Did you know that there was a southern gang that acted as the muscle for the Ku Klux Klan in the Jim Crow South? Enter... the Dixie Mafia, including members Jerry Ray James and Donald Eugene Sparks.

Sources (some are old-timey and don’t have bylines):

• Hobbs Daily News-Sun (Hobbs, New Mexico): “Two Former Hobbsans on FBI’s List”
• The Daily Standard (Sikeston, Missouri): “Jerry Ray James, Gang Leader, Joins FBI List”
• Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Texas): “Abilenian on FBI’s Top 10 List Nabbed” 
• Texarkana Gazette: “Dixie Mafia” by Russell McDermott
• Crime Reads: “The Dixie Mafia’s Plot to Kill Martin Luther King Jr.” by Stuart Wexler and Larry Hancock
• Truthout: “The Targeting of Martin Luther King Jr.” by Stuart Wexler and Larry Hancock (excerpt from their book called The Awful Grace of God)
• Southern Livestock: “Texas Trails” by Clay Coppedge
• Austin American-Statesmen: “After snitching, ex-Austin gangster collected reward money, vanished” by Eric Dexheimer
• Crime Capsule: “Cracking Safes with the Austin Mafia” by Crime Capsule staff
• United States v. Jerry Ray James et al
• Jerry Ray James et al v. State of Texas
• Wikipedia

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When confronted about the overdue rent that he owed, Thayne Alan Smika took being a bad roommate to a whole new level.

Sources:

• 9News Denver: “39 years later, FBI searching for Boulder murder suspect” by Matt Jablow
• Investigation Discovery: “Thayne Smika Has Been on the Run Since 1983 When He May Have Murdered His Roommate” by Michelle Sigona
• CNN: “‘The Hunt’: Thayne Smika” by CNN Staff
• Denver Post: “Recent Grand Juries” by Mary George
• Daily Camera: “Search for Thayne Smika, suspect in Boulder murder of Sid Wells, to be featured on ‘In Pursuit with John Walsh’” by Belle Armstrong
• Affidavit for Arrest Warrant for Thayne Alan Smika by Boulder Police Department Deputy Chief David Hayes
• On the Hunt with John Walsh, Season 1 Episode 5: “Point Blank Murder”
• FBI Most Wanted Murderers: Thayne Alan Smika

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Ernest Tait was a robber at his very core... even if he wasn't very good at getting away with it. He's one of the few criminal dudes in history who made the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives list twice in his lifetime! More horrifyingly, though, he was a really really bad friend.

Sources (most are old-timey and don’t have bylines):

• Nashville Banner: “Ernest Tait Joins Rank of ‘Ten Most Wanted” by James Lee
• The Daily Reporter (Greenville, Indiana): “Schricker Files Extradition Papers for Tait’s Return”
• Park City Daily News (Bowling Green, Kentucky): “Ernest Tait, On FBI’s ‘Most Wanted’ List, is Arrested”
• The Circleville Herald (Circleville, Ohio): “Fugitives from the FBI: Ernest Tait”
• The Republic (Columbus, Indiana): “Hoosier Slayers Captured by FBI”
• Rushville Republican (Rushville, Indiana): “Burglar, Shot by New Castle Police in 1951, Put on FBI’s Wanted List”
• Terre Haute Star (Terre Haute, Indiana): “FBI ‘Most Wanted’ Tait Under Arrest”
• Grunge: “The Craziest Crimes that Landed People on the Most Wanted List” by Andy L. Kubai
• Ernest Tait v. State of Indiana

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David James Roberts was just an everyday career criminal/dirtbag until a brand new TV show solidified his place in history as the first person featured on America's Most Wanted. He went on to also be the show's first capture!

Sources:

• New York Post: “How This Staten Island man became America’s Most Wanted’s first capture” by Dean Balsamini
• United Press International: “Feds seek shelter director believed to be escaped killer” by William K. Rashbaum
• New York Times: “Double Life of a Murderer Shocks Staten Island” by Stacey Okun
• Associated Press: “Most-Wanted Convicted Murderer Caught on Staten Island”
• America’s Most Wanted Wiki: “David James Roberts”
• Murderpedia: “David James Roberts”
• Roberts v. State of Indiana
• The Johnson County Murders by John R. Berger

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We're doing something a little different this week and we're giving you an ad free bonus episode! There are two new people on the FBI Most Wanted List!

Amanda and Lauren travel back in time to the Old West to discuss some famous - or infamous - horse thieves. Old fashioned crime is afoot!

