Podcasts · History · True Crime
Ridiculous Crime
iHeartPodcasts
300 episodes
True Crime is more than blood, guts, mayhem, and murder. Zaron Burnett and Elizabeth Dutton share outlandish tales of capers, heists, and cons that shine a light on the absurd and outrageous side of criminality. Always 99% murder-free and 100% ridiculous, this is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast by iHeartRadio.
Episodes page 4 of 6
-
Jump, Jive, and Jail: the Pot Bust of Gene Krupa
At the height of the swing music era, jazz drummer and musical great Gene Krupa was caught up in a federal bust. He was used as a cautionary tale in America's First Drug War. Taken down in order to scare young people…
-
How to Disappear: Raymond Grady Stansel
An ocean-loving, expert mariner Florida man made his living transporting bales of marijuana until the law caught up with him. Then he went to a land down under, where women glow and men plunder (as they say in the…
-
Black Bart: the Outlaw Folk Hero Poet
Black Bart was not his government name. While the name was fearsome and his occupation as a stagecoach robbing outlaw was typically violent and careers short-lived, Black Bart was the opposite in every way. He was a…
-
Yellowstone Isn't Just for Duttons: Tim Blixseth
A lumber baron who set his sights on facilitating luxury living established an enormous, posh, private ski club. And in a shocking turn of events that absolutely no one could ever see coming, hundreds of lawsuits…
-
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Los Beetles (Americanos)!"
A Florida club promoter had a big idea: he'd take four young American lads, grow out their hair, dress 'em like John, Paul, George and Ringo, and call 'em the American Beetles to cash in on a thing called Beatlesmania.…
-
For the Love of a Funny Girl: Nicky Arnstein
A cardsharp, a ladies man, a con artist extraordinaire. Nicky Arnstein skirted the law and lived the high life, even married the most famous woman in radio. A couple stretches of hard labor in the pen couldn't break…
-
The Great Del Taco Stock Debacle: You Got Jacked!
There's the big leagues of insider trading, like what we see from both sides of the aisle in Washington DC. And when we think of Wall St. crimes taking place it's in boardrooms, backrooms, and out on golf courses. But…
-
Diva Up Energy: George Santos
We've come to expect corruption and lies in Washington, but there are times when it just goes too far. Witness George Santos, a guy who is seemingly allergic to the truth (but not Hermès). He proves that there's money…
-
Those Battlin' Bachs! Johann and Sebastian
There's Sebastian Bach. The former lead singer of the hair metal band, Skid Row. You expect stories of him acting out –– that's kinda his whole deal. He goes through life like he's a one-man reality show about a former…
-
Bad Boy Book Buddies: Marcus Schrenker and Matthew Cox
Two con men. Each masters of financial fraud. Each on the run from the law, using aliases and wild maneuvers to stay one step ahead of the authorities. Until they weren't. And it was only then that they crossed paths,…
-
Hey Paal! Did You Steal Edvard Munch's "The Scream"?
A former footballer in the Norwegian league who was also a former street criminal jumped back in the game as a high-end art thief. He says he made Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream" famous by stealing it. We say his…
-
The Fixer: Lou Blonger
This guy was the other Soapy Smith, running crime rings in Denver, Colorado. A bunco magnate, he made his money off the naïveté of rube tourists. His stock market wasn't real but, then again, is any stock market real?…
-
"You Try to Choke George Clooney, See How It Goes": the David O Russell Story
On a Hollywood film set, the director is like a god. They have the power to make or to break. They have the carte blanche to do whatever they must to make their art. And they often abuse this privilege and all the fine…
-
Queen of the St. Petersburg Crime Scene: Sonia Golden Hand
A gorgeous thief who was perhaps too talented for her own criming good, Sonia Golden Hand stole hearts and goods all over Europe. She ran cons and palmed gems like no other, which gained her fame. Pro tip: fame and…
-
Behind the Mask: The life and crimes of costumed characters
