For over 20 years, Ken Tekiela was a celebrated firefighter, husband, and father of two —but he led a secret, double life as a hitman for the Chicago mob. When the truth came out, it destroyed his family. Now, his son Kyle, host of Crook County, is left to pick up the pieces. Crook County is the shocking true crime podcast about Kenny “The Kid” Tekiela’s rise through the ranks of the legendary organized crime syndicate, the Chicago Outfit, and the lasting impact this has on a family. From iHeart...
Feb 25, 2025•4 min
Marc heads to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to meet a 70-year old gangster and hear him confess to the murder of Pope John Paul I. What he learns is that there’s a lot more to Anthony Raimondi than meets the eye. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 30, 2024•34 min
A new 10-part true-crime podcast, Executive Produced and Edited by Zac Stuart-Pontier, co-creator of Crimetown. Imagine if, one day, you are accused of something. Something horrible, violent, heinous. Something you swear you did not do, and nothing you say can convince anyone otherwise — even the people closest to you. That’s Sophia Johnson’s story. Sophia was starting fresh: A new life, a new husband, a baby on the way. But it all unraveled on January 10, 2002, when her mother-in-law Marlyne Jo...
Apr 24, 2024•25 min
Everybody remembers the morning of September 11, 2001, when two passenger jets flew into the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan. But the idea of toppling the towers was not new. Thirty years ago, a group of men set off a bomb in the garage beneath the North Tower, hoping it would tumble into the South Tower. At the time, this was the largest improvised explosive device ever ignited on American soil. It killed six people and injured thousands, leaving behind a 100-foot crater five stories d...
Feb 27, 2023•2 min
Growing up, Rob Boyd is ignored by his absent, womanizing father, a well-known local preacher. His mother marries a kindhearted factory worker, who helps raise Rob and his siblings. But after his stepfather is murdered, Rob goes astray, entering a brutal world of drugs and violence. To learn more about Rob's work today, visit thestreetsdontloveyouback.ning.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Sep 05, 2019•40 min•Season 2Ep. 20
In the Crimetown Season 2 finale, Kwame Kilpatrick begins his 28-year prison sentence. Although he still maintains his innocence, his chances of a retrial are slim. Meanwhile, Detroit is undergoing a remarkable economic transformation. But who is benefitting from the Motor City miracle? And is the era of crime and corruption really over? For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . To make a donation to Auntie Na's House, visit auntienashouse.org . Learn more about your ad choi...
Aug 29, 2019•35 min•Season 2Ep. 19
After a decade of scandals and a sprawling corruption investigation, Kwame Kilpatrick faces his most daunting challenge yet: a federal trial that could put him in prison for decades. The former mayor is no longer fighting for his political life or his marriage — now, he’s fighting for his freedom. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Aug 22, 2019•38 min•Season 2Ep. 18
For years, the FBI has been running a wide-ranging corruption investigation into the Kilpatrick administration. As they dig deeper, the feds uncover a massive pay-to-play enterprise that reaches every level of City Hall. Is Kwame Kilpatrick a crook? Or are his associates just exploiting his name in order to enrich themselves? For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Aug 15, 2019•40 min•Season 2Ep. 17
After serving 99 days in jail, former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick walks free. He heads to Texas and tries to settle into a new life. But Detroit isn’t quite ready to let him go. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 08, 2019•29 min•Season 2Ep. 16
With the mayor behind bars, a crusading lawyer takes up the case of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene. Could Kwame Kilpatrick have ordered her murder — or is it all an urban legend? For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 01, 2019•37 min•Season 2Ep. 15
From the same team that brought you Crimetown comes Crimetown Presents: The Ballad of Billy Balls. It’s 1982 in New York City, and a man bursts into an East Village storefront apartment and shoots punk musician Billy Balls. What follows is a mystery of love and loss that examines the tender binds of family, and the stories we tell ourselves just to survive. Learn more at www.theballadofbillyballs.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jul 31, 2019•9 min
The revelation that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had an affair with his chief of staff — a romance detailed in thousands of explicit text messages — rocks Detroit. But it’s only the beginning of their troubles. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 25, 2019•43 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown files a whistleblower suit against City Hall, alleging he was fired for investigating the long-rumored Manoogian Mansion party. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick denies the accusations. But while he’s on the stand, he’s asked a surprising, seemingly unrelated question — one that just might bring him down. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jul 18, 2019•29 min•Season 2Ep. 13
From the partnership that brought you Dirty John, comes Man in the Window. Pulitzer prize winning reporter Paige St. John investigates The Golden State Killer, and traces his path of devastation through the eyes of his victims. Binge the series now at wondery.fm/CT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 17, 2019•15 min
As rumors about a wild party at the mayor’s mansion continue to spread, Kwame Kilpatrick must fend off an increasingly unsympathetic media. Meanwhile, his opponent in the next election has a double-digit lead. Can the hip hop mayor survive? For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jul 11, 2019•38 min•Season 2Ep. 12
To his supporters, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is a new breed of politician: young, cool, and in touch with black culture. To his critics, his flashy appearance and taste for nightlife are evidence of his immaturity. Rumors about Kilpatrick begin to swirl: sky-high spending, an out-of-control entourage, and wild parties at the mayoral mansion. Is Kwame Kilpatrick in over his head? Or is he being targeted because of his race? For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more ab...
