Ridiculous Crime
Channel Details
Ridiculous Crime
True Crime is more than blood, guts, mayhem, and murder. Zaron Burnett and Elizabeth Dutton share outlandish tales of capers, heists, and cons that shine a light on the absurd and outrageous side of criminality. Always 99% murder-free and 100% ridiculous, this is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast by iHear...
Recent Episodes
475 episodes
Shonk This Way: The 1935 Croydon Aerodrome Robbery
Once upon a time, some British hard men decided to steal some gold. They went out to an airport, worked their way into a bullion room, and lifted the...
The Good Bootlegger: Roy Olmstead
Using the nooks and crannies of Puget Sound as cover, Roy Olmstead ran a massive bootlegging empire during Prohibition. He was nonviolent, creative, a...
You Get an "A" For Effort: Beautiful Plans, Become Ridiculous Crimes
Often times the crimers on this show come up with audacious plans for their capers, heists and cons. But far too often they forget the other half of t...
Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect: LEGO theft
LEGO sets. Everybody loves them, crimers love to steal them. They're light, valuable, in demand, and untraceable. Perfect for illicit maneuvers! There...
Sebastian Marset: the Cocaine Kingpin and Professional Footballer
When he was a kid in Uruguay, playing football in the streets he always dreamed that one day he would grow up to be a professional soccer star. Instea...
Strong Like Iron: Sophie Lyons
Sophie Lyons was an iconic criminal. From shoplifting to pickpocketing to scams to bank robbery, she could do it all. She knew what it was to break th...
I'm Gonna Steal Your Bird: the Strange World of Pigeon Theft
Have you ever wanted to race a pigeon? No? Well, have you ever wanted to steal a pigeon? Still, no? Well, that doesn't matter! You'll still have your...
The Likker King of Appalachia: Popcorn Sutton
To borrow from the late, great Waylon Jennings, Popcorn Sutton was just'a good ol' boy, never meanin' no harm. A modern day moonshiner, he was pretty...
The Billion Dollar 1MDB Heist: Jho Low Meets Leo and Marty
Jho Low was a well-connected money man for the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, created to foster green energy investment and better jobs for the people of...
![The White Death [from Very Special Episodes]](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/779e6b89-adae-4e2b-99de-b464012f46e7/image.jpg?t=1781050173&size=Large)
The White Death [from Very Special Episodes]
In the winter of 1939, Finland faced overwhelming odds. The Soviet Union was invading with hundreds of thousands of troops. Standing in their way was...
The Moment You've Been Waiting For: 2025 Louvre Museum Heist
Hot diggity dog, we love a good heist. And an art heist? Get outta here! And in the Louvre Museum? In Paris? Pinch us because we've got to be dreaming...
Julie D'Aubigny: the Opera-Singing, Sword-Swinging, Gender-Bending Badass of 17th Century France
Julie D'Aubigny was truly a rare one. She could sword fight with the best of them. She could sing opera like a song bird. She wore men's clothing, she...
Where Everybody Knows Your Name: Charles Ponzi
It's the American Dream to reach these golden shores, work hard, make your fortune, and see your name go down in history. Charles Ponzi did all that,...
True Crime by A True Crimer: Mary Carole McDonnell, the Fake Aerospace Heiress
She made a name for herself in the world of True Crime TV. But it was not a good name. Mary Carole McDonnell was known to run a fly-by-night TV produc...
I Was Just the Weed Guy: George Martorano
Born into a mob family, "Cowboy" George Martorano was pretty much destined to run afoul of the law. A non-violent guy in a roiling sea of brutality, h...
The Last True Outlaw of the Lonesome West: Roddy Dean Pippin
He always wanted to be a cowboy, ever since he first read about 'em in Louis L'Amour novels and watched them in John Wayne westerns. The only trouble...
Thus Spoke the Lady Bandit: Pearl Hart
A woman with a muddled biography and a life of clever and not so clever endeavors, Pearl Hart was dubbed by the press as the Girl Bandit, the Last Sta...
A Bit of a Sticky Wicket: the Crimes of Allen Stanford
He was the man at the heart of a Texas-sized Ponzi scheme that amassed billions in fraudulent profits via offshore banking. Despite his huge donations...
![Dock Ellis: High and Outside [from Very Special Episodes]](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/45c9c950-ffbe-4230-a017-b448011881a5/image.jpg?t=1778622518&size=Large)
Dock Ellis: High and Outside [from Very Special Episodes]
In June 1970, Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates somehow tossed a no-hitter while tripping on acid. The LSD stunt made him a legend, but it overshad...
