American Criminal
The true crime history podcast that takes you inside the minds of some of our most notorious felons and outlaws, exploring the dark side to the American dream.Host Jeremy Schwartz will introduce you to the picture-perfect brothers who teamed up to kill their parents; the thief who stole babies and ruined countless lives; the crypto king who siphoned off billions in the name of saving the world—and plenty more. From assassins and gangsters, to killers and con artists, whatever the case, whoever the criminal, you don’t know the full story—until now. Listen wherever you get your podcast...
Episodes
American Criminal Season 17: Leopold and Loeb
This season on American Criminal we’re taking you inside the minds of the killers who committed one of the most infamous crimes of the 20th century: Leopold and Loeb. In 1924, two teenagers abducted and murdered Bobby Franks in broad daylig…
Lucas, Toole, and the Murder of Adam Walsh | Bring Out Your Dead
With their confessions piling up, Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole earn infamy as two of history’s most prolific serial killers. But while not everything about their stories add up, some refuse to believe they’ve been conned. To listen to a…
Lucas, Toole, and the Murder of Adam Walsh | Death and Texas
After abandoning Ottis Toole once again, Henry Lee Lucas finds himself in Texas. There he commits a pair of horrifying murders that will open a Pandora’s Box of trouble for law enforcement around the country. To listen to all four episodes…
Lucas, Toole, and the Murder of Adam Walsh | The Head in the Canal
When Ottis Toole meets Henry Lee Lucas outside of a homeless shelter in Florida, he’s overjoyed to have found a soulmate. But when one friend abandons the other, it leads to a crime that changes America. To listen to all four episodes of …
Lucas, Toole, and the Murder of Adam Walsh | Fledgling Criminals
Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole are two of history’s most prolific serial killers. Or they’re liars who aren’t to be trusted. Either way, they’ve both got red in their ledger – all stemming from their twisted beginnings. To listen to all f…
Case File | The Cult Next Door
Mattie Lasiter and Ashleigh Teeter's father led a doomsday cult in Arkansas. Now they're sharing their stories and educating others about how to recognize a cult when you see one -- even from the inside. To listen to all four episodes of …
American Criminal Season 16: Lucas, Toole, and the Murder of Adam Walsh
On July 27, 1981, six-year-old Adam Walsh was kidnapped from a Sears parking lot in Florida. Just days later his remains were found in a drainage canal over 100 miles away. The case captivated America, and started a national conversation ab…
NXIVM | The Mighty Fall
When Keith Raniere felt the women in his cult slipping out of his control, he came up with a way to keep them under his thumb. The secret group known as Dominus Obsequius Sororium, or DOS, was designed to turn women into his literal sex sla…
NXIVM | Sex, Lies, and Billionaires
As Keith Raniere's company hits its stride, he lures billionaire heiresses and hollywood actresses into the fold. But not everyone is content to stay under his thumb, and when people speak out against him, Keith goes scorched earth. To lis…
NXIVM | Laying the Foundation
By the turn of the century, Keith Raniere had launched a new company that would not only bring him vast sums of money, it would also give him access to vulnerable people in search of ways to improve themselves. They’d willingly share their …
NXIVM | Growing Up with Keith Raniere
In 2017, a little-known consulting firm called NXIVM became the center of an international scandal. One day, no one had heard of the group at all. The next, people were calling it a cult. But this wasn’t your typical religious fringe group.…
Case File | God Hook: The Ohio Craigslist Killings
Obviously, most of us don’t use the internet as a search engine for murder. But there are bad apples in every bunch. Richard Beasley was one of those bad apples. When he decided he wanted to kill people, he sought the desperate, the lonely,…
To Kill A Cheerleader | How to Hire a Hitman in Channelview, Texas
After her daughter Shanna was disqualified from the cheerleading tryouts, Wanda Holloway was seeing red. In her mind, there were two people responsible for Shanna not being a cheerleader: Verna Heath and her daughter Amber. And there was on…
American Criminal Season 15: NXIVM
In 2017, a little-known consulting firm called NXIVM became the center of an international scandal. One day, no one had heard of the group at all. The next, people were calling it a cult. There were accusations of a secret society, psycholo…
To Kill A Cheerleader | A Girl's Best Friend is Her Mother
As Wanda Holloway married, divorced, and remarried, one thing in her life remained constant: her obsession with making her daughter a cheerleader. But when it came time for tryouts, Wanda discovered that the path to glory would be rockier t…
To Kill A Cheerleader | God, Glory, and Glamor
It was a case that made headlines around the world: Texas mother hires hitman to kill her neighbor -- over cheerleading. But how did it get to that point? What was it that drove Wanda Holloway to believe that killing the mother of her daugh…
Case File | Eyewitness History: Bill Ayers
It's hard to remember that we're all living through history every day, and that some of the people who lived through the turbulent periods we learn about through books and podcasts are still alive to tell the story. Now that you've heard ab…
American Criminal Season 14: To Kill A Cheerleader
In 1991, a small Texas town just outside of Houston was shocked to discover just how far one mother was determined to go to ensure her child’s success. When Wanda Holloway’s teenage daughter failed to make the cheerleading team, she became …
The Weather Underground | Extinguished
