Up until 2001, Ana Montes led a double life as a Cuban spy and a high-ranking analyst in the U.S. intelligence community. A nationally recognized expert, she was nicknamed the "Queen of Cuba," until top-secret information provided by her own sister led to her arrest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ana Belen Montes was a smart, ambitious Puerto-Rican American with a passion for defending the sovereignty of Latin American nations. In 1985, her drive for social justice found an outlet when she was recruited as a spy for Cuban Intelligence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
By the late 1960s, Valerie Solanas tried to start an underground feminist movement using Andy Warhol to publicize her vision for a new world. But she became consumed with paranoia and rage. She was convinced that Warhol planned to steal her ideas and pawn them off as his own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A radical feminist writer who overcame a childhood of poverty and sexual abuse to put herself through college. Valerie Solanas became obsessed with overthrowing the patriarchy — by any means necessary. But an undiagnosed mental disorder inspired increasingly erratic behavior, which soon took a criminal turn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 1726, Mary Toft seemed to birth a series of strange creatures: rabbits, cats, and never-before-seen hybrid animals. She quickly became a national sensation. But how did an ordinary English wife and mother deceive the most accomplished doctors of the day? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
By 1997, Mary Kay Letourneau's affair with her 13-year-old student seemed doomed to be exposed when she found herself pregnant with his baby. But even as she faced arrest and imprisonment, she continued to maintain that they were in love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
After a troubled childhood, Mary Kay Letourneau always thought she had to be perfect: the perfect daughter, the perfect wife, the perfect mother. But when she found herself falling for 13-year-old Vili Fualaau at her Washington elementary school, she was ready to throw everything away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The trials continue: Tituba’s devilish confession sends chills through the town of Salem. And more men and women are tortured, imprisoned and executed as a result of the 1693 proceedings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Massachusetts 1692-1693: Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne—the three women at the center of the Salem Witch Trials. Discover the three key factors that combined to create their witch hunt, as well as the months of moral panic and finger-pointing that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
With a not-so-promising future in Victorian England, Mary Ann Cotton embarks on a journey of seducing, marrying, and killing her spouses and children to collect her insurance policies. Once she was caught in 1873, she learned just how unforgiving society could be to those who transgressed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A career gold-digger with a penchant for arsenic, and a trail of murders that would make headlines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 1920's New York City, policy bank queen Stephanie St. Clair was sitting on the top of the world. She had become one of the most successful policy bankers in her adopted home of Harlem, and had the cash to prove it. But as the Prohibition came to a close, Stephanie would be faced with a formidable new enemy - white mobsters encroaching on her turf. Sponsors! Bombas - Save 20% on your first purchase when you shop at Bombas.com/CRIMINALS! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adch...
In 1911, 13-year-old Stephanie St. Clair left the Caribbean for America and never looked back. The scrappy teen lied about her age, and soon found herself on the streets of Harlem at the dawn of the Harlem Renaissance and the Prohibition Era - two moments in history that helped launch her career as the queenpin of a highly lucrative gambling ring. And ultimately, as New York City's first black woman gangster Sponsors! Best Fiends - Download FREE the 5-star rated mobile puzzle game Best Fiends on...
On Easter Sunday, 1903, Marie Sukloff awoke in her Russian prison cell to the sounds of a massacre. She overheard one of the bloodiest pogroms in Russian history. The bloodshed ignited a fire that Marie would feel to her dying day. In the years to come, she would plan and carry out an assassination that would make her famous. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As the grip of Tsar Nicholas II loosened at the turn of the 20th century and the wave of Communism started to rise in Russia, a young girl named Marie Sukloff dutifully took her place in the revolution. After watching her peasant farming parents struggle to make ends meet, she learned to read from political bulletins, waiting for her day to strike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It was called “one of the most brutal and bizarre crimes Australia has ever seen.” In 1989, Tracey Wigginton not only murdered bar patron Edward Buldock – she and her fellow vampires drank his blood. As the investigation unfolded, her small coastal town was riveted by the story of Tracey’s small occultist following, all self-proclaimed lesbian vampires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This episode delves into Marjorie Congdon's life after her acquittal for her mother's murder, detailing a string of arsons, financial exploitations, and additional suspicious deaths, including those of her husband Wally Hagen and friend Roger Samus. It explores her two arson convictions, prison sentences, and how her untreated antisocial personality disorder shaped a decades-long pattern of manipulation and crime, leaving a trail of destruction and legal battles for her victims' families.
This episode introduces Marjorie Congdon, a troubled heiress who, despite a privileged upbringing, developed antisocial personality disorder. Untreated, her behavior escalated from childhood thievery and arson to a life marked by suspicious deaths, including the alleged murders of her mother and her lover's wife. The episode explores her early life, first marriage, the murders of her mother and nurse, and her manipulative trial acquittal, setting the stage for more crimes.
