Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream was a 19th century contemporary of Jack the Ripper, and many claim that they were one and the same. The UK's A.J. Griffiths-Jones, author of "Prisoner 4374", discusses the life of this serial killer, better known as the "Lambeth Poisoner", and the bloody trail he left through Canada, the United States and England. The author on FB: https://www.facebook.com/authoraj66/ Become...

When authorities have difficulties linking physical evidence to Bruno Hauptmann in the Charles Lindbergh Jr. abduction and murder, Arthur Koehler, an expert on wood, helps them connect Hauptmann to the ladder left outside the Lindbergh family estate on March 1st, 1932. My guest is Adam Schrager, author of "The Sixteenth Rail: The Evidence, the Scientist, and the Lindbergh Kidnapping". The author o...

On May 4th, 1886 in Chicago's Haymarket, a labor rally is interrupted first by a column of police officers, and then by a bomb from the crowd thrown into their ranks. This has major implications for the labor and social reform movement in the US. James Green, author of "Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America", talks abou...

In the winter of 1900, John Hossack is brutally attacked and mortally wounded with an axe while in bed next to his wife. Patricia Bryan, co-author (along with Thomas Wolf) of "Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America's Heartland", talks about the murder and the number one suspect, John Hossack's wife Margaret, and the shock of the crime to rural turn-of-the-century Iowa. The author's publisher page:...

in 1920 three African-American men were lynched in Duluth, Minnesota, accused of raping a white woman. Over 10,000 people gathered in the street to watch them hang. Michael Fedo, author of "The Lynchings In Duluth", discusses this horrific moment in Minnesota history, and the questionable accusations that led to it. The author's website: https://www.michaelfedo.com/ Become a Most Notorious patron:...

In the late 1920s, an estimated 20 boys or more are abducted, tortured and murdered at a chicken ranch in Wineville, California. My guest is Anthony Flacco, author of "The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders". He tells the both tragic and inspiring story of Sanford Clark, the nephew of sadistic serial killer Gordon Stewart Northcott. The author's website: ht...

I'm joined by Tobin T. Buhk, the author of "Poisoning The Pecks of Grand Rapids: The Scandalous 1916 Murder Plot". We talk about the charming, devious killer Arthur Warren Waite, who ingratiated himself into the wealthy Peck family through marriage, and then put a plot in motion to kill every member of the family so he could inherit a fortune. The author's website: https://tobinbuhk.com/ Become a...

Karen Abbott, author of "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War", joins me to talk about a group of extraordinary women in 1860s America, both Union and Confederate, who become spies to help advance their sides in the Civil War. The author's website: https://karenabbott.net/ Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotorious Most Notorious website:...

Off of the coast of western Australia, the Dutch East India Company's state-of-the-art ship, the Batavia, wrecks on a reef in June of 1629. One of the officers on board, a failed apothecary named Jeronimus Corenlisz, is left in charge of the survivors and begins to slaughter them with terrible brutality. I'm joined by the author of "Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led Hi...

In 1937, on the eve of the Japanese occupation of Peking (Beijing), China, a young English woman is found brutally murdered at the base of Fox Tower, and an investigation launches that churns up some disturbing details. Paul French, the author of "Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China", is my guest on this week's episode of Most Notorious. Th...

Benny Binion was a larger-than-life character, a gangster who grew up in Texas and built a criminal empire. Eventually he moved to Las Vegas, started the Horseshoe Casino, and began the World Series of Poker. I chat with Doug Swanson, author of "Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion, the Texas Gangster Who Created Vegas Poker" about the crazy life of this Lone Star legend. The author's publish...

December 29th, 2015, marked the 125th Anniversary of one of the most tragic events in American history. My guest Jerome A. Greene, author of "American Carnage: Wounded Knee 1890", talks about the massacre of Lakota Indians by the United States 7th Cavalry. Author's publisher page: https://www.oupress.com/9780806144481/american-carnage/ Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostno...

