History remembers them as beautiful booze-hounds. Hollywood turned them into fame-hungry starlets. But who were these murderesses, really? With Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, author of UGLY PREY: An Innocent Woman and the Death Sentence That Scandalized Jazz Age Chicago, we dive into the stories of Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan, the most infamous lady killers of 1920s Chicago. What did the press get wrong about them? What do we get wrong about them today? WHY WERE THEIR JURIES SO UTTERLY MAD? And honestly, was the whole thing just a gin-soaked joke, or were real crimes committed?   Find Emilie on her website and Instagram. Buy her books here. And become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content! Sources: Interview withEmilie Le Beau Lucchesi, 6/14/19UGLY PREY: An Innocent Woman and the Death Sentence That Scandalized Jazz Age Chicago, by Emilie Le Beau LucchesiThe Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago, by Douglas PerryLady Killers, by Tori Telfer  Music: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer“Shake It and Break It” by Lanin's Southern Serenaders, licensed under a Public Domain / Sound Recording Common Law Protection License“One Night Alone With You” via archive.orgBrief clips played for educational purposes: “Cell Block Tango” from Chicago and “Hula Lou” by Danny Kaye

Criminal Broads

Episode 28: Making a Murderess: Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan (feat. Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi)

The story behind New York’s first-ever female detective! In 1896, Isabella Goodwin was a quiet, hard-working police matron who wrangled murderesses, made up the prison beds, and earned about half of what her male coworkers did. As far as she knew, she’d be a police matron forever…until one day, a gruff captain called her over to his desk and asked if she’d like to take a crack at going undercover.  (Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content!) Sources: The Fearless Mrs. Goodwin: How New York's First Female Police Detective Cracked the Crime of the Century, by Elizabeth Mitchell“Robbers Hold Up Bank Messengers in Taxi; Steal $25,000 and Escape in an Auto,” Brooklyn Times Union, 15 Feb 1912“The First Municipal Woman Detective in the World,” The New York Times, 3 March 1912“Mrs. Isabella Goodwin is a Sherlock Holmes in Skirts,” Daily Long Island Democrat, 26 March 1912“Who Mrs. Isabella Goodwin Really Is,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 April 1912“Bandits’ Sentences Pile High,” New-York Tribune, 13 April 1912“Woman Detective is Secret Bride,” The Standard Union, 28 Nov 1921“Overlooked No More: Isabella Goodwin, New York City’s First Female Police Detective,” New York Times, 13 March 2019Ticket Scalping: An American History, 1850–2005, by Kerry Segrave (p. 68)  Music: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.“Shake It and Break It” by Lanin's Southern Serenaders, licensed under a Public Domain / Sound Recording Common Law Protection License“La Traviata, Brindisi (Verdi)” by MIT Symphony Orchestra, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License

Episode 27: Crime-Fighting Broad 003: Isabella Goodwin, Detective

Juanita Spinelli ran a gang of embarrassingly awful Northern Californian crooks who could barely rob enough gas stations to stay afloat. And yet three years after forming her gang, she was walking toward the gas chamber, while citizens across the country clamored that it wasn’t right to execute a woman. (Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content! And here’s the slideshow of California’s death row inmates that I mention at the end of the episode…) Sources:All Juanita Spinelli coverage from The San Francisco Examiner, 1940-1941 “Murder Ring in State Broken,” Santa Maria Times, 16 April 1940“Robbery-Gang Killing Explained,” The Los Angeles Times, 17 April 1940“Woman Seized as Murder Ring Head,” Leader-Telegram, 17 April 1940“Gang is Indicted in Sacramento For Slaying of Youth,” Reno Gazette-Journal, 23 April 1940“Aided Slayers to Save Child,” Muncie Evening Press, 25 May 1940“'Duchess’ Gang Aid Admits Throwing Victim Into River,” Oakland Tribune, 27 May 1940“A Woman Condemned to Die,” Lincoln News Messenger, 13 Feb 1941“‘The Duchess’ to Die for Gang Slaying,” The Press Democrat, 19 June 1941“Murderess Snatched from Death’s Shadow,” The Press Democrat, 20 June 1941“Death Awaits Mrs. Spinelli,” The Los Angeles Times, 20 Nov 1941“‘The Duchess’ Dies in Gas Chamber,” The Roseville Press, 21 Nov 1941“Many Pleas Made For Duchess’ Life,” Oakland Tribune, 21 Nov 1941“‘Duchess’ Quiet in Execution,” Santa Cruz Evening News, 21 Nov 1941“Aides to ‘Duchess’ Executed; Laugh and Pray at Finish,” The Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov 1941“These Interesting People,” Oakland Tribune, 4 Nov 1946"Big Names from the Big House,” Santa Cruz Sentinel, 17 Dec 2000“The Death of a Duchess,” Daily News, 29 June 2003“Timeline: Capital Punishment in California,” Southern California Public Radio“California Death Penalty Suspended; 737 Inmates Get Stay of Execution,” New York Times, 12 March 2019“The most notorious inmates on California's death row,” SF Gate, 13 March 2019“These are the 737 inmates on California's death row,” LA Times, 13 March 2019 Music: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.“Me and the Blues,” sung by Mildred Bailey, from archive.org

