
cities in the country. Disgusted by what was happening in his home town, Stamford police officer Vito Colucci vowed he would do whatever it took to bring the corruption to light. It was a decision that eventually placed him in an undercover role, wearing a wire to gather evidence against senior officers in the Stamford Police Department, and nearly cost him his life. Join us for a great show. |
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5-15-14 Jerry Clark  Tonight
we have Ed Palatella and Jerry Clark, authors of Pizza Bomber: The Untold
Story of America's Most Shocking Bank Robbery. in the plot in any way. In late summer 2003, Pizza delivery man Brian Wells walked into an Erie, Pa., bank wearing a bomb attached to his neck by an elaborate, locked metal collar. He was also carrying a gun disguised as a walking cane. Cornered by police in a nearby parking lot after the robbery, Wells said that armed gunmen had locked the bomb around his neck and sent him into the bank. Police seized a multiple-page note full of instructions that told Wells to move swiftly to a variety of seemingly unrelated spots around the area or the bomb would detonate. "Why is nobody trying to come get this thing off me?" he yelled to authorities as he sat handcuffed near a police car. "I don't have enough time." He didn't. With a small crowd gathered that included curious media, the bomb exploded, blowing a hole through Wells' chest and killing him instantly. He was 46 years old. Thus began one of the strangest cases in FBI history, which Ed Palatella and Jerry Clark recount in their fascinating book. Tune in to Crime Beat to hear about this fascinating case. |
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5-08-14 Elliot Goldenberg This week's featured guest is Elliot Goldenberg, author of The Spy of David: The Strange Case of Jonathan Pollard and the Two Decade Battle to Win His Freedom. Winston Churchill's description of Stalinist Russia in 1939 - he called it a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma - easily could have been said about the case of Jonathan Jay Pollard, the U.S. Naval Intelligence analyst who, in March of 1987, received a mystifying life sentence for passing classified secrets to an American ally; Israel. Now, twenty-seven years later, the debate over America's most controversial spy has apparently once again been rekindled. Spy of David is an attempt to shed a bright light over a dark stain on both the American judicial system and our intelligence community, while, at the same time, solve a decades old puzzle - knowing that, for way too long, the truth surrounding this most gut-wrenching spy cases has remained hidden, blurred and obscured |
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 5-01-14Bruce Schneier This week we have Bruce Schneier, a world renowned expert on privacy and computer security issues and the author of 12 books, including Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust Society Needs to Survive. He is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and a program fellow at the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute. We will discuss a variety of issues including security on Internet, Eric Snowden and protecting your privacy in the cyber age. |
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4-24-14 Sandra Lansky  This
week we have Sandra Lansky, author of Daughter of the King: Growing Up in
Gangland Sandi Lansky Lombardo grew up the only daughter of mob boss Meyer
Lansky. Raised in upper-class Jewish splendor, first at the Majestic Hotel
and then at the Beresford, at finishing schools and fancy stables, Sandi was
the wild child of the late 40’s, the 50’s, and the early 60’s. She was the
Paris Hilton of her day, partying till dawn at El Morocco and the Stork
Club, dating the biggest celebrities of the era. She reveals it all in her
book. We are delighted to have Ms Lansky on the show. |
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4-17-14 Mike Russell This
week we have Mike Russell, author of Undercover Cop: How I brought down the
Real-Life Sopranos. Mike wrote the book with Patrick W. Picciarelli
Undercover Cop is the true story of Russell's undercover operation
infiltrating New Jersey's Genovese crime family. In the 1980s, New Jersey
state cop Mike Russell infiltrated the Genovese family in an undercover
operation that eventually led to the arrest of fifty-five members of the
crew. It's going to be a great show. |
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4-10-14 Ron Chepesiuk  Crime
Beat' welcomes its very own Ron Chepesiuk, author of 'Black Caesar: The Rise
and Disappearance of Frank Mathews, Kingpin' in a command appearance. Along
with Ron, we have Dave O'Flaherty and William Callahan who will discuss the
decades long mystery that still captivates the world of crime. More than
forty years ago, Frank Matthews jumped bail with a beautiful woman and a
reported $20 million and has never been seen again. Make sure to tune in
Thursday April 10, 2014 at 8 p.m. EST where you want to have a front-row
seat to this fascinating discussion. |
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4-3-14 MayCay Beeler  This
week we have MayCay Beeler, author of Buccaneer: The Provocative Odyssey of
Jack Reed, Adventurer, Drug Smuggler and Pilot Extraordinaire. Buccaneer is
the exciting, true crime tale of the life and times of Jack Carlton Reed, an
All-American boy turned drug smuggler, turned Robinson Crusoe, and then
infamous prison inmate. For the first time, Jack Reed through MayCay Beeler
discloses his extraordinary tabooed journey as a high flying international
cocaine smuggler and personal pilot for Carlos Lehder, partner to Pablo
Escobar, the drug kingpin founder of the Medellin Cartel. Reed flew drug
runs for Lehder’s cocaine transport empire based at Norman's Cay, a tiny out
island in the Bahamas. Having gained notoriety in the late 70s as a staging
point for drug smuggling, Norman's Cay was immortalized in Blow, a motion
picture starring Johnny Depp. In 1987 Reed landed in court as Lehder’s
codefendant in the longest running drug trial in U.S. history. Despite the
tempting opportunity offered by the prosecution, Reed refused to snitch on
Lehder. |
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3-27-14 Burl Barer  This
week's Crime Beat guest is Burl Barer, the author of true crime non-fiction
books, including Man Overboard: The Counterfeit Resurrection of Phi
Champagne, which was nominated for an Anthony Award by the World Mystery
Convention in the category of Best True Crime, Murder in the Family, Body
Count, Head Shot, Mom Said Kill, Fatal Beauty, and Broken Doll. Barer is
also author of The Saint: A Complete History in Print, Radio, Television,
and Film was first published in 1992 and republished in 2003. Barer received
a 1994 Edgar Award for the book. |
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3-20-14 Jay Dobyns  This
week's show features Jay Dobyns, the first federal agent to infiltrate the
inner circle of the outlaw Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. Listen to Dobyns
provide the inside story of the twenty-one-month operation that almost cost
him his family, his sanity, and his life. Getting shot in the chest as a
rookie agent, bartering for machine guns, throttling down the highway at 100
mph, and responding to a full-scale, bloody riot between the Hells Angels
and their rivals, the Mongols–these are just a few of the experiences of
Dobyns action-packed, hard-to-imagine-but-true story. |
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3-13-14 Bob Deasy  This
week's Crime beat radio show features Bob Deasy, author of Uncle Charlie: A
life Undercover with Killers, Kingpins, Bikers and Drug Lords.. In his
23-year career Mr. Deasy was the secret weapon behind some of the signature
crime busts in Canadian history. Infiltrating the Outlaws Motorcycle Club
and the Russian and Italian mobs, he also single-handedly set up
international import-export businesses, faked contract hit jobs and executed
one of the largest drug buys in OPP history. Stay tuned, folks b . You are
not going to want to miss |
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3-06-14 Tim Mahoney  Crime
Beat announces the appearance of Tim Mahoney, author of Secret Partners: Big
Tom Brown and the Barker Gang. Among the most dangerous criminals of the
public enemies era was a man who has long hidden in history’s shadows: Tom
Brown. In the early 1930s, while he was police chief of St. Paul, Minnesota,
Brown became a secret partner of the infamous Barker gang. He profited from
their violent crimes, he protected the gang from raids by the nascent
FBI—and while he did all this, the gangsters gunned down cops and citizens
in his hometown. Tune in Thursday, March 6/14 at 8:00 p.m.EST where you will have a front row seat to this fascinating story |
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2-27-14 |
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2-20-14 Adam Goldman  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Adam Goldman,
author of The Enemy Within: Inside NYPD"s Secret Spy Unit and Bin Laden's
final plot against America. Apuzzo and Goldman lift the veil of secrecy to
reveal the strengths and weaknesses of America's counterterrorism measures.
