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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.
390 Episodes
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Young George Weyerhaeuser was snatched off the street back when kidnapping the child of a wealthy family seemed to be all the rage. Neither horrific nor violent nor ending in tragedy, this kidnapping is an offbeat adventure with a heartwarming ending.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1Lots of idealistic young folks come to believe the world is a rigged game run by immoral fat cats. Many get motivated to change the state of things. Some even fantasize about robbing those same fat cats to get even. Stephen Jackley didn't just fantasize, he acted on it. He became a wannabe Robin Hood, a crimer who wanted to rob from the rich to give to the poor. But then life sorta got in the way.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Elizabeth Taylor looooved diamonds. Some had storied histories going back to royal palaces and forgotten empires. Others came from exotic locales. And then there was the Krupp Diamond. Before Liz donned it on her finger, it belonged to the ex-wife of a Nazi. And that's not the craziest part of this story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It was just like Ocean's 11...except instead of a stylish crew of longtime pro criminals, it was a guy with a BB gun and another in a Ford Mustang. And instead of the glitz and glamor of Las Vegas, it was Riverside County, California. And instead of jetting off to Europe to hide, the criminals holed up in a Motel 6. So maybe it wasn't just like Oceans 11 when Rolando Ramos and Eric Aguilera went to work at a casino and robbed their employer. But they felt like it was. And that's ridiculous.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kevin Trudeau was a born salesman...and an excellent con man. He knew exactly how to rope people in with promises of wealth, health, and all around better lives. But as we all know, if something sounds too good to be true, it is. And it's probably a brainchild of ol' Kev.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sometimes you really just wanna get away –– this week's crimer, Eric Edson, takes that to outlandish and preposterous levels of commitment. Whether on two wheels or four, by land or by sea, either highspeed or slow-rolling, Edson flat out refuses to be caught. It takes a whole consortium of cops, a veritable multiplicty of law enforcement to bring him to justice.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Folks, we got us a card sharp. Canada Bill Jones was a three card monte guy, taking rubes for their cash on trains and riverboats across the heart of America. Oddly principled and unrepentant, ol' Bill is a con artist for the ages.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Once upon a time... a married man and father of three went online and there he met a mystery woman from Uzbekistan. The two began an internet friendship that blossomed into an online romance. Within months, he and she decided he should fake his death so he could leave his wife and kids behind in Wisconsin and run away to be with her. Obviously, that didn't go down as planned since he's on this show!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The salad oil business is slippery stuff. Sometimes you have to grease some palms to get what you want. You have to be slick. And you have to trim the fat to keep your business profitable. Lubricating the cogs of international trade...okay, you get the picture. This guy dealt in oil and got himself into serious trouble.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
LSD didn't used to be a street drug, originally it was considered a wonder drug, part of the post-war belief in "better living through chemistry." That's when Hollywood mega-star Cary Grant was a big advocate for the potential of acid. But that all changed in the '60s. This week, we take a groovy psychedelic trip with Carrie Fisher, Marc Maron, and the Grateful Dead to find out how LSD became illegal. Also John Lennon and Keith Richards enjoy an LSD-fueled magical mystery tour through England on their own acid road trip. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Theo and Karl Albrecht build a discount food empire. Aldi is known the world over for "the best quality at the lowest price." Bringing bargains to the people is lucrative business, and the Albrecht brothers built their fortunes to astonishing heights. But with great wealth comes great risk, even if you do your very best to stay under the radar. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A one-time revolutionary and member of the Black Panthers was the first person to successfully hijack a plane in Canada. That led to a 30-year life on the lam as an international fugitive from justice. And for reasons that only make sense to him, he decided to return to the U.S. and do so using his real name. He would've gotten away with it all if it weren't for that pesky new invention called the Internet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As Billie Jean King once said, "if you can see it, you can be it." Young Anna Sorokin took this to heart. She saw the fabulously wealthy and became one of them... sort of. She conned the social circles of NY’s super rich. She wined and dined with the best of them. But seeing isn't always being. Especially if your transformation involves audacious criminality.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
If a New York City hairdresser who looks a little like James Brown comes up to you and says he can make you a star, don't believe him. But Miss Mary Jane Jones had to learn that lesson the hard way –– by playing Florida nightclubs as she pretended to be the real Aretha Franklin. Naturally, that's no way to earn R.E.S.P.E.C.T. But it will certainly get you attention from the law.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
If you boast that you can make diamonds out of burnt sugar, you better be able to deliver. Especially if you're boasting to a diamond magnate whose industry you could destroy. Proving it may include showing your tush, but that's life in the diamond biz.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How does someone get a life sentence for stealing their own tools? Take one part probate, one part rebellion, multiple parts prison escapes, and one part Florida. What you get is the wild tale of Mark DeFriest, the Prison Houdini. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Looking for some engagement with some crime content from the world of social media influencers? Look no further, Rude Dudes! Become brand embassadors to ridiculousness with tales of sob stories, lies, and financial hijinks! #adSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
There's Coach John Heisman, bacon grease, rivals Auburn vs. Georgia Tech and the train that nearly wrecked. There's LSU vs. Tulane and the hijacking of the mascot Mike the Tiger, a real live Bengal. There's also Harvard vs. Yale (vs. MIT) and the surprise exploding football field. And finally, the birth of the Legend of the Stanford Axe with its the horseback and wagon chase through San Francisco that gave us The Big Game. It's a wild look at the absurdities of college football rivalries!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today's automobiles are brimming with technology. Most of the time, that's pretty cool. But it stops being cool when sneaky hackers breach the systems and have a field day. Those are crimes…ridiculous crimes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Buddhist Monks are supposed to be exemplars of the faith. Yet these days there has been a recent slew of headlines wherein the monks and abbots of temples have been caught in sextortion scandals and have been main players for cartel drug smuggling. What's up with all the meth-addicted monks, vow-violating fathers of love children, and not to mention the widespread corruption and embezzlement? These monks are shaking the faith of their followers and the true believers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Black Panthers weren't "revolutionaries." They were terrorists and thugs whose "movement" eventually collapsed into criminality exactly because that's really what they were all along. They set back the progress of the Black community by decades. Their pseudointellectual attempts to justify that criminality was nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig and was straight out of the terrorist handbook.