Irma Grese quickly proved herself as one of the most vicious guards at Ravensbruck concentration camp. In 1943, she was promoted and sent to Auschwitz, where her reputation for cruelty only grew. Thousands of interned prisoners suffered under her reign until they were finally liberated by Allied forces. Sponsors! Embrace Pet Insurance - Get your FREE quote at EmbracePetInsurance.com/CRIMINALS. Away - For $20 off a suitcase, visit AwayTravel.com/criminals and use promo code CRIMINALS during check...
As Irma Grese grew up in rural Germany, she watched Adolf Hitler rise to power. Completely swept up in the nationalist views of the Nazi Party, Irma tried to find the best way to serve her country. Eventually, she found her purpose as a concentration camp guard. Parcasters - Is there any truth behind the rumored society that protects the secrets of the Holy Grail? Learn more about the Priory of Sion on this week’s episode of Conspiracy Theories! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....
As the Manson Family turned onto Cielo Drive, time slowed to a crawl. In a few minutes, they would commit five murders that became the most infamous slayings in American history. They intended to start a riot that would burn LA to the ground. Sponsors! Best Fiends - Play the 5-star rated mobile game! Download FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play. That’s FRIENDS without the R, Best Fiends! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
By July, 1969, the "Manson Girls” saw Charlie as more than a leader, he was the second coming of Christ. Manson’s cult gospel called them to prepare for a fast approaching race war called Helter Skelter that would burn Southern California to the ground. And if the war didn’t start on its own, they would light the fuse. Parcasters - Don’t miss all of our special Summer of ‘69 episodes by subscribing to Parcast Presents: Summer of ‘69, on Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts! Sponsors! Embr...
When 23-year-old Brittany Holberg found herself homeless in Texas, performing sex work, and addicted to cocaine, she didn't think her life would get any worse. But then a botched robbery became a murder in 1996, and Brittany had to learn to build a new life for herself on Death Row. Sponsors! Gabi - Take 2 minutes and see if you can save up to $865 when you go to Gabi.com/CRIMINALS. Grove Collaborative - Go to Grove.co/CRIMINALS to get a FREE 5-piece Spring Cleaning Set from Mrs. Meyer’s and Gro...
After an off-handed comment about a serial killer on the loose, Syracuse DA William Fitzpatrick was determined to find out who the "H" family was in Dr. Alfred Steinschnieder's SIDS research. He was convinced the grieving "Mrs. H." was actually a serial killer in disguise. Sponsors! Pair of Thieves - Get 20% off your first order at PairOfThieves.com/CRIMINALS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
For two decades, Waneta Hoyt was seen as the unluckiest mother in the world. But when new evidence emerged, police wondered if she wasn't a grieving mother, but in fact a serial killer. Parcasters - When conservation advocate Joy Adamson turned up dead, the authorities initially suspected one of her lions. Little did they know one of her disgruntled employees would be much more dangerous! Listen to her story on Assassinations, available now on Spotify or wherever you get your Parcast Originals! ...
In the early 1900s Ada and Minna Everleigh found their luxurious gentlemen's club in the midst of a moral war with Chicago's more rigid citizens. What these zealots didn't realize, is that the Everleigh Sisters had the government on their side. Sponsors! Upstart - Hurry to Upstart.com/CRIMINALS to find out HOW LOW your Upstart rate is. Checking your rate only takes a few minutes—and won’t affect your credit! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
When sisters Ada and Minna Everleigh opened a brothel in early 1900, citizens were shocked to find that countless potential clients were bluntly turned away at the door. They weren’t suitable, they were told. Not for what was soon to be the most notorious and exclusive gentlemen’s club of the early 20th century. Sponsors! Best Fiends - Best Fiends is a 5-star rated mobile game app available for download FREE on the Apple App Store and Google Play. That’s FRIENDS without the R, Best Fiends! Gabi ...
In 2005, Dr. Felix Polk of San Francisco, was found stabbed to death by his 15-year-old son, Gabriel. But he believed his mother, Susan, was responsible for the death, after years of threatening violence against her husband. Sponsors! Upstart - Hurry to Upstart.com/CRIMINALS to find out HOW LOW your Upstart rate is. Checking your rate only takes a few minutes—and won’t affect your credit! Zola - To start your free wedding website and also get $50 off your registry on Zola, go to Zola.com/CRIMINA...
In 2002, after twenty years of marriage, 44-year-old Susan Polk of San Francisco, called it quits with her husband, 70-year-old Felix Polk. Susan's reasons for divorce were simple: she believed her husband was a spy working for the CIA and he had brainwashed her and her children. Parcasters - In Conspiracy Theories this week we explore the North American Union, a supposed superstate created through merging the governments of Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Was it in the plans, is it still...
Stories of her exploits on Rum Row in the early 1920s made Gertrude Lythgoe a tabloid darling. As books and article series were published, America was captivated by the Queen of the Bootleggers. Unfortunately, so was the United States Government. Sponsors! Best Fiends - Don’t miss out on the must-play game of the year! Download Best Fiends for free on the Apple App Store or Google Play. That’s FRIENDS without the R, Best Fiends! Pair of Thieves - Get 20% off your first order at PairOfThieves.com...
