S1 Ep5: Prohibition Murderers: The Karpis/Barker Gang

S1 Ep5: Prohibition Murderers: The Karpis/Barker Gang

Thanks to Prohibition, criminal gangs were a dime a dozen in the 1920s and '30s, but the Karpis/Barker Gang became one of the era's longest lived, highest profile, and most consequential. During the Depression, their exploits not only burnished the reputation of the FBI and its director J. Edgar Hoover, but also inadvertently triggered the end to rampant corruption in St. Paul Minnesota.

While its body count was hefty -- and included lawmen like a sheriff gunned down in cold blood -- its enduring reputation hinges on its supposed matriarch, Ma Barker, who would go on to be depicted in movies and TV shows as a gun-toting criminal mastermind. There's no question three of her sons, and plenty of their friends, were stone-cold killers, but was Ma really pulling all the strings?

"Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @centuriespod

Episoder(259)

S6 Ep9: The Torso in the Marsh

S6 Ep9: The Torso in the Marsh

In 1949, a headless, legless torso surfaced in the Essex marshes, setting off one of Britain’s most sensational postwar murder investigations. The victim was Stanley Setty, a black-market car dealer. ...

27 Apr 51min

S6 Ep8: The Covenant Conspiracy

S6 Ep8: The Covenant Conspiracy

In 1945, a reverend, a realtor, a science teacher, and a white woman in a low-cut dress conspired to help a St. Louis couple buy a house. The couple had steady jobs, a down payment, and six children w...

20 Apr 53min

S6 Ep7: Reckless Disregard: The Carrollton Bus Crash

S6 Ep7: Reckless Disregard: The Carrollton Bus Crash

In May 1988, a church bus returning to Kentucky was struck head-on by a wrong-way driver. Within seconds, it became an inferno. As families searched for answers, an unsettling truth emerged: The child...

13 Apr 54min

S6 Ep6: The Murder That Sparked the Zoot Suit Riots

S6 Ep6: The Murder That Sparked the Zoot Suit Riots

In August 1942, 22-year-old Jose Diaz was found dying near a Los Angeles reservoir called Sleepy Lagoon. He'd been beaten and stabbed the night before he was set to report to the U.S. Army. His death ...

6 Apr 55min

ENCORE: The Life and Death of Sam Cooke

ENCORE: The Life and Death of Sam Cooke

Singing his way through the 1950s and early 1960s, appealing to audiences across a segregated music industry, churning out hits of dreamy quality like “You Send Me” and inspirational fortitude like “A...

30 Mar 39min

S6 Ep5: LIVE Episode: Cincinnati's "Seamstress Slayer"

S6 Ep5: LIVE Episode: Cincinnati's "Seamstress Slayer"

In November 1958, duck hunters at Cowan Lake State Park stumbled upon a burned body so badly damaged it was nearly unrecognizable. It belonged to Louise Bergen, a 32-year-old Cincinnati mother whose d...

23 Mar 1h 3min

S6 Ep4: Stolen Valor: The Woman Who Wasn't There

S6 Ep4: Stolen Valor: The Woman Who Wasn't There

In the years after September 11, 2001, one survivor’s story rose above nearly all others. She said she had escaped from the South Tower, lost the man she loved on the 99th floor, and lived with injuri...

16 Mar 52min

S6 Ep3: The Shepherd's Bush Massacre

S6 Ep3: The Shepherd's Bush Massacre

In August 1966, three unarmed London police officers pulled over a suspicious car on Braybrook Street in Shepherd's Bush in West London. Within minutes, all three were dead—shot in cold blood by three...

9 Mar 45min

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