

True Murder: The Most Shocking Killers
Dan Zupansky
Every week host Dan Zupansky will interview the true crime authors that have written about the most shocking killers of all time.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 31, 2012 • 1h 36min
WHEN SATAN WORE A CROSS-Fred Rosen
In 1980 in Toledo, Ohio—on one of the holiest days of the church calendar—the body of a nun was discovered in the sacristy of a hospital chapel. Seventy-one-year-old Sister Margaret Ann had been strangled and stabbed, her corpse arranged in a shameful and stomach-churning pose. But the police's most likely suspect was inexplicably released and the investigation was quietly buried. Despite damning evidence, Father Gerald Robinson went free. Twenty-three years later the priest's name resurfaced in connection with a bizarre case of satanic ritual and abuse. It prompted investigators to exhume the remains of the slain nun in search of the proof left behind that would indelibly mark Father Robinson as Sister Margaret Ann's killer: the sign of the Devil.When Satan Wore a Cross is a shocking true story of official cover-ups, madness, murder and lies—and of an unholy human monster who disguised himself in holy garb. WHEN SATAN WORE A CROSS-Fred Rosen Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

May 24, 2012 • 1h 4min
ROGUE MOBSTER-Mark Silverman and Scott Deitche
When the infamous gangster Whitey Bulger went on the lam in 1995, the streets of Boston became a war zone between the Mafia and the renegades, with the Winter Hill Gang looking on. Rogue Mobster: The Untold Story of Mark Silverman and the New England Mafia chronicles the inside story of the Boston mob wars of the 1990’s when over two dozen gangsters were killed in a vicious war for control of the Boston underworld. Rogue Mobster is told in the words of Mark Silverman, an outsider from Medford who got inside the mob and became an integral part of the ensuing war. His account is the first-ever inside glimpse into what went on at the street level, why people were killed, and what the stakes were. Silverman grew up in the shadow of Whitey Bulger, Howie Winter, Raymond Patriarca and Jerry Anguilo, bosses of Boston’s most infamous crime families. With a Jewish last name, his opportunities should have been limited in Boston’s Irish/Italian underworld, but he moved up quickly, gaining acceptance across the board. Silverman was ‘made’ in the Patriarca Family as a reward for infiltrating a renegade mob faction backed by a New York family. The book begins with a unique history of the Boston gangland scene and takes the reader up to the late 1980’s,Silverman recounts the shifting alliances and friendships that were torn apart as the various mob factions battled for control of the Boston underworld through the early 2000’s. Rogue Mobster is a firsthand account of the violent Boston mob wars of the 1990s, when bodies were piling up across New England and Mark Silverman was walking a tightrope between Winter Hill and the Mafia. ROGUE MOBSTER-Mark Silverman and Scott Deitche Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

May 17, 2012 • 1h 39min
LUST FOR JUSTICE-Paulette Frankl and J. Tony Serra
The greatest counter-culture lawyer of his time. His trials have garnered him acclaim as one of the greatest criminal defense lawyers of the century. He's the white tornado in court, a semantic samurai, a shaman, a bard, a hero to some, a trickster to others, and always a force to be reckoned with, respected by all. This is a no-holds barred examination of the man, his renegade lifestyle, his resolute beliefs, and the legal system he serves and transforms. Filled with murder, drugs, and death-penalty cases, snitches, the psychological elements of crime, the nullification of and nexus with juries, closing arguments, and more, Lust for Justice pulls the black robe off the justice system to reveal what it is: a railroad to prison for minorities. In Lust for Justice, you view the law through the eyes of one of its greatest practitioners - and you'll never look at it the same way again. LUST FOR JUSTICE-The Radical Life & Law of J. Tony Serra-Paulette Frankl and J. Tony Serra Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

May 10, 2012 • 1h 14min
THE CHARMER-Richard Muti and Charles Buckley
When prison inmate Robert Reldan's aunt died and left him an $8.9 million trust fund, Arthur and Barbara Reeve, parents of murder victim Susan Reeve, acted to deprive Reldan of the funds that could gain him freedom on parole. The Reeves ultimately got an unheard of $10 million judgment against their daughter's killer, effectively stripping the man known as America's richest inmate. Soon after Susan's murder, the Reeves set up a scholarship fund in her name and the killer's money is currently used in that fund which helps to educate young men and women. The Charmer embraces the hunt to bring Susan'a killer to justice and then the chase of a lifetime by one family determined to give their slain daughter a voice, decades after she was silenced. THE CHARMER-The True Story of Robert Reldan-Rapist, Murderer and Millionaire-and the Women who Fell Victim to his Allure- Richard Muti and Charles Buckley Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

May 3, 2012 • 1h 6min
THE FRANK MATTHEWS STORY-Ron Chepsiuk and Al Profit
In the early 1970's, Frank Matthews became America's biggest drug kingpin. His organization, headquartered in Brooklyn, stretched across more than 20 states, and he became the only Black gangster to establish direct ties to the French Connection heroin pipeline. After being indicted in 1973, he disappeared with 15-20 million dollars in drug profits, equivalent to roughly 100 million in today's cash. Despite one of the largest manhunt's in US history, Frank Matthews hasn't been seen since. There is no proof of whether he is alive or dead.To quote the federal prosecutor assigned the Matthews case he "was a pioneering giant of drug distribution". His organization eventually outgrew even the Italian Mafia and when he built himself a mansion in Staten Island's most exclusive neighborhood (and across the street from Mafia boss Paul Castellano) he found himself on the verge of war with La Cosa Nostra. He also battled militant Black Muslims for control in the streets of New Jersey and Philadelphia as he built his empire.See the amazing true story of Frank Matthews' rise to power as America's biggest kingpin and how he escaped justice for nearly 40 years. THE FRANK MATTHEWS STORY-Ron Chepsiuk and Al Profit Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

