The #1 True Crime Show on all internet radio!

 

with Ron Chepesiuk

 

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"Crime Beat is the best show of its kind in radio for the thinking listener, both entertaining and educational." Al Profit, Crime Movie Director (www.alprofit.com)

December 5, 2019 Show

Caroline 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,

November 28, 2019 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.

November 21, 2019 Show

Alan 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.

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?

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.

Rosalynde 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)

October 24, 2019 Show

Ramon 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.

Bridgett 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."

October 10, 2019 Show

Anthony 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?

October 3, 2019 Show

Nicki 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.

Award-winning journalist and former People Magazine senior writer Nicki Weisensee Egan was the first reporter to dig into the story when Constand went to the police in 2005. Other news organizations looked away, but Egan doggedly investigated the case, developing ties with entrenched sources and discovering incriminating details that would ultimately come to influence the prosecution. Nicki Weisensee Egan will share her findings.
 

September 19, 2019 Show

Hallie 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.

Al 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).

September 5, 2019 Show

Tonight 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.

Jeffrey 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.

 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.

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

June 6, 2019 Show

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.

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.

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.

May 16, 2019 Show

Henry 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.

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.

May 2, 2019 Show

Jerry 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.

April 25, 2019 Show

Anthony 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.

Alan 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?

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. El Chapo will be sentenced on June 25. An appeal is in the works.

April 4, 2019 Show

Diane 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

Dennis 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.
 

Peter 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.

3-14-2019 Show

Shaun 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.

3-7-2019 Show

Philip 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.

2-28-2019 Show

Evan 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.

2-21-2019 Show

Michael 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/
 

2-14-2019 Show

Neil 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.

2-7-2019 Show

Alan 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?

Seth 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.

1-24-2019 Show

This 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.

1-17-2019 Show

Thomas 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.

1-10-2019  Show

Diane 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?

1-3-2019 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.

12-27-2018 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.

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.”

Daniel 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.

Bruce 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.

 A. 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?

Roger 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.

11-15-2018 Show

Mike 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.

11-08-2018 Show

Jerry 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.

11-1-2018 Show

Anton 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.

John 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.

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.

10-11-2018 Show

Dr. 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.

www.geniusbookpublishing.com

10-4-2018 Show

Deborah 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.

9-27-2018 Show

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.

9-20-2018 Show

Dr. 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.

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.

9-6-2018 Show

Peter 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.

8-30-2018 Show

Martin 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.

8-23-2018 Show

This 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.

8-16-2018 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.

8-9-2018 Show

Piper 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

8-2-2018 Show

Nicholas 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.

7-26-2018 Show

Daniel 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.

www.danielsimone.net

Dorothy 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.

www.marcic.com

7-12-2018 Show

Anthony 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

David 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

6-28-2018 Show

Caroline 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.

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.

6-13-2018 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 now playing. Rossi wrote the screenplay for the movie.

6-7-2018 Show

Rebecca 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.

Dan 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.

5-24-2018 Show 

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.

www.helenestapinski.com

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.

5-17-2018 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.

5-10-2018 Show

Mark 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

5-3-2018 Show

Gunner 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..

4-26-2018 Show

Christian 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.

4-19-2018 Show

T.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.

4-12-2018 Show

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

4-5

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

3-29-2018 Show

 A.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.

3-22-2018 Show

Tina 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.”

John Paul Fay and Brian Whitney,

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.

3-8-2018 Show

Alan 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/

3-1-2018 Show

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.

2-22-2018 Show

Ron Fino & Thomas Salme

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.

2-15-2018 Show

Caroline 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.

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.

2-1-2018 Show

Todd 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.

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.”

1-18-2018 Show

Craig 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.

1-11-2018 Show

Michael 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.

Mike Dorsey and Ed Carter Edwards

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.

In the summer of 1944, 168 airmen from the US, England, Canada and other Allied countries were captured in Paris by the German Gestapo and sent to the infamous "Koncentration Lager Buchenwald" in Germany. Falsely accused of being "terrorists and saboteurs," the airmen faced a terrifying fight for survival and a race against time to escape their execution.
Moreover, a controversial moment in history occurred when the airmen’s home countries tried to hush-up their capture.

Lost Airmen of Buchenwald tells this harrowing story through interviews with seven surviving members of the group, including their heroic commanding officer. The film follows
them from their days hiding with the French Resistance to the darkest corners of the Holocaust, where they struggled to survive as Germany collapsed under the weight of the advancing Russian and Allied armies.
 

Bob 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.

Kim 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.

12-14-2017 Show

M. 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?

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.

11-30-2017 Show

Bill 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.

 Barbara 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.

11-16-2017 Show

Dr. 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.

11-9-2017 Show

Diane 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”.

Lew 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.