Jul 04, 2019•36 min•Season 2Ep. 11
When Mayor Coleman Young dies after twenty years in office, he leaves a yawning vacuum in Detroit’s power structure. But a successor quickly arises: a young, ambitious state legislator named Kwame Kilpatrick. He’s charismatic, larger than life, and has an impeccable political pedigree. There’s only one person who can stop Kwame Kilpatrick: himself. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jun 27, 2019•31 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Dimitri Mugianis is a rarity in Detroit: a white kid whose family stayed after everyone like them left. Growing up, he throws himself into the city’s avant-garde underworld, playing in art-punk bands and partying in gay clubs. But when his taste for the nightlife becomes a full-blown heroin addiction, he realizes that he’s in trouble—and, with a hot new drug called crack hitting the streets, it’s only going to get worse. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more a...
Jun 20, 2019•40 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Still hung up on the unsolved murder of Damion Lucas, FBI agent Herm Groman devises an elaborate sting to ensnare the corrupt cops of the Detroit Police Department. Will it bring down Mayor Coleman Young, too? For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 13, 2019•41 min•Season 2Ep. 8
A thirteen-year-old boy is murdered in a drive-by shooting. The Detroit police quickly apprehend a suspect. But the FBI is convinced that the wrong man is in jail — and that the real killers are escaping justice thanks to friends in high places. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Jun 06, 2019•36 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Coleman Young has more underworld connections than you might expect of a big-city mayor. Sometimes those connections come in handy. But when his favorite niece starts dating an infamous drug dealer, Mayor Young must choose between keeping her out of trouble and keeping his hands clean. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
May 30, 2019•30 min•Season 2Ep. 6
It’s the early eighties, and a new organization is revolutionizing the heroin trade: Young Boys Inc. Unlike other drug operations, YBI recruits juveniles, brands smack as if it were designer clothing, and moves the industry out of the dope houses and onto the corners. As YBI’s relentless expansion causes more and more bloodshed, its foot soldiers must reckon with their impact on Detroit. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcas...
May 23, 2019•39 min•Season 2Ep. 5
When a hungry young DEA agent arrives in Detroit, he picks the perfect case to make his bones: taking down Eddie Jackson and Courtney Brown’s sprawling heroin organization. But if the drug kingpins fall, what will happen to their kids? As the feds close in, Eddie Jr. and Courtney Jr. must face the possibility of growing up without their fathers. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
May 16, 2019•31 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Eddie Jackson and Courtney Brown are childhood friends from a poor neighborhood. Eddie is the troublemaker, drawn to Detroit’s seamier side; Courtney is his quiet, serious sidekick. As they grow older in a city with dwindling job options, they go their separate ways. But when Eddie dives into the heroin trade, Courtney faces a choice: play it safe and stay broke, or join his friend’s burgeoning empire and get rich. For bonus content from this episode, check out crimetownshow.com . Learn more abo...
May 09, 2019•33 min•Season 2Ep. 3
A police shooting outside a community center leaves two black teenagers dead. Protesters take to the streets, igniting a movement to elect the city’s first black mayor. As election day approaches, the future of a racially polarized city hangs in the balance. For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
May 02, 2019•32 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Detroit, 1971—a city riven by blight, racial strife, and rising crime. In the first episode of Crimetown Season 2, the police form a controversial undercover unit called STRESS—Stop The Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets. One of the unit’s cops kills so many black men that he earns a nickname: Mr. STRESS. Can anyone stop him? For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Oct 01, 2018•33 min•Season 2Ep. 1
In Season 2, Crimetown explores crime and corruption in the heart of the Rust Belt: Detroit, Michigan. Expect stories of police shootings, the drug trade, and political scandal from a city divided by race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 20, 2018•3 min
In 2003, a couple of Brown University alumni did the unthinkable: they wrote and performed a musical about everyone’s favorite criminal mayor. No recordings of the play exist today. So, as a holiday gift to Crimetown listeners, we’ve asked some friends in the musical-theater business to resurrect this forgotten classic. To listen to the Buddy Cianci: The Musical soundtrack, and for more information about this episode, visit our website at crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...
Dec 23, 2017•35 min
Courtney Calenda is a star high school student—until a powerful defense attorney more than three times her age pulls her into a downward spiral of sex and drugs. As her life falls apart, she decides to fight back. For more information about this episode, and a full list of credits, visit our website at crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Dec 19, 2017•41 min
Jarrod Tillinghast is the son of one of Rhode Island’s most notorious mobsters. Determined to make a name for himself, he turns to boxing and becomes a rising star. But he learns that his father’s legacy isn’t so easy to leave behind. For a full list of credits, and more information about this episode, visit crimetownshow.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Nov 29, 2017•31 min
