Infamous America
Historical True Crime — assassins, gangsters, mobsters and lawmen; manhunts, scandals and unexplained phenomena. Stories of the wildest and darkest chapters of America's past.
Episodes
BOSTON HEISTS | Gardner Museum: “The Irish Connection”
In the first few years after the heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the FBI’s investigation follows two parallel tracks. The first to produce possible leads is the Irish Connection as the FBI examines notorious art thief Myles Co…
BOSTON HEISTS | Gardner Museum: “81 Minutes”
In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, two thieves, disguised as Boston police officers, gain access to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. They tie up the two security guards and spend 81 minutes stealing 13 items. When the heist i…
BOSTON HEISTS | Gardner Museum: “You Can’t Sell A Rembrandt”
In the 1970s and 1980s, Boston and the greater New England region seem plagued by art thieves. Myles Connor becomes the most notorious thief of the era, and he and others notice that the eclectic Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a vulnera…
BOSTON HEISTS | Great Brinks Robbery: “Where is the money?”
Anthony Pino and his crew commit one of the fastest and smoothest robberies in history, and they escape with a record-breaking haul. The FBI launches its investigation and hits a series of dead ends until, one by one, the robbers run into t…
BOSTON HEISTS | Great Brink’s Robbery: “The Perfect Plan”
In the mid-1940s, career criminal Anthony Pino sets his sights on robbing Brinks security company. He recruits a team of thieves and they rob armored cars and Brinks clients, but Pino’s ultimate goal is to carry out the big score by robbing…
ARSONISTS | Paul Keller: “The Specter”
By fall 1992, serial arsonist Paul Keller has set more than two dozen fires throughout the Seattle area, and he shows no signs of slowing down. Law enforcement creates a task force made up of multiple counties in order to find Keller. But d…
ARSONISTS | Paul Keller: "Firestarter”
From an early age, Paul Kenneth Keller exhibits signs of disturbing behavior. From bullying his younger siblings to petty theft, Paul never behaves. Even more disturbing, he develops a life-long fascination with fire. In the summer of 1992,…
ARSONISTS | John Orr: “Firebug”
John Orr proves to be a slippery target for the Pillow Pyro Task Force. Investigators have a lot of evidence against him, but they want to catch him in the act of starting a fire. In the wake of two more brush fires and a fire at the Warner…
ARSONISTS | John Orr: “The Task Force”
After the devastating College Hills brush fire in June 1990, and series of fires in December 1990 and March 1991, the ATF and the LAFD form a task force to catch the serial arsonist who has plagued California for years. The task force belie…
ARSONISTS | John Orr: “The Fingerprint”
In 1987 and 1989, destructive fires erupt in conjunction with arson investigation conferences in California. Bakersfield Fire Captain Marvin Casey doesn’t believe the timing is a coincidence. He finds a fingerprint on an incendiary device a…
ARSONISTS | John Orr: “Point of Origin”
By the mid-1980s, John Orr is a respected arson investigator for the Glendale Fire Department in Los Angeles. He might not be the easiest person to like, but he has a good reputation in Los Angeles County. At the same time, a serial arsonis…
LUCKY LUCIANO | "Exile”
Luciano is forced to leave the United States and return to Sicily. But, he immediately makes plans to set up a base of operations near the U.S. With the help of Meyer Lansky, Luciano organizes a meeting in Havana, Cuba to discuss the mafia’…
LUCKY LUCIANO | "Operation: Underworld”
Luciano flees New York to evade Thomas E. Dewey. But after months of searching, Dewey’s agents find Luciano and bring him back to face charges related to a prostitution business. Luciano fears he will spend the rest of his life in prison, b…
LUCKY LUCIANO | "The Commission”
After Luciano organizes the removal of Salvatore Maranzano, he institutes significant changes to the American Mafia. Luciano’s most notable innovation is the creation of a governing body known as The Commission. The hope is that The Commiss…
LUCKY LUCIANO | "Boss of Bosses”
In the spring of 1931, Charles Luciano orchestrates the removal of his boss, Joe Masseria. Luciano cuts a deal with Salvatore Maranzano to become the boss of his own crime family. But when Maranzano declares himself “the boss of all bosses,…
LUCKY LUCIANO | “Castellammarese War”
After Arnold Rothstein’s murder, Charles Luciano works full time for a Sicilian gangster named Joe “the Boss” Masseria and quickly becomes Masseria’s top lieutenant. Masseria begins to feud with a rival Sicilian, Salvatore Maranzano. By the…
LUCKY LUCIANO | “Five Points Gangster”
In the late 1800s, millions of immigrants come to the United States for the opportunity for a better life. Among those who come from Sicily is a boy named Salvatore Lucania who will be known as Charles “Lucky” Luciano. Luciano grows up on t…
BOMBINGS | “Harvey’s Casino, Part 2: No Way Out”
John Birges’s effort to collect extortion money from Harvey’s Wagon Wheel Resort and Casino does not go well. As he tries to think of another plan, the authorities attempt to disarm his bomb. The result is a TV spectacle that is nationwide …
BOMBINGS | “Harvey’s Casino, Part 1: A Simple Plan”
In the spring of 1980, John Birges hit rock bottom. For about 10 years, he was living the good life. But then his life started to fall apart. His gambling addiction caused major problems, and he desperately needed money. His solution is to …
BOMBINGS | “Mad Bomber, Part 2: Manhunt”
Over the course of five years in the early 1950s, George Metesky escalates a bombing campaign that is designed to hurt his former employer, Consolidated Edison. He writes letters to the press and he revels in the media attention, but he fee…
BOMBINGS | “Mad Bomber, Part 1: Vendetta”
In 1931, George Metesky suffers a injury while working for Consolidated Edison power company in New York. George feels he is not properly compensated for years of trauma and recovery, and he wants vengeance against Con Ed. He begins a bombi…
BOMBINGS | “L.A. Times, Part 2: Trial of the Century”
Immediately after the deadly explosion at the L.A. Times building, celebrated detective William Burns begins an investigation. He follows a long trail of clues left behind by the bombers and quickly learns of the identities of the three men…
BOMBINGS | “L.A. Times, Part 1: Midnight Assassins”
In the early 1900s, a new phase starts in the ongoing battle between unions and big businesses. Some union organizers begin using bombs to try to force employers to negotiate. In 1910, the powerful Iron Workers union launches a nationwide b…
ENCORE: OSAGE MURDERS | “Is This Justice?”
