Infamous America

John Birges’s effort to collect extortion money from Harvey’s Wagon Wheel Resort and Casino does not go well. As he tries to think of another plan, the authorities attempt to disarm his bomb. The result is a TV spectacle that is nationwide news. The FBI begins a year-long manhunt which finally leads to the truth behind the bizarre story of the bomb that could not be disarmed. Join Black Barrel+ fo...

In the spring of 1980, John Birges hit rock bottom. For about 10 years, he was living the good life. But then his life started to fall apart. His gambling addiction caused major problems, and he desperately needed money. His solution is to build the perfect bomb and extort the money from his favorite casino, Harvey’s Wagon Wheel Resort and Casino in Stateline, Nevada. When he delivers the bomb to...

Over the course of five years in the early 1950s, George Metesky escalates a bombing campaign that is designed to hurt his former employer, Consolidated Edison. He writes letters to the press and he revels in the media attention, but he feels angry because no one seems to understand his cause. Soon, his bombs begin injuring innocent people, and the NYPD turns to a radical new tactic to stop him. J...

In 1931, George Metesky suffers a injury while working for Consolidated Edison power company in New York. George feels he is not properly compensated for years of trauma and recovery, and he wants vengeance against Con Ed. He begins a bombing campaign to push for justice against his enemies, and his devices mystify the NYPD. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarre...

Immediately after the deadly explosion at the L.A. Times building, celebrated detective William Burns begins an investigation. He follows a long trail of clues left behind by the bombers and quickly learns of the identities of the three men who were involved, notably J.B. McNamara. McNamara and his brother enlist famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow as they prepare for the Trial of the Century,...

In the early 1900s, a new phase starts in the ongoing battle between unions and big businesses. Some union organizers begin using bombs to try to force employers to negotiate. In 1910, the powerful Iron Workers union launches a nationwide bombing campaign against ruthless business owners. On October 1, 1910, notorious bomber J.B. McNamara targets the Los Angeles Times building in one of the worst...

The courtroom trials were dramatic. They were surprising reversals and bold acts of jury tampering. But finally, after years of heartbreak, the Osage received some justice. Four men who were involved in many of the killings went to prison. The Bureau of Investigation closed the collective case of the Osage Murders, but that didn’t mean all the crimes were solved. To this day, one hundred years lat...

Throughout 1925, Special Agent Tom White and his team produced more results than all the other investigators combined. But even White’s investigation stalled. And then, he received a miracle: an inmate in an Oklahoma prison possessed vital information about the murders. The inmate’s confession led to shocking revelations and the first arrests in the cases of the Osage Murders.   Join Black Barrel+...

Mercifully, the murders in the Osage Nation paused in 1924 and 1925. J. Edgar Hoover became the director of the Bureau of Investigation and assigned a new man to the case of the Osage murders. Special Agent Tom White succeeded where all others failed. He eliminated suspects; uncovered lies and corruption; and discovered new evidence. In the process, he believed he learned the identities of some of...

The winter of 1923 saw more murders in the Osage Hills, but no one was prepared for the brazen and brutal attack that happened in March. In the aftermath, the Osage pressed the U.S. government and the state of Oklahoma for help, but their efforts produced few results. And then, criminals in Osage County started dying. The masterminds behind the conspiracy began covering their tracks and further pr...

The Osage and local lawmen began to investigate the first two murders, but their efforts produced few results. The Osage were scared and frustrated, and the body count started to rise at an appalling rate. The second half of 1922 was the deadliest period to date, but it would be surpassed in 1923.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join  ...

In 1921, two murder victims were discovered on the same day in Osage County in northeastern Oklahoma. It was shocking news, but members of the Osage tribe already knew they were in danger. They were some of the richest people on Earth, thanks to the oil under their land, and they had been dying in mysterious ways for years. But when the two bodies were found on the same day, it launched a 5-year p...

At the end of the Labor Day weekend in 1982, people in the tiny fishing village of Craig, Alaska noticed a boat burning in the harbor. When they raced to help, they realized it was an expensive vessel called the Investor. The eight people who were likely onboard were never seen again. The investigation into the tragedy, which would soon be called murder, would be the longest and most expensive in...