Episode 26: The Duchess: Juanita Spinelli

In 1982, Kazuko Fukuda strangled her coworker, changed her name, and went on the run—for fifteen years. She was playing a game of chicken with the law, trying to stay free until the statute of limitations for her crime ran out. To do this, she had to go under the knife. (Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content!) Sources: Crime stats for Japan and the US: The Japanese Industrial System (De Gruyter Studies in Organization, 3rd Edition), Page 46, and “The U.S. Murder Rate Is Up But Still Far Below Its 1980 Peak,” FiveThirtyEight, 25 Sept 2017 “Staying Healthy in Japan: Jujin Hospital,” Tokyo Weekender,  20 May 1888“A Modest Proposal for Capturing Fugitives,” The Japan Times, Aug 07, 1997“Informant donates reward to charity,” The Japan Times, 24 Aug 1997“After 14 years on run, murder suspect arrested,” The Japan Times, 30 Jul 1997 “Japanese police scramble to catch up with criminals,” The Washington Post, Tokyo, 13 September 1997“Ex-fugitive admits killing,” The Japan Times, 28 Oct 1997“Life term for ex-fugitive upheld,” The Japan Times, 14 Dec 2000“The rules of hostessing,” Japan Today, 3 November 2009 “Japan: Statute of Limitations for Murder Abolished,” Global Legal Monitor, The Law Library of Congress, 21 May 2010 “Heisei flashback: Kazuko Fukuda, ‘The Woman of Seven Faces,’” Tokyo Reporter, 19 April 2019 Music: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.“Moon-kana – Tsuki Kinoko (Yaka-anima Slow Mix)” by Yaka-anima from Broken Doll (2018), used with permission from archive.org under license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International.

Episode 25: Woman of Seven Faces: Kazuko Fukuda

 Annie Chapman and her husband. The victims of Jack the Ripper, the most famous serial killer in the world, are known to us mostly by their autopsy photos. In the conclusion to our WOMEN OF JACK THE RIPPER series, historian Hallie Rubenhold comes on the podcast to illuminate the rough and tragically brief lives of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elisabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly—the canonical five. Hallie is the author of The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. (Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content!) Sources:Interview with Hallie RubenholdThe Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, by Hallie RubenholdDescriptions of the victims’ injuries are available in detail on casebook.org/victims/Music:“Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.“Funeral March in C minor, Op. posth. 72 no. 2” by Frederick Chopin, used with permission from musopen.org.

Episode 24: The Women of Jack the Ripper, Part 2: THE VICTIMS

The victims of Jack the Ripper, the most famous serial killer in the world, are known to us mostly by their autopsy photos. On the conclusion to our WOMEN OF JACK THE RIPPER series, historian Hallie Rubenhold comes on the podcast to illuminate the rough and tragically brief lives of Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elisabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly—the canonical five. Hallie is the author of The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper.  (Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content!) Sources: Interview with Hallie RubenholdThe Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, by Hallie RubenholdDescriptions of the victims’ injuries are available in detail on casebook.org/victims/ Music: “Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.“Funeral March in C minor, Op. posth. 72 no. 2” by Frederick Chopin, used with permission from musopen.org.

 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.(Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content!) Sources:Interview with Jonathan Menges of Casebook.org and the RippercastJack the Ripper by William StewartJack the Ripper: The Hand of a Woman by John MorrisLetter to the Times (London), 18 Sept 1888, by Lord Sidney Godolphin OsborneThe Complete Jack The Ripper A-Z, by Paul Begg, Martin Fido, Keith SkinnerI Caught Crippen by Walter Dew“Was Jack the Ripper a Woman?” Independent, 18 May 2006Interview with Dr. Lawson Tait, Pall Mall Gazette, 21 September 1889Music:“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). 

Episode 23: The Women of Jack the Ripper, Part 1: JILL

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.

 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?(Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content!) 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 ColoradoMurder Files from Scotland Yard and the Black Museum, by R. Michael GordonThe 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, 1886Music:“Guilty” by Richard A. Whiting, Harry Akst, and Gus Kahn, sung by Anna Telfer.“Silver Threads Among the Gold,” sung by John McCormack.

Episode 22: Dark Angel in the House: Adelaide Bartlett

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? (Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content!)

 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. (Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content!) 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.

Episode 21: Crime-Fighting Broad 002: Eunice Hunton Carter, Lawyer

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.

 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.(Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content!) Sources:My Life With Bonnie and Clyde, by Blanche Caldwell BarrowGo Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde, by Jeff GuinnRunning with Bonnie and Clyde: The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults, by John Neal PhillipsMusic:“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.

Episode 20: Lonely Baby: Blanche Barrow

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.

 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.(Become a Patreon supporter for rewards and bonus content! And buy tickets to the true crime dinner party I was talking about here!) Sources: The Family by Chris Johnston and Rosie Jonesinterview 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 1990World Religions and Spirituality (wrldrels.org)“Inside the bizarre 1960s cult, The Family: LSD, yoga and UFOs,” The Guardian, 12 Feb 2017Music: “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.

Episode 19: Mama: Anne Hamilton-Byrne

Criminal Broads is a true crime + history podcast about wild women who’ve ended up on the wrong side of the law, whether for leading a cult, serially murdering their husbands, swindling billionaires, or faking ectoplasm. The podcast is hosted by Tori Telfer, author of “Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History.”

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Criminal Broads

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