From college mascots getting arrested, to Gritty being investigated for fighting a kid, to the battlin' superheroes of Times Square, and on out west to the tourist wrasslin' costumed characters of Hollywood Blvd, this…
-
When I Stencil My Masterpiece: Banksy Thefts
Graffiti is generally illegal. Unless it's created by a celebrated, anonymous artist named Banksy. Then it's worth millions and ripe for the stealin'. People steal Banksy pieces, even the murals off of walls of…
-
The Curious Kitschy Crime of Sea Monkeys
A mad inventor, his cheated heiress, a villainous toy company called Big Time Toys, astronaut John Glenn, Howie Mandel, the Pixies, and a dark secret... this story has it all and then some. Get ready for a wild ride…
-
For Those about to Rock: Alcatraz Escapes
Escaping from prison isn't easy. It was near impossible from a place like Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. The prison was notorious not only for its infamous prisoners, but also for its harrowing location…
-
Dude Where's My House?! The Irishman Whose Home Went Full Brigadoon
What do you do when you come home to find there is no home where your home should be? This was the curious dilemma for one particularly unlucky Irishman. His missing home conundrum led to a meandering multi-decade long…
-
Long Live the King of Keys: The Antwerp Diamond Heist
A diamond heist for the ages! An Italian heist crew pulled off an impeccably prepared raid on a vault full of diamonds. Well, almost pulled off. A lesson in the importance of patience, this crime shows us that…
-
More from the Casebook of Bob Nygaard, Psychic Detective
We're back with more tales from the anti-psychic sleuthing of super detective Bob Nygaard. Bob and his fedora get justice for a lovelorn gent who spent a king's ransom trying to win back his dream girl. As you can…
-
Born to Run: James Hogue
Is it so bad to want to run? And is it so bad to want to do it in high school? Well, it sure is if you're 25 years old and faking your identity. James Hogue did just that. And then did it again under another identity…
-
From the Casebook of Bob Nygaard, Psychic Detective
Bob Nygaard, a former NYPD detective turned private investigator is a real gumshoe's gumshoe. Like he stepped off the pages of a noir detective novel, the snap-brim fedora-wearing P.I. is the man folks call when a…
-
Eternal Sunshine of the Meatless Mind: Sarma Melngailis
She was a vegan restauranteur looking for meaning in her expanding empire. He was a man who said he could make dogs live forever. Together, they made for one of the most toxic relationships we've ever seen. And along…
-
A Solar-Powered Con Artist: Jeff Carpoff
He was not an engineer, nor was he an inventor, instead he was a failed car mechanic. But Jeff Carpoff didn't let that stop him from creating a billion dollar business based on his invention: a portable solar…
-
The Art of Forgery: Art Williams Jr.
Let's face it, counterfeiting is an art. It takes serious talent and skill. So it should come as no surprise that the best counterfeiter in the land is also a fantastic artist. To say Art Williams, Jr. has lived a…
-
I Wanna Be Bootsy, Too!
They say it's never good to meet your heroes in real life. It's even worse if you meet your hero in real life and it's not really them. This week, E and Z examine tales of the many folks who want to be the original…
-
The Dulcet Tones of Zyme Bedewing: Mike Smith
AC/DC told us it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll. Sage advice. But that was before the age of AI. Now it's a short way to the top if you want to create hundreds of thousands of fake songs to make…
-
The Great Air Jordan Train Robberies of 2024
Train robberies are so 19th century. Air Jordans are so 20th century. Yet, combine them and you get the hottest new crime of the 21st century: train robberies of boxcars of Jordans. Come aboard as E and Z ride the…
-
IRS Will Survive: Studio 54
It was a dark fantasyland of excess and glamor. We speak not of your local Applebee's. No, we mean Studio 54, the ne plus ultra of 70s discotheques. It was the place to see and be seen, to do drugs and get glitter in…
-
The Inimitable Miss Cleo: The World Famous Fake Phone Psychic
The late '90s were such a different time... kinda. But the last real decade still had plenty of fakers, grifters, and scam artists, all offering up questionable spirituality and easy answers... just like now! Enter…
-
With a Side of Chow Chow: The Kidnapping of Elton B. Stephens Jr.
