Moral Dilemmas, Chasing bad guys and the Mara Lago fraud

Gordon Basichis - The Guys who Spied for China and Other worksJan 8, 2024Ed talks to Gordon about Vicki Morgan, mistress to department store heir and Ronald Reagan  confidante, Alfred Bloomingdale, lived beyond her years and died before  her time—the victim of a brutal murder. Seething with power, intrigue,  sex and obsession, it's a ringside seat into the darker habits of the  world's rich and powerful and his book, The Guys Who Spied for China.Two disparate men expose an elaborate Chinese Espionage Network  operating in the United States. What's remarkable is that most of this  story is true.Books Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Opperman Live - A moral dilemma, catching bad guys and the Mara Lago fraudSep 30, 2023More on the case reporting from Ed Opperman. Trump, Melania, Dr Laura and the world of bleepers. All life is here.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Phillip Crawford Jr. - The Mafia and the GaysOct 3, 2022Former NY Lawyer and true crime author Phillip J. Crawford joins Ed Opperman to discuss how the Mafia capitalised on the gay scene at a time when it was illegal and frowned upon.The Mafia and the Gays meticulously documents how the mob controlled gay bars for decades in New York and Chicago due to their once illicit status, and relies upon an extensive collection of primary sources including FBI files many of which were not publicly available until acquired by author Phillip Crawford Jr. through substantive amounts of FOIs.Book : The Mafia and the GaysBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Scores: How I Opened the Hottest Strip Club in New York City, Was Extorted out of Millions by the Gambino Family, and Became One of the Most Successful Mafia Informants in FBI History A gay man who created New York’s most notorious den of heterosexuality . . . an anxious, anything-but-hardboiled lawyer who became one of the most successful undercover mob informants in history. . . .In this hilarious and fascinating account, Michael Blutrich takes you inside star-studded 1990s New York, mafia sit-downs, and the witness protection program.Meet Michael D. Blutrich, founder of Scores, the hottest strip club in New York history. A resourceful lawyer at one of the city’s most respected firms, Blutrich fell into the skin trade almost by accident, but it was his legal savvy that made Scores the first club in Manhattan to feature lap dances and enabled him to neatly sidestep a law requiring dancers to wear pasties by instead covering their nipples with latex paint. Soon Scores, the club Howard Stern called “like being in a candy shop,” was a home away from home for everyone from sports superstars and Oscar-winning actors to pop singers and political notables alike.The catch? The club was smack dab in John Gotti’s territory, and the mafia wanted a piece of the action. The Gambino family doesn’t take no for an answer . . . and neither, as it turns out, does the FBI. In his memoir, Blutrich recounts in detail how his beloved club became a hub for the mafia, and how he found himself caught up in an FBI investigation, sorely struggling to juggle roles of business owner and undercover spy.As his life spiraled out of control, Blutrich would face the loss of almost everything dear to him. But whether marching a line of topless strippers as human exhibits into a trial to save the club’s liquor license or wearing wires to meetings with armed gangsters, he never lost his sense of humor or his nerve. In Scores, Blutrich finally tells all—from triumph to betrayal—in his own funny, self-deprecating voice.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Aaron Sheets - TWA FLIGHT 800 SOLVEDTrans World Airlines Flight 800 (TW800/TWA800) was a scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States, to Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy, with a stopover at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. On July 17, 1996, at approximately 8:31 p.m. EDT, twelve minutes after takeoff, the Boeing 747-100 serving the flight exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, United States.All 230 people on board died in the crash; it is the third-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history. Accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) traveled to the scene, arriving the following morning  amid speculation that a terrorist attack was the cause of the crash. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and New York Police Department Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) initiated a parallel criminal investigation. Sixteen months later, the JTTF announced that no evidence of a criminal act had been found and closed its active investigationBut what actually happened? Does it all way up? Many questions remain stubbornly unanswered. Aaron Sheets may have those answers.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Charles Manson Now is a critical dissection of what happened forty-one years ago when Manson family members stormed the Polanski estate near Los Angeles and murdered five people, including one of America's most beautiful, beloved actresses, Sharon Tate.This book is also a collage of Charles Manson's own writing, a poetic, ironic, and disturbing account of his universe, from his childhood to his time in the 8x12 prison cell where he is condemned to stay forever. It is Charles Manson, uncensored, unedited, in his own words.When author Marlin Marynick was eight years old, he discovered a beat up copy of Helter Skelter - the bestselling true crime book of all time written by Vincent Bugliosi, the lead prosecutor at Charles Manson's trial. Bugliosi's portrait of Charles Manson as an icon of unbridled evil haunted Marynick for years, well into his career as a psychiatric nurse and ultimately culminated when he met Manson behind the tightly locked doors of California's Corcoran State Prison. In Charles Manson Now, Marynick challenges the official version of events.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.