Eh, Chicago used to be a great city. Now it's like a couple dozen blocks you could call great surrounded by the crime ridden ruins of the rest of the city which is in turn surrounded by suburbs to which anyone with the ability to flee has fled. It's unfortunate, but absolutely true.
These two want everyone to buy their pseudo-intellectual nonsense while they openly admit that they aren't capable of pinning down concepts like annuities to become financially literate? Hilarious.
You think proper French pronunciation was more likely in Vermont, a British colony from its inception, than it was in Wisconsin which began as a French fur trapping territory and still has many French names amongst its counties and municipalities? Makes sense...
nope .. not cam-a-no. ka-may-no. weird, ya can Google it.
I wonder if the Internet was around in 1981 this scam would have lasted as long as it did- people would have been posting all over about what a liar he was.... OR maybe he would have run for & won the Presidency.
Keep in mind that 1981 money is worth 3x today. So that $1,500 seminar class would be $4,500 today. & that $15,000 week long class was like spending $45,000 today. Which is insane. If they skipped this POS con man's "classes" & invested that money instead it would have resulted in actual gains. But we are greedy as a society- if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. I hope all these victims ended up okay in the end.
P.S. If you want to catch a play/musical at a theater with a real cool vibe? Hit up the Pantages! The interior is so cool. When I was a kid who was too young to be all that interested in the shows my mom would take us to, I'd just enjoy the atmosphere and all the detail in the decor.
*prohibitive*
....*Also a child in need is a child in need. Why do you care so much (to mention it several times) WHERE they're from? You sell yourself as so "woke" (& I'm NOT using that term as an insult - to me it means compassionate, non- judgmental, empathetic & accepting). So are you a xenophobe? I've listened to the entire catalog of this podcast & I never got that impression of you but perhaps you are not what you like to portray.
.... I'm in the process here in the US. *Another reason is because the US (supposedly) has higher standards of care for children in group homes (orphanages/foster care) compared to those in other (less "developed "countries ). So one can argue these kids would never have the same opportunities as an orphan, unadopted child in the US would....
WTF, Elizabeth?... What's w/ the judgement about WHERE the couple adopted their children? Yeah, there are kids in Michigan who need adopted too but what does that have to do w/ anything? The 2 kids adopted from Columbia were still kids in need of a family. & There are several reasons WHY someone would choose to go elsewhere to adopt: *The cost is prohibited for many couples- ideally, it shouldn't cost anything but that's not the way it is here in the US. (I know this firsthand b/c -
P.S. You cannot still send a telegram via Western Union. They turned over their telegram service to International Telegram in 2006. I only know this because my aunt used to send us WU telegrams for Christmas every year as her unique way of wishing family members happy holidays.
An article I read on furries, bronies, and other alternative communities said that female bronies are called pegasisters (a combo of Pegasus and sister). Just FYI since Z said there wasn't a separate name for the ladies in the group. 😂
He felt so unsafe walking around America as a black man, but the second his tiger mauled him he called the cops that are supposedly the source of that fear. Ridiculous...
this is definitely my favorite episode thus far, hilarious!
Before the story of who JT LeRoy really was, I read Sarah and immediately got the vibe that it was fictional. So much of it reads like someone fantasizing about what they think some super edgy street kid character lives like. To anyone who has actually lived any part of that life it comes off as a caricature. The only people I knew who thought it was written as anything approaching autobiography were edgy kids who had their own similar fantasies.
P.S. The Cali Cartel existed before Pablo Escobar died and competed with the Medellin Cartel for years. They didn't go out and "form their own cartel" after Escobar was killed.
I used to work at an exotic car dealership here in SoCal and we had insurance that covered any accidents on test drives. I know this because one of my coworkers was on a Lambo test drive and the driver whipped it around a blind curve and into the ass end of an LA-area traffic jam. He was all worried that he'd get fired and owe a bunch of money until my boss explained to him that we have insurance and it wasn't his fault.
Not to be that guy, but it's courts martial not court martials.