The courtroom trials were dramatic. They were surprising reversals and bold acts of jury tampering. But finally, after years of heartbreak, the Osage received some justice. Four men who were involved in many of the killings went to prison. …
ENCORE: OSAGE MURDERS | “The Confession”
Throughout 1925, Special Agent Tom White and his team produced more results than all the other investigators combined. But even White’s investigation stalled. And then, he received a miracle: an inmate in an Oklahoma prison possessed vital …
ENCORE: OSAGE MURDERS | “New Evidence, New Suspects”
Mercifully, the murders in the Osage Nation paused in 1924 and 1925. J. Edgar Hoover became the director of the Bureau of Investigation and assigned a new man to the case of the Osage murders. Special Agent Tom White succeeded where all oth…
ENCORE: OSAGE MURDERS | “No Rest For The Wicked”
The winter of 1923 saw more murders in the Osage Hills, but no one was prepared for the brazen and brutal attack that happened in March. In the aftermath, the Osage pressed the U.S. government and the state of Oklahoma for help, but their e…
ENCORE: OSAGE MURDERS | “Reign of Terror”
The Osage and local lawmen began to investigate the first two murders, but their efforts produced few results. The Osage were scared and frustrated, and the body count started to rise at an appalling rate. The second half of 1922 was the de…
ENCORE: OSAGE MURDERS | “A Body In The Dirt”
In 1921, two murder victims were discovered on the same day in Osage County in northeastern Oklahoma. It was shocking news, but members of the Osage tribe already knew they were in danger. They were some of the richest people on Earth, than…
MYSTERIES | “ ‘Investor’ Alaska Murders”
At the end of the Labor Day weekend in 1982, people in the tiny fishing village of Craig, Alaska noticed a boat burning in the harbor. When they raced to help, they realized it was an expensive vessel called the Investor. The eight people w…
MYSTERIES | “Sodder Children”
A tragedy unfolds on Christmas Eve, 1945 in a small town in West Virginia. The Sodder family – 2 parents and 9 children – go to bed after a happy celebration. But during the night, a series of unexplained events occur. The events culminate …
MYSTERIES | “Roland Owen, Room 1046”
On January 2, 1935, a man who calls himself Roland T. Owen checks into a hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the next 48 hours, the events surrounding Roland Owen grow increasingly strange … until he is discovered badly beaten and locked i…
ZODIAC KILLER | “This Is The Zodiac Speaking”
A year and a half after the first Zodiac crime, a man kidnaps a pregnant mother and her daughter. Their terrifying ordeal becomes associated with the Zodiac and eventually leads reporter Paul Avery to look backward in time for other Zodiac …
ZODIAC KILLER | “Presidio Heights”
Two weeks after the attack at Lake Berryessa, the Zodiac shoots and kills a taxi cab driver in San Francisco. Multiple witnesses see the killer, but the police still struggle to find him. The killer sends more letters and now issues threats…
ZODIAC KILLER | “Lake Berryessa”
Two college students relax along the shore of a lake in Napa County, California on a sunny afternoon in September of 1969. Before long, they are interrupted by a man who wears an eerie black hood and carries a gun. The man attacks the stude…
ZODIAC KILLER | “The Cipher”
While the police, the FBI, the U.S. Navy, and random civilians try to break the code of the killer’s cipher, the killer sends another letter to the press. He gives himself a name, the Zodiac, and taunts the police departments that are unabl…
ZODIAC KILLER | “Blue Rock Springs Park”
Seven months after two teenagers are murdered outside Vallejo, California, the killer reemerges. He shoots two young people at a park on the outskirts of the city, but this time one of the victims survives. Shortly after the attack, the kil…
ZODIAC KILLER | “Lake Herman Road”
A few days before Christmas in 1968, two teenagers from Vallejo, California go on their first date. They park at a lover’s lane pullout off of a dark road outside of town. Within an hour, a stranger parks near their car. He forces the kids …
BONUS | John Dillinger Soundtrack
Music from the Infamous America podcast. Songs from Season 4: Dillinger.0:00 – Infamous America Opening Cue0:12 – “Hear My Train a’Calling” – Ryan Kickland2:46 – “Desperate Blues” – Jean Soullier and Fabrice Remy Ploquin5:48 – “Keep On Walk…
Introducing "Flashpoint" from Tenderfoot TV
On July 27th, 1996, a domestic terrorist bombed the Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta, GA. While the FBI and the media fixated on the wrong man, the bomber planned his next, more overtly political attacks on two abortion clinics and a ga…