Criminal Records Podcast

On one fateful week in 1902, Old Country systems of oversight of meat production met New Country price collusion. With the price of kosher meat skyrocketing in New York City and the Jewish population entering its hangriest period of the year, tensions spilled over into a pandemonium involving naked butchers, flying fish, and cops getting slapped in the face with raw liver. Sources and show notes a...

A man, a plan, a violation of controlled airspace. Larry Walters was an ordinary truck driver, but he hatched an extraordinary scheme to take to the sky in a lawn chair tied to weather balloons. His stunt made international headlines, inspired movies, and launched an extreme sport.  Content note: This episode includes a discussion of suicide. Sources and show notes here Support the show on Patreon...

What should you do when two different governments claim to have authority over your country? Tell everyone that a third government secretly has the real claim to power! Then, start taking people's money so you can issue your own license plates and government ID cards. What could go wrong? Sources and show notes here Support the show on Patreon

An attempt to get to the bottom of steroid abuse in Major League Baseball spun out so badly that one of the lawyers involved ended up in prison. But why is punishing people for the misuse of regulated drugs in sports left up to private organizations in the first place? And wouldn't baseball be so much more fun if everyone was still injecting meth and goat testicle juice? Content notes: Discussion...

The target: The British Museum of Natural History. The payload: A suitcase full of dead birds. The criminal: A flute player obsessed with the rare art of Victorian fly tying. Content note: This episode contains discussion of the "Asperger's defense," a controversial mental health defense in the British court system. We're discussing the legal and medical terminology that was used at the time; unde...

We're tackling one of our most confusing legal systems yet in a case so complicated no one could even figure out which jurisdiction covered it. Because there was no law covering criminal negligence, the accidental sinking of the warship Chishima was tried in a civil court–but Japan's bizarre treaty system forced the emperor of Japan to personally take his suit to a British court on Chinese soil. M...

We're closing out Pride month with a look at a country where Pride demonstrations are banned. How did Russia go from relative tolerance to extreme repression? Why did so much Soviet propaganda feature men kissing? And how did a law about kids' media turn into a human rights violation? Note: While this episode is not particularly sexually graphic, I've marked it as explicit just in case because it...

Can you break the law by reincarnating in the wrong body? We get into Tibet's complicated battle with China over its reincarnation lineages, including a government-mandated ceremonial golden urn, a legal precedent that requires time travel to make sense, and an inheritance dispute involving a parent who's younger than his own child. Sources and show notes here Support the show on Patreon

Get ready for more discussion of of glory holes than you've ever heard in a civics lesson before. This landmark case invalidated sodomy laws across the United States. But did the plaintiffs involved actually commit any sodomy with each other? And is the Supreme Court's legal reasoning at risk today? Sources and show notes Support the show on Patreon

This secret society of criminals had a fake leader, but their grievances were very real. Were the Luddites just a bunch of anti-technology cranks, or was there more to their machine breaking movement? Sources and show notes Support us on Patreon

The invention of one incredibly minor traffic offense had massive consequences for legal systems around the world. When did we lose the right to cross the street wherever and whenever we wanted?  Sources and show notes Support us on Patreon

One of the most important trials in recorded history might not have happened. But the story of a Roman hero fighting treason charges is still a wild ride that included public murder, monkey-based punishments, and a legal decision so novel that it changed the western world's court systems forever. Sources and show notes Support us on Patreon

It's time to take to the sea in style. Why did a gentleman abandon a life of luxury to become a pirate? And how did one of the most incompetent ship captains in history end up sailing with Blackbeard himself?  Sources and show notes Support us on Patreon

The interrogation records of three criminals tell part of the story of a secret religious movement that tried to topple a dynasty. This sect of apocalyptic Buddhism was so secretive, and so completely quashed by government authorities, that criminal cases are some of our only sources about the extent of their activity. Sources and show notes Find us on Patreon

In a follow-up to our episode about one very slick criminal, we're taking listeners through a tour of Denver's seedy side. Learn how to scam people 1920s style with an immersive confidence game that required elaborate acting, money swapping, and fake fights. Sources and show notes here Subscribe to the Patreon here!

What happens when you put a bunch of philosophers in charge of investigating crimes? You end up with one of the most organized and longest-lasting criminal codes in human history. We're going back to Imperial China to examine the case of a deadly dispute over a handful of beans. Show notes and sources at this link

Richard Lawrence was full of lead. On one fateful day in 1835, he decided to fill President Andrew Jackson with lead too. Why did the course of American history nearly hinge on a once-common house paint additive, and why have people throughout history been consuming and working with this poisonous metal? Content note: This episode contains some outdated medical terms about mental illness. Show not...

One of the most violent players in the NHL got famous for his illegal moves, bench-clearing brawls, and on-ice mooning. But his real criminal career got started after his hockey career ended. Does he deserve to go down in history as a dangerous goon, or a victim of a sports culture that encouraged players to destroy their bodies for profit? Sources and show notes at the link  

In 1969, a group of graduate students had a great time smashing up a car. Their very strange psychology experiment is responsible for some of the most racist policing practices in America today. How did the broken windows theory go from textbooks to police departments? And will we ever know what actually solved America's biggest crime wave? Content note: This episode discusses a lot of racist prac...

A group of thieves set their sights on the greatest wealth stockpile of them all: the Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve. All they needed was a network of truckers, black market syrup smugglers, and shady dealers willing to get their fingers sticky for a sweet payoff. Show notes and sources at this link

Was a poor Jewish kid from Massachusetts the real inspiration for Professor Moriarty? Meet Adam Worth, the gentleman thief so daring his crimes created fashion crazes, inspired private detectives, and nearly caused an international diplomatic incident. Show notes and sources at this link

Want to take your gang war to the next level? Try buying a rocket launcher! In this wild episode, we learn about the history of one of the world's best-known criminal organizations, the split that launched a bloody turf war, and the linguistic complications of saying "yes" to arms dealers. Show notes and sources at this link

How did one of the most famous political prisoners of all time end up in prison? What system did he have a part in taking down? This week, we discuss the strange legal maneuvers South Africa's racist government used to stay in power, and the court case that changed the way the world reacted to the apartheid system. Content notes: This episode contains discussion of the South African apartheid syst...

One gang of women terrorized London's merchants for more than a century. From smashing cars through shop doors to stuffing fur coats down their pants, learn the secrets of the lady gang of master criminals. Content note: This episode includes discussion of domestic violence.  Show notes and sources at this link

What do you do when your country won't let you leave? One group of defectors from the Soviet Union hatched a desperate plan: they'd pretend they were on their way to a wedding, then they'd hijack their plane and fly it out of the country. Content note: This episode discusses antisemitism in the Soviet Union and the Zionist movement. Sources and show notes at this link