A Southern Gothic thriller for the ages, this is the tale of a Coen Brothers-esque kidnapping gone sideways. A bumbling couple take a magazine subscription heir prisoner to fund the purchase of their dream home, and…
-
God Save the Queen...and the Sex Pistols
1977 was the year punk broke. It was also the Silver Jubilee year, which was a special celebration to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Never one to miss publicity, the princes of punk rock, the Sex…
-
The Art of the Steal: Stephane Breitwieser
Listen, we all love art. But this dude LOVES art. So much so that he steals it and never lets go. His mom, though, isn't afraid of turning some loose. It's like they say: if you love something, set it free…into a…
-
Le Scandal: the French Mayor and the Nudist Fortune-Telling Ventriloquist
At the start of 2024, a conservative mayor of a small charming French seaside nudist resort town was accused of embezzlement and illegal use of city funds. Allegedly, he was secretly paying a fortune-telling…
-
Come Fly with Me: Airline Stowaways
Sometimes you need to fly the friendly skies, but you don't have a ticket. There was a time when the solution was to just sneak onto a plane and act like ya know. Follow a handful of young and young-ish scofflaws as…
-
When the USA Caught "Pac–Man Fever"
In the early '80s, America faced a dire existential threat...in the form of "Pac-Man Fever." A moral panic feared that a generation of kids would be lost to the insidious new video game craze. Inspired by First Lady…
-
The Flying Forger: Bad Bobby Baudin
Zany! That's how people described Robert Baudin, aerial photographer and counterfeiter extraordinaire. But he was more than zany. He was bold. He was crafty. And like Exclamation Perfume, the popular scent of the early…
-
As the Worm Turns: Dennis Rodman Goes to North Korea
What do you get when the Supreme Leader of North Korea has a sports crush on Michael Jordan but can't get the NBA great to come see him? Well, you settle for Jordan teammate, Dennis Rodman. And before you know it that…
-
Don't Let the Door Hit Ya Where the Good Lord Split Ya: Peter Popoff
It's one thing to bilk the gullible who are looking to make a quick buck, it's quite another to con those who are looking for healing and salvation. It's terrible. Sickening. Despite the valiant efforts of a skeptic…
-
Have Mercy!: The Hard Gambling Nuns of Torrance
Holy moley! A fake nun, a fake bishop, a con man priest, and the belle of the ball... a pair of hard gambling nuns who embezzle a million dollars from a Catholic school in Los Angeles to fund their secret lifestyle as…
-
Pietro La Greca & The Mexican Money Laundry Part 2
For the second part of this tale about Pietro La Greca Sr., the one-time gigolo, turned arsonist, turned money launderer for the Mexican cartels and who later graduated to running tax scams with the head of the Mexican…
-
Pietro La Greca & The Mexican Money Laundry Part 1
Imagine your father is a charming international one-time gigolo turned clothing boutique owner turned arsonist turned money launderer for the Mexican cartels and Mexican presidents. Well, turns out you don't have to…
-
Want to Get Away Week: Sealand
Want to get away from it all? Start your own country? Fight some Dutchmen? Go up against the British crown? That's what Paddy Roy Bates did when he founded Sealand, an island nation off the coast of England. Come for…
-
Want To Get Away Week: Come Aboard the Sex Raft!
Want to get away from it all? What if you could climb aboard a homemade raft, and join a group of young and sexy strangers, and together you all drift across the Atlantic, as a Svengaliesque professor stirs up sexual…
-
Ridiculous Update: Revisiting the Theft of the Ruby Slippers
We look back at the time someone stole Judy Garland's ruby slippers from the movie The Wizard of Oz. With a special update about the fate of the slippers since the episode originally aired! See omnystudio.com/listener…
-
Ridiculous Update: Rita Crundwell and Her Little Ponies
We look back at the woman who embezzled $53 million dollars from her small hometown in the American heartland, all so that she could pay for her pony obsession. Now she wasn't hitting the track, no, Rita Crundwell…
-
If I'm Lion, I'm Dyin': The Movie ROAR
The actress Tippi Hedren and her whole family once made a certifiably ridiculous movie. A little joint called ROAR. With a cast of more than 100 untrained lions and a very loose script, it took years and millions to…
-
Stealing Baby Jesus
While leafing through 75 years of local newspapers, Zaron Burnett uncovers an American Christmas tradition as ingrained in our culture as the red-and-white Santa: sneaking up to a nativity scene and stealing the Baby…
-
Stealing the Stone of Scone: A Christmas Story
One Christmas night, four proud brave Scots break into Westminster Abbey to steal back the Stone of Scone AKA the Stone of Destiny for the glory and pride of Scotland. It was a Christmas miracle... of crime! See…
More in History
History's Greatest Mysteries
The HISTORY Channel | Rewind Studios
World War II with Tom Hanks
The HISTORY Channel | Back Pocket Studios | Audacy
The Ancients
History Hit
History That Doesn't Suck
Prof. Greg Jackson
Lore
Aaron Mahnke
Sleepy History
Slumber Studios
The UnBelievable
The HISTORY Channel | Rewind Studios
American History Tellers
Audible
American Scandal
Audible
Throughline
NPR
What the Fact with Connor Tomlinson and Carter Roy
Rewind Studios
Hidden History with Dr. Harini Bhat
Rewind Studios
Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.