After 9/11, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly initiated an audacious
plan for the Big Apple: dispatch a vast network of plainclothes officers and
paid informants—called “rakers” and “mosque crawlers”—into Muslim
neighborhoods to infiltrate religious communities and eavesdrop on college
campuses. |
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2-13-14 Paul Scharff Crime Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Paul Scharff, author of Murder in McHenry County. What would you do if you received a phone call twenty eight years after your father s murder and a friend told you they finally knew who killed him? You would venture forward to bring the criminal to justice and clear the case. However, good guys aren't always the heroes and bad guys the villains. In his fascinating book, Paul Scharff brings this story to life as he rekindles his desire to bring his father's murderer to justice and as he is doing this he uncovers the truth of a justice system in the corrupted town of McHenry. |
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2-06-14 Frank Calabrese Jr.  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Frank Calabrese Jr. Mr. Calabrese will discusses his life
and book, titled, Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's son and the FBI
Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime family. We invite you to tune into
Crime Beat, on the Artistfirst World Radio Network along with 200,000
listeners world-wide. This will be your exclusive ticket for a front row
seat to this fascinating story. |
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1-30-14 Carl Russo Crime Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Carl Russo, author of The Sicilian Mafia: A true Crime Travel Guide. Since 2006 Carl Russo has photographed Mafia hotspots in Sicily: where the murders happened, where the godfathers lived, where their victims were buried. From the sun-baked fishing villages of Mediterranean to the darkest alleys of Palermo, western Sicily, Carl Russo chronicles over 100 meticulously researched tales of murder and mayhem. Make sure to tune in Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. EST where you'll have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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1-23-14 William Hryb and Al Bradley   This
week's Crime Beat radio show focuses on the life and disappearance of Jimmy
Hoffa. Discussing the topic will be Crime Beat co-host William Hryb, author
of the just published, Vanished: The Life and Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa,
and filmmaker Al Bradley, director of the documentary, "Who Killed Jimmy
Hoffa?" At his zenith, Teamster union leader, Jimmy Hoffa was reputed to be
more powerful that the president of the United States. But on July 30, 1975,
Hoffa vanished from the face of the earth. His disappearance remains one of
the most mysterious cold cases in crime history. Make sure to tune in
Thursday January 23, 2014 where you will have a front row seat to this
fascinating story. |
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1-16-14
Rose Banks and Cliff Stewart  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearances of Rose Banks and Cliff
Stewart, representatives of 'A Just Cause'. The group is a volunteer
organization established in 2005 by concerned citizens who were witness to a
federal criminal case that was grossly over-criminalized. After seeing how a
case can be misconstrued as criminal, and peoples' lives turned upside down,
A Just Causewas formed to fight abuse and misuse of power within the justice
system. Make sure to tune in this Thursday, Jan. 16/14 at 8 p.m. EST where
you want to have a front-row seat to this fascinating story. |
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1-09-14 Dan Moldea  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Mr. Dan Moldea, author of
Confessions of a Guerrilla Writer: Adventures in the Jungles of Crime,
Politics and Journalism. In his intriguing narrative, Moldea ventures behind
the scenes at the cases he has investigated. From the disappearance of
Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the
suicide of Vincent Foster and the criminal trial of O. J. Simpson, Dan
Moldea reconstructs what really happened. Make sure to tune in Thursday,
Jan. 9, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. EST where you'll have a front row seat to this
fascinating story. |
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1-02-14 Noam Chomsky  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Dr. Noam Chomsky, one of the
world’s most famous activists who will discuss U.S. foreign policy, human
rights and international crime. By the 1980's Noam Chomsky had become both
the most distinguished figure of American linguistics and one of the most
influential critics of American foreign policy. Chomsky is said to be the
most frequently-cited person alive, and one of
the eight most frequently-cited authors of all time. Its going to be timely
and fascinating broadcast - we invite you to tune in to Crime Beat on the
ArtistFirst World Radio Network on Thursday March 29, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST,
where you want to have a front row seat to the thoughts and wisdom of a true
icon of American politics. |
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12-26-13 Karen Gravano  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Karen Gravano,
star of the hit VH1 reality show, Mob Wives this Thursday, June 14, 2012 at
8 pm EST. In her 'best-selling' book titled 'Mob Daughter: The Mafia, Sammy
'the Bull' Gravano and Me' comes a revealing memoir of a mafia childhood, where love and
family come hand-in-hand with murder. This is
the story of a daughter’s struggle to reconcile the image of her loving
father with that of a murdering Mafioso, and how, in healing the rift
between the two, she was able to forge a new life. Make sure you mark it on
your calendar, where you will have a front row seat to this fascinating
story. |
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12-19-13 Patrick Nolan  Crime
Beat is privileged to announce the appearance of Patrick Nolan, author of
CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys: How and Why U.S. Agents
Conspired to Assassinate JFK and RFK. During the 1960s, on domestic soil,
the methods used by the CIA to protect their interests and themselves at the
expense of the American people were ruthless. In his fascinating narrative,
Patrick Nolan investigates the CIA’s involvement in the assassinations of
President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy—why the brothers
needed to die and how rogue intelligence agents orchestrated history’s most
infamous conspiracy. Make sure to tune in Thursday Dec. 19, 2013 at 8:00
p.m. EST where you will have a front row seat to this intriguing story. |
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 12-12-13Reed Albergotti and Vanessa O'Connel
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12-05-13 Matt Birkbeck  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Matt Birkbeck, author of
'The Quiet Don: The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino. Bufalino
was secretive - even reclusive ... he quietly built his organized crime
empire in the decades between Prohibition and the Carter presidency.
Birkbeck's narrative spans six decades, The Quiet Don follows Russell
Bufalino’s remarkably quiet ascent from Sicilian immigrant to mob soldier to
a man described by a United States Senate subcommittee in 1964 as “one of
the most ruthless and powerful leaders of the Mafia in the United States".
Be sure to tune in at 8:00 p.m. EST Thursday Dec. 5, 2013 where you'll a
front row seat to this fascinating story.” |
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11-28-13
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11-21-13 Anthony Summers  Crime
Beat is privileged to announce the appearance of Anthony Summers, author of
Not In Your Lifetime: The Defining Book on the JFK Assassination. Fifty
years on, most Americans still feel they have not been told the truth about
President Kennedy’s death. Millions of pages of assassination records were
made public in the late 1990s. Yet the CIA is withholding more than a
thousand documents under “national security”—until 2017. Be sure to tune in,
Thursday November 21, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. EST where you'll have a front row
seat to this fascinating story. |
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11-06-13 Roger Stone
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10-31-13 Gary Jenkins  Crime
Beat is excited to announce the appearance of Gary Jenkins, director and
producer of the award winning documentary titled, Gangland Wire: How the Mob
Lost Los Vegas. The film documents the rise and fall of Kansas City's River
Quay district, and the investigation that exposed Mafia influence over the
Teamsters International Union and Los Vegas casinos. Be sure to tune in
Thursday October 31, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. EST where you want to have a front
row seat to this fascinating story. |
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10-17-13 Mel Ayton and Michael Tona  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearances of Mel Ayton, author of
Justice Denied: Bermuda's Black Militants, the "Third Man" and the
Assassination of a Police Chief and Governor and Michael Tona, co-author of
DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime. The double bill can be heard live
at 8:00 p.m. EST, Thursday October 17, 2013 on the Artisfirst World Radio
Network. Make sure to tune in where you will have a front-row seat to their
fascinating stories. |
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10-10-13 Jerry Capeci and Tom Roberts  Crime
Beat is privileged to announce the appearance of Tom Robbins, co-author of
MOB BOSS:THE LIFE OF LITTLE AL D'ARCO, THE MAN WHO BROUGHT DOWN THE MAFIA.
Alfonso “Little Al” D'Arco, the former acting boss of the Luchese crime
family, was the highest-ranking mobster to ever turn government witness when
he flipped in 1991. His decision to flip prompted many others to make the
same choice, including John Gotti's top aide, Salvatore “Sammy the Bull”
Gravano. His testimony was responsible for sending more than fifty mobsters
to prison. Make sure to tune in this Thursday October 10, 2013, where you
will have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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10-03-13 Radley Balko  Crime
Beat is proud to announce the appearance of Radley Balko, author of 'Rise of
the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces'. The last
days of colonialism taught America's revolutionaries that soldiers in the
streets bring conflict and tyranny. According to investigative reporter
Radley Balko, over the last several decades, America's cops have
increasingly come to resemble ground troops. Radley Balko will discuss this
dangerous development and much more on Thursday Oct. 3, 2013 at 8:00 p.m.
EST. |
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9-26-13 Jeff Guinn Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance Jeff Guinn, author of MANSON:THE
LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES MANSON. Jeff Guinn's book is the most
authoritative account ever written of how an ordinary juvenile delinquent
named Charles Manson became the notorious murderer whose crimes still shock
and horrify us today. More than forty years ago Charles Manson and his
mostly female commune killed nine people, among them the pregnant actress
Sharon Tate. Be sure to tune in Thursday September 26, 2013 at 8:00 p.m EST
where you will have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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4-18-13 Stephan Talty  Crime
Beat is privileged to announce the appearance of Stephan Talty, author of
Agent Garbo: The Brilliant , Eccentric Secret Agent who Tricked Hitler and
Saved D-Day... Before he remade himself as the master spy known as Garbo,
Juan Pujol was nothing more than a Barcelona poultry farmer. But as Garbo,
he turned in a masterpiece of deception that changed the course of World War
ll. Be sure to tune in on Thursday, April 18, 2013, at 8 p.m. EST where you
will have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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4-11-13 Harold Schechter  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Harold Schechter, author of
'Psycho USA: Famous American killers you never heard of'. Through the
horrifying annals of American crime, the infamous names of brutal killers
such as Bundy, Dahmer, Gacy, and Berkowitz loom large in the imaginations of
a public both horrified and hypnotized by their monstrous, murderous acts.
But for every celebrity psychopath who’s gotten ink for spilling blood,
there’s a bevy of all-but-forgotten homicidal fiends studding the bloody
margins of U.S. history. Make sure to tune in Thursday April 11, 2013 at 8
p.m. EST, where you will have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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3-28-13 |
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3-21-13 Shannen Rossmiller  Crime
Beat welcomes Cyber Sleuth, Ms. Shannen Rossmiller, author of 'THE
UNEXPECTED PATRIOT'. After 9/11, when America was still in shock over the
unprecedented attack on U.S. soil, Shannen Rossmiller, a country judge and
mother of three was formulating a plan to bring terrorists to Justice. Using
the internet, Rossmiller became an expert in counter-terrorism... make sure
to tune in Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST, where you want to have a
front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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3-14-13 Stacy Dittrich  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Stacy Dittrich, author of the
mesmerizing book titled Searching for Sandra. Ms. Dittrich, an 18-year
veteran police officer discusses the story of the abduction on March 27,
2009 and murder of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu. An FBI suspect profile lead
investigators on a search for the child's likely abductor: a white male age
35-45 with a criminal history, and large collection on child pornography...
however on April 10, 2009, as a horrified country looked on, police
announced the unthinkable... Melissa Huckably, a 28-year-old former Sunday
school teacher had been arrested and charged in the murder. Be sure to tune
in March 14, 2013,Thursday at 8 p.m. EST where you want to have a front-row
seat to this fascinating story. |
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3-07-13 Harold 'Noonie G' Ward Crime Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of Harold 'Noonie G'  Ward,
Thursday March 7, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST. The former high-ranking member of the
notorious and deadly Chicago street gang named the Gangster
Disciples discusses his former life with the 'boys in the hood' reported to
be one of the largest criminal organizations in the United States. Be sure
to tune in, where you will have a front-row seat to this fascinating and
intriguing story. |
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2-28-13 Greg Kading  Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of Mr. Greg Kading, Thursday on
January 12, 2012, at 8 p.m. EST on the ArtistFirst World Radio Network.
