Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

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/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 History's Bloodiest Mutiny", Mike Dash, who tells this story in gruesome detail. Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.The author's publisher page: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/242223/paul-french/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 publisher page: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2212223/doug-j-swanson/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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://www.oregonlive.com/history/2021/05/jd-chandler-prolific-chronicler-of-portland-murder-and-corruption-dies-at-60.htmlBecome a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 author's website: https://www.arniebernstein.com/Become a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Christmas Day, 1929, in Germanton, North Carolina, Charlie Lawson murdered his wife and six children on their rural farm. This horrific crime is part of local lore, and Trudy J. Smith and her father, M. Bruce Jones researched the massacre 25 years ago, conducting interviews with Lawson family members and witnesses. Their original book, "White Christmas, Bloody Christmas" has been revised and expanded in the last ten years, and is now called "The Meaning of Our Tears".The author's website: https://trudyjsmith.comBecome a Most Notorious patron: https://www.patreon.com/mostnotoriousMost Notorious website: https://www.mostnotorious.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices