Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

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,...

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...