Kading is the author of MURDER RAP: The Untold Story of Biggie Smalls and
Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations. In his best selling and riveting book,
Kading will discuss two of the most notorious unsolved cases in the annals
of American crime, the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie
Smalls. The notorious murders have been the subject of exhaustive
investigations, relentless speculation and a tangled web of rampant rumors,
crackpot conspiracies and dark secrets. Now, for the first time, the truth
behind these sensational and fascinating cases is laid bare in MURDER RAP, a
raw and riveting account of how a dedicated and driven police detective
(Greg Kading) spearheaded the task force that finally exposed the shocking
facts behind the deaths of these two rap music icons. |
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2-21-13 Norma Remos  Crime
Beat is privileged to announce the appearances of Ms. Norma Remos who serves
as the Executive Director of
the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), which is the world's
first organization to fight against human
 trafficking
internationally and Ms. Stella Marr, founding
member of The Survivors Connect who by her own account was trafficked in
prostitution from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. Make sure to tune in
Thursday, February 21, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST where you will have a front-row
seat to their fascinating stories. |
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2-14-13 T.J. Leyden  Crime
Beat is privileged to bring you Mr. T.J. Leyden, author of 'SKINHEAD
CONFESSIONS: FROM HATE TO HOPE... his narrative takes the reader on an
unbelievable ride through a dark world of violence to one of openness and
faith in the future. T.J. Leyden has inspired thousands of people across
America to take action against gang violence and hate crimes. Be sure to
tune in February 14, 2013, Thursday at 8 p.m. EST where you will have a
front-row seat to this fascinating story. |
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2-07-13 Jack Cole  Crime
Beat, is delighted to bring you Mr. Jack Cole. Cole is a founding member
and for eight years was executive director of Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition . LEAP Is an organization representing 100,000 cops, judges,
prosecutors, prison wardens, and supporters from 120 countries The
groundbreaking group advocates a system of legalized regulation of all drugs
believing the new structure will remove the violence which is the result of
drug prohibition. Make sure to tune in Thursday February 7, 2013 at 8 p.m.
EST, where you will have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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1-31-13 Noam Chomsky and Lois Banner  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearances of Noam Chomsky and
Lois Banner. Dr. Chomsky who has often defined himself as an "socialist
anarchist" has been since the 60's, one of the most active and most famous
American intellectuals of the Left. He has published numerous books critical
of imperialism and the United States’ foreign policy.  On
the second half of the broadcast, Crime Beat is privileged to bring you Lois
Banner, author of the best selling book titled Marilyn: The Passion and the
Paradox. Professor Banner will discuss the life of Marilyn Monroe, the
'Goddess of Hollywood's Golden Age.' Be sure to tune in, Thursday at 8 p.m.
EST January 31, 2013 where you will have a front row seat to these
fascinating personalitiies. |
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1-24-12 Gill Reavil Crime Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Gill Reavil, author of  Mafia
Summit: J. Edgar Hoover, the Kennedy Brothers and the Meeting that
Unmasked the Mob. The infamous Apalachin gangster conclave of 1957 is best
remembered for the images of hoods in $1000 suits scrambling through the
muddy upstate New York woods after the cops closed in. Gil Reavill’s Mafia
Summit vividly describes the gang wars that led up to the gathering and the
law enforcement turf battles that followed it. Make sure to tune in January
24, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST where you will have a front row seat to this
fascinating story. |
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1-17-13 Robert Lombardo  This
week's Crime Beat presents Robert Lombardo author of 'Organized Crime in
Chicago: Beyond the Mafia'... In his fascinating narrative, Robert Lombardo
argues that the development of organized crime in Chicago and other large
American cities was rooted in the social structure of American society.
Specifically, ties in organized crime to the
emergence of machine politics in America's urban centers. From
nineteenth-century vice syndicates to the modern-day
Outfit, Chicago's criminal underworld could not have existed without the
blessing of those who controlled municipal, county, and state government.
Make sure to tune in Thursday January 17, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST where you will
have a front row seat to this story. |
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1-10-13 Phil Leonetti  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearances of Phil Leonetti and Scott
Burnstein, authors of Mafia Prince: Inside
America's Most Violent Crime family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra.
Mafia Prince is the first-person account of one of the most violent eras in
Mafia history. Phil Leonetti was an
underboss at 31 and was the crux of the violent downfall of the traditional
American Mafia in the 1980's. Be sure to tune in this Thursday, January 10,
2013 at 8 p.m. EST, where you will have a front row seat
to this fascinating story. |
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1-03-13 Paul Liberman  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Paul
Liberman on Thursday January 3, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST - Leiberman is the author
of GANGSTER SQUAD - the narrative is a harrowing, edge-of-your seat story of
murder and secrets, revenge and heroism. GANGSTER SQUAD chronicles the
secretive police unit that waged war to drive notorious mobster
Mickey Cohen and other gangsters from Los Angeles after World War ll. The
book is the subject of the movie titled GANGSTER SQUAD starring Sean Penn,
Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte and Emma Stone... the movie is
scheduled for release across North America on January 11, 2013. |
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12-20-12 Paul Guzzo & David Aikman   Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearances of crime
fiction writers,
Paul Guzzo, author of The Dark Side of Sunshine and David Aikman, author of
Kidnapped in Gaza... be sure to tune in this Thursday Dec. 20, 2012 at 8 p.m
EST where you will have a front row seat to their fascinating stories. |
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12-13-12 Mr. Mike Pizzi  Crime
Beat presents investigator Mr. Mike Pizzi who will discuss THE CASE OF
MICHAEL SPATARO: A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE. Spataro was convicted of
conspiracy to kill Columbo soldier Joseph Campenella. Many believe Michael
Spataro was innocent in the botched hit in Coney Isand over a decade ago.
With
Mike Pizzi Crime Beat is delighted to have family members Mickey and Ron
Spataro father and uncle of the accused. Make sure to tune in Thursday Dec.
13, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST, where you will have a front row seat to this
fascinating story |
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12-06-12 Shawn Griffith  Crime
Beat, invites you to tune in on December 6, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST for a special
broadcast with Shawn Griffith, author of FACING THE U.S. PRISON PROBLEM 2.3
MILLION STRONG: AN EX-CON'S VIEW OF THE MISTAKES AND THE SOLUTIONS.
Mr. Griffith will discuss prison reform and the criminal justice system. Make
sure you join Crime Beat and over 150,000 listeners world-wide for this
ground-breaking broadcast this coming Thursday where you will have a front
row seat to this important topic. |
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11-15-12 Lois Banner  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Lois Banner, author of
Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox. On the 50th anniversary of Norma
Jean's death, Lois Banner explores the paradoxes of Marilyn Monroe. Through
meticulous research the author refutes much of the mythology surrounding
Monroe offering a depth to her story that has never been fully told. Be sure
to tune in this Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST where you want to
have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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11-08-12 Sal Polisi Crime Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of  Mr.
Sal Polisi on Thursday Nov. 8, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST.
Mr. Polisi will discuss his autobiography, The Sinatra Club: My Life Inside
the
New York Mafia.
The book is a fascinating account of a life spent as a member of the Colombo
crime family in New York City. The notorious crime family was one of the
most powerful that controlled most of the illegal activities in New York. It
is a broadcast you will not want to miss and this is your front row seat to
this extraordinary story. |
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11-01-12 Freeway Ricky Ross  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of 'Freeway Ricky Ross' this
Thursday November 1, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST. The nickname "Freeway" came from
Ross's ownership of several properties along the Los Angeles-area Harbor
Freeway as well as the existence of a freeway near his childhood home.
During the height of his drug dealing, Ross claims to
have sold "$2 million worth of cocaine in one day." In the course of his
rise as an infamous drug kingpin, prosecutors estimate that Ross exported
several tons of cocaine to New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and
made more than $600 million in the process. Its going to be a great show, so
make sure you tune in to Crime Beat where you will have a front row seat to
this fascinating story. |
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10-25-12 Ron Franschell  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Mr. Ron Franschell, the
award winning author of 'The Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Washington D.C.'
'. The District of
Columbia.isreputed to be the murder capital of America and it’s no surprise
many Americans
have played on D.C. initials and refer to it as the “District of Crime. Ron
Franschell will delve into the sordid world of Washington D.C.from the past
to the present. Make sure you tune in, this Thursday at 8 p.m. EST, Oct. 25,
2012, where you will have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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10-17-12 Rita Gigante and Natasha Stoynoff  This
Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST, Crime Beat is pleased to announce the
appearances of Rita Gigante and Natasha Stoynoff, co-authors of 'Godfather's
Daughter: an Unlikely Story of Love, Healing and Redemption. Rita Gigante is
the daughter of notorious mafia crime boss Vinnie the 'Chin' Gigante who was
reputed to be the most powerful in New York City. In their book, Rita
Gigante and Natasha Stoynoff takes the reader on a fascinating emotional and
spiritual journey. Make sure you mark it on your calender where you want to
have a front row seat this extraordinary story. |
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10-11-12 Robert K. Wittman Crime Beat welcomes featured guest Robert K. Wittman in a command appearance. Whitman is the author of the best selling book titled PRICELESS . The author is also the founder of the FBI's ART CRIME TEAM who writes in his page-turner memoir about the fascinating stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities. High stakes art theft comes to life in this spellbinding narrative. Robert Wittman will describe the darkest corners of art theft and the world of elective thieves this Thursday Oct. 11/12 on CRIME BEAT at 8 p.m. EST. |
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10-04-12 Thomas Foley and John Sedgwick  Crime
Beat is delighted to present Thomas Foley and John Sedgwick, authors of the
explosive book titled, Most Wanted: Pursuing Whitey Bulger, the Murderous
Mob Chief the FBI Secretly Protected. In the true-life thriller, John Foley
is the hero of Most Wanted. Foley, a cop’s cop, recounts how his wide-eyed
admiration for
the FBI was transformed by dark realities he didn’t want to believe. Thomas
Foley's co-author John Sedgwick is the author of ten books and a long time
contributor to GQ, Newsweek, and the Atlantic ...he wrote the first national
expose of
the exploits of Whitey Bulger in GQ magazine in 1992. Make sure you tune in
this Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 9 p.m. EST, where you want to have a front
row seat to this fascinating story. |
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9-27-12 Margaret McLean & Mike Rizzo  'Crime
Beat' is delighted to welcome Margaret McLean, author of 'Under Oath' and a
former prosecutor... McLean uses her experience to write a
spellbinding fictional narrative from the canals of crime. In the second
half of the broadcast we bring you Mr. Mike Rizzo, author of Gangsters and
Organized Crime in Buffalo: History, Hits and Headquarters. Rizzo will
describe
Buffalo, the way it was, what it looks like now and how it rivaled any
gangster city in North America. Be sure to tune in this Thursday at 8 p.m.
