Minnesota's Most Notorious: Where Blood Runs Cold
Erik Rivenes, host of the Most Notorious Podcast (and creator of Saint Paul's original Gangster Tours) has for years been fascinated with long-ago tales of crime, tragedy and disaster from his home state of Minnesota. In this podcast Erik interviews authors who have written some sensational historical stories centered in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and researches and shares a few himself.
Episodes
Crossing Jimmy Hoffa w/ Steven J Harper
My guest is Steven J. Harper, author of Crossing Hoffa: A Teamster's Story. His father, Jim Harper, was a member of Minneapolis Teamsters Local 544 who uncovered evidence of corruption within the union. In the late 1950s, he brought this i…
The Murder of Ruth Munson w/ Roger Barr
One of Minnesota's most fascinating unsolved murder cases began on the morning of December 9, 1937, when firefighters discovered the charred body of 31-year-old Ruth Munson in an abandoned Saint Paul hotel. As the investigation deepened, ev…
The 1916 Iron Ore Strike w/ Gary Kaunonen
On June 2, 1916, forty mostly immigrant mineworkers at the St. James Mine in Aurora, Minnesota, walked off the job. This seemingly small labor disturbance would mushroom into one of the region’s, if not the nation’s, most contentious and si…
The Scandalous Rise & Stunning Fall of Minneapolis' Metropolitan Building w/ Larry Millett
My guest is prolific author Larry Millett. His knowledge of Twin Cities architecture and history is unequalled in Minnesota, and he has used his knowledge to write some of the best local history books in the last thirty years.  We initially…
Camilla Hall & the SLA w/ Rachael Hanel
It was a question asked by many Minnesotans in 1974, including her parents. How could Camilla Hall, the sweet and caring daughter of a small-town Lutheran pastor, become a member of the radical Symbionese Liberation Army? The abductors of P…
The Duluth Murder of Lena Olson w/ Jeffrey Sauve
In August of 1894, a young woman was found brutally murdered on a sand dune at Minnesota Point in Duluth. Over the next two years both Duluth and Minneapolis detectives would hunt for her killer across the country, until finally finding him…
The Duluth Murder of Lena Olson w/ Jeffrey Sauve
In August of 1894, a young woman was found brutally murdered on a sand dune at Minnesota Point in Duluth. Over the next two years both Duluth and Minneapolis detectives would hunt for her killer across the country, until finally finding him…
The Storied (& Unsavory) History of Minnehaha Falls w/ Karen E. Cooper
Since the mid-19th century one of the great tourist destinations in Minnesota has been Minnehaha Falls. Already known for its beauty, its fame intensified when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized it in his poem "The Song of Hiawatha".Bu…
Minnesota Caves & Tunnels w/ Greg Brick
Have you ever wondered whether Pig's Eye Parrant's notorious Fountain Cave saloon is accessible to visitors? Was there really a tunnel between Nina Clifford's brothel and the original Minnesota Club? Did Jesse and Frank James hide out in an…
The Assassination of Hole in the Day w/ Anton Treuer
On June 27, 1868, Hole in the Day (Bagonegiizhig) the Younger left Crow Wing, Minnesota, for Washington, DC, to fight the planned removal of the Mississippi Ojibwe to a reservation at White Earth. Several miles from his home, the self-style…
The 1894 Murder of Kitty Ging w/ Shawn Francis Peters
On December 3rd, 1894, a dressmaker named Catherine "Kitty" Ging was found shot to death on a snowy Lake Calhoun road in Minneapolis. Police patched together clues and evidence, which ultimately led them to the front door of a charming, sch…
Saint Paul Memories & Murder w/ David Butwin
The upscale Highland Park neighborhood in Saint Paul in the late 1940s was a fun place to grow up in. But there was a dark side to the area as well. A trio of gruesome murders of young women happened in a fifteen month period, which shocked…
The Wabasha Street Caves w/ Deborah Frethem
On this episode, I get a little more informal than usual, as I chat with Deborah Frethem, long time tour guide at the Wabasha Street Caves (the old Castle Royale Nightclub). We swap tour guide and ghost stories, in honor of the sad, recent …
Grand Rapids' Ruby Slippers Heist w/ Rob Feeney
My guest, Rob Feeney, suddenly found himself the middle of one of the most fascinating criminal investigations in Minnesota history - the theft of one of the famous pairs of Ruby Slippers, worn by Minnesota native Judy Garland in the classi…
The Murder of Thomas Tollefson w/ Beverly J. Porter
In the summer of 1887, Thomas Tollefson was shot to death as he operated his mule-drawn streetcar in the Cedar Avenue-Lake Street neighborhood of Minneapolis. Police settled on two brothers as the murderers - members of a family that ran a …
Old Minneapolis's Infamous Skid Row w/ James Eli Shiffer
Before the early 1960s, when much of Minneapolis was razed to make way for ugly parking ramps and office buildings, another world existed. Decrepit 19th century buildings in an area of downtown called Skid Row housed lowbrow bars and flopho…
The 1972 Virginia Piper Kidnapping w/ William Swanson
The F.B.I. refers to the 1972 Virginia Piper kidnapping as the most successful kidnapping in American history. In July of that year, Virginia Piper, socialite wife of Bobby Piper, the CEO of Piper, Jaffray and Hopwood, was abducted from her…
The Life & Death of Minnesota's Colorful Nellie King w/ Jerry Kuntz - A True Crime History Podcast
My guest is Jerry Kuntz, author of "Minnesota's Notorious Nellie King: Wild Woman of the Closed Frontier". He tells the story of a larger-than-life and beautiful young con-artist, pretend detective, singer and cross-dresser, who lights up T…
The 1912 Alice Matthews Murder Case Part Two
In this second part of the 1912 Alice Matthews Murder case, a serious suspect finally emerges, a young man named Alfred Driskell, but it takes four confessions for the police to finally him seriously.  And throughout his journey to convince…
The 1912 Alice Matthews Murder Case Part One
In March of 1912, a brutal murder of a young woman just off of Cedar Avenue rocked the city of Minneapolis. In part one of this episode, I narrate the story of the initial investigation of the slaying of Alice Matthews, just feet from her f…
The Mysterious 1951 Minneapolis Disappearance of the Klein Brothers w/ Jack El-Hai - A True Crime History Podcast
On this new episode of Minnesota's Most Notorious: Where Blood Runs Cold, I speak with author Jack El-Hai about his book, "The Lost Brothers: A Family's Decades-Long Search".In it, he explores the mysterious disappearance of three little br…
Minnesota 1918: Fire, Flu and War w/ Curt Brown
The year 1918 goes down as probably the most horrific in Minnesota history. A flu epidemic, a world war and the deadliest fire in the state's history all hit within months of each other, and often the resulting tragedies overlapped for suff…
Minneapolis Madams with Penny A. Petersen - A True Crime History Podcast
While most of us know that prostitution existed in Minneapolis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fewer of us know where the red-light districts were, and what life would have been like for the madams and prostitutes who worked in t…
True Crime Ripped From the Headlines! August 4th, 1913
A brief look at some of the wild stories published in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune on August 4th, 1913. True Crime, tragedy and even comedy take a turn. Become a Most Notorious patron at: www.patreon.com/mostnotorious Learn more about yo…
The Younger Brothers' First Taste of Freedom
On July 14th of 1901, the remaining members of the notorious James-Younger outlaw gang, Cole and Jim Younger, were allowed to leave the gates of the Minnesota State Prison, where they had been incarcerated for twenty five years, and explore…
Live at the Warden's House Museum in Stillwater w/ Gibson Stanton!