Apr 19, 2012 • 1h 16min
HEAD SHOT-Burl Barer
In the mid-to-late 1980's, a quiet neighborhood near Tacoma, Washington was terrorized by the violence of three men: Paul St. Pierre, an alcoholic psychopath; his younger brother, Chris, who had committed unspeakable acts to be one of the boys; and Paul's childhood friend, druggie Andrew Webb. The three beat up one man before cutting his throat on a deserted beach. They decapitated another victim, whom Paul St. Pierre had killed, and buried his head in a bucket of concrete. Soon, the twisted triad turned on each other. St. Pierre shot Andrew Webb in the stomach during an argument. Chris St. Pierre called the cops. He and Webb, who survived his attack, were sentenced to life in prison. Paul St. Pierre choked to death alone in his jail cell. HEAD SHOT-Burl Barer Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

Apr 12, 2012 • 1h 18min
SCAPEGOAT-THE CHINO HILLS MURDERS-J. Patrick O'Conner
In June 1983, Doug and Peggy Ryen, their ten-year-old daughter and a 11-year-old house guest were brutally murdered in Chino Hills, California. Two days before, Kevin Cooper had escaped from a nearby prison and hid in a vacant house 125 yards below the murdered family's hilltop house. After the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department established that he had ben there, it focused on him as the lone assailant despite numerous eyewitness reports that implicated three white men as the perpetrators. Kevin Cooper was convicted of the murders in 1985 and has been on Death Row at San Quentin since then. SCAPEGOAT shows how the sheriff's office and the District Attorney's office of San Bernardino County framed him for the horrific murders and how the justice system has failed him at almost every turn in his long, drawn-out appeal process. As O'Conner's shocking but thorough investigation shows, the sheriff's department discarded information that pointed at other suspects, destroyed evidence that exculpated Cooper and planted evidence that implicated him. If it were not for a court-ordered moratorium on executions in California over the lethal injection controversy, Cooper-with no appeals remaining-would have been executed. SCAPEGOAT-THE CHINO HILLS MURDERS AND THE FRAMING OF KEVIN COOPER-J. Patrick O'Conner Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

Apr 5, 2012 • 1h 5min
A KNIFE IN THE HEART-Michael Benson
Sarah Ludemann was new to love. The Pinellas, Florida, 17-year old was a late bloomer. When she fell for a boy she was blind to the world of sex, drugs and drama swirling around her. Soon, Sarah had a bitter enemy in 18-year-old waitress Rachel Wade. Both girls were head-over-heels with a cocky two-timer named Joshua Camacho. On a warm spring night, their passions erupted into violence. A knife flashed under the streetlights. When the fight was over one girl was dead and the other charged with murder. In an emotion-packed courtroom the whole story took shape--a troubling tale of conflicting lives, tangled sexual affairs, and the high price of having the right feelings for the wrong guy. A KNIFE IN THE HEART-Michael Benson Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

Mar 22, 2012 • 1h 23min
THE MILLIONAIRE'S WIFE-Cathy Scott
The beloved son of Holocaust survivors, forty-nine-year-old George Kogan grew up in Puerto Rico before making his way to New York City, where he enjoyed great success as an antiques and art dealer. Until one morning in 1990, when George was approached on the street by an unidentified gunman—and was killed in cold blood. Before the shooting, George had been on the way to his girlfriends’s apartment. Mary-Louise Hawkins was twenty-eight years old and had once worked as George’s publicist. But ever since they became lovers, George’s estranged wife, Barbara, was consumed with bitterness. As she and George hashed out a divorce, Barbara fueled her anger into greed—especially after a judge turned down her request for $5,000 a week in alimony. Barbara, who stood to collect $4.3 million in life insurance, was immediately suspected in George’s death. But it would take authorities almost twenty years to uncover a link between her lawyer, Manuel Martinez, and the hitman who killed George. In 2010, Martinez agreed to testify against his client…and Barbara eventually pled guilty to charges of grand larceny, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder in the first degree. THE MILLIONAIRE'S WIFE-Cathy Scott Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com

Mar 15, 2012 • 1h 14min
BLOOD HIGHWAY-Sheila Johnson
On January 23, 2000, already battered by an ice storm, the rural Alabama resort town of Mentone was about to be struck by an even more terrfying freak catastrophe. Hurtling down the highway in a Lincoln Town Car was Hayward Bissell, a 400-pound madman on a murder rampage. Ramming the pickup truck of Don and Rhea Pirch, Bissell lured Don Pirch on to the road, running him down with his car. Bissell next targeted the home of James and Sue Pumphrey. After stabbing James Pumphrey in the stomach Bissell was thwarted by two family dogs, who gave their lives to protect their owners. Their sacrifice bought the Pumpreys enough time to get a gun and scare off Bissell-who didn't know the weapon was actually inoperable. When Bissell was finally stopped, police discovered that he wasn't alone. Occupying the passenger seat beside him was the mutilated, partially dismembered body of his pregnant girlfriend, Patricia Ann Booher. In February 2002, Bissell pled "guilty but insane" and was sent to prison for life. Was he really crazy? Or was he a psychopath trying to avoid a death sentence.. BLOOD HIGHWAY-A TWISTED KILLER ON A RAMPAGE MAKES A COUNTRY ROAD A HIGHWAY TO HELL-Sheila Johnson Follow and comment on Facebook-TRUE MURDER: The Most Shocking Killers in True Crime History https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064697978510Check out TRUE MURDER PODCAST @ truemurderpodcast.com