Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Pretty Boy Floyd lit up the late 20s and early 30s Midwest with bank robberies, daring escapes from the law, and cold-blooded murder. My guest, Michael Wallis, author of "Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd", talks about his early life, his first forays into crime, time in a Kansas prison, and an audacious bank heist in his hometown cheered by his friends and grandfather in this...

Rumors for many years have circulated about the mysterious death of famed boxer Sonny Liston in December of 1970. My guest, Shaun Assael, author of "The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin and Heavyweights" and a former police reporter and sports writer for ESPN Magazine, talks about the suspects and possible scenarios surrounding Lison's demise, and the very strong possibility of his murder...

One of the most enduring historical mysteries of the 20th century is of the missing Sodder children. After a fire in the family home on Christmas Eve of 1945, George and Jennie escaped with four of their children, however five more never made it out of the house. At first, it was assumed that they died in an accidental fire, but a series of strange clues aroused their suspicions that something mor...

My guest, David Pietrusza, is the author of "Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius who Fixed the 1919 World Series". He talks about this extraordinary, eccentric man who managed to expertly balance between high society, highbrow intellectual circles, Tammany Hall and the underworld, and had his fingers in just about every racket in Jazz-Age New York City. Become a Most Noto...

In the outskirts of France in 1869, an entire family is found dead after being stabbed and then buried alive. G.S. Johnston, author of "The Cast of a Hand", talks about France in the 1860s under Napoleon III, and the events that led up to the terrible, tragic murders of Jean and Hortense Kinck and their six children by Jean-Baptiste Troppmann and possible accomplices. The author's website: http://...

Just in time for some Halloween, Diane Student, co-producer and host of the "History Goes Bump" podcast, joins me to share her list of the top ten most notorious ghosts in American history. We deviate a bit from our regular author /interview format this week to delve into some of the sightings of ghostly activity attributed to many of the subjects we've covered in past episodes, including The Blac...

In Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, on a November evening in 1928, Nelson Rehymeyer, a local "powwow" practitioner of Christian folk magic, is murdered in his home. John Blymire soon confesses, telling police that he was trying to lift a hex. Shane Free, the producer and director of the documentary "Hex Hollow" is my guest on this week's episode of Most Notorious, where he explains the details of this...

In December 1888, in Bradford, England, a little boy named Johnny Gill disappears and is eventually found murdered, his body mutilated almost beyond recognition. Kathryn McMaster, author of "Who Killed Little Johnny Gill?" tells the tragic story of this most horrific of crimes, and the man who she thinks did the evil deed. The author's website: https://kathrynmcmaster.com/ Become a Most Notorious...

In 1871, on the outskirts of London, a police constable discovers a young woman, bloodied and battered beyond recognition. She dies, and the police officially have a murder on their hands. They eventually set their sights on Edmund Pook, the son of a wealthy printer, who had employed the woman, named Jane Clauson, as a family servant. Paul Thomas Murphy, author of "Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kid...

Bestselling UK author Kate Summerscale joins me to talk about her book, "The Wicked Boy". Two young boys, Robert and Nattie Coombs, conspire to murder their mother in Victorian-era London. While the murder is gruesome and sensational, an uplifting event years later gives hope that rehabilitation can have a positive effect on a young criminal's life. The author's website: https://www.katesummerscal...

My conversation with author Mark Lee Gardner continues, about his book "Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West's Greatest Escape". In the second part of the story, we talk about the James-Younger Gang's flight into the Big Woods of southern Minnesota, and the difficulties that they faced navigating through unknown territory, and also the troubles the local posses had...

Much has been written about Jesse James, including his gang's ill-fated trip to Northfield, Minnesota, a botched bank raid met with death and tragedy, but never told like this. Mark Lee Gardner, author of "Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid and the Wild West's Greatest Escape", joins me to tell the story of the James-Younger gang's foray north from Missouri and the chaos that follo...

In April of 1920, neighbors discover the bodies of most of the Wolf Family, killed by shotgun and hatchet, on their North Dakota farm, just outside Turtle Lake. Only the Wolfs' eight month old daughter survived. Vernon Keel, journalist and author, grew up in Turtle Lake, and joins me to talk about the book he's written about the sensational and tragic crime, called "The Murdered Family". The autho...