Sources:

• Legends of America: “Dutch Henry Borne - Biggest Horse Thief in the American West” by Kathy Weiser
• True West: “The Notorious Dutch Henry” by Marshall Trimble
• True West: “Flora Quick, aka Tom King” by Marshall Trimble
• Texas State Historical Association: “Born, Henry (1849-1921)” by H. Allen Anderson
• Cowgirl Magazine: “Wild Women of the West: Flora Mundis” by Chris Enss
• Great Falls Tribune: “The Tragic end of Long George Francis” by Ellen Baumler
• Havre Daily News: “Celebrating History: Long George Francis” by Emily Mayer
• Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame: “2008 Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame Inductee 1860-1920 Legacy Award District 4: “Long George” Francis (1874-1920)” 
• Wanted!: Wanted Posters of the Old West and Stories Behind the Crimes by Barbara Fifer and Martin Kidston

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Amanda and Lauren are joined by a special guest this week - their dad, Keith! The three of them go through the story of Yaser Abdel Said, a real control freak who did so many gross things that the content warnings include basically... everything. He made the FBI's Most Wanted list, America's Most Wanted, the Interpol Most Wanted list, and was one of John Walsh's Dirty Dozen. This one is a doozy. Take care of yourselves, everyone.

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
RAINN: www.rainn.org
Am I Abused? 

Sources:

• Oxygen: “Texas Dad Yaser Said Found Guilty of Teen Daughters’ 2008 ‘Honor Killing’ Murders” by Jax Miller
• Oxygen: “Father Denies Killing Two Teen Daughters in ‘Honor Killing,’ Says Someone Had Been Following Them the Night They Died” by Jax Miller
• Oxygen: “‘She Knew She Was Going to Die:’ Testimony Offered In ‘Honor Killings’ Capital Murder Trial” by Jax Miller
• CNN: “Man convicted in 2008 murders of his daughters sentenced to life in prison without parole” by Rebekah Riess
• SKPop: “5 chilling details about Amina and Sarah Said’s murders” by Nikita Mahato
• The Dallas Observer: “American Girls: The Story of Amina and Sarah Said” by Glenna Whitley
• On the Hunt with John Walsh, Season 2 Episode 1: “Crimes of the Father,” also known as “Sisters in Death”
• Wikipedia

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This episode (also) has everything! Prison escape! Actual aliases! Love on a boat! More underground things! Drug running! Narcissism! There's so much going on here! In this second (longer) episode of our two-parter, we hear the origin stories of Ruth Eisemann-Schier and Gary Steven Krist, how they managed to pull off the wild kidnapping of Barbara Mackle, and what their lives were like afterward.

Sources:

• 83 Hours Till Dawn by Gene Miller and Barbara Mackle
• Corrections 1: “Notorious Georgia kidnapper out of prison again” by Arielle Kass
• United Press International: “Mackle kidnapper says he is now a ‘good guy.’” (from the archives, no byline)
• ABC News: “Man Who Buried Girl Alive Becomes Doctor” (no byline)
• Coastal Breeze News: “The Daring Kidnapping of Barbara Mackle” - 3 part series by Craig Woodward
• TrueTV.com: “Gary Krist: The Einstein of Crime” by David Krajicek
• Let’s Go to Court Podcast, Episode 127: “Patreon Bonus Episode: The Candyman & Buried Alive”
• Our True Crime Podcast, Episode 35: “Buried Alive: The Kidnapping of Barbara Mackle”
• The Darker Side of Life Podcast: “The Kidnapping of Barbara Mackle”
• Krist v. State of Georgia
• Murderpedia entry for Gary Steven Krist
• Wikipedia

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During finals week in December 1968, an affluent college student with the flu was kidnapped and buried alive. In the first episode of a two-parter, this is the story of the kidnapping of Barbara Mackle.

Sources:

• 83 Hours Till Dawn by Gene Miller and Barbara Mackle
• Corrections 1: “Notorious Georgia kidnapper out of prison again” by Arielle Kass
• United Press International: “Mackle kidnapper says he is now a ‘good guy.’” (from the archives, no byline)
• ABC News: “Man Who Buried Girl Alive Becomes Doctor” (no byline)
• Coastal Breeze News: “The Daring Kidnapping of Barbara Mackle” - 3 part series by Craig Woodward
• TrueTV.com: “Gary Krist: The Einstein of Crime” by David Krajicek
• Let’s Go to Court Podcast, Episode 127: “Patreon Bonus Episode: The Candyman & Buried Alive”
• Our True Crime Podcast, Episode 35: “Buried Alive: The Kidnapping of Barbara Mackle”
• The Darker Side of Life Podcast: “The Kidnapping of Barbara Mackle”
• Krist v. State of Georgia
• Murderpedia entry for Gary Steven Krist
• Wikipedia

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This episode has everything! Murder! Prison break! Air piracy! Misplaced male confidence! Nearly naked federal agents! What started out as a night of "harmless" armed robberies ended in a murder. That night kicked off George Edward Wright's life of crime, which culminated in some light... terrorism?

Sources:

• FBI Website: Wanted poster for George Edward Wright
• NPR: “Fugitive George Wright Captured in Portugal” by Joel Rose
• New York Times: “Deadline Past, Portugal Says It Won’t Send Killer to US” by James Barron
• New York Times: “New Jersey Fugitive is Caught in Portugal after 41 Years” by Elizabeth A. Harris
• The Guardian: “George Wright: the one that got away” by Michael Finkel
• 48 Hours, Season 25, Episode 9: “The Hunt for Mr. Wright”

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