Today, marks the tenth anniversary of the release of the popular movie, American Gangster. The crime drama grossed more than $350 million internationally and is one of the most successful releases of a gangster movie in Hollywood history. Starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, American Gangster is still promoted as being based on the true story of gangster Frank Lucas, and how in 1970s America, he smuggled heroin into the country from the Far East before being busted. Crime Beat has assembled a panel to discuss the movie’s claims, impact and legacy. The panelists are Lew Rice, retired DEA agent; Martin Trowery, a former drug kingpin of the 1970s who knew Lucas; and Thomas Long and Shaun, Sinclair popular urban fiction writers.

10-26-2017 Show

Emily 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.

10-12-2017 Show

Shaun 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.

10-05-2017 Show

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.

9-28-2017 Show

Andy 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.

9-21-2017 Show

John 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.

9-14-2017 Show

Larry 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.

9-7-2017 Show

F. 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.

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.

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.

8-24-2017 Show

Alan 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.

8-17-2017 Show

Laurence 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.

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.

8-3-2017 Show

Peter 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

7-27-2017 Show

Frank 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.

7-20-2017

Richard 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.

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.

7-6-2017 Show

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.

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.

6-22-2017 Show

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.

6-15-2017 Show

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.

6-8-2017 Show

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.

6-1-2017 Show

Margarita 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.

5-25-2017 Show

Mel 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.

5-18-2017 Show

John 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?

5-11-2017 Show

Alan 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.

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.

4-27-2017 Show

Claudia 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

Jack 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.

4-13-2017 Show

Luellen 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.

4-6-2017 Show

Anthony 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.

3-30-2017 Show

Margo 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.

Rebecca 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.

3-16-2017 Show

Alex 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. 
 

3-9-2017 Show

Mathew 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.

3-2-2017 Show

Barbara 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.

2-23-2017 Show

Gil 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?

Bill 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.

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.

2-2-2017 Show

Bradley 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.

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.

1-19-2017 Show

Denis 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.

1-12-2017 Show

Burl 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.

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?
 

12-29-16 Show

Robert Borelli

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.

12-22-2016 Show

Stephen 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.

Joel Selvin

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.

12-8-2016 Show

Fred Rosen and Hank Garfield

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?

12-1-2016 Show

Anthony 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.

Anthony DeStefano

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.

11-17-2016 Show

Denise Wallace

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.

11-10-2016 Show

John Glatt,

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.
 

11-03-2016 Show

Rebecca Morris,

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.
 

10-20-2016 Show

Gavin Schmitt

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.

Dr. Bill Kimberlin,

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.

(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.

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

9-29-2016 Show

Sulome Anderson

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.

9-22-2016 Show

Nick Foster

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

9-15-2016 Show

Dr. Sean McFate

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.

9-8-2016 Show

James Renner

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.

9-1-2016 Show

John Ferak

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?

8-25-2016 Show

Emily 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.

8-18-2016 Show

Laurence 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.

8-11-2016 Show

Steve Jackson

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.
 

8-4-2016 Show

Kevin Sullivan

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.

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.

Chris Cippolini,

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.!
 

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.

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.

7-7-2016 Show

Rebecca 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

6-30-2016 Show

Rich 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.

6-23-2016 Show

Burl 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.

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.

6-9-2016 Show

Rebecca Gordon

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.
 

6-2-2016 Show

Richard Stratton,

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

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.

Jeffry Weiss

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.

5-12-2016 Show

Bruce Hillman,

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.

Caliph Shaquel,

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.

4-28-2016 Show

Stephen and Joyce Singular

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

4-21-2016 Show

Anton Keating

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.

4-14-2016 Show

Regina Twiggs

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.

J. H. Sullivan

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.

3-24-2016 Show

Dean Jobb

 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.

3-17-2016 Show

Tonya Craft

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.
 

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.

Nobody can pretend any longer that these congested facilities are remedial institutions. Exactly the opposite To discuss the topic , we have Seth Ferranti, owner, Gorilla Convict web site and author, Kevin Chiles, publisher of Don Diva Magazine and Paul Wright, founder Prison Legal News. All three guests have served time in the American prison system and can offer an inside look at the topic.

Bob 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.

Kim Goldman

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.

Mike Dorsey and Ed Carter Edwards

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.

In the summer of 1944, 168 airmen from the US, England, Canada and other Allied countries were captured in Paris by the German Gestapo and sent to the infamous "Koncentration Lager Buchenwald" in Germany. Falsely accused of being "terrorists and saboteurs," the airmen faced a terrifying fight for survival and a race against time to escape their execution.
Moreover, a controversial moment in history occurred when the airmen’s home countries tried to hush-up their capture.

Lost Airmen of Buchenwald tells this harrowing story through interviews with seven surviving members of the group, including their heroic commanding officer. The film follows
them from their days hiding with the French Resistance to the darkest corners of the Holocaust, where they struggled to survive as Germany collapsed under the weight of the advancing Russian and Allied armies.
 

2-4-2016 Show

Barbara 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.

1-28-2016 Show

Matthew Dunn

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
British author of The Spy House and other novels. As an intelligence officer with the British spy agency MI6, Dunn conducted more than 70 successful spy
operations in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Dunn will share his experiences as a spy and as an author of best-selling espionage novels.
 

