Criminal

When Madison Smith went to her county attorney’s office to talk about her rape case, she knew she wanted to press charges. But the prosecutor told her he wouldn't bring a rape charge. Then she discovered a loophole in an old Kansas law.

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In 2010, a $16.5 million Hot Lotto ticket was sold at a gas station in Des Moines, Iowa. At first, no one showed up to claim the prize. And then, a series of lawyers tried to claim the money on behalf of a client they would not name. Things got stranger, and eventually investigators uncovered what has been called the biggest lottery fraud in U.S. history.

This episode was first published in 2021. 

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Two men turned in the winning catch at a Lake Erie fishing tournament. But when the tournament director squeezed one of their fish - he felt something inside. 

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Phoebe: Are there a lot of spies in this country today?

Scott: Far more than people can probably even imagine. You can't rule anybody out. You never know what it is that motivates people to do this.

For 17 years, Ana Montes was quietly sharing information with the Cuban government while working as a U.S. defense intelligence analyst.

Scott Carmichael’s book is True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba's Master Spy. Jim Popkin’s book is Code Name Blue Wren – The True Story of America’s Most Dangerous Female S...

Hunters in the Everglades used to kill millions of birds every year for their feathers. In 1902, a man named Guy Bradley was hired to stop people from shooting the birds – but it wasn’t easy. “If you’re working alone in the wilderness, no witnesses, and the people that you’re going up to are armed, it’s really dangerous.”

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“There was a saying I heard a few times: ‘under the influence, above the law.’ And I think that describes the mindset of a certain type of fraternity guy.” 

Max Marshall’s book is Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story.

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In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar smuggled four hippopotamuses into Colombia for a zoo on his ranch. Today, there are over 160 hippos in the country. “It’s like hippo paradise here. They have water and food all year long. They have no predators…They can do whatever they want."

Listen to Jorge Caraballo’s Radio Ambulante episode about narco tours here.

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In 1967, a 24-year-old named Leslie Arnold escaped from prison. The FBI looked for him for years. And then, in 2022, a U.S. Marshal got a message from his son.

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On the afternoon of June 23rd, 1972, Martin McNally walked into the St. Louis airport with a wig, a sawed-off rifle, and a plan.

Special thanks to Danny Wicentowski. Learn more at the Riverfront Times: “The Final Flight of Martin McNally.”

This episode was originally released in 2018. To hear the second part of this story, “The Fox,” click here. 

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When Karen Bethea-Shields was in college, she heard a judge say, “No way in the world a Black woman can get raped.” A few years later, in 1975, she helped successfully defend Joan Little—a Black woman—who became the first woman in the U.S. to be found not guilty of murder using the defense that she used deadly force to resist sexual assault.

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