We remember Jack the Ripper as a man who did the brutal work of a typical male serial killer, de-feminizing his victims by hacking up their bodies. But in this two-part series, let’s take a look at the women who circle around the Ripper legend. First up, the admittedly controversial and kinda odd theory that perhaps Jack the Ripper is the wrong nickname for the killer—perhaps, some writers insist, we should have been looking for a Jill all along! This episode features an interview with Jonathan Menges of Casebook.org and the Rippercast.

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Sources:

Interview with Jonathan Menges of Casebook.org and the Rippercast

Jack the Ripper by William Stewart

Jack the Ripper: The Hand of a Woman by John Morris

Letter to the Times (London), 18 Sept 1888, by Lord Sidney Godolphin Osborne

The Complete Jack The Ripper A-Z, by Paul Begg, Martin Fido, Keith Skinner

I Caught Crippen by Walter Dew

“Was Jack the Ripper a Woman?” Independent, 18 May 2006

Interview with Dr. Lawson Tait, Pall Mall Gazette, 21 September 1889

Music:

“Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.

“Jane The Ripper” by Cullah on Be Love Not Fear, under license (CC BY 4.0).

Victorian women were expected to be wives and mothers—not killers. Enter Adelaide Bartlett. In her middle-class Victorian world of green wallpaper, taxidermy, and submissive wifehood, the beautiful Adelaide was an enigma. Was she telling the truth about her husband’s weirdness? Was she really as good as she seemed? And most importantly: did she do it?

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The Trial of Adelaide Bartlett for Murder, Held at the Central Criminal Court from Monday, April 12, to Saturday, April 17, 1886

 “Adelaide Bartlett and the Pimlico mystery,” by M. Farrell, BMJ, Dec 24, 1994

“Science and Masculinity: The 1886 Pimlico Mystery Revisited,” by Holly Reynolds, University of Colorado

Murder Files from Scotland Yard and the Black Museum, by R. Michael Gordon

The A-Z of Victorian Crime, by Neil R. A. Bell, Trevor Bond, Kate Clarke, M.W. Oldridge

 “Syphilis – Its Early History and Treatment until Penicillin and the Debate on its Origins,” by John Frith, Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health, Vol 20 No 4

“George Dyson Alias John Bernard Walker,” by John A. Vickers, Methodist History, 41:1 (October 2002)

Hitchcock on Hitchcock, Volume 2: Selected Writings and Interviews

“The Heroine of the Hour,” The Pall Mall Budget: Being a Weekly Collection of Articles Printed in the Pall Mall Gazette from Day to Day, with a Summary of News, Volume 34, 1886

Music:

“Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.

“Silver Threads Among the Gold,” sung by John McCormack.

In 1930s New York, a single man ruled the entire city with extortion, racketeering, and a healthy dose of murder. Nobody could take him down—until a black girl from Atlanta decided to try her hand at it. It was the match of the century: the lawyer, Eunice Hunton Carter vs. the mobster, Lucky Luciano. Only one of them would walk out of that courtroom unscathed.

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Source:

Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster, by Stephen L. Carter 

Music:

“Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.

“Moonlight Ride Ft. Bluey Moon,” by Isaac Chambers, licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and used with permission.

Once upon a time, in 1930s Texas, a girl named Blanche fell desperately in love with a boy named Buck. She thought they had a shot at a good life together, but everything went off the rails one night when Buck’s brother and his brother’s girlfriend—Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker—showed up drunk at their door. Before long, Blanche was swept up in the on-the-run world of Bonnie and Clyde, terrified that their outlaw lifestyle would take her love away from her.

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Sources:

My Life With Bonnie and Clyde, by Blanche Caldwell Barrow

Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, by Jeff Guinn

Running with Bonnie and Clyde: The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults, by John Neal Phillips

Music:

“Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.

“Saguaro,” by Tone Ranger, licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and used with permission.

In 1960s Melbourne, a lot of very wealthy people found themselves wondering if there was more to life, and wouldn’t you know, a gorgeous yoga teacher was there to tell them: yes, yes there is. But this yoga teacher with her warm, appealing aphorisms would soon become a voracious cult leader with a penchant for pretending like she was the best mama in the world. This is the story of Anne Hamilton-Byrne, a woman who wanted to be an actress and a mother, but ended up playing God on a purple throne, ruining the life of every child she touched.

