Amazon Sneakers · Gubu · Jeffrey Dean Morgan
This might be our biggest monthly budget sweep ever
the true crime that's worth your time
After today, we only have one more monthly budget sweep in 2022. This notion both thrills and terrifies me, as I cannot believe the year is almost over yet desperately want it to be. It’s safe to say, though, that true crime does not take a holiday — in fact, it feels like we had more stuff to potentially cover this month than we’ve had in a long time. To ensure this email doesn’t tank in your inbox (don’t know about you, but I’m usually too lazy to click that “this email has been truncated” link) this will be an extremely bullet-y list, one to save and/or savor any time you want a true-crime hit. Let’s get into it! — EB
How My Commute Made Me a Better Crime Writer [CrimeReads]
I’ve no patience with those “get back to the office” arguments but crime novelist Claire Kells reminds us that working from home does indeed deny us the time to contemplate stuff like true crime podcasts. (Still, I’d rather have less podcast time and work from the couch, YMMV.)
Here’s the full video:
I’m already wondering what contemporary police backed content we’ll be aghast at a few decades from now. Any nominations?
Exclusive: Anna Delvey Talks Wearing Amazon Sneakers in Prison, Walking in BCBG Heels After Release & Making Money Selling Art [Footwear News]
Ohhh “exclusive,” you say? Pulitzer tk! “You don’t really forget how to walk in heels,” Delvey tells the shoe pub, but my post-lockdown ass disagrees. This whole article is a total jaw-dropper and it’s free to read, here’s a teensy taste:
“It makes such a difference, the tailoring,” Delvey says of altering her baggy, straight-fitting [prison] uniforms. “I would put the pants [on] inside out, and I would just see how much is outstanding. I would just draw the line, and I would take it off and sew it. Sometimes it would look so great, but I would not be able to get my ankle through the pant.”
Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin Spills About Her Next Act—Dinner Parties on House Arrest [Bon Appetit]
It’s another “exclusive interview,” so I’m mentally writing a blog post on the meaninglessness of “exclusive” in journo-speak. Also, everyone is taking the same photos of Delvey, Nan Goldin-esque harshly lit photos of Delvey in some apartment with what looks suspiciously like the vinyl flooring so popular on Midwestern house flipping shows.
Anyway, the plan is “to host a special dinner series—with catering from fine-dining restaurants, a celebrity guest list, and some kind of charitable component centered around immigration and prison reform.” Ali Francis writes about this with the kind of cocked brow that Footwear News could reaaaaally learn from. Delvey says she’d “love for the dinners to be focused on what ingredients are in season now, and maybe a little bit farm-to-table, locally-sourced,” so basically, she’s every restauranteur in 2013. Hoo boy.
The Landlord & the Tenant [ProPublica]
This is a gut punch of a story from Raquel Rutledge and Ken Armstrong, about a criminally bad landlord and the human cost of his shittiness (thanks to BE reader Brittanie Shey for drawing it to our attention). The frustrating thing is, this tale of property-management neglect isn’t special or unique — and with the boom in people like the landlord in this story snapping up long-neglected homes and quickly flipping them into short-term rentals, it’s just a matter of time until platforms like Airbnb face criminal allegations, too.
He wiped out his entire family — and changed California criminal law forever [SF Gate]
I’d never heard of Adolph Weber or his landmark 1904 family annihilation, but Katie Dowd does a nice job of aggregating the history the case — albeit without citing any sources. There’s plenty more online, but one has to wonder why none of the histories out there got even the slightest hat tip.
Israeli woman says ‘Tinder Swindler’ fooled her, even after she watched documentary [Times of Israel]
25-year-old Iren Tranov watched the Netflix doc, was contacted by Shimon Hayut, and believed him when he said that all the coverage about him was a lie. And when he asked her for money she gladly gave it, handing over $130,000 in the process. I seriously don’t get how this guy keeps getting away with this stuff. Does he emit some magical pheromone or something?
A+E Networks commissions Cops Who Kill [Advanced Television]
“For launch on the second anniversary of the abduction and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer, a brand-new series, Cops Who Kill, will lift the lid on eight cases of murder and betrayal by police officers in Britain and around the world,” reads the opening graf, dashing my hopes that an American network would actually have the gumption to do a show like this. Still, it’s not about homicides committed while on the job, but it’s a start. Expect it on UK network Crime+Investigation in early March 2023.
Les Moonves’ Compromised Cop: Hollywood Ties, Complicated Past [The Hollywood Reporter]
This is the cop Leah Remini was tweeting about; y’all had differing opinions on his interest in covering up any Scientology shenanigans, but his efforts to cover up the sexual assault allegations against the head of CBS seem pretty credible. This is a meaty and in-depth look at LAPD Captain Cory Palka from Gary Baum and Katie Kilkenny that suggests fame is a hell of a drug.
