Ann Marie Ackermann is my guest on this episode, author of the book "Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee". In 1835, a German mayor is murdered at night as he approaches his own front door. Afte...

My guest is Dr. Emilie La Beau Lucchesi, author of Ugly Prey: An Innocent Woman and the Death Sentence That Scandalized Jazz Age Chicago. She discusses the case of Sabella Nitti, a poor Italian immigrant woman accused by police of murdering her husband, w

I'm pulling a switcheroo this week - in blatant shameless effort to get listeners to try my new podcast, Minnesota's Most Notorious: Where Blood Runs Cold, I'm putting part one of the first episode from that show up here, a mystery surrounding the murder

Catherine Pelonero, author of Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and its Private Consequences, is my guest. She walks us through the tragic murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964 and its aftermath. The horrific crime is especially infamous becaus

Author Jack Kelly joins me to discuss his book, "Heaven's Ditch: God Gold and Murder. He shares some stories of murder and mystery surrounding the great engineering marvel known as the Erie Canal.

Mafia historian and Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Anthony M. DeStefano is my guest this episode. He offers insight into gangster Frank Costello, underboss to Lucky Luciano, whose role and influence in the growth of organized crime in America was imme...

Stacy Horn, author of "Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad and Criminal in 19th-Century New York", joins me to chat about the infamous New York City island, which housed (among other terrible buildings) the women's notorious lunatic asylum that continued...

Even today, the world is still utterly fascinated with the Romanov family, the last Tsar and Tsarina of Imperial Russia and their famous daughters and son. My guest is Helen Rappaport, a world-renowned expert on the subject. She joins me to discuss her th

In the early 1900s police were stymied by a series of murders of Italian grocers and fruit vendors in midwest America. Witnesses refused to cooperate, which made the crimes impossible to solve. Enter the United States Postal Service. Postal Inspect...

In November, 1849, Dr. George Parkman, Boston businessman and Harvard Medical School benefactor, disappeared. While many believed he might have been done in by an Irish immigrant, the discovery of his dismembered body in a privy eventually led investig...