This episode features interviews with Chris Johnston and Rosie Jones, authors of The Family.

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Sources: 

The Family by Chris Johnston and Rosie Jones

interview with Chris Johnston and Rosie Jones, February 12, 2019

“Where Is This Woman?” The Age, 8 Sept 1990

“The Family and Its Use of Drugs,” The Age, 10 Sept 1990

“The Family Spreads Out,” The Age, 11 Sept 1990

World Religions and Spirituality (wrldrels.org)

“Inside the bizarre 1960s cult, The Family: LSD, yoga and UFOs,” The Guardian, 12 Feb 2017

Music:

 “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.

“Sirens ft. Shazieh,” by Rorschack, licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and used with permission.

At the end of the 1970s, body after dead body began appearing on the streets and sidewalks and parking lots of Miami. Many of those bodies were linked to the Colombian cocaine trade, which was in turn linked to one incredibly powerful woman with a love of gangster movies and a penchant for drive-by shootings. Meet Griselda Blanco: the Black Widow, La Madrina, the Godmother of Cocaine.

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Sources:

“The Godmother” by Richard Smitten, South Florida Sun Sentinel, 19 Feb 1989

“Michael Corleone Blanco Lives in the Shadow of his Cocaine-Queen Mother,” Miami New Times, 13 Oct 2011

“The Hunt For The ‘Cocaine Godmother,’” CBS Miami, 27 Sept 2012

United States of America, Appellee, v. Griselda Blanco, Defendant-appellant, 861 F.2d 773 (2d Cir. 1988)

“Secretaries Suspended Over Phone Sex,” AP News, 24 Feb 1998

“After 25 years in prison, Cocaine Cowboys hitman wants reduced sentence,” Miami Herald, 29 April 2013

“Griselda Blanco: Escaping The Electric Chair,” CBS4 Miami, 20 No 2012

“Asesinada de dos balazos en Colombia ‘La reina de la coca’, una leyenda del crimen,” El País, 4 Sept 2012

“Colombia’s ‘cocaine queen’ living in obscurity when she was shot dead,” El País, 13 Sept 2012

“’Godmother’ gunned down,” Leader-Telegram, 5 Sept 2012

“Pérez-Reverte's ‘La Reina del Sur’ or Female Aggression in ‘Narcocultura,’” Aldona Bialowas Pobutsky, Hispanic Journal Vol. 30 No. ½

“Female Drug Smugglers on the U-S.-Mexico Border: Gender, Crime, and Empowerment,” Howard Campbell, Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 81 No. 1

“Immigration Officials to Deport ‘Godmother,’” The Tampa Tribune, 7 June 2004

Cocaine Cowboys (documentary), 2006

Cocaine Cowboys 2 (documentary), 2008

Music:

“Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.

“Hijack the Magik ft. Nitty Scott,” by The Polish Ambassador, licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and used with permission.

At eight years old, Lois Gibson begged God to give her a job where she could draw faces. As a young woman, a man with an evil face burst through her door, leaving her broken, despairing, and consumed with the desire for justice.

At thirty-nine, she became a full-time forensic artist. At sixty-six, she made the Guinness Book of World Records. This is the story of Lois Gibson, the world’s most successful forensic artist.

Sources:

Faces of Evil: Kidnappers, Murderers, Rapists, and the Forensic Artist Who Puts Them Behind Bars, by Lois Gibson and Deanie Francis Mills

Interview with Lois Gibson, 1/9/2019

“Most criminals positively identified due to the composites of one artist,” guinnessworldrecords.com

“Forensic artist: N.C. man in famous kissing photo,” Rocky Mount Telegram, 5 Aug 2007

“Stormy Daniels sketch artist Lois Gibson holds world record for most successful identifications,” NY Daily News, 17 April 2018

Music:

“Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.

“Lynx - Picture (The Polish Ambassador Remix),” by The Polish Ambassador, licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and used with permission. 

Misc.:

Criminal Broads MERCH + Criminal Broads PATREON!