From the 1870s to the 1930s, New York City's fabled Chinatown was the site of a series of vicious wars between two rival tongs, the On Leongs and the Hip Sings. Scott D. Seligman, author of "Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money and Murder in New York's Chinatown" joins me to chat about the origins of the animosity, and how their rivalry escalated into incredible brutality for both sides. The...

Alfred Knapp, known as the "Hamilton Strangler", left a trail of dead young women through Southern Ohio in the 1890s and early 1900s. My guest, Richard O Jones, the host of the "True Crime Historian" podcast, and author of "The First Celebrity Serial Killer in Southwest Ohio: The Confessions of the Strangler Alfred Knapp", tells the story of the life and death of this notorious killer. The True Cr...

Dale W. Laackman, author of "For the Kingdom and the Power: The Big Money Swindle That Spread Hate Across America", tells the story of con artists Edward Young Clarke and Bessie Tyler, who through a brilliant public relations campaign turned the Ku Klux Klan from shadowed obscurity to a structured and powerful organization of millions in late 1910s and early 1920s America, and made a fortune in th...

In the small town of Isadore Michigan in 1907, a young nun named Janina disappeared. Ten years later, her body is discovered by a priest intent on building a new church on the foundation of the old one. Mardi Link, author of "Isadore's Secret", chats with me about the terrible circumstances surrounding the death of Sister Janina. The author's website: https://www.mardilink.com/ Become a Most Notor...

In February of 1874, a group of six men set off through the high mountains of Colorado. Weeks later, only a man named Alfred Packer came out. Packer would later be tried and convicted of robbing, murdering and eating his traveling companions. Prolific true crime writer Harold Schechter returns again to Most Notorious to talk about his bestselling book, "Man-Eater: The Life and Legend of an America...

In early 1870s Kansas, a German family named the Benders built a small shack, opened it as an inn, and robbed and butchered travelers who stopped there for a bed or a meal. I'm joined by Phyllis de la Garza, author of "Death for Dinner: The Benders of (Old) Kansas", who tells the story of the murderous family known in history and American lore as the "Bloody Benders". Become a Most Notorious patro...

My guest, Steve Hodel, author of "Black Dahlia Avenger" and "Most Evil", and I continue our discussion about the Black Dahlia case. We discuss the evidence he's collected implicating his father George Hodel, including a set of police transcripts that links his father to other unsolved Los Angeles murders from the late 1940s. Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotorious Mos...

No case in Los Angeles crime history has been more discussed and speculated about than the January 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dahlia. My guest, Steve Hodel, is a private investigator, former LAPD homicide detective, and author of Black Dahlia Avenger. In his book he documents his investigation into the murder, implicating his own father, George Hodel, in the process.  Become a M...

My guest on this episode is Jeff Maysh, author of the Kindle single "Handsome Devil", a book that documents the life and death of one of the most talented and charming con artists of the 20th century, Victor Lustig. He was a master of disguise, an escape artist, and the creator of epic swindles in the 1920s and 30s, including "selling" the Eiffel Tower and managing one of the most prolific counter...

May 18th, 2016, marks the 89th commemoration of the Bath, Michigan School Massacre. In 1927 Andrew Kehoe rigged the school with over 600 pounds of dynamite. The explosion killed 38 school children, 6 teachers, and injured dozens more. Arnie Bernstein, author of "Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing", talks with me about the devastating tragedy. Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www....

For those of us who've watched and enjoyed HBO's Deadwood, the town and its characters are absolutely larger than life. But was the show historically accurate? What is fact and what is fiction? My guest, Barbara Fifer, author of "Deadwood Saints and Sinners", helps set the record straight. Her writing partner and co-author, the late Jerry Bryant, was a consultant on the Deadwood TV show, and has p...

Al Capone is the most infamous gangster in American history, forever associated with Chicago, and known around the world for his connection to the bloody St. Valentine's Day Massacre. But did he really order those murders? A few don't think so. My guest, Deirdre Marie Capone is the granddaughter to Al's brother Ralph, and author of Uncle Al Capone. She offers an inside view into the Capone family,...