The Opperman Report'

Roger Rapoport - Searching for Patty Hearst: A True Crime NovelNovember 27Roger Rapoport joins Ed Opperman to discuss one of the most controversial kidnapping cases of the twentieth century; Patty Hearst.On the night that Patty Hearst was kidnapped in 1974, journalist Roger D. Rapoport, was a short drive away in his El Cerrito home. He quickly became one of the primary reporters covering the saga as it unfolded in real time. His reporting gave local and national readers a window into one of the most bizarre and polarizing crimes in U.S. history. Now, fifty years later, he has written a novel, Searching for Patty Hearst, that draws heavily from that time. In this compelling new book, he explores alternative theories of the crime and delves into the complex psychology of many of the key actors in a drama that kept the country riveted. Using the techniques of fiction, Rapoport gives voice to much of the story that fell outside of the bounds of journalistic coverage. "I wrote this novel because I believed the American public deserved nothing but the truth," he says. With a wry sensibility and insider knowledge that Rapoport is one of the few people to possess, Searching for Patty Hearst, goes beyond the tabloid headlines to tell the story in all its depth. Rapoport takes on such questions as: Why did Patty participate in the kidnapping of a high school student hours before six of the SLA kidnappers were killed in a firefight with the Los Angeles police department? Did celebrity coroner Thomas Noguchi, whom Rapoport interviewed, mishandle the autopsies of six SLA victims? Why did Patty's lawyers dump her fiancée Steve Weed as a key witness at her trial at the last minute? It's often said that fiction can offer insights into the truth that reporting can't. If that is the case, the story of Patty Hearst, the SLA, and the kidnapping that carved them into the American psyche just may be told for the first time with Searching for Patty Hearst.BookBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Brad Schreiber: Revolution's End: The Patty Hearst Kidnapping, Mind Control, and the Secret History of Donald DeFreeze and the SLAForty years after the Patty Hearst "trial of the century," the true story of the events, including the beginning of police militarization in America.Revolution's End fully explains the most famous kidnapping in US history, detailing Patty Hearst's relationship with Donald DeFreeze, known as Cinque, head of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Not only did the heiress have a sexual relationship with DeFreeze while he was imprisoned; she didn't know he was an informant and a victim of prison behavior modification.Neither Hearst nor the white radicals who followed DeFreeze realized that he was molded by a CIA officer and allowed to escape, thanks to collusion with the California Department of Corrections. DeFreeze's secret mission: infiltrate and discredit Bay Area anti-war radicals and the Black Panther Party, the nexus of seventies activism. When the murder of the first black Oakland schools superintendent failed to create an insurrection, DeFreeze was alienated from his controllers and decided to become a revolutionary, since his life was in jeopardy.Revolution's End finally elucidates the complex relationship of Hearst and DeFreeze and proves that one of the largest shootouts in US history, which killed six members of the SLA in South Central Los Angeles, ended when the LAPD set fire to the house and incinerated those six radicals on live television, nationwide, as a warning to American leftists.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

An original, accessible book for scholars, students, activists, and the general public on the greatest crisis the world has faced. The authors challenge the widespread notion that a green and peaceful set of technological reforms in the current economic and political system – perhaps a “green capitalism” – can prevent disaster. Dying for Capitalism analyzes the “triangle of extinction” that links capitalism, environmental destruction, and militarism as a system that cannot sustain life on the planet. The authors analyze how the extinction triangle evolved historically, how it functions globally as integral to the world capitalist order, and how the United States has become the dominant “extinction nation.” They also show how recent anti-democratic and anti-scientific cultural and political forces intensify denial of the threat and subordinate health and survival to profit and extreme concentrated power.The book offers a “slender path” of social and political transformation that can prevent catastrophe. The path requires moving beyond current ruling systems. But possibilities of survival arise from action at local, state, regional, and global levels through multiple strategies and movements that already exist. The authors draw on the history of abolitionism and emancipation from slavery in the United States to show how a system that appears unchangeable can be transformed, while describing organizations, movements, and practices that are models of hope and a shift from the triangle of extinction to the “circle of creation.”Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

