True Crime

Double Cross: The Book That Exposed Sam Giancana’s Role in U.S. History

Bill Thompson

In the 1950s and ‘60s one of the most powerful organized crime bosses in America was Chicago’s Sam Giancana.

His crime career began when he joined a youth gang, and soon became a hit man and getaway driver under Al Capone.

By th e’50s Giancana had established himself at the top. And he enjoyed the perks of wealth and notoriety, frequently seen with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe – and Joseph Kennedy.

It’s been widely reported that Kennedy came to Giancana to ask for his help in getting his son John F. Kennedy elected president in 1960.

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But after Kennedy won, his administration went hard after the mob, and Giancana took it personally.

Get your copy of Sam Giancana’s book

All this time Sam’s little brother Chuck never got into the crime business himself. In fact he distanced himself from it. As did his son, also named Sam.

And in 1992, Sam Giancana wrote a book about his Infamous uncle (with help from his father, Chuck). He called the book Double Cross, and it was a book that brought a startling new perspective to some of the most important historical events of the late 20th century.

I met Sam Giancana when he was on a book tour. So here now, from 1992, Sam Giancana.

Mobster Sam Giancana was killed at his home in 1975 at the age of 67. The murder remains unsolved.

Inside the Mind of Druglord George Jung

Bill Thompson
Photo by Nish242

It’s not every day that I would sit across the table from one of the world’s most notorious drug kingpins.

But one day in the summer of 1993 I did just that.

Sitting in my studio that day was a man named George Jung. He was there to discuss the book that had just been published about him, by journalist. Bruce Porter, called Blow.

Porter’s book was the basis for the 2001 movie blow starring Johnny Depp as George Jung.

So how does a small town kid from Massachusetts become a major drug lord? Jung’s answer is at once. Simple and terrifying.

So here now, from 1993, George Jung and author Bruce Porter.

Less than a year after hour interview, George Jung was arrested again, after being caught with over 1700 lb of cocaine. He was sentenced to prison, and served for nearly 20 years before his release in 2014. Jung died in 2021 at age 78.

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From Pilgrims to Escorts: The Rise and Fall of the Mayflower Madam

Bill Thompson

As public scandals go, this one might seem pretty benign, by today’s low bar. But in 1984, it was a big story when it was revealed that the authoirities had broken up a high-priced Manhattan escort service that was being run by a woman named Sydney Biddle Barrows.

Now, when a New York Post reporter uncovered the fact that the 32-year-old Barrows is from the Biddle family of Philadelphia, and is a direct descendant of some of the original Mayflower settlers, he dubbed her the “Mayflower Madam” — and the name stuck.

Within two years of her company being put out of business, Barrows wrote a bestselling autobiography, called, of course, “The Mayflower Madam.”

That’s when I first met her.

So here now, from 1986, Mayflower Madam Sydney Biddle Barrows:

Sydney Biddle Barrows is 73 now. She’s a management consultant and writer.

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Cathy Wilkerson

Bill Thompson
Photo by Thomas Good

The latter half of the 1960s was, to say the least, a turbulent time in America.

Anti war demonstrations were escalating, Civil rights and women’s rights movements were growing. As the government tried to control the chaos,it made many of its critics even more radical.

As the decade drew to a close violence and even bombings became It’s everyday occurrences .

One of those caught up in this maelstrom was the young Cathy Wilkerson. She joined the radical Weather Underground Organization sometimes known simply as Weatherman.

Wilkerson’s father owned a townhouse in New York’s Greenwich Village. She and other Weather underground members turned it into a bomb factory. On March 6, 1970, one of their bombs exploded in the basement, destroying the home and killing three people.

Wilkerson, and fellow Weatherman Kathy Boudin, escaped with their lives, and became fugitives from the FBI.

Wilkerson remained in hiding for a decade, before surrendering in 1980, and serving a few months in prison.

Ultimately she became a high school math teacher.

In 2007 she finally wrote her memoir, a book called Flying Close to The Sun. And that’s when I met her.

So here now, from 2007, Cathy Wilkerson.

Cathy Wilkerson is 78 now. She lives in New York.

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Pat Brown

Bill Thompson

Have you ever had an incident in your life that suddenly propelled you in a whole new direction?

That happened to Pat Brown. After a close personal run-in with a suspected criminal Brown embarkrf on a whole new career path, even though many people said she was too old, and would never fit into a man’s world .

Brown became a criminal profiler. And a very good one — you may have seen her on TV, on CNN, MSNBC, The Discovery Channel, and elsewhere .