Beneath the soft green grass of the Last Supper cemetery, most regular, God-fearing residents of Mobile, Alabama had one family member resting. Maybe two. Rhonda Belle Martin had eight.

This is the story of a woman who the tabloids labeled a “redheaded hellcat,” whose urge to kill swept over her one day when her little daughter asked for a drink of water, and who was never able to explain why she gave her poisoned milk, instead.

Sources:

All coverage of Rhonda Belle Martin’s case (sometimes spelled “Rhonda Bell Martin”) from The Montgomery Adviser, March 1956-Oct 1957

“Check on ‘Other Husbands’ of Suspected Ala. Murderer,” The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana), 11 Mar 1956

“Open Graves For Clue To Six Deaths,” Nevada State Journal, 13 Mar 1956

“Redheaded Hellcat Admits Killing Six Kin With Arsenic,” Daily News, 14 Mar 1956

“Kin Claim Poisoner Kept Young Husband ‘Prisoner in Drink,’” Alabama Journal, 15 Mar 1956

“Poison Guard Urged on MDs,” Alabama Journal, 21 Apr 1956

“Early Trial Set for Mrs. Martin,” Alabama Journal, 19 May 1956

“Verdict of Death Rendered by Jury For Mrs. Martin,” Alabama Journal, 5 Jun 1956

“Mrs. Martin Sentenced To Die July 13 For Poison Murder,” Alabama Journal, 6 Jun 1956

Executed Women of 20th and 21st Centuries, by L. Kay Gillespie

Music:

“Guilty,” by Ruth Etting, via archive.org

“Gymnopédue no. 3” by Erik Satie, via musopen.org. (Musopen requires all users who upload music to the site to represent that the uploaded musical composition and/or the sound recording is in the public domain.)

Falicia Blakely was only 16 when she met the man who would change the course of her life. At first, Mike Berry was the perfect boyfriend—bringing her flowers, treating her little boy as his own son. But then came the brainwashing, the manipulation, and the fire. Before long, Falicia would find herself holding a phone and a pistol, with Mike on the other end of the call, urging her to shoot.

Sources:

Interview with Falicia Blakely (11/26/18)

“Learning to Hit a Lick” parts 1 and 11, by Mara Shaloup, Creative Loafing, March 2004

A Treacherous Hustle: Hitting a Lick for the Love of a Pimp, by Sereniti Hall

The Falicia Blakely Letters From Her Pimp by Sereniti Hall

“Videotaped statement admissible in slayings,” The Atlanta Constitution, 13 Sept 2003

“Death penalty sought in sex scam slayings,” The Atlanta Constitution, 18 Jan 2003

“Prostitute admits to 3 slayings, blames pimp,” The Atlanta Constitution, 17 Jan 2004

“Prostitute admits role in slayings,” The Atlanta Constitution, 10 June 2004

Music:

“Guilty,” by Ruth Etting, via archive.org

“Haunted House of the Rising Sun” by Kathleen Martin, licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

While many remember the 1978 Jonestown massacre as a dark monument to the power of a single man’s paranoia and fanaticism, the tale of Jim Jones’ lover, Carolyn Layton, reveals a more complicated narrative—and a more frightening truth. Carolyn was a bubbly young woman who believed in pacifism and political engagement, but when she met Jim Jones, she became an unsmiling woman would do anything for Jones’ cause—including death. Was this a personality change, or had Carolyn been a secret fanatic all along? Author Laura Elizabeth Woollett comes on the podcast to tell us Carolyn’s long-forgotten story, which she covers in her latest novel, Beautiful Revolutionary.

Sources:

Interview with Laura Elizabeth Woollett, author of Beautiful Revolutionary (Scribe Publications, 2018)

“The Jonestown Massacre,” from the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training

“Drinking the Kool-Aid: A Survivor Remembers Jim Jones,” The Atlantic, 18 Nov 2011

“Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple,” sponsored by the Special Collections of Library and Information Access at San Diego State University 

Music:

“Guilty,” by Ruth Etting, via archive.org

“Gnossiennes no. 1” by Erik Satie, via musopen.org

“Reverend (Jim Jones)” by Church of Misery, used with permission

Final clip of Carolyn Layton talking was released by the FBI via the Freedom of Information Act. You can hear the full audio here.