Criminal Broads is a true crime + history podcast about wild women who’ve ended up on the wrong side of the law, whether for leading a cult, serially murdering their husbands, swindling billionaires, or faking ectoplasm. The podcast is hosted by Tori Telfer, author of “Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History.”
The ugly: Nazis. The bad: a husband killed in battle. The good: one spunky, silly, kinda-loopy, very brave young woman. Meet Violette Szabo, the secret agent who packed a machine gun…just in case she ran into any Nazis on her mission.
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer. Ad break: “The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra, via Free Music Archive, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.
Sharon Wiggins killed a man in a bank robbery gone wrong when she was seventeen. Her state locked her up for life, no chance of parole. Then the Supreme Court stepped in, and Sharon started dreaming. This is the story of a woman with a dubious superlative: the longest-serving juvenile lifer in the world.
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer. Ad break: “The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra, via Free Music Archive, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.
Crime-Fighting Broad 008: Mary Vincent and the Survivor Narrative
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In 1978, a man left Mary Vincent for dead. Ten years later, she told a journalist she’d never get over it. This is a story about surviving and about the narrative of the survivor—what we want from her, what she can’t always give us.
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer. Ad break: “The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra, via Free Music Archive, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.
In the 1950s, two lonely, imaginative teenage girls became best friends. Before long they had convinced themselves that they were the most mad, genius girls in the world. And then they began to dream of murder.
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer. Ad break: “The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra, via Free Music Archive, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.
“Imagine at the age of 16 being sex-trafficked by a pimp named Kutthroat.” That was how the meme about Cyntoia Brown started. Cyntoia herself couldn’t believe it when she heard Kim Kardashian was tweeting about her. After a lifetime of being thought of as a bad kid—people were suddenly on her side?
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer. Ad break: “The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra, via Free Music Archive, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.
One night in September, a white lady in a long green dress reported that she’d been the victim of a horrific crime. Her story transformed Hawaii—some people were outraged, some were sure she was lying. And then her mother got involved.
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.
Hannah Overton loved kids. Everyone who knew her thought she was a wonderful mother. But then she found herself in court, with the media calling her a baby-killer and people on the witness stand saying she was a psychopath.
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Sisters” by Irving Berlin, sung by Anna Telfer. Ad break: “The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra, via Free Music Archive, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.
Poor Pam Hupp and her bad luck. First her best friend Betsy gets stabbed 55 times. Then her mother falls off a balcony. Then she gets KIDNAPPED. And now Pam, who wouldn’t hurt a fly, is in prison for life?! Some people just can’t catch a break, no matter how hard they lie.
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Sisters” by Irving Berlin, sung by Anna Telfer. Ad break: “The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra, via Free Music Archive, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.
Catherine Pileggi went from a flight attendant to a multimillionaire’s girlfriend. But after eighteen years, her relationship was on the rocks. Then one night—someone cracked. Was it him? Or was it her?
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Sisters” by Irving Berlin, sung by Anna Telfer. Ad break: “The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra, via Free Music Archive, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.
When Blanche Wright was captured in 1980, police said they’d found a vicious killer. And for decades, no one dug any further to find out who the real Blanche was. Michael Wilson of the New York Times comes on the podcast to tell us her story.
Read Michael’s article on Blanche here: charming-hit-man.html?searchResultPosition=1">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/nyregion/prince-charming-hit-man.html?searchResultPosition=1
Music: Matthew Noble and Stereodog Productions (Dan Pierson & Peter Manheim). Intro and conclusion: “Sisters” by Irving Berlin, sung by Anna Telfer. Ad break: “The Great One Step” by Victor Dance Orchestra, via Free Music Archive, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0.