EST, Sept. 27, 2012, where you want to have a front row seat to their
fascinating stories. |
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9-20-12 Mr. Jerry Castaldo  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Mr. Jerry Castaldo, author
of Brooklyn New York: A Grim Retrospective. Castaldo writes about growing up
in the mean streets
of Brooklyn New York, his descent into the darkness of the city's underbelly
and his struggle back to normalcy. He is also a celebrated comedian and
musical entertainer, who consistently logs an average of 300 shows per year.
Jerry Costaldo has opened for stars such as Jerry Seinfeld, David Brenner
and Dom Deluise - we invite you to tune in this Thursday, September 20, 2012
at 8 p.m. EST where you want to have a front row seat to his fascinating
story. |
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8-16-12 Susan Burke  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Susan Burke, an attorney and
an activist, representing female military rape victims in their case against
the U.S. military. Susan Burke has been working on protecting
sexually abused women in the military for almost 20 years and will discuss
recent developments in this important cause. Make sure you tune in to Crime
Beat this Thursday, August 16, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST, where you want to have a
front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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8-09-12 |
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8-2-12 Howard Campbell  Ron
Chepesiuk and Will Hryb are delighted to announce this week’s Crime Beat
radio show (www.artistfirst.com/crimebeat.htm)
features a command
appearance by Howard Campbell who will talk about the War on Drugs and his
book, Drug War
Zone:
Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez. Showtime
Thursday, August 2 at 8 PM.EST. This is your exclusive ticket for a front
row seat to this fascinating story. |
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7-25-12 Richard Muti  Crime
Beat looks forward to welcoming Mr. Richard Muti, co-author of 'THE CHARMER'
...
the book is a fascinating true story about Robert Reldan - rapist, con-man,
millionaire and murderer. Richard Muti will describe how Reldan's victims
fell into the allure of a life-long criminal and killer. Be sure to tune in
to Crime Beat this Thursday, July 26/12 at 8 p.m. EST where you want to have
a front row seat to this intriguing story. |
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7-19-12 Dr. Michael Stone  ,
Alison Statman and Brie Tate Crime Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of Dr. Michael Stone, one of the world's leading forensic psychiatrists. Dr. Stone will discuss and bring us into the mind of mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, and his 
murderous rampage in Norway last year. On the same program Crime Beat
features Alison Statman and Brie Tate who will discuss their best-selling
book, titled 'Restless Souls: The Sharon Tate Family's Account of Stardom,
the Manson Murders and a Crusade for Justice'. Make sure you tune in this
Thursday July 19, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST where you want to have a front row seat
to these fascinating stories. |
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6-7-12 REBROADCAST from 2011 Tony Destefano  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Tony Destefano, Thursday
June 7, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST. The brilliant and gifted author has had his
finger on the pulse of organized crime for over 30 years and is an award
winning
author and journalist. Destefano has been a reporter for Newsday in New York
city, specializing in criminal justice and legal affairs for over 20 yeares.
Ron Chepesiuk and Will Hryb will discuss his best selling book 'King of The
Godfathers" and his just released 'MOB KILLER'. His new book details the
bloody rampage of Charles Carneglia, Mafia hit-man for the notorious and
deadly Gambino Crime Family. Make sure to tune in this Thursday where you
want to have a front row seat to this fascinating story |
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5-31-12 Joe Pistone  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Joe Pistone, author of the
best selling book, titled Donnie Brasco on Thursday 8 p.m. EST May 31, 2012.
The book was made into a hit movie starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.
Posing as jewel thief "Donnie Brasco," FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone carried
out the most audacious sting operation ever, working undercover for six
years to infiltrate
the flamboyant community of mafia soldiers, "connected guys," captains, and
godfathers. Pistone's unforgettable eyewitness account brings to pulsating
life the entire world of wiseguys—their code of honor and their treachery,
their wives, girlfriends and whores, their lavish spending and dirty
dealings. This is your ticket to a front row seat to Joe Pistone's
fascinating story... you will not want to miss this one! |
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5-24-12 REBROADCAST from 2011 Robert Edward Forchion (NJWeedman) At the age of 15, Robert Edward Forchion (NJWeedman) smoked his first marijuana cigarette and was immediately impressed by its medical healing powers, in regard to his asthma. By age 18 he was a regular user of marijuana, and he dismissed the Surgeon Generals claims of its harms as "propaganda and Christian superstitions".  
NJWeedman, is a cannabis
activist and a perennial candidate
for various New Jersey elected
offices. Forchion identifies himself as a member of the
Legalize Marijuana Party and campaigns
primarily on the single issue of cannabis
legalization. Forchion has done various stunts to bring attention to
cannabis legalization, including smoking cannabis in front of the
Liberty Bell in Philadelphia as well as
attempting to legally change his name to NJWeedman. Mr. Forchion joins Ron
Chepesiuk and Will Hryb on Crime Beat this Thursday at 8-9 p.m. EST.
It promises to be a great show...you won't want to miss this one. |
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4-12-12 Chris Kyle  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Chris Kyle, author of the
blockbuster best-seller, titled AMERICAN SNIPER: The Autobiography of the
Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. In the community of elite
warriors, one man has risen above the ranks and
distinguished himself as unique. Chris Kyle is that man. A master sniper,
Chris Kyle has done and seen things that will be talked about for
generations to come. He is the deadliest American sniper ever, called “the
devil” by the enemies he hunted and “the legend” by his Navy SEAL brothers.
From 1999 to 2009, U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle
recorded the most career sniper kills in United States military history. Be
sure to tune in this Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST where you want
to have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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4-5-12 Lisa Pulitzer & Cole Thompson  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Lisa Pulitzer and Cole
Thompson, authors of the runaway best selling book, titled PORTRAIT OF A
MONSTER... the page-turner is the story of the sordid life of Joren van der
Sloot, convicted killer. In May 2005, Natalee Holloway disappeared from a
high school trip to Aruba. Five years to the day later, twenty-one-year-old
Stephany Flores was reported missing in Lima, Peru. Implicated in both
crimes was one young man: Joran van der Sloot. The story made
international headlines
and continues to fascinate criminologists and journalists from around the
world. Make sure you tune in this Thursday at 8 p.m. EST, April 5, 2012
where you want to have a front row seat to this intriguing story. |
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3-29-12 Noam Chomsky Crime Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Dr. Noam Chomsky, one of the world’s most famous activists who will discuss U.S. foreign policy, human rights and international crime. By the 1980's Noam Chomsky had become both the most distinguished figure of American linguistics and one of the most influential critics of American foreign policy. Chomsky is said to be the most frequently-cited person alive, and one of
the eight most frequently-cited authors of all time. Its going to be timely
and fascinating broadcast - we invite you to tune in to Crime Beat on the
ArtistFirst World Radio Network on Thursday March 29, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST,
where you want to have a front row seat to the thoughts and wisdom of a true
icon of American politics. |
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3-22-12
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3-15-12 Anthony Bruno  Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Anthony Bruno, author of the
best selling book, titled THE ICE MAN: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded
Killer. The subject of his fascinating and startling narrative, is the
notorious Richard Kuklinsky who was the son of a brutal alcoholic father and
an abusive mother. Anthony Bruno had the rare opportunity to interview
Kuklinsky in prison and will talk about this real life monster, who was one
of the most cold-blooded mass murderers in U.S. history. The author will
discuss Kuklinsky as a family man and at the same time as a sadistic killer
who by his own admission
murdered over 100 men, using derringers, shotguns, baseball bats, tire
irons, knives , ice picks, cyanide poison and his bare hands. Kuklinsky was
dubbed the 'ICEMAN' after police
found one of his victims stashed in a ice-cream truck. A Hollywood movie is
now in the works ...so be sure to tune in to Crime Beat on the Artist First
World Radio Network at 8 p.m. EST, March 15, 2012, where you want to have a
front row seat to this intriguing and deadly story. |
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3-01-12 Frank Cullotta  Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Frank Cullotta, Thursday,
March 1, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST. Along with author Dennis Griffin, Cullotta
co-authored the best selling book titled, CULLOTTA: The Life of a Chicago
Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster and Government Winess. Mystery and nonfiction
writer Dennis Griffin covered the Vegas reign of kingpin Tony “the Ant”
Spilotro in The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law vs. the Mob . Digging deeper
into mob history, Griffin zeroed in on Spilotro's lifelong pal, career
criminal Frank Cullotta, who appeared in Martin Scorsese's 1995 film, CASINO
, recreating an actual murder he committed in 1979. Spilotro and Cullotta
met in Chicago as teenage
troublemakers where Spilotro rose in the ranks of the mob and became the
Chicago Outfit's man in Las Vegas. Frank Cullotta eventually joined him,
running a robbery and murder crew. Together, Spilotro and Cullotta extorted
illegal bookmakers and drug dealers throughout Vegas. But in the early
1980s, Cullotta became a government witness, bringing down the house. The
notorious Frank Cullotta will describe and discuss his extraordinary life in
this 'one-of-a-kind' broadcast. Make sure you mark it on your calendar where
you will have a front row seat to this fascinating story. |
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2-23-12 Kathi Lynn Austin and Lou Diaz
Crime Beat is delighted
to announce the appearances of Kathi Lynn Austin and Lou Diaz, this
Thursday February 23, 2012 at 8 pm EST on the ArtistFirst World Radio
Network. Kathi Austin
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2-16-12 Mr. Even Wright & Diane Ferranti
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2-9-12 Sylvia Longmire
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2-2-12 Luellen Smiley 
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1-26-12 Mr. Andre Cedilot and Mr. Andre Noel Crime Beat's, 'ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW' , is delighted to announce the
appearances of Mr. Andre Cedilot and Mr. Andre Noel, authors of the runaway
best selling book titled MAFIA INC.: The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada's
Sicilian Clan. Cedilot was a justice reporter at Montreal's La Presse for 35
years, with a special interest in the Italian Mafia and organized crime.