With their numbers dwindling, the remaining members of the Weather Underground took stock of what they had left. The Vietnam War was still raging, and America felt no closer to all-out revolution than it did when the Weathermen first came t…
The Weather Underground | Smolder
In the aftermath of the devastating explosion in New York that killed three of their comrades, the members of the Weather Underground scattered. Suddenly, everyone was terrified that the authorities would escalate their efforts to find them…
The Weather Underground | Inferno
In their first major act since forming, the Weathermen gathered in Chicago for several days of planned protests and brawls with the police. The hope is that their actions will be the spark that ignites the flames of revolution. But when the…
Introducing: Unsolved Histories
The Unsolved Histories podcast team was pleased to get a phone call letting them know a U.S. senator not only listened to Season 1, but wanted to address a problem raised by their recounting of the tragic story of Flight 293. Military men a…
The Weather Underground | Starting the Fire
On March 6th, 1970, a bomb went off in the basement of a four-story townhouse in Greenwich Village, New York. As the smoke cleared, it became clear that this wasn't a gas leak. And it wasn't even an intentional act of terror. It was an acci…
American Criminal Season 13: Weather Underground
Coming April 24th, 2025: A group of college students sets out to end the Vietnam War. Along the way, they transform into a cult-like guerrilla operation with one other goal in mind: complete government overthrow. And their desperation for c…
Encore: The Menendez Brothers | They Had It Coming
After their arrest, Lyle and Erik Menendez face the death penalty. But even as the media examines the case from every angle, it's years before the full story of the Menendez family comes out.To listen to all four episodes of 'The Menendez B…
Encore: The Menendez Brothers | Acts of Grief
In the quiet moments after killing their parents, Lyle and Erik Menendez expect to be arrested. But when no one suspects they're the killers, the brothers put together a plan to get away with murder.To listen to all four episodes of 'The Me…
Encore: The Menendez Brothers | They’re Going To Kill Us
For years, Lyle and Erik Menendez suffered at the hands of their parents. But when the brothers finally stood up for themselves, the family's toxic dynamic made bloodshed almost inevitable.To listen to all four episodes of 'The Menendez Bro…
Encore: The Menendez Brothers | Five-Year Plan
On August 20th, 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez shot and killed their own parents. Until then, this Beverly Hills family had been a portrait of the American Dream. How did it go so wrong?To listen to all four episodes of 'The Menendez Brothers…
An Update on the Menendez Brothers
Since we first aired our series on the Menendez Brothers, there have been a lot of developments with the public's interest in the case and Lyle and Erik's bid for freedom. We sat down to take you through everything that's happened, lay out …
Case File | Forbidden History: KKK: Secret Societies
The Ku Klux Klan is the most notorious white supremacist group in America. Once having over a million members, today it is just a shadow of its former self. Forbidden History investigates today's Klan members, looks at the impact the group …
The Murder of Medgar Evers | The Truth
Less than a year after Byron De La Beckwith shot Black civil rights leader Medgar Evers in cold blood, he was a free man. But the journey to bring him to justice was only just getting started. To listen to all four episodes of 'The Murder …
The Murder of Medgar Evers | No Justice, No Peace
After his arrest for the murder of Medgar Evers, Byron De La Beckwith is surprisingly cocky for a man facing the death penalty. Then again, Mississippi has never even tried a white man for killing a Black person, so he figures he has nothin…
The Murder of Medgar Evers | The Fanatic
With a family legacy built on lies, racism, and a 'Paradise Lost' mentality, Byron De La Beckwith grows into a young man with offputting manners, a brutal temper, and a violent opposition to desegregation. To listen to all four episodes of…
The Murder of Medgar Evers | The Crusader
In the 1960s, the US is rocked by a series of high-profile assassinations of civil rights leaders, beginning with the shocking murder of Medgar Evers in his own driveway. To listen to all four episodes of 'The Murder of Medgar Evers' right…
Case File | The Incorruptibles
In the early part of the 20th century, an off-the-books vice squad known as embarked on a campaign to purge the Lower East Side of crime and sin. This is The Incorruptibles from Most Notorious!To listen to all four episodes of 'John Gotti' …
John Gotti | The Fall
As top dog in the Gambino family, John Gotti feels untouchable. He's the Teflon Don. But his arrogant demeanor leads him to make the kinds of shortsighted mistakes that will lead to a stunning betrayal and a spectacular fall. To listen to …
John Gotti | The Teflon Don
Fed up with the way the Gambino family is being run, John Gotti's assembled a team of hitmen to carry out one of the most audacious mob hits in history. But life at the top of New York's biggest crime family won't be easy. To listen to all…
John Gotti | Beaten Down, Moving Up
John Gotti's rise through the ranks of the Gambino crime family hasn't been without its share of setbacks. But just when things seem to be going well for John, a personal tragedy sends his family reeling, and puts John on a quest for bloody…
John Gotti | Making a Man
Living in poverty as a young kid, John Gotti takes up mafia work very early on. He knows that the Gambino family is his ticket out, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to climb the ranks. Even if it means killing a guy. To listen to a…
Case File | The Road to Jonestown
At the same time that Harvey Milk was finding his community and learning to lead, a charismatic preacher named Jim Jones was assembling a flock that would one day become a household name for all the wrong reasons. Their paths would lead bot…