The Panama Papers refer to the 11.5 million leaked encrypted confidential documents that were the property of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents were released on April 3, 2016, by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), dubbing them the “Panama Papers.”The document exposed the network of more than 214,000 tax havens involving people and entities from 200 different nations. A yearlong team effort by SZ and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) went into deciphering the encrypted files before the revelations were made public.Apologies there is a chunk from the beginning of this interview, it starts with talking about shell companies and money laundering and misses out Mr Bernstein's bio. Jake Bernstein is an American investigative journalist and author. He previously worked with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. During a 25-year career, he has reported on the civil war in Central America, industrial pollution in Texas, political corruption in Miami, system-crashing greed on Wall Street, and the secret world of offshore accounts and money laundering. He has written travel pieces, reviewed movies and books, and has appeared as a radio and TV journalist.His 2017 book, Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite, takes an in-depth look at the evolution of offshore financial assets, as seen through the Panama Papers, and the journalists and investigators who tried to break through its secrecy. The book was made into a feature film titled The Laundromat, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Bernstein received an executive producer credit on the film.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Henry Wilkins - Adnan Khashoggi - Party DungeonJul 24, 2023In the early 1980s, Adnan Khashoggi was a billionaire who threw lavish parties in his Marbella hunting lodge. He lost his riches later that decade, but the basement at his former residence stands untouched.Henry Wilkins shares his research on what has now made the transition between monstrous abuse of people and power into an urban legend.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Doug Poppa4 hours agoDoug Poppa - of the Doug Poppa Podcast, joins Ed Opperman. Investigative Journalist. US Army Veteran/Former LEO/Criminal Investigator/USDHS/Director of Security, Surveillance. Authored 160+stories on Las Vegas Massacre.He joins Ed to talk about his involvement and the subsequent problems he encountered from law enforcement and the FBI concerning the case of William Douglas Carter.On July 31, 1987, 50-year-old Carole Vandergrift Carter was wounded by a gunshot to the neck while in bed at her home on a rural estate east of Middleburg, Virginia.The shooting occurred at Greenwood Farm, a 210-acre property where Carter and her ex-husband, whom she had divorced in February, kept thoroughbred racehorses. Within hours, Carter’s ex-husband, 55-year-old William Douglas Carter was arrested and charged with the shooting.At the time of the shooting, the couple was still feuding over the distribution of their assets, which included Greenwood Farm, valued at $2.3 million. The divorce had been contentious and the divorce court judge had found that William Douglas Carter had committed adultery with his wife’s foster daughter from 1977, when the girl was in high school, through 1985. The Carters were living in different houses on the grounds of Greenwood Farm.At William Carter’s trial in March 1988, Carole Carter testified that her husband had shot her. She said he was wearing rubber gloves and that after shooting her, he grabbed her hand and forced it to grasp the pistol in an effort to make the shooting appear to be a suicide attempt. She said she wrote her husband’s name in blood on the bedroom floor in case she died.YoutubeFacebookPodcastTwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Angie Solomon - Justice For Grant2 days agoAngie Solomon joins Ed Opperman to talk about a mysterious death - the death of her son, Grant. The circumstances have never been fully explained.On July 20, 2020, Grant Solomon was tragically killed in a still unexplained incident in Gallatin, Tennessee.His father, with whom he had a volatile relationship, was the only witness. Aaron Solomon claims he saw Grant exit the truck, but then looked away, and the next thing he sees is the truck rolling into the ditch. Neither evidence at the scene nor Grant's injuries match the account Aaron gave GPD, who took his word for it and closed the case.To add insult to injury, Grant's family have accused a Tennessee funeral home of breaking his ankles and discarding the clothes he was wearing on the day of the crash.Grant's mother, Angie Solomon, said she saw her son's feet were contorted during a private family viewing at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home after asking for the lower portion of his mahogany-colored casket to be opened. She said she 'almost fainted' when she looked inside. Hospital records show his ankles had been uninjured in the crash.WebsiteTwitterGo Fund MeGo Fund MeBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

The True Story Behind The Hit Film 'Casino' From An ‘Enforcer’ Who Lived ItTony Spilotro was the Mob’s man in Las Vegas. A feared enforcer, the bosses knew Tony would do whatever it took to protect their interests. The “Little Guy” built a criminal empire that was the envy of mobsters across the country, and his childhood pal, Frank Cullotta helped him do it. But Tony’s quest for power and lack of self-control with women cost the Mob its control of Vegas; and Tony paid for it with his life.”I was a little nervous before my first meeting with former mobster Frank Cullotta. It turned out we had a pleasant conversation that ended with an agreement for me to write his book. As I drove home, I realized I had made a deal with a career thief and killer on a handshake. What was I thinking?”--Dennis N. Griffin, author of SURVIVING THE MOBBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

The Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain: Murder Or Suicide - You DecideJust days before Kurt Cobain's body was discovered on April 8, 1994, Courtney Love hired private investigator Tom Grant to locate him. In The Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain Tom Grant takes readers behind the scenes of the investigation. Here, you can read a day by day account of Grant's investigation and learn about the evidence for murder regarding Kurt Cobain's death. There are many new details contained in The Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain, including new transcripts of recorded telephone conversations with Courtney Love and others, as well as an updated list of "persons of interest" in the crime. In this book, you will get a clear picture of 1) Why Kurt Cobain was killed and 2) Who is responsible for his death. The book also contains a compelling account of Tom Grant's struggles to blow the whistle on the botched investigation into Cobain's death. Did Kurt Cobain really commit suicide? Or was he murdered? You won’t be able to honestly answer that question until you read The Mysterious Death of Kurt Cobain.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

The Definitive Account of the O.J. Simpson Trial, by Legendary Defense Attorney F. Lee BaileyIt was called “The Trial of the Century.” Beloved football sensation, O.J. Simpson was famous for his prowess on the field, his good looks, and his charm. But all that changed the night his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were brutally slaughtered in her front yard late at night on June 12, 1994. The media circus that consumed the news cycle for the next eighteen months would forever change the world's opinion of O.J. Simpson, despite the fact that the jury, after nearly a year of sequestration, came to their decision in just a few hours: Not Guilty.Although at least a dozen books have been written about the O.J. Simpson trial, from every possible perspective from provocative to sensationalistic, The Truth About the O.J. Simpson Trial is the most revealing because the writer was the Architect of the Defense. Bailey, shows definitively why the jury was correct in finding that the timeline of the evening made Simpson’s presence at the murder scene impossible, which eclipses the question “Did he do it?” and establishes that he simply could not have done it. This book reveals shocking evidence of police corruption, mishandling of blood samples and other materials that formed the basis of the prosecution's case. Bailey includes convincing evidence that was not presented at the trial—including interviews, forensic results, and revelations about the case that have since come to light.Scathing, controversial, and, yes, entertaining, The Truth About the O.J. Simpson Trial will be read and studied by anyone interested in defending the innocent, the history of law enforcement in America, students of the Law, and all those who are still obsessed with “The Trial of the Century.”Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

The True Story Behind the Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, from O.J. Simpson's Closest ConfidanteIt’s the greatest crime story ever to play out on national television—the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson, the 35-year-old wife of famed pro football star O.J. Simpson, and Ron Goldman, a 25-year-old restaurant worker and friend of Nicole, who were brutally murdered by an unknown assailant outside Nicole’s home in Brentwood, California, on the evening of Sunday, June 12, 1994. Charged with the murders, O.J. Simpson underwent in October 1995 a nationally televised murder trial that lasted nearly nine months, ending in a dramatic acquittal that was watched live by over one-hundred-million people – one of the largest audiences to ever witness anything in the history of television. It was called the “trial of the century.”But people still want to know what really happened that summer night when Nicole Brown Simpson’s and Ron Goldman’s lives were literally cut short, and now, Norman Pardo—O.J.'s closest confidante and business manager for twenty years—offers readers the true story behind these murders. With revelatory never-before-seen evidence and previously undisclosed interviews with people who knew Simpson and Goldman, Pardo makes the case that the real killer was not O.J., whose only aim was to protect his children from Simpson's lifestyle. Rather, Pardo argues, the true murderer was notorious serial killer Glen Rogers, whose testimony in this book just may hold the key to unlocking the case once and for all. Equal parts eye-opening, shocking, and entertaining, Who Really Killed Nicole? is essential reading for everyone interested in the O.J. Simpson trial and the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, anyone interested in the case of Glen Rogers, and all those who still want to know the truth of what happened that fateful June evening in 1994.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