Noel has been an investigative reporter at La Presse for over 20 years. His
work has won him several prestigious awards in Quebec and across Canada. The
well-known journalists will discuss the history of the infamous and deadly
Rizzuto Crime Family and will expose how its business extends throughout
Canada and the world. The authors will reveal how Rizzuto's Montreal clan
built their Canadian empire through
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1-19-12 Adrian Humphrey and Marvin Elkind
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1-12-12 Greg Kading
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12-05-12 Wahida Clark  Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the command appearance of Wahida Clark, this
Thursday, on January 5, 2012 at 8 pm. EST. Wahida Clark was born and raised
in Trenton, New Jersey. She decided to start writing fiction while
incarcerated at a women's federal camp in Lexington, Kentucky. Her style is
street, raw, and she has an imagination that's in overdrive. When you read
her sultry and erotic novels, they are so real you are convinced of one of
three
things: that you are inside the book, you know the characters, or you just
have to meet them. Her first novel, Thugs And The Women Who Love Them and
the sequel, Every Thug Needs A Lady appeared on the Essence Best Sellers
List. For all of you crime novel aficionados, be sure to tune in to Crime
Beat on the ArtistFirst World Radio Network, where you want to have a front
row seat to this fascinating broadcast. |
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12-29-11 Tim Donaghy
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12-22-11 Mr. Louis Ferrante
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12-15-11 Anthony Amore and Tom Mashberg
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12-08-11 Larry Mazza, Tommy Dades and Bob Mladinich
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12-01-11 Benjamin Runkle
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11-24-11
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11-17-11 James W. DoNHSCA_2023-01-05.mp3uglass
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11-10-11 David Gibb Crime Beat is pleased to announce the
appearance of David Gibb, author
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11-3-11 REBROADCAST
8-18-11
In his spine-chilling book titled ANATOMY OF
EVIL, Dr. Michael Stone brings evil to earth--the perpetrators,
the acts, and the victims. The crimes of Charles Manson, Ted Bundy,
Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Dennis Rader, and other high-profile
killers are so breathtakingly awful that most people would not hesitate to
label them 'evil'. In this ground-breaking book, renowned psychiatrist
Michael H Stone - host of Discovery Channel's former series "Most Evil" -
uses this common emotional reaction to horrifying acts as his starting
point to explore the concept and reality of evil from a new perspective.
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10-27-11 Dick Lehr
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10-20-11 REBROADCAST
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10-13-11 Henry Hill CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES 
FROM THE DARKSIDE on the
Artist First World Radio Network is pleased to announce that on
October 13, 2011 at 8 pm. EST, Henry Hill will be a special featured guest.
Mr. Hill will discuss his former life inside the Mob, the book and the film,
as well his current life and activities. This year marks the 25th
anniversary of Wise Guy, Nicholas Pileggi’s true crime masterpiece and a
book that has been described as “the best book on organized crime ever
written.” Wise Guy chronicles the life of
 legendary
former gangster Henry Hill, the working-class Brooklyn kid who grew up to
live the highs and lows of the gangster’s life. Hill’s story became the
basis for GoodFellas, Martin Scorsese’s film masterpiece. In Goodfellas,
Henry Hill, the narrator, famously says, “As far back as I can remember, I
always wanted to be a gangster.” |
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10-06-11 Ronald Kessler  Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of the bestselling author
Ronald Kessler. In his New York Times bestselling book titled 'SECRETS OF
THE FBI', he reveals the FBI’s most closely guarded secrets and the
secrets of celebrities, politicians, and movie stars uncovered by agents
during their investigations. Based on inside access, the book presents
revelations about the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, the recent
Russian spy swap, Marilyn Monroe's death,
Vince Foster’s suicide, and J. Edgar Hoover’s sexual orientation. From
Watergate to Waco, from congressional scandals to the killing of bin
Laden, The Secrets of the FBI presents headline-making disclosures
about the most important figures and events of our time. |
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9-29-11 Nina Burleigh
CRIME BEAT is pleased to announce the appearance of noted
journalist Nina Burleigh on Thursday September 29, 2011 at 8 P.M. EST.
Ms. Burleigh will talk about her award winning book titled
'The Fatal Gift of
 Beauty:
The Italian Trials of Amanda Knox. Ms. Knox was
convicted of the brutal slaying of British student Meredith Kercher and
was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Nina Burleigh will discuss
this sensational and fascinating case that has garnered attention
world-wide. You will not want to miss this one. |
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9-22-11 Rich Gold and Tom Freeman  'CRIME
BEAT' is pleased to announce the appearance of Rich Gold and Tom Freeman -
two documentary film makers who will talk about gangster documentaries.Be sure to tune in on the Artistfirst World Radio Network this Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Rich Gold and Tom 
Freeman will provide a fascinating look at legendarybank robber, Willie Sutton and drug dealer Lucas Torres. Make sure you mark it on your calendar, you will not want to miss this one. |
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9-08-11 Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan  CRIME
BEAT is pleased to announce the appearance of Anthony Summers and Robbyn
Swan, authors of the fascinating book titled 'ELEVENTH DAY'. The award
winning
writers will talk about their 9/11 investigation, including the the
response of President George Bush and the U.S. military that fateful day
10 years ago. They will asses statements made afterwards by U.S. officials and as
a
counterpoint, examine the contentions of the '9/11 truth' movement. It is
going to be a timely and important show,
so be sure to tune in to CRIME BEAT on September 8, 2011 at 8 P.M. EST on
the Artistfirst World Radio network
www.artistfirst.com
you will not want to miss this one. For more information on their book, you can go to
http://www.randomhouse.com/ |
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9-01-11 Mickman Gourdine and Scott Wilson
CRIME BEAT is
privileged to announce the appearance of 2 featured
guests on Sept. 1, 2010 at 8 p.m. EST. Mickman Gourdine author
of Chilli Pimping in Atlantic City and Scott Wilson, co-authorof Straight from the Hood . In the MICKMAN'S stunning book, tiltled CHILLI PIMPING IN ATLANTIC CITY, the age-old profession of prostitution comes alive. The Memoir of a Small-Time Pimp Hustler and X-cop is the controversial autobiography of Michael Mick-Man Gourdine, AKA the Candyman, as he was known on the street.  Our
other guest is Scott Wilson who tag-teamed with my co-host Ron Chepesiuk
to write STRAIGHT FROM THE HOOD, an extraordinary look at AMAZING BUT
TRUE GANGSTER TALES. In their
fascinating narrative you
will find tales featuring drug kingpins, entertainers, hit men, street
gangs, con men, corrupt cops and reformed gang bangers. Be sure to mark
it on your calender, you will
not want to miss this one.
Information about the guests and their books can be found at
www.strategicmediabooks.com
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8-25-11 Courtney Brown Jr.
'The Rise and Fall of an Urban Empire'
is the memoir of Courtney Brown Jr. The book chronicles the rise and fall of
his father, Courtney 'Berman' Brown Sr. and
partner in crime Eddie 'Fat Man' Jackson. These two guys start from meager
beginnings to seize control of the Detroit drug trade in the 1970's and soon
start taking
in millions of dollars per month in heroin sales while still raising their
families in the back ground of little league baseball and boy scouts.
Detroit had made them 'Kings
of the Heroin Game'. Find out how they became the richest and most
influential men in Detroit at the time'. |
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8-18-11 Dr. Michael Stone
In his spine-chilling book titled ANATOMY OF
EVIL, Dr. Michael Stone brings evil to earth--the perpetrators,
the acts, and the victims. The crimes of Charles Manson, Ted Bundy,
Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Dennis Rader, and other high-profile
killers are so breathtakingly awful that most people would not hesitate to
label them 'evil'. In this ground-breaking book, renowned psychiatrist
Michael H Stone - host of Discovery Channel's former series "Most Evil" -
uses this common emotional reaction to horrifying acts as his starting
point to explore the concept and reality of evil from a new
perspective. Be sure to tune in to Crime Beat on Thursday August 18, 2011
at 8 p.m. EST where featured guest Dr. Michael Stone will discuss his
fascinating and horrifying book. You will not want to miss this one.
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8-11-11 Bobby Martini
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8-04-11
Lance Williams
The Almighty Black P
Stone Nation, one of the most notorious teen gangs in 1960s Chicago,
evolved from a youth gang involved in petty crimes into a major operation
engaged in drug dealing and defrauding an antipoverty program aimed at
youth employment. Journalist Natalie Moore and scholar Lance Williams, the
son of a former member of a rival gang, examine the rise and fall of the
gang that started as the Blackstone Rangers and later morphed into the El
Rukns. In their fascinating book titled 'The Almighty Black P
Stone Nation gang culture comes alive in this explosive
narrative. Crime Beat is privileged to announce the appearance of Lance
Williams on August 4, 2011 at 8 p.m. EST to discuss their book. You will
not want to miss this one.
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7-28-11 Sean Griffin
Anybody interested in the NBA basketball
betting scandal involving former |
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 7-21-11Alexandra Natapoff This week's Crime Beat features special guest and renowned author Alexandra Natapoff. In her best selling book titled Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice , she combines the best of scholarly research and social activism. The award winning author vividly documents the the abuses of the criminal justice system and exposes the social destruction that snitiching causes. Ms. Natapoff's book supports the argument for reforming a system that allows our machines of criminal prosecution to commit near-criminal acts of compromise. |
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7-14-11 Amy Wood
Lynch mobs
in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America exacted |
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7-07-11
David Albright Crime Beat's featured guest is David Albright, one of the world's most foremost experts on nuclear proliferation... in his startling book PEDDLING PERIL, he offers a harrowing narrative of the alarming huge cracks through which nuclear weapons traffickers such as Pakistan's nuclear scientist A.Q . Kahn are allowed to practise thier dangerous and lethal trade... you won't want to miss this one, tune in at 8 p.m. EST. |
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6-30-11 Dan Zupansky and Scott Bonn
Crime Beat is pleased to announce a
double header this week - make sure you tune in Thursday at 8 - 9 p.m. EST
on the ArtistFirst World Radio Network ... our featured guests are Dan
Zupansky and Scott Bonn... you won't want to miss this one.
