Criminal
Criminal is the first of its kind. A show about people who’ve done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Hosted by Phoebe Judge. Named a Best Podcast of 2023 by the New York Times. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Episodes
November 22, 2024 • 82 mins
“Children nowadays, they make maps. And say, this is the street where the store is that we're going to rob, and this is where we're going to hide, and this is how we get away.” In the 1950s, U.S. senators were worrying about “the fifth horseman of doom.” And they started an unusual investigation.
The recordings of the Senate hearings in this episode are courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives.
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November 15, 2024 • 44 mins
In 1993, Gary Settle was sentenced to 177 years in prison. Twenty-six years into his sentence, he started helping other inmates get out of prison through something called compassionate release - a policy that allows people in prison to petition to be let out for “extraordinary and compelling” reasons.
You can learn more about Gary Settle in Anna Altman’s piece, "The Quality of Mercy," in The Atavist Magazine.
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November 8, 2024 • 40 mins
In 1977, a man named Robert Burns went to a funeral and shot someone, in the head, in front of 300 people. He didn’t deny it, and his lawyer didn’t deny it. Burns told a police officer: “I had to do it. And if I had to do it over, I’d do it again.”
Casey Cep’s book is The Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee.
This episode was originally released in 2019.
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November 1, 2024 • 31 mins
This week, part two of the Reels family story – how two brothers went to jail in an attempt to save their family land, and were held there for eight years without being charged with a crime. “I’m not going to give up. I don’t think I’m wrong, and I’m willing to fight for it.”
For more on the Reels family’s story, you can read Lizzie Presser’s article, “Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent ...
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October 25, 2024 • 35 mins
Melvin Davis and Licurtis Reels refused to leave the land that had been in their family for generations – so they were sent to jail. They expected to be in jail for 90 days. They were there for 8 years. This week, part 1 of their story.
For more on the Reels family’s story, you can read Lizzie Presser’s article, “Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leav...
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October 18, 2024 • 42 mins
Today, a personal story from Phoebe about her mother, Valentine, who died this spring.
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October 11, 2024 • 41 mins
Soon after the Berlin Wall went up, a group of students knocked on Joachim Rudolph’s door. They told him they were trying to get people out of East Germany - and they wanted his help.
Helena Merriman’s book and BBC podcast are called Tunnel 29. You can hear the episode of AirSpace with Günter Wetzel here.
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October 4, 2024 • 63 mins
Before Guantánamo Bay became the prison we know today, Marie Genard spent more than a year of her life there. She was 14.
Brandt Goldstein’s book is Storming the Court: How a Band of Law Students Fought the President—and Won.
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September 27, 2024 • 36 mins
In 1977, a new bar opened on North Wells Street in Chicago. Things weren’t as they seemed at the aptly named “Mirage Tavern.”
This story is from our friends at Snap Judgment.
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September 20, 2024 • 41 mins
One morning, two men got in a boat and sailed down a river in the Amazon rainforest. They were never heard from again.
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September 13, 2024 • 44 mins
In the summer of 1975, two best friends attempted a robbery unlike any they’d ever pulled off before. Their target: the mob.
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September 6, 2024 • 40 mins
When Madison Smith went to her county attorney’s office to talk about her rape case, she knew she wanted to press charges. But the prosecutor told her he wouldn't bring a rape charge. Then she discovered a loophole in an old Kansas law.
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August 23, 2024 • 35 mins
In 2010, a $16.5 million Hot Lotto ticket was sold at a gas station in Des Moines, Iowa. At first, no one showed up to claim the prize. And then, a series of lawyers tried to claim the money on behalf of a client they would not name. Things got stranger, and eventually investigators uncovered what has been called the biggest lottery fraud in U.S. history.
This episode was first published in 2021.
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August 16, 2024 • 38 mins
Two men turned in the winning catch at a Lake Erie fishing tournament. But when the tournament director squeezed one of their fish - he felt something inside.
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August 9, 2024 • 49 mins
Phoebe: Are there a lot of spies in this country today?
Scott: Far more than people can probably even imagine. You can't rule anybody out. You never know what it is that motivates people to do this.
For 17 years, Ana Montes was quietly sharing information with the Cuban government while working as a U.S. defense intelligence analyst.
Scott Carmichael’s book is True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba'...
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August 2, 2024 • 39 mins
Hunters in the Everglades used to kill millions of birds every year for their feathers. In 1902, a man named Guy Bradley was hired to stop people from shooting the birds – but it wasn’t easy. “If you’re working alone in the wilderness, no witnesses, and the people that you’re going up to are armed, it’s really dangerous.”
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July 26, 2024 • 47 mins
“There was a saying I heard a few times: ‘under the influence, above the law.’ And I think that describes the mindset of a certain type of fraternity guy.”
Max Marshall’s book is Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story.
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July 19, 2024 • 48 mins
In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar smuggled four hippopotamuses into Colombia for a zoo on his ranch. Today, there are over 160 hippos in the country. “It’s like hippo paradise here. They have water and food all year long. They have no predators…They can do whatever they want."
Listen to Jorge Caraballo’s Radio Ambulante episode about narco tours here.
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July 12, 2024 • 47 mins
In 1967, a 24-year-old named Leslie Arnold escaped from prison. The FBI looked for him for years. And then, in 2022, a U.S. Marshal got a message from his son.
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July 5, 2024 • 34 mins
On the afternoon of June 23rd, 1972, Martin McNally walked into the St. Louis airport with a wig, a sawed-off rifle, and a plan.
Special thanks to Danny Wicentowski. Learn more at the Riverfront Times: “The Final Flight of Martin McNally.”
This episode was originally released in 2018. To hear the second part of this story, “The Fox,” click here.
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