Minnesota's Most Notorious's first interview in front of a live audience took place at the Warden's House Museum, downtown Stillwater, on Thursday, June 27th, 2019 at 7 pm. My guest was Gibson Stanton, site manager of the museum, which is o…
Minnesota's First Murder Mystery: Part Two w/ Gary Brueggemann - A True Crime History Podcast
My interview continues with Gary Brueggemann, author of "Minnesota's First Murder Mystery, The Case of Edward Phalen: St. Paul's Unsaintly Pioneer".In part two, my guest delves deeper into the death of Sergeant John Hayes, including present…
Minnesota's First Murder Mystery: Part One w/ Gary Brueggemann - A True Crime History Podcast
My guest is teacher and historian Gary Brueggemann, author of "Minnesota's First Murder Mystery, The Case of Edward Phalen: St. Paul's Unsaintly Pioneer".In part one of this episode, he explains the strange and complicated origin of Saint P…
The Barker-Karpis Gang & Big Tom Brown w/ Tim Mahoney - A True Crime History Podcast
My guest is Tim Mahoney, author of "Secret Partners: Big Tom Brown and the Barker Gang". He shares the story of the tangled relationship between mob bosses, bank-robbing gangsters, breweries and corrupt police officers in 1920s and 30s Sain…
The 1902 Aitkin Murder of Josefina Olson w/ Betty Gove - A True Crime History Podcast
I'm tickled, on this episode of Minnesota's Most Notorious, to be joined by author, poet and nonagenarian Betty Gove. She talks about an infamous and tragic Minnesota murder, taken directly from her own family history. Josefina Olson was st…
The 1940 Fort Snelling "Barrel Girl" Murder w/ Susi and Todd Adler - A True Crime History Podcast
My guests are Susi and Todd Adler, Fort Snelling historians who specialize in the history of the Upper Post during World War 1 and World War 2.On this episode of Minnesota's Most Notorious, they tell the story of the gruesome murder of four…
The Wild Life of Coffee John Fitchette - A True Crime History Podcast
One of my favorite characters from my book, Dirty Doc Ames & the Scandal That Shook Minneapolis, is "Coffee John" Fitchette. He was an incorrigible, swaggering bully who conned and cheated his way across the United States, leaving three wiv…
The 1933 Johnson Family Murders w/ Brian Johnson - A True Crime History Podcast
This is a Minnesota's Most Notorious interview. On this episode I chat with Brian Johnson, author of Murder in Chisago County: The Untold Johnson Family Mystery. He has a personal connection to the story - it was his great-aunt and her chil…
Murder on Buffalo Creek w/ Brian Haines
Brian Haines, Executive Director of the McLeod County Historical Society and Museum in Hutchinson MN, tells some turn-of-the-century stories of murder and lynching on Buffalo Creek. He also talks about some of the great exhibits offered at …
The Lynching of Frank McManus
In April of 1882, in downtown Minneapolis, a hobo named Frank McManus committed a terrible crime upon a little girl named Mina Spear, and citizens turned into vigilantes to take justice into their own hands.* Listener discretion advised on …
The Rockwell Art Heist w/ Bruce Rubenstein
First, a recounting of the December 1932 robbery of the Third Northwestern National Bank, where the Barker Karpis gang murdered three before making their way back to the safety of Saint Paul.Then, Bruce Rubenstein, author of "The Rockwell H…
Dirty Doc Ames & the Scandal That Shook Minneapolis w/ Erik Rivenes
In a slight change of pace for Minnesota's Most Notorious, I invite my sister Alison to interview me about my political true crime book, published in April of this year, called Dirty Doc Ames & the Scandal That Shook Minneapolis, about the …
The 1929 Schuch Family Murders in Waseca w/ Jen Barr
A couple of years ago, I released a "mini-episode" on Most Notorious, which included a story of the murder of members of the Schuch family in Waseca in 1929. A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Jen Barr, granddaughter of one of the girls, W…
The 1932 Murder of Abe Wagner by Murder, Inc. w/ Jeff Neuberger
First, the strange story of the attempted murder of Dakota Indian chief Sitting Bull at the Grand Opera House in Saint Paul in 1885.Then, I speak to Jeff Neuberger, archivist and historian for the Saint Paul Police Historical Society, who t…
The Murders of Mary & Johnny Keller & the East Grand Forks Murder of Ray Ruud
First up, the story of the strange relationship between 28 year old steamfitter William Williams and 16 year old Johnny Keller in 1905 Saint Paul, which led to the murders of both Johnny and his mother Mary. Then, an interview with Christin…