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
Leopold and Loeb | This Cruel and Vicious Murder
In May, 1924, Leopold and Loeb set out to commit their carefully planned "perfect crime." First they had to choose a victim, then kidnap and kill him, hide his body, and collect a substantial ransom. They were certain they could pull it off…
Leopold and Loeb | Nothing but the Night
Once they're reunited in Michigan, Leopold and Loeb carried on their downward spiral into criminality. Their schemes got progressively more daring until the little things wouldn't do anymore. Now they wanted to carry out the perfect crime. …
A Conversation with Jeremy Schwartz
A frank conversation with our host Jeremy Schwartz about his favorite cases we've covered, his career as an actor on and off the stage, and what he's listening to when he's not behind the mic. Thank you for being a listener. Please be sure…
Leopold and Loeb | The Prodigies
Growing up in Chicago, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb both seemed destined for greatness. They each performed well in school, and advanced to university long before their peers. But once they met at college, Leopold and Loeb began a dance …
Kill Your Darlings
In this special bonus episode, we're bringing you pieces of our favorite stories that didn't make it to the final episodes. Thank you for being a listener. Please be sure to rate, review, and follow American Criminal wherever you get your …
Clarence Darrow: Lawyer of the Century
Ahead of our next series on Leopold and Loeb, Lindsay Graham (American Scandal, American History Tellers, & History Daily) joins the show to talk about a key figure in the Leopold and Loeb story, and one of the 20th century's most famous tr…
A Menendez Brothers Parole Update
There have been a lot of developments in the Menendez case since our last update. Recently, Lyle and Erik Menendez appeared before the parole board for the first time. Here's everything you need to know about what happened. Thank you for b…
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,…
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 | 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…
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…