'Trophy Kill: the Shall We Dance Murder' by Dan Zupansky is visceral page turner. On July 1st, 2003 Susan Sarandon called police from the set of the Miramax movie 'Shall We Dance' to report the theft of some of her jewelry, including a gold necklace. The next day Sidney Teerhuis calmly walked into a police station to report waking from a drunken blackout to find his acquaintance dead in the bathtub. At the rented room police found the victim dismembered, beheaded, sawn in half, disemboweled and castrated with the chest sliced open and all of the internal organs gone! One eye had been removed and the body posed, crudely reassembled. Susan Sarandon's stolen gold necklace was found a few feet away from the murder-horror spectacle.
In his best selling book titled 'Mass
Deception' Scott Bonn lays out in great detail and with
documented, empirical evidence how Bush and his political elites planned
and engineered an illegal and immoral invasion of another sovereign
country from the most powerful office on earth for the most spurious of
reasons--even before 9-11 took place. It describes how they manufactured
evidence supporting charges of an imminent attack by Iraq and how they
brushed aside all evidence to the contrary when it didn't coincide with
their plans.
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6-23-11 Mr. Michael Okeeffe and Nathanial Vinton The blockbuster award winning book, American
Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s
Pastime is much more than than the downfall of a
superstar. While the fascinating portrait of Clemens is certainly at the
center of the action, the book takes the reader outside the white lines and
inside the lives and dealings of sports executives, trainers, congressmen,
lawyers, drug dealers, groupies, a porn star, and even a murderer—all of
whom have ties to this saga. Four superb investigative journalists have
spent years uncovering the truth, and at the heart of their investigation is
a behind-the-scenes portrait of the maneuvering and strategies in the legal
war between Clemens and his accusers. CRIME BEAT is
privileged to have Mr. Michael Okeeffe and Nathanial Vinton, two of the
four acclaimed authors to talk about their intriguing book on the
Artistfirst World Radio Network this Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 8 p.m. EST. |
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6-16-11
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6-09-11 Tony Destefano Tony Destefano, the brilliant and gifted author has had his finger on the 
pulse of organized crime for over 30 years. For the past 2 decades the
award winning author and journalisthas been a reporter for Newsday in New York city, specializing in criminal justice and legal affairs. Crime Beat is privileged to have Tony Destefano on its June 9, 2011 broadcast at 8 p.m. EST where hosts Ron Chepesiuk and Will Hryb will discuss his best selling book 'King of The Godfathers" and his just released 'MOB KILLER'. His new book details the bloody rampage of Charles Carneglia, Mafia hit-man for the notorious and deadly Gambino Crime Family. Its going to be a great show... you don't want to miss this one. |
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6-02-11 When Andrew DiDonato left his past behind in 1997 he was a old school gangster at the tender age of 32. The wise guy was a career criminal and he loved every minute of it until he saw the light and became a government witness helping to bring down the infamous Teflon don' himself, John Gotti. The Gambino Family soldier chronicles his life in a new book and DVD called 'Surviving the Mob' that describes his nefarious talents as 'true-to-life' mobster. On the next Crime Beat programme airing February 3, 2011 on ArtistFirst Worldwide Network radio, Andrew DiDonato will offer insights on the most recent Gambino and other notorious family members in one of the biggest round ups in New York City and FBI history.
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5-26-11
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5-19-11 Robert K. Wittman 
CRIME BEAT welcomes featured special guest
Robert K. Wittman, author of the best selling book titled PRICELESS
. Wittman is also the founder of the FBI's ART CRIME TEAM who writes
in his page-turner memoir about the fascinating stories behind his
recoveries of priceless art and antiquities. High stakes art theft comes to
life in this spellbinding narrative. Robert Wittman will describe the
darkest corners art theft and the world of elective thieves this coming
Thursday on CRIME BEAT at 8 p.m. EST where you will want to have a front row
seat in this fascinating world of criminal activity. |
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 5-12-11
Howard Campbell In his
best selling book titled DRUG WAR ZONE - FRONTLINE DISPATCHES FROM
THE STREETS OF EL PASO AND JUAREZ, Howard Campbell describes in
visceral detail the lives of drug warriors and the people connected to the
drug trade ...his book, is a vivid ground-level portrait of terror, violence
and futility. Howard Campbell is a socialogist and anthropologist at the
University of Texas at El Paso who illuminates the sights and sounds of the
mean streets on these two drug infested border cities. Be sure to tune into
Crime Beat this Thursday May 12, 2011 at 8 p.m. EST, where you want to have
the front row seat to the fascinating and frightening world of drug wars on
the Mexican, USA border. |
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 5-5-11
Lynda Molito - Mafia Wife When Lynda Molito's husband Louie Milito vanished in 1988 she squarely put the blame on Salvatore 'Sammy the Bull' Gravano, the notorious Gambino crime family stool pigeon. In her best selling book titled MAFIA WIFE, she tells her own tale how her husband who was a 'made man' in the mob was rubbed out on the orders of John Gotti, the 'Dapper Don'. Lynda Milito describes the rituals and the structure of a Mob family as well as the excitement, the danger and the loyalty at gunpoint. Be sure to tune in to Crime Beat this Thursday May 5, 2011 at 8 P.M. EST where you want to have a front row seat to this fascinating story'.
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4-28-11
Tom Ajamie and Bruce Kelly Financial Serial
Killers, by Tom Ajamie and Bruce Kelly is a fascinating portrait of modern
day Wall Street where cunning and unscrupulous con men are able to get their
hooks into investors wallets, saving accounts, |
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4-21-11
Deirdre Marie Capone 'In her best selling book Uncle Al Capone, 'Deirdre Marie Capone, the last living relative of 'Scarface' Al Capone writes a stunning memoir of her favourite uncle. The author offers a vivid portrait of the iconic mastermind behind some of the century's most vicious and brutal killings. Deirdre Capone will talk about the man behind the notorious legend with surprising revelations about one of the most famous mobster's in history. |
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4-14-11 Morgan FoxMarijuana prohibition has failed. It's time for a new approach, and MPP is leading the way.Since our founding in 1995, we've been making real progress in reforming U.S. marijuana laws. We know that real change takes more than good ideas, and so MPP is all about getting results — changing policies and laws. Please learn about some of our major accomplishments.
This
week's Crime Beat radio show will feature Morgan Fox, Communications
Director of the Marijuana Policy Project (www.mpp.org,)
who will discuss the medical marijuana issue and the campaign to get
medical marijuana legal.
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 4-7-11
Stacy Dittrich
Award winning author and decorated 17 year veteran police
officer and former detective specializing in sex crime cases. Stacy has a
provided commentary on high profile cases to major news organizations,
including CNN and Fox News. She is the author of several 'high
octane' crime fiction books that puts the reader 'front and center' in the
action and visceral intrigue. |
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3-31-11
Guest: Jack Garcia
former FBI undercover agent that brought down 32 members of the infamous 'GAMBINO' Crime family. Jack Garcia is the author of the best selling book called Making Jack Falcone... the broadcast puts you the listener into the 'front row seat' of Jack Garcia's exploits in riveting detail. |
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3-24-11 Part 2 of 2-part
Series
See show description for Part 1 (3-17-11) below.
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3-17-11 Part 1 of
2-part Series Guests Joel Weissman
Joel M. Weissman, one of the countries top divorce lawyers will be featured
in a 2-part series
with Lewis Kasman (March 24th) the 'so called adopted son of the 'Teflon
Don', none other than John Gotti. Weissman represented Kasman in a
celebrated divorce proceeding widely reported on tabloids across the
country . Both Weissman and Kasman will talk about their lives and
relationship. The interviews will bring you
closer to the inner workings of the infamous Gambino Crime family,
once controlled by the ruthless mobster John Gotti, also known as the
'Dapper Don'. |
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3-10-11 Wahida Clark and Seth Ferranti.
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3-3-11 Guest: Tim Donaghy In his riveting memoir Personal Foul, Tim Donaghy ,a former NBA referee, describes how his gambling addiction led to his demise. Donaghy was found guilty of of conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information and for taking payoffs from a professional gambler for inside tips on NBA games. Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in a U.S. Federal penitentiary for the scandal that 'rocked' the basketball world. |
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 2-24-11 Guest: Rick Porrello
'Ohio Police Chief Rick Porrello wears many hats. The
top cop gave up a successful career in music as a drummer for
Sammy Davis Jr.
to pursue his interest in law enforcement. In the meantime, he took up
writing as well, and now is going Hollywood. In his riveting book,
'To Kill an
Irishman' , Porrello
chronicles the true story of
Danny Greene, a fearless mobster who took on the Cleveland Mafia in
the 1970's, Porrello proves once again that he is one of America's premiere
true crime writers. |
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2-17-11 Guest: Courtney Brown
JR. 'The Rise and Fall of an Urban Empire' is
the memoir of Courtney Brown Jr. The book chronicles the rise and fall of
his father, Courtney 'Berman' Brown Sr. and |
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2-10-11 Guest: Louis Diaz
Growing up in Brooklyn New York, where physical violence
was a daily reality at home, at school, and on the mean streets, Lou Diaz
had more than what it took to survive. A man
of uncompromising principles, Diaz was compassionate on the inside and
'tough' as nails on the outside. |
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2-03-11
Guest: Andrew DiDonato When Andrew DiDonato left his past behind in 1997 he was a old school gangster at the tender age of 32. The wise guy was a career criminal and he loved every minute of it until he saw the light and became a government witness helping to bring down the infamous 'teflon don' himself, John Gotti. The Gambino Family soldier chronicles his life in a new book and dvd called 'Surviving the Mob' that describes his nefarious talents as 'true-to-life' mobster. On the next Crime Beat programme airing February 3, 2011 on ArtistFirst Worldwide Network radio, Andrew DiDonato will offer insights on the most recent Gambino and other notorious family members in one of the biggest round ups in New York City and FBI history. |
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1-27-11
A former undercover FBI agent and author of the New York Times best-seller, Making Jack Falcone, Garcia's undercover work led to the arrest and conviction of 32 Gambino crime family members. |
Mike
Dorsey and Ed Carter Edwards
George
Anastasia
In
the early 1920s, millions of Americans flocked to movie palaces every year
to see their favorite stars on the silver screen. Never before had a popular
art so captured the public's imagination, nor had a medium ever possessed
such power to influence. But Hollywood's glittering ascendancy was
threatened by a string of lurid, headline-grabbing tragedies, including the
murder of William Desmond Taylor, the handsome and popular president of the
Motion Picture Directors Association—a legendary crime that has remained
unsolved since 1922. Publisher's Weekly gave Mann's book, Tinseltown:
Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood, a starred review and
hailed it as “a stellar and gripping true-crime narrative . . . An
engrossing and comprehensive look at the birth of the motion picture
industry and the highs and lows it faced in the early 1920s . . ." Join us
as William Mann discusses his best-selling book with Crime Beat. It's going
to be a great show, so tune in.