I met her in 2010, when she wrote a book about her experience, called The Profiler. And what you’re about to learn, about Pat Brown and about profiling, you will find fascinating .

So here now, from 2010, Pat Brown.

Pat Brown is 67 now, and still profiling the bad guys.

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Laura Walker

Bill Thompson

How would it make you feel if you woke up one day and realized your father was a traitor to his country?

Unfortunately that was more than just a rhetorical question for Laura Walker, whose father, John Walker Jr., is considered one of the most notorious and dangerous spies in American history.

By the time he was caught in the mid-1980s John Walker Jr. had been spying for the Soviet Union for over 20 years, even bringing his son Michael into the “Walker family spy ring,” as it became known.

And he tried to recruit his daughter Laura into his spy ring as well, after she joined the military, but it was only after she tipped off authorities that her father and brother were caught.

In 1988 Laura Walker wrote a book about called Daughter of Deceit. That’s when I have a chance to meet her. So here now from 1988, Laura Walker.

John Walker was sentenced 36 years ago this week to life in prison. He died in prison in 2014 at age 77.

G. Gordon Liddy

Bill Thompson

A third-rate burglary” at Washington’s Watergate hotel and office complex in the summer of 1972 launched a scandal that ultimately brought down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon.

At the very center of that burglary, and ensuing Scandal, was G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent who headed the the infamous White House “Plumbers” unit.

After serving prison time for his role in Watergate, Liddy wrote a book called “Will,” which became a bestseller for years to come.

In 1991 Liddy updated his book, adding new information that had been revealed in a book by two journalists,Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin, called “Silent Coup.”

As you are about to hear, Libby discovered that the Scandal that he was at the center of was not what he thought it was.

So here now, from 1991, G. Gordon Liddy.

G. Gordon Liddy died last week. He was 90.

James Cameron

Bill Thompson

WARNING: What you’re abiyt ti gear is a true story, told by the suvivor of a violent and horrisying attack. You need to know that some of the descriptions are graphic, some of the words used are offensive.

James Cameron was born in 1914 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. When he was a child, his family moved to Marion, Indiana.

It was there, in the summer of 1930, that James Cameron survived a lynching attempt.

He was a suspect in a robbery-and-murder case in Marion, Indiana along with two older teenagers. Both of them were lynched, and died. Cameron was to be the third victim of the Ku Klux Klan-led mob.

They tied a noose around Cameron’s neck, and death appeared imminent. But just as he was about to be hanged, a mysterious female voice was heard, saying Cameron was innocent.

A star local football player then stepped up, removed the noose and saved Cameron.

He did do prison time, but lived to tell about it.

I met him in the spring of 1994, when he wrote a book about his near-lynching.

So here now, from 1994, James Cameron.

In later years, Cameron became a civil rights activist and founded three chapters of the NAACP in Indiana.

James Cameron died in 2006. He was 92.

Mildred Muhammad

Bill Thompson

For three weeks in October 2002, the Washington DC area was terrorized by a series of sniper attacks. Someone was randomly shooting and killing people throughout the district, and the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

Piecing together scant eyewitness Clues, police began searching for the gunman, and ultimately found, and arrested, 41 year old John Allen Muhammad and 17 year old Lee Boyd Malvo.

Both were eventually convicted, and John Allen Muhammad was sentenced to death.

In the fall of 2009, I met Muhammad’s wife, Mildred. Muhammad had planned to kill her, in a custody dispute over their children, and make her death appear to be one of the series of random sniper killings.

So here now, from 2009, Mildred Muhammad.

John Allen Muhammad was executed just a few weeks after my conversation with Mildred Muhammad. Lee Boyd Malvo is appealing his multiple life sentences without parole, but is likely to spend the rest of his life Behind Bars.

Mildred Muhammad continues to advocate for women in abusive situations.

Sydney Biddle Barrows

Bill Thompson

As public scandals go, this one might seem pretty benign, by today’s low bar. But in 1984, it was a big story when it was revealed that the authoirities had broken up a high-priced Manhattan escort service that was being run by a woman named Sydney Biddle Barrows.

Now, when a New York Post reporter uncovered the fact that the 32-year-old Barrows is from the Biddle family of Philadelphia, and is a direct descendant of some of the original Mayflower settlers, he dubbed her the “Mayflower Madam” — and the name stuck.

Within two years of her company being put out of business, Barrows wrote a bestselling autobiography, called, of course, “The Mayflower Madam.”

That’s when I first met her.

So here now, from 1986, Mayflower Madam Sydney Biddle Barrows:

Sydney Biddle Barrows is 68 now. She’s a management consultant and writer.