“Dateline NBC” Launches Keith Morrison’s All-New True-Crime Podcast, “Murder & Magnolias” [NBC]
First, stop hyphenating “true crime,” it’s weird. [“Can’t stop won’t stop (also I do this to you dozens of times weekly)” — SDB] Morrison’s new podcast dropped on 11/15, it’s about “how a betrayal and murderous intent shattered a picture-perfect Charleston, South Carolina family.” I haven’t listened, have you?
Kevin Spacey Has Been Charged With 7 More Sex Offenses in the UK [Vanity Fair]
London’s Metropolitan Police says Spacey has been accused of “multiple sexual assaults against one man between 2001 and 2004,” this is in addition to another criminal case against him set for June of next year. Of course, all I can wonder is if he’ll do one of his ill-advised and oddly defiant Christmas Eve messages again this year.
Jury orders Oscar-winner Paul Haggis to pay additional $2.5m in rape lawsuit [The Guardian]
This is in addition to the $7.5m in compensatory damages a jury ordered Haggis to pay accuser Haleigh Breest the week prior. “I’ve spent all the money I have at my disposal. I’ve gutted my pension plan, I’ve lived on loans, in order to pay for this case in a very naive belief in justice,” Haggis said following the verdict.
‘Era-defining scandal’: Ireland revisits ‘Gubu’ murders 40 years on [The Guardian]
Neither Sarah nor I were familiar with the Malcolm MacArthur killings when BE contrib Margaret Howie sent over this link, but there are apparently two popular podcasts devoted to the “Grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented” (hence “GUBU”) story of “a socialite with a yen for bow ties and cravats” who “bludgeoned a young woman to death, killed a farmer with his own shotgun and attempted to rob a retired US diplomat, sparking a huge manhunt.”
Margaret asked who we’d cast as MacArthur, and none of our ideas felt completely right — yours are welcomed in the comments.
The Disturbing Rise Of Amateur Predator-hunting Stings [New Yorker]
We’ve talked a lot here about these YouTube vigilantes, which might be why I couldn’t get it up to write about Rachel Monroe’s blistering piece. There’s a really insightful quote here about these videos (and their more professional ilk) that I think completely explains why we’re seeing this boom: “It’s not priests or rabbis or other authority figures who pose a threat to children, it’s this devious stranger.”
In the same way we’re more likely to be killed by someone we know but the headlines are consumed with random acts of violence, seeing the predator as someone remote and online might be what allows folks to sleep at night.
The First 48 Season 24 Premiere Signals a New Era for the Show [CBR]
The venerable true-crime show has a new and seemingly uneven format, prompting Brittany Frederick to write, “It's clear the production wants to try new things, but it has to be careful when those new things challenge the aspects viewers know and love.”
‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Sophie Turner Lands Lead Role In True-Crime Drama ‘Joan’ For ITVX [Deadline]
The sic episode series is about Joan Hannington, who described herself as “Britain's Most Notorious Jewel Thief” in her 2004 memoir (Sarah, do you have it in stock? [“not unless she pulled a heist in Ohio; sorry! I’ll keep an eye out” — SDB]). In fact, the series is based on that book, and will start filming next spring.
Ravi Patel Boards ‘Kiss of the Con Queen’ True Crime Thriller [The Hollywood Reporter]
Documentary fans might recall Patel from Meet the Patels, a 2014 film on his experiences with Indian matchmaking — now he’s set to take on the title role in a film based on writer Eoin O’Brien’s personal experiences with food blogger Hargobind Tahilramani, aka the Hollywood Con Queen made famous in the podcast of the same name. Filming kicks off in Bangkok next month; a release date is still unknown.
Serial Killer’s Sinister Clown Painting Fetches Over $12K at Auction [Hyperallergic]
“On October 31, Material Culture, an auction house in Philadelphia, sold the self-referential painting “Pogo the Clown” (1985), which it claims is a Gacy original, for $12,800 in its spooky-themed “Dark Shadows” sale. (The buyer’s name has not been disclosed.)” What follows is the alleged provenance of the art, which first sold for $50 in 1985.
Guy Pearce, Jeffrey Dean Morgan to Headline The Exchange’s Crime Thriller ‘Neponset Circle’ [Variety]
This one goes out to Best Evidence loyalist sinnerforhire, as JDM first came to many of our consciousnesses as John Winchester on Supernatural. John Chase is writing and Pauline Chan will direct the movie, which is billed as a “dark and gritty crime thriller based on a real-life murder that shook the Boston area and remains unsolved to this day.” Even sites like Comicbook.com can’t figure out what crime the movies is based on, correctly noting that while Whitey Bulger is the obvious choice, the logline doesn’t fit. Any ideas?
Wednesday on Best Evidence: A little chat about giving.
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