Too Mean to Swab Hell's Kitchen: The Battle Row Ladies' Social and Athletic Club
When you find yourself in a real pickle, a tight spot, a dangerous proposition in 1800s Hell's Kitchen, just ask yourself: what would Stumpy Malarkey...
The Great Chinese Lottery Heist
Ren Xiaofeng thought he had a good life –– married, blessed with two twins, a good job at a bank. But it wasn't enough. He needed more. So he came up...
You Dirty Fish-peddlin' Bums: Celia Cooney, the Bobbed Hair Bandit
When a young feisty gal with nothing to lose met a young tough fella with nothing to lose, the only thing they could possibly lose was the spark betwe...
Competition Crimes II: A Slight Return
Wherever you find people competing for a prize, if the number of them grows large enough, eventually, you will have cheaters. In the niche worlds of c...
Practice Should Have Made Perfect: The Great Brink's Robbery
This heist team was more meticulous than most. They planned, they schemed, they made years of dry runs and observations. And the plan went off without...
Fakers, Fraudsters and Phonies: Everything's A Lie Now!
In this round-up of recent tales of fakers, fraudsters, and phonies, Zaron shares with Elizabeth a smorgasbord of stories of fake bears, phony medical...
I Got the Need, the Need for Weed: Randy Lanier
Randy Lanier started as a construction site weed dealer and over the years graduated to major drug smuggler, bringing hundreds of tons of grass into t...
The Rise and Fall and Rise of John McAvoy
He was a man born into crime. He came from a family of British hard men. Movies were made about the men of his family. He was also enraptured by the c...
Lawyer in the Streets, Crimer in the Spreadsheets: Marc Dreier
It takes money to make money. And sometimes, you take someone else's money to make your money. You know how that goes. Marc Dreier was a flashy lawyer...
My Presciption? You Caught Gold Fever
Sometimes you fight the law and the law wins, but other times... luck is on your side and you win. That's the story here today. A pair of treasure hun...
Early Riot Grrrl: Mary Carleton
London in the late 1600s was a little chaotic. So it only makes sense that an agent of chaos like Mary Carleton would become famous for her crimes. Cr...
Let's Get Medieval: Holy Relics Theft
Whether we're talking the hand of Mary Magdalene, the Skull of St. Foy, the Bones of St. Mark, in the Dark Ages holy relics were ripe for the taking....
![Richard Nixon and the Magic Suitcase [from Very Special Episodes]](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/7be5c8ce-6393-4aa8-bc14-b41e01696266/image.jpg?t=1774994514&size=Large)
Richard Nixon and the Magic Suitcase [from Very Special Episodes]
In honor of April Fools' Day this week, Zaron Burnett dug into a persistent legend surrounding Richard Nixon. With a little help from his pops, Zaron...
High Daddies, Hot Tents, and Suckers: Circus Crimes
Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! Step right up! Witness the amazing circus con, promising a menagerie that will never appear! Be amazed by...
All The Coal Kids Are Doing It: Larry Wayne Price Jr.
He worked his way into the executive level of the coal industry. Where he was let in on a dirty little secret. Crime was rampant in the coal industry....
Vibe Criming: John Ernst Worrell Keely
John Ernst Worrell Keely was a blue collar scientist, a visionary, a meticulous con man. He spent time and talent rigging an elaborate fraud workshop...
Why It's Now Illegal to Give Dolphins Acid (For Science)
This is the story of two scientists who pushed the envelope of both good taste and morality as they experimented with dolphins. The idea was simple. G...
![Zero Gravity: The Zambian Space Program [from Very Special Episodes]](https://www.omnycontent.com/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a9f8aaf1-b12b-40b8-85aa-b08f0126e2b6/baa8d437-551f-4758-bd5e-b40c0167e346/image.jpg?t=1773800974&size=Large)
Zero Gravity: The Zambian Space Program [from Very Special Episodes]
In the 1960s, a newly independent Zambia entered the space race with a bold — and baffling — plan. Led by self-declared “Minister of Space” Edward Nko...
Lady Marm-alade: Fredericka Mandelbaum
Fredericka Mandelbaum (Marm or Ma, if you're nasty) was the powerful ruler of a criminal empire. Based on pickpocketing, theft, bank robbery, and forg...
How To Free Your Man With a Helicopter: Nadine Vaujour
Single mom Nadine Vaujour was something of a romantic. Which helps explain why it pained her heart so to be separated from her lover. It also helps ex...
Playin' Possum: Crimes around George Jones
Country star George Jones was a real character, to be certain, often on the edge of the law. But the most ridiculous crimes were the ones that surroun...