We're back to Old New Mexico on this episode of Most Notorious. I talk to Mark Lee Gardner, author of "To Hell on a Fast Horse: The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett" about this famous outlaw and lawman, forever linked together in history in the early 1880s. The author's website: https://songofthewest.com/ Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotorious Most Notor...

J.D. Chandler, author of "Murder and Scandal in Prohibition Portland", tells the tale of the Torso Murder in 1946 Portland, Oregon, including his decade long investigation of this very cold case. Note: Note: J.D. Chandler, Portland Oregon's most well-known true crime historian, passed away on May 30th, 2021. I'm so lucky to have had him as a guest. Here is a story on his fascinating life: https://...

In this episode, host Erik Rivenes talks with Arnie Bernstein, author of "Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and the Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund", about the rise Nazism in the United States in the 1930s under Fritz Kuhn. Famed columnist Walter Winchell, Jewish gangsters like Mickey Cohen and Meyer Lanksy, and even a former Miss America play a part in Kuhn's eventual fall from power. The aut...

Author Joe Urschel is the Executive Director of the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington D.C. He's also the author of "The Year of Fear: Machine Gun Kelly and the Manhunt That Changed the Nation." Joe and Erik discuss the life and times of George Kelly and his adversarial relationship with F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover in the early 1930s. Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patr...

On Christmas Day, 1929, in Germanton, North Carolina, Charlie Lawson murdered his wife and six children on their rural farm. This horrific crime is part of local lore, and Trudy J. Smith and her father, M. Bruce Jones researched the massacre 25 years ago, conducting interviews with Lawson family members and witnesses. Their original book, "White Christmas, Bloody Christmas" has been revised and ex...

Harold Schecter is one of America's most prolific true crime writers. Back in 2001, he wrote about one of the most chilling serial killing sprees in history, a true life account of the notorious "boy-fiend" Jesse Harding Pomeroy in 1870s Boston. Erik Rivenes chats with the author about his fascinating book, "Fiend: The Shocking Story of America's Youngest Serial Killer". Visit the author's website...

In 1799 Micajah “Big” Harpe and Wiley “Little” Harpe cut a bloody path down the Wilderness Trail in Kentucky and Tennessee, murdering everyone in their path. My guest, E. Don Harp, a descendant of the infamous brothers, argues in "The Last Rampage of the Terrible Harpes" that they were the first serial killers in American history. In our conversation we get the lowdown on these lowdown murderers....

Mickey Cohen went from selling newspapers on the streets of L.A. to heading one of the largest crime rackets in the United States. He worked under Bugsy Siegel, rubbed shoulders with Frank Sinatra, Lana Turner and Billy Graham, and cut down enemies with a ruthless passion. Joining host Erik Rivenes is Tere Tereba. A former fashion designer, friend of Jim Morrison and Andy Warhol, she wrote the def...

The murders of Andrew and Abby Borden in 1892, and the accusation that sent daughter Lizzie Borden to trial, is one of the most infamous in American history. But did Lizzie Borden really give her mother forty whacks? What is myth and what is fact in this notorious murder case? Erik speaks with Joseph Conforti, author of "Lizzie Borden on Trial: Murder, Ethnicity and Gender" about the woman behind...

Guest Simon Baatz, author of “For the Thrill of It: Leopold and Loeb and the Murder That Shocked Chicago” talks about the infamous and horrific Bobby Franks murder, and the trial of Leopold and Loeb, with famed criminal attorney Clarence Darrow at the defense. Also, Irish mobster Dean O'Banion runs into trouble on Chicago's north side. The author's website: http://www.simonbaatz.com/ Become a Most...

In the 1930s, Saint Paul Minnesota was considered a vacation home for some of the most notorious bank-robbing gangsters of the Depression-era, including John Dillinger and the Barker-Karpis Gang. Host Erik Rivenes' guest, Paul Maccabee, wrote the definitive book on the subject, entitled "Dillinger Slept Here: A Crook's Tour of Crime and Corruption In St. Paul", and he shares some of those titillat...