Paperless

The Beanie Baby Heist of '97


Listen Later

It's Chicago in the summer of '97, and criminal defense attorney Kathleen Zellner (of Making a Murderer fame) is feeling worn out. After once defending a serial killer, she promised herself never to defend a guilty person again, and has devoted her life to exonerating the innocent. But after years of gruesome murder trials, she needs a holiday. When a lemon-yellow stretch Cadillac bounces into her parking lot, and out hops a five-foot-tall, 77-year-old man named Ben Perri, that holiday arrives. Ben has been accused of a bizarre crime: the theft of hundreds of ultra-rare Beanie Babies from the manufacturer's secret warehouse. With Beanie Baby mania in full swing, the toys are fetching stratospheric prices, and Ben will gladly hook you up with an elusive Digger the Crab or Radar the Bat. The press calls him the Beanie Baby Bandit, but he swears he's innocent. As this jovial grandfather and veteran charms Kathleen and her team, his carefree way of life gives her a new outlook on the difficult job she's chosen. But still, she can't quite answer whether he's guilty, and whether she's broken her promise to herself. Is Ben just an innocent lover of toys, or is he really the Beanie Baby Bandit?


JOURNALIST: SERENA COADY

EDITING: THOMAS CURRY

SOUND-DESIGN & AUDIO MIX: ALICE BOYD

VOICE: JILL WINTERNITZ

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

PaperlessBy Vespucci

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

10 ratings


More shows like Paperless

View all
This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,886 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

111,864 Listeners

This is Love by Vox Media Podcast Network

This is Love

9,322 Listeners

The Town with Matthew Belloni by The Ringer

The Town with Matthew Belloni

1,009 Listeners

The Rest Is Entertainment by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Entertainment

813 Listeners

The Louis Theroux Podcast by Spotify Studios

The Louis Theroux Podcast

584 Listeners