Tonight
we have Frank Monastra, author of Brancato: Mafia Street Boss. Frank
Brancato, Monastra's grandfather, was one of the most feared men in Ohio
history for the better part of half a century. The Sicilian immigrant
claimed to be a humble tire salesman... ...but in reality he was the
right-hand man of Cleveland Mafia Boss John Scalish. Brancato-Mafia Street
Boss traces Frank's story from his days as a penniless Italian immigrant to
his years as a wealthy and prosperous Cleveland businessman. Using newspaper
reports, FBI and police files, and even stories told by family members,
Frank Monastra chronicles the story of grandfather Frank Brancato from his
days as a Prohibition-era bootlegger and whiskey runner to his role in the
rise of the gambling and nightclub industry. Brancato-Mafia Street Boss
gives an insider look at the rise of the Sicilian Mafia in Ohio in its
heyday, from the 1920s to the 1970s, In our conversation tonight, Frank
Monastra will pull no punches. Join us.
11-13-14
author
of Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: The Warren Report and Oswald's Guilt
and Motive 50 Years On. Crime Beat and Ayton will discuss how
conspiracy theories developed after publication of the Warren Commission’s
1964 report into the circumstances surrounding the JFK assassination and how
and why the American public rejected the report. This month marks the 50th
anniversary of the Warren Commission report. 
This
week's special guest is Steven Jackson, the author of Gangster ;The Wise
Sorrowful Hearts. Jackson's compelling book deals largely the life and times
of his father Lawrence Slippery Jackson Washington DC's first Black Mafia
crime boss, but Steven Jackson also has to lot to say about drugs, the black
community and the War on Drugs.
Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Wendy Lower, author of
Hitler's Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields. 'Hitler's Furies'
builds a fascinating and convincing picture of a morally "lost generation"
of young women, born into a defeated, tumultuous post-World 1 Germany, and
then swept up in the nationalistic fervor of the Nazi movement - a twisted
political awakening that turned to genocide. Be sure to tune in Thursday,
Feb. 27, 2014 at 8:00 p.m. EST, where you'll have a front row seat to this
extraordinary story.
\
Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearance, of Mr. JAMES W. DOUGLASS, author
of JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE: WHY HE DIED AND WHY IT MATTERS on Thursday
November 17, 2011.
Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearances of Nancy Reid & Lisa Smith -
the mother and daughter team of the popular BIG BLEND TOUR BLOG Radio show.
Nancy and Lisa will take us on a wild ride to some old time crime scenes
across America. We also have Margaret McLean, author, former prosecutor and
host of the hit radio program titled Its a Crime Radio - Margaret is Crime
Beat's special correspondent to the sensational Whitey Bolger trial. Make
sure you tune in at 8 p.m. EST, Thursday July 25/13 where you will have a
front row seat to the fascinating world of crime.
Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Peter Lance, author of DEAL
WITH THE DEVIL: The FBI's SECRET THIRTY-YEAR RELATIONSHIP WITH A MAFIA
KILLER. The award-winning investigative reporter discusses the 30-year
relationship with the notorious Mafia killer named Greg Scarpa Sr who is
alleged to have murdered over 50 people.
Black
Caesar: The Rise and Disappearance of Frank Mathews, Kingpin'. Along with
Ron, we have Dave O'Flaherty and William Callahan who will discuss the
decades long mystery that still captivates the world of crime. Our special
correspondent to the Whitey Bolger trial, Margaret McClain, host of the
popular 'Its a Crime' will also be on the show to give our listeners an
account of the first day of the trial of the century. Make sure to tune in
Thursday June 6, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST where you want to have a front-row seat
to these fascinating stories. 
Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearances of Dick Lehr and Gerard
O'Neill, authors of WHITEY: THE LIFE OF AMERICA'S MOST NOTORIOUS MOB
BOSS...the authors dig deep into the mind of James J. "Whitey" Bolger, the
crime boss and killer who brought the FBI to its knees. The book is a
tantalizing, tension filled story of murder, treachery and high drama... it
is also a vivid portrait of a psychopath who was given the 'licence to
kill'... be sure to tune in Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST where you
will have a front row seat to this fascinating story. 
Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearances of Lorne Campbell and Pete
Edwards, authors of UNREPENTANT: THE STRANGE AND (SOMETIMES) TERRIBLE LIFE
OF LORNE CAMPBELL, SATAN'S CHOICE AND HELL'S ANGEL BIKER. In this explicit
first-hand account, Lorne Campbell, who spent 46 years as a member of the
Hells Angels and Satan's Choice discusses what it was like to be be on
life's edge. Bestselling author Peter Edwards joins Lorne Campbell to talk
about the life and times of a true renegade. Be sure to tune in Thursday May
16, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST where you will have a front row seat to this
fascinating story.
Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Anthony Bruno author of 'THE
ICEMAN: THE TRUE STORY OF A COLD BLOODED KILLER'. Anthony Bruno will discuss
the bone-chilling story of a lone-wolf executioner for the mob who was
coined a 'genius of assassination'. By the time of his trial in 1988 at the
age of 53 Kuklinsky killed over 100 men by shooting, stabbing, choking or
poisoning. Make sure to tune in Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST where
you want to have a front row seat to this fascinating story. 
Crime
Beat announces the appearance of Mr. George Hassett, author of 'Gangsters of
Boston'. This book is the first comprehensive account of three centuries of
thug life in the city where America began. In chilling new detail, veteran
Boston journalist George Hassett reveals the legendary crime stories of
Boston - from Prohibition to the Mafia, the Irish Gang War to Whitey Bulger.
The forgotten chapters of Boston gang history are also covered - from the
role of street gangs in the American Revolution to Chinatowns infamous Tong
Wars to the murder of number king Daddy Black. Be sure to tune in Thursday
April 25, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST, where you will have a front row seat to this
fascinating story. 
Crime
Beat is thrilled to announce the appearance of Joseph D. Serio, author of
the intriguing book titled 'Investigating the Russian Mafia'. Joseph Serio
brings a
unique perspective to the issue of the Russian mafia. He lived in the former
soviet union for seven years, witnessing the country and culture from a
variety angles. His narrative provides a road map to the Russian criminal
mind. Make sure to tune in Thursday March 28, 2013 at 8 p.m. EST where you
will have a front row seat to this fascinating story.
This
week's show brings you 'crime fiction' at its finest. Crime Beat is thrilled
to announce the appearance of Mr. Ed Falco, author of the best selling book
titled 'Family Corleone'. An exhilarating and profound novel of tradition
and violence, of loyalty and betrayal, The Family Corleone will appeal to
the legions of fans who can never get enough of The Godfather. On the second
half of the program Crime Beat brings you Jon Land, author of 'Strong
Vengeance'. The book is a gripping account of Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong
who finds herself investigating the mass murder of an offshore oilrig crew.
The narrative doesn't stop there as she uncovers a devastating terrorist
attack about to be launched on the United States. Be sure to tune in this
Thursday at 8 p.m. EST July 12, 2012 where you want to have a front row seat
to theses fascinating stories.
Mr.
Luhovy will be Professor Roman Serbyn, leading expert on the 'HOLODOMOR'.
The Holodomor refers most specifically to the brutal artificial famine
imposed on the Ukrainian people by Stalin’s regime. This important broadcast
airs Thursday, July 5, 8 pm. EST ... make sure to tune in to Crime Beat
where you want to have a front row seat to these fascinating stories.
.A.'s
crime scene. On the same broadcast,
Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearance of Mr. William Dear, author of
the best selling book titled 'O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It'.
This
week's Crime Beat radio show (
dollars and has never been seen again. Showtime--8 pm Thursday, April 26,
2012 The second part of the series is scheduled for May 3, 2012. Your
hosts are Ron Chepesiuk of Rock Hill, South Carolina and Will Hryb, Thunder
Bay, Canada. Make sure to tune in where you want to have a front row seat
the this fascinating story.
Crime
Beat
hunted, confronted and killed John Dillinger. In his crusade to bring Bulger
to justice, Fitzpatrick not only faced the cold-blooded killer Whitey Bolger
but also corrupt FBI agents along with political cronies and enablers from
Boston to Washington. Make sure you tune in this Thursday April 19, 2012 at
8 p.m. EST
Crime
Beat
will talk about his award winning book, titled '
Crime
Beat is delighted to announce the appearances of Even Wright, co-author of
the best selling book, titled 'AMERICAN DESPERADO: My LIfe - From Mafia
Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset' and Diane Ferranti,
wife of imprisoned award winning author Seth Ferranti, who wrote the
'Supreme Team'. Wright will discuss the remarkable life of Jon
Roberts who became the de-facto 'transportation chief' of the Medellin
Cartel during the 1980's. American Desperado is a no-holds-barred account of
Jon Roberts who witnessed his first murder at the age of seven, becoming a
hunter-assassin in Vietnam, then journeying to Miami where he would rise to
become the Medellin Cartel’s most effective smuggler. Diane Ferranti will
talk about the infamous, ' Supreme Team' which has gone down in street
legend and the lyrical lore of hip-hop and gangsta rap as one of the most
vicious crews to ever emerge on the streets of New York. Its going to be a
great show, so make sure you tune in to Crime Beat, on Thursday, February
16, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST, where you want to a have a front row seat to their
fascinating stories.
Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of Sylvia Longmire, author, of
the award winning book, titled CARTEL: The Coming Invasion of Mexico's Drug
Wars. Having followed Mexico's cartels for years, border security expert
Sylvia Longmire takes us deep into the heart of their world to witness a
dangerous and deadly underground that will do whatever it takes to deliver
drugs to a willing audience of American consumers. The cartels have grown
increasingly bold in recent years, building submarines to move up the coast
of Central America and
digging elaborate tunnels that both move drugs north and carry cash and U.S.
high-powered assault weapons back to fuel the drug war. Longmire brings to
life
the very real threat of Mexican cartels operating not just along the
southwest border, but deep inside every corner of the United States. Be sure
to tune in to Crime Beat this Thursday, February 9, 2012, where you want to
have a front row seat to this fascinating story.
Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of Luellen Smiley, the daughter
of reputed mobster, Allen Smiley. who was a close friend and confidant of
famous
Las Vegas mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. Allen Smiley was sitting on the
couch just feet away from Siegel the night he was murdered. Smiley will
discuss her father's life, her life and her research into Mob history. Be
sure to tune in this Thursday February 2, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST where you want
to have a front row seat to this fascinating story. (
force
and corruption, unveiling the deepest roots of criminal power. In
addition, Crime Beat is thrilled to announce the cameo appearance of Mr.
Jack Garcia, author of MAKING JACK FALCONE... Garcia was Crime Beat's
inaugural guest last January. Be sure to tune in on Thursday, January 26,
2012 at 8 p.m. EST, where you want to have a front row seat to their
gripping and fascinating stories.
Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearances of Adrian Humphreys, author of
the best-selling book, titled 'The Weasel: A Double Life in the Mob' and x-
gangster Marvin Elkind. In his blockbuster narrative, Humphreys reveals the
story of Marvin Elkind - a.k.a. - The Weasel. Elkind was a chauffeur and
strong-arm goon for mob bosses who became a secret undercover weapon for
police agencies around the world. The former gangster was placed in a foster
home of a tough mobster family in Toront
o
immersing him at the age of nine in a daring world of con-men, bootleggers
loan sharks, bank robbers, leg breakers and Mafia bosses. During a Golden
Aged of underworld life in New York, Detroit and Canada, Elkind found
himself working with a cast of colorful and notorious characters, including
none-other than Jimmy Hofffa. Be sure to tune in to Crime Beat this
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST where you want to have a front row
seat to this fascinating story.
Crime
Beat is please to announce the command appearance of author Tim Donaghy. In
his riveting memoir Personal Foul, Donaghy ,a former NBA referee, describes
how his gambling addiction led to his demise. He was found guilty of of
conspiracy to
engage in wire fraud, transmitting betting information and for taking
payoffs from a professional gambler for inside tips on NBA games. Donaghy
was sentenced to 15 months in a U.S. Federal penitentiary for the scandal
that 'rocked' the basketball world. You will want to have a front row seat to
this fascinating story.
Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of Mr. Louis Ferrante, author of
the best selling book titled MOB RULES: WHAT THE MAFIA CAN TEACH THE
LEGITIMATE BUSINESSMAN. Lou Ferrante was a
former associate of the notorious Gambino Crime Family and by the age of
twenty-one had netted millions of dollars for his employers. His uncanny
natural talent for
management led his Mafia bosses rely on his
talent as a 'true wise-guy'. In his fascinating book, Ferrante brings all of
the Mafia's wisdom and business acumen together and shows readers how they
can apply the Mob's best practices to their own businesses
Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearances of Anthony Amore and Tom
Mashberg, authors of the best selling book, titled STEALING REMBRANDTS:THE
UNTOLD STORIES OF NOTORIOUS ART HEISTS. Mashberg is a investigative reporter
who reported for the New York Times
and Boston Globe for over 30 years. Amore, is the head of security at the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and contributing
writer
to the Boston Herald and Huggington Post. On the same subject of Art Theft,
Crime Beat is privileged to also have Eric Rasmussen, author of The
Shakespeare Thefts. Rasmussen is a preeminent Shakespearean scholar and
collaborator on more than 60 books about Shakespeare and Renaissance drama. 
Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearances Larry Mazza, Tommy Dades and Bob
Mladinich on this week's Crime Beat to discuss the Colombo War of the ealry
1990s
.
Mazza was a mob hitman on the Persico side of the war, Tommy Dades was a New
York City detective investigating of the most infamous MAFIA families in
American History. 
CRIME
BEAT is pleased to announce the appearance of Mr. Benjamin Runkle, author of
the best selling book tiltled, Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo
to Bin Laden. See
Although
the daring raid marked the end of the longest strategic manhant in American
history, bin Laden was not the first individual targeted as the objective of
a military campaign. From Geronimo to Poncho Villa, to Manuel Noriega to
Saddam Hussein, the United
States has deployed military forces to kill or capture a single person
nearly a dozen times since Benjamin Runkle chronicles the extraordinary
efforts of the military and intelligence agencies to bring America's enemies
to justice. 
Crime
Beat is pleased to announce the appearance of best selling author and
top-cop, Rick Porrello in a command performance, this Thursday Nov. 24, 2011
at 8 p.m. EST. Ohio Police Chief Rick Porrello wears many hats. Porrello
gave up a successful career in music as a drummer for Sammy Davis Jr. to
pursue his interest in law enforcement. In the meantime, he took up writing
as well. In his riveting and fascinating book, 'To Kill an Irishman' ,
Porrello
chronicles the true story of Danny Greene, a fearless mobster who took on
the Cleveland Mafia in the 1970's. Porrello proves once again that he is one
of America's premiere true crime writers. The book sparked the attention of
Hollywood and is now a movie titled 'Kill the Irishman' , starring Ray
Stevenson as Danny Greene with co-stars Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken. 
JFK and the UNSPEAKABLE is the best account I have read of this
tragedy and its significance..." 
of
CAMOUFLAGED KILLER. Mr. Gibb will describe the shocking double life
of Canadian Air Force Colonel Russell Williams. The career soldier commanded
.
He was one of the most respected and trusted soldiers in the military. He
was
In
the spring of 1988, Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill set
out to write the story of two infamous brothers from the insular Irish
enclave of South Boston: Jim "Whitey" Bulger and his younger brother Billy.
Whitey was the city's most powerful gangster and a living legend--tough,
cunning, without conscience, and above all, smart. Billy, president of the
state Senate, was a political heavyweight in Massachusetts. These facts
alone make for an intriguing story, but as Lehr and O'Neill found out, this
was only the beginning. 
.
Be sure to tune in to Crime Beat at 8 p.m. on Thursday Oct. 27, 2011 where
we will have Mr. Dick Lehr co-author of the award winning book titled 'Black
Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish
Mob. You will not want to miss this one.
Growing up in Brooklyn New York, where physical violence
was a daily reality at home, at school, and on the mean streets, Lou Diaz
had more than what it took to survive. A man
of uncompromising principles, Diaz was compassionate on the inside and
'tough' as nails on the outside.
describes
his savage beginnings and early forays in organized crime. One
of the best Drug Enforcement Agency undercover operatives in its history
Diaz was instrumental in taking down some of the country's most notorious
crime rings ever. He will recount his years as a DEA agent and talk about
his recent book called 'Dancing With the Devil:
Confessions of an Undercover Agent' 
CRIME BEAT is pleased to announce the appearance of our special featured guest,
Mr. Geoffrey Gray, on September 15, 2011 at 8 P.M. EST Mr. Gray is the
author of the award winning book titled SKYJACK. Our guest will talk about
his investigation of the infamous D. B. Cooper
mystery. The fascinating story
is one o
f the most astonishing whodunits in the history of American truecrime. One man extorted $200,000 from an airline and then parachuted
into the wilds
of the Pacific Northwest. It remains unsolved to this day. Its going to be
a great show, you will not want to miss this one.
In
the early 1960's a bloody civil war broke out between the two powerful Irish
Mob families in the Somerville Massachusetts neighborhood known as Winter
Hill. Over sixty men were murdered, including the leader of the Winter Hill
Gang, James "Buddy" McLean. The leadership of one of the most influential
non-Italian crime organizations in the United States was inherited by his
childhood friend, Howard T. "Howie" Winter. In Bobby Martini's riveting
book, titled CITIZEN SOMERVILLE, the author vividly writes about these
events offering a true visceral picture of an era in Boston's pre-Whitey
Bulger history when the streets were protected by a close-knit group of
Irish-Italian "businessmen." The award winning author has laid his own
history bare to depict a life of survival in the rough streets of
Somerville. Crime Beat is privileged to have Mr. Martini as a featured
special guest on Thursday August 11, 2011 at 8 p.m. EST ... mark it on your
calendar, you will not want to miss this one...
basketball referee Tim Donaghy and the world of sports betting will want to
tune in to Crime Beat at 8 p.m. EST on July 28, 2011. Our featured guest is
author Sean Griffin, who in his book about the scandal, Gaming the
Game, provides Griffin's take on the scandal and on the current
state of sports betting. Make sure to mark the date on your calendar, you
will not be disappointed.
horrifying public torture and mutilation on their victims. In
her award winning book, titled
Lynching and Spectacle, Amy Wood explains what it meant for white
Americans to perform and witness these sadistic spectacles and how lynching
played a role in establishing and affirming white supremacy. Lynching, Wood
argues, overlapped with a variety of cultural practices and performances,
both traditional and modern, including public executions, religious rituals,
photography, and cinema, all which encouraged the horrific violence and gave
it social acceptability.
Both writers have become the 'who's who' in the crime
writing genre honing their skills behind bars. Wahida Clark and Seth
Ferranti are acclaimed award winning authors who have penned a number of
books including Clark's 'THUGS AND THE WOMEN WHO LOVE THEM' and Ferranti's
'Prison Stories'.