DR Fred Whitehurst : FBI Whistleblower, OKC, TWA 800, OJ, Waco....moreFrederic "Fred" Whitehurst is an American chemist and attorney who served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory from 1986 to 1998. Concerned about problems he saw among agents, he went public as a whistleblower to bring attention to procedural errors and misconduct by agents. The FBI agreed to 40 reforms to improve the forensic reliability of its testing.FBI careerDr. Whitehurst received a Ph.D. in chemistry from Duke University, and a J.D. from Georgetown University. He joined the FBI in 1982 and served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI crime lab from 1986-1998.While he was employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory, the FBI officially rated Dr. Whitehurst as the leading national and international expert in the science of explosives and explosives residue. Concerned about a number of issues that he observed and by the behavior of agents in the laboratory, he began to investigate their procedures. He eventually uncovered and reported what he thought were cases of scientific misconduct, alleging that the agents were biased toward the prosecution. In the OIG's report of Whitehurst's allegations, it was concluded that,"most of Whitehurst allegations were not substantiated," and that Dr. Whitehurst had, "common sense and judgement to serve as forensics examiner. The FBI crime lab finally agreed to forty major reforms, including undergoing an accreditation process. During this period, to protect himself in administrative proceedings, Whitehurst hired Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, a Washington, D.C. law firm specializing in defending whistleblowers.[1]Post-FBI yearsDr. Whitehurst currently serves as the Executive Director of the Forensic Justice Project (FJP). The FJP was formed in 1998 as a project of the National Whistleblower Center, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. The goal of the FJP is to lead a national effort to accomplish the following:Review cases to make sure that innocent people have not been wrongfully convicted through the misuse of forensic science;Provide expert testimony in cases in order to assure that forensic science is not misused in civil and criminal prosecutions impacting on the public interest or the rights of individuals;Offer objective scientific evaluations of forensic evidence;Publish and distribute information necessary for an objective analysis of the quality and objectivity of forensic science and crime laboratories nationwide.Dr. Whitehurst practices criminal law in Bethel, North Carolina. He was elected to the commission of the town of Bethel.The DiariesIn March 2005, he and his brother Robert (also a Vietnam War veteran) brought the Đặng Thùy Trâm diaries to a conference on the Vietnam War at Texas Tech University. There, they met photographer Ted Engelmann (also a Vietnam veteran), who offered to look for the family during his trip to Vietnam the next month. With the assistance of Đỗ Xuân Anh, a staff member in the Hanoi Quaker office, Engelmann was able to locate Trâm’s mother, Doãn Ngọc Trâm. He obtained connections to the rest of her family.[1]In July 2005, Trâm’s diaries were published in Vietnamese under the title Nhật ký Đặng Thùy Trâm (Đặng Thùy Trâm’s Diary), which quickly became a bestseller. In less than a year, the volume sold more than 300,000 copies, and comparisons were drawn between Trâm’s writings and that of Anne Frank.[2][3]In August 2005, Fred and Robert Whitehurst traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, to meet Trâm’s family. In October of the same year, the Vietnamese family came to Lubbock, Texas, to view the diaries, which are archived at Texas Tech University's Vietnam Archive. They visited Fred Whitehurst and his family in his home state of North Carolina.The diaries have been translated into English and published in September 2007. The book includes photographs of Đặng during high school and with her family. Additional translations have been made and the book has been published in at least sixteen different languages.In 2009 a film about Đặng Thùy Trâm by Vietnamese director Đặng Nhật Minh, entitled Đừng Đốt (Do Not Burn It), was released.Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, an F.B.I. agent who served as a Supervisor at the FBI crime lab from 1986 to 1998, blew the whistle on irregularities at the lab. Whitehurst received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Duke University and his law degree from Georgetown University before joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1982 The F.B.I. considered Whitehurst the world's top expert in the forensic science of explosives and explosives residue. While at the Lab, he investigated, uncovered and reported misconduct which forced the F.B.I. crime lab to agree to major reforms.For his crusade against corruption in the Lab, Whitehurst was forced to defend himself from retaliation by the Bureau. He was defended by David K. Colapinto of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, a Washington, D.C. law firm specializing in defending whistle-blowers. The FBI settled his whistle-blower case for over $300,000.Fred Whitehurst's revelations of F.B.I. misconduct have affected the course of many prominent cases, including the Waco Siege (he is featured in the 1999 documentary film Waco: A New Revelation (1999)) and the O.J. Simpson murder trial. He practices criminal law in the state of North Carolina.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.