A tragedy unfolds on Christmas Eve, 1945 in a small town in West Virginia. The Sodder family – 2 parents and 9 children – go to bed after a happy celebration. But during the night, a series of unexplained events occur. The events culminate in a raging fire that burns the family’s house to the ground. It appears as though five children were lost during the blaze, but the rest of the family embarks...

On January 2, 1935, a man who calls himself Roland T. Owen checks into a hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the next 48 hours, the events surrounding Roland Owen grow increasingly strange … until he is discovered badly beaten and locked in his room. It takes years to unravel the mystery of his true identity, but most of the questions about this story remain unanswered.   Join Black Barrel+ for a...

A year and a half after the first Zodiac crime, a man kidnaps a pregnant mother and her daughter. Their terrifying ordeal becomes associated with the Zodiac and eventually leads reporter Paul Avery to look backward in time for other Zodiac crimes. He discovers a murder in Riverside, California that might be connected. Meanwhile, detectives focus on their top suspect and spend more than 20 years tr...

Two weeks after the attack at Lake Berryessa, the Zodiac shoots and kills a taxi cab driver in San Francisco. Multiple witnesses see the killer, but the police still struggle to find him. The killer sends more letters and now issues threats against school kids in the San Francisco region. At the same time, it appears as though he organizes a stunt with a local TV show. The bizarre TV episode leads...

Two college students relax along the shore of a lake in Napa County, California on a sunny afternoon in September of 1969. Before long, they are interrupted by a man who wears an eerie black hood and carries a gun. The man attacks the students with a knife and leaves them for dead. The killer writes a message on the students’ car and calls the police to take credit for the crime. In the process, h...

While the police, the FBI, the U.S. Navy, and random civilians try to break the code of the killer’s cipher, the killer sends another letter to the press. He gives himself a name, the Zodiac, and taunts the police departments that are unable to catch him. Within a few days, a pair of teachers break the code of the Zodiac’s cipher and reveal the twisted ramblings of a killer. Meanwhile, the Zodiac...

Seven months after two teenagers are murdered outside Vallejo, California, the killer reemerges. He shoots two young people at a park on the outskirts of the city, but this time one of the victims survives. Shortly after the attack, the killer calls the Vallejo police department and sets in motion a pattern of communication that will be unrivaled in American criminal history. A month later, he sen...

A few days before Christmas in 1968, two teenagers from Vallejo, California go on their first date. They park at a lover’s lane pullout off of a dark road outside of town. Within an hour, a stranger parks near their car. He forces the kids out of their car, and then shoots and kills them. Investigators are baffled. There are few clues, no leads, and no suspects. Someone committed a brutal double m...

Music from the Infamous America podcast. Songs from Season 4: Dillinger. 0:00 – Infamous America Opening Cue 0:12 – “Hear My Train a’Calling” – Ryan Kickland 2:46 – “Desperate Blues” – Jean Soullier and Fabrice Remy Ploquin 5:48 – “Keep On Walking” – Tom Poole, Peter Simon Beckman, Robin Lawrence Datta, Ben Lord 8:09 – “At The Bottom” – Scott Stallone 11:53 – “Beyond the Wild” – Alex De Menthon an...

On July 27th, 1996, a domestic terrorist bombed the Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta, GA. While the FBI and the media fixated on the wrong man, the bomber planned his next, more overtly political attacks on two abortion clinics and a gay nightclub. The bomber would later be identified as a dedicated soldier in the white-supremacist Christian Identity Movement. Through the lens of these four bo...

Billy Sunday Birt and partner in crime Billy Wayne Davis terrorize the south and likely commit one of the most gruesome murders in Georgia history. As usual, Birt makes sure no witnesses are left alive, but there’s something he didn’t bank on: betrayal. Betrayal which begins unraveling decades of deadly secrets, some still being unearthed today.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingea...

Dirt poor and struggling with a severe speech impediment, Billy Sunday Birt grows tough and violent. He quickly replaces reading and writing for whiskey-running and armed robbery. While Birt’s reputation for retribution is no secret, the people of Barrow County don’t suspect how cruel he is until neighbors start disappearing and bodies begin surfacing along the banks of the Mulberry.  Join Black B...