Showing results for "Kingpin" in True Crime

A surfer kid from Redondo Beach, California, Owen Hanson was still in his twenties when he found himself the leader of a multi-million-dollar criminal empire. What began as an attempt to fit in with the rich kids at the University of Southern California soon grew into gambling and loan sharking, which then opened the door to drug trafficking and money laundering. Hanson wasn't just involved in this stuff—he excelled at it. Living the fast-paced lifestyle of the rich and famous, Hanson felt he was finally making his father proud, never mind the questionable ethics and obvious danger of it all.

Once upon a time, there were two titans of the crypto industry: Sam Bankman-Fried, the child of Stanford professors and founder of FTX, and Changpeng Zhao, the nomadic founder of Binance. The pair were the faces of crypto, generating billion-dollar fortunes comparable to the likes of Elon Musk and Bill Gates. That is, until their rivalry threatened to burn the entire industry to the ground.For years, the pair had waged a cold war as Sam fought to unseat Zhao, or CZ, and dominate the industry. Then, last year, CZ fired a warning shot: one that would send FTX into a downward spiral, and reveal ...

Americans are used to being on the lookout for a scam, but authorities are warning of a new kind of fraud. Smoke Screen: Puppy Kingpin shines a spotlight on Jolyn Noethe, a secretive businesswoman from Iowa who is accused of laundering puppies much like drug money. Investigative reporter Alex Schuman exposes the scheme and an underground part of the industry bringing us the pets we love. Puppy Kingpin is part of The Binge - subscribe to listen to all episodes, all at once, ad-free right now. From serial killer nurses to psychic scammers – The Binge is your home for true crime stories that ...

From the Wildlife Justice Commission comes the original podcast series “Wildlife Kingpin”, following real-life investigations into the dark underbelly of wildlife crime. Season 1 - The Rise and Fall of Ah Nam, follows a team of investigators on the hunt for one of Asia’s biggest traffickers of elephant and rhino products. Season 1 was selected for the Beyond the Curve International Film Festival in 2024, where it was nominated for Best Podcast.Season 2 - Operation Dragon, sheds light on the investigation conducted by the Wildlife Justice Commission that brought to justice some of the ...

Bizarro is a must-listen tale of the unprecedented prosecution of Burton Ritchie and Ben Galecki, the Florida-based founders of a sprawling "spice" (synthetic cannabinoid) operation. With this book, journalist and former New York City narcotics prosecutor Jordan S. Rubin exposes a Reagan-era law called the Analogue Act, which targets dealers selling drugs that are "substantially similar" to controlled substances—an unwieldy law that produces erratic results in court.

As soon as I slid the contents from the envelope, I knew it was a bomb. So opens Justice Never Rests, the story of U.S. Attorney William Kolibash’s relentless fight against organized crime in the foothills of West Virginia and beyond. Not content with only the investigative and prosecutorial tools at his disposal, Kolibash sought new and different means to put away kingpins who’d successfully skirted the law.