1-21-2016 Show

Ron Chepesiuk

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 . . 
 

1-14-2016 Show

James Neff

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.

Bryan Denson,

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.

Michael Vecchione and

Jerry Schmetterer,

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.

Richard Muti

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.
 

11-26-2015 Show

Steven Leroy Jackson

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.

11-19-2015 Show

Thomas Long

The new face of urban crime fiction.
Thomas Long, the best-selling author of A Thug’s Life: A Real Life Baltimore Story and many other books, and Michael O’Hara, the Emmy-award winning author of Dos Angeles, a crime novel that introduces Paco Moran, a new Latino crime protagonist.

11-12-2015 Show

T.J. English

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.

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.

10-29-2015 Show

David E. Hoffman,

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.

10-22-2015 Show

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.

10-15-2015 Show

Alex 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. 
 

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.

10-1-2015 Show

John Alite

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.

9-17-2015 Show

Gerald Posner

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.

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.
 

9-3-15 Show

Tamiko 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.

8-20-15 Show

Anthony 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.

8-13-15 Show

Steve 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.
 

8-6-15 Show

Robert Borelli

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.

Anthony DeStefano

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.

Greer Bishop and Todd Cimino

 
All of us love a good gangster movie and the crime genre is a staple of the Hollywood movie industry. This week we go behind the scenes and talk to an actor and a screenwriter to find how a crime movie is made and what it takes for such a movie to be successful. The guests are actor GREER BISHOP and TODD CIMINO. Greer Bishop has worked on the Cannes and Sundance award winning film "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and recently was seen on screen in the Sundance Film Festival selected series, "Dark Prophet" starring Henry Rollins. Todd Cimino is an American writer and film producer and the youngest member of the Cimino Family of American film producers. He has been credited with 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  (2006) . Cimino has also authored "MidOcean", Table 21", and "Heavy." Show time is Thursday, July 23, at 8 pm. EST.
 

7-2-15

Tonight’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.
 

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

6-25-15

Shanna Hogan

New York Times best-Selling Author discusses her latest book:

The Stranger She Loved
A Mormon Doctor,

His Beautiful Wife, and an Almost Perfect Murder

Caliph Shaquel

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?

6-11-15

James Grady

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.
 

Carlos Toro

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.

Jon D'Amore

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.
 

Gavin Schmidt

 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.
 

LA Sno and Caliph Shaquel

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.

Meili Cady

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.

First on the show is William Northrop, author of Spook War: A Memoir from the Trench, a book about espionage and the Middle East.

4-9-15

Panel Discussion

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.

On the show will be John Atkinson, Ike’s son; Martin Trowery, former big-time drug dealer from the Pittsburg area who bought drugs from Ike; Daniel Burch, one of Ike’s band of brothers in Europe who taught Ike how to smuggle drugs using the Army’s AWOL bag, and Stevie Baker, former member of Nicky Barnes crew who became good friends with Ike while they were in prison.

Chris Cippolini,

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.
They were called mobsters, thugs, hoods and racketeers, but at the very core... they were assassins. When gangland kingpins, such as Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, needed a contract fulfilled - the "Combination" boys would eagerly take to task the enforcement duties, which included methods ranging from gunfire to fire axes, incineration to ice picks. Join us for a fascinating discussion!
 

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.

On the show is David Amoruso, founder and owner of the Gangstersinc web site, the largest crime-related site on the web. Join us!

Azie Faison

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!
 

Kevin Deutsch

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.

 

George Anastasia

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.
 

Gerald Posner

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..

Erich Lichtblau

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.

 

David Berg

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.


After burying his brother all those years ago, David Berg rarely talked about him. Yet in 2008 he began to remember and research Alan’s life and death. The result is the book we will be discussing tonight. Run, Brother, Run is described as part memoir—about growing up Jewish in 1950s Texas and Arkansas—and part legal story, informed by Berg’s experience as a seasoned lawyer.
 

1-29-15

Seth Ferranti

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.
 

Steve Jackson
This week's Crime Beat features. Steve Jackson, award-winning journalist and NYTimes bestselling author. Jackson has written nine non-fiction books in the true crime, history and biography genres and has collaborated with Robert K. Tanenbaum, a former assistant district attorney with the New York DAO, to write the "Butch Karp" series of crime thrillers. Jackson will discuss his latest book, Bogeyman, the true crime story that describes the efforts of Texas lawmen to solve the cold case murders of three little girls and hold their killer accountable for his horrific crimes. The story begins in January 1985, but police detectives are still pushing to bring other cases against serial child killer David Elliott Penton.
http://wildbluepress.com/bogeyman-steve-jackson-true-crime/

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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William Mann

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.

Frank Monastra

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.

Todd Rafael Cimino

11-20-14

Scott Andrew Selby

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.

11-13-14

Tom Wescott

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.

11-6-14

Scott Bonn