Varnamtown
Crime Writers On...21 Maalis 2024

Varnamtown

“Twin Peaks” actor Kyle MacLachlan had a crazy story for his friend. In the 1980s, kingpin Pablo Escobar bribed an entire North Carolina town to let him land airplanes and smuggle cocaine into the US. The little-known story happened in Varnamtown, population 300. They found that residents, many with the last name of Varnam, got rich as a cog in the cartel's trafficking operation. But one fisherman who refused to be intimidated took on the town in a quixotic effort to stop the smuggling. It took a spate of bad luck and double crosses to bring the whole thing down.

In the podcast “Varnamtown,” MacLachlan and war correspondent Joshua Davis revisit this drug war footnote in a tale that features REO Speedwagon, lawn mowing Playboy bunnies, and an attack turkey. We hear from residents, investigators and drug smugglers while the actor and the journalist banter with each other about the story’s quirky twists and turns.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "VARNAMTOWN" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.

Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.

This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(736)

Someone's Hunting Us

Someone's Hunting Us

In 2016, women of color in Newark, NJ began to disappear. The police response lacked urgency because some were sex workers and others were considered runaways. So friends of Mawa Doumbia set their own...

14 Touko 41min

Imperfect Women

Imperfect Women

When their friend Nancy is murdered, Eleanor and Mary believe her secret lover “David” is behind it. But Eleanor becomes an early suspect in the case when her long-simmering feelings about the victim’...

11 Touko 45min

Friends Like These

Friends Like These

When Skylar Neese wasn’t posting photos of her with two best friends, she was posting cryptic messages about mean girls. One night in 2012, Skylar slipped out of her bedroom window, got into an awaiti...

7 Touko 42min

Foundling

Foundling

Lucy Greenwell remembered a story from her childhood: in 1987, a newborn was abandoned off a country road near her home in Suffolk. Now a journalist, Greenwell tracked down Jess, who grew up wondering...

4 Touko 49min

Blood Will Tell

Blood Will Tell

When his eighteen-year-old twin brother Anh gets into a drunken fight at a party, Trung stabs his attacker. San Jose police place both identical twins in a lineup, and witnesses mistakenly say Anh was...

30 Huhti 41min

DTF St. Louis

DTF St. Louis

TV weatherman Clark Forrest convinces his friend and ASL interpreter to sign up for an anonymous hook-up app to spice up his life. Floyd Smernitch is cash-strapped, overweight, and dealing with his di...

27 Huhti 51min

Who Blew Up The Guidestones?

Who Blew Up The Guidestones?

The Georgia Guidestones were a 19‑foot‑tall, Stonehenge‑like tourist attraction commissioned in 1980 by an anonymous benefactor. Its purpose was unclear, and its granite inscriptions about population ...

23 Huhti 38min

Trust Me: The False Prophet

Trust Me: The False Prophet

When Dr. Christine Marie and her videographer husband moved to Utah, they befriended members of the polygamous FLDS church. With the community’s former leader now in prison, Samuel Bateman claimed to ...

20 Huhti 49min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
seitseman
sita
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
kaksi-aitia
ihme-ja-kumma
i-dont-like-mondays
hupiklubi
uutiscast
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mamma-mia
rss-murhan-anatomia
kolme-kaannekohtaa
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
aikalisa
kummitusjuttuja
lahko