Mystery, Millions & Murder in North Jersey

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Edwin Benjamin Kaiser was a thrill-seeking patriot who became enmeshed with many of America’s biggest conspiracies, the full significance of which is pieced together and explored in this exciting account by his son, Scott Kaiser. Through handwritten letters and contact book entries left by Edwin Kaiser, and a bevy of discovered government documents, an exciting puzzle forms around the life of a man who was at once a patriot, an arms smuggler, a revolutionary leader, an assassin, and a husband and father. In the 1970s Edwin was the military head of an anti-Castro movement called Cubanos Unidos, and during his life he was frequently in contact with Frank Sturgis—during which time Edwin confessed to the author an assassination plot against President Nixon and confirmed Sturgis’ role in the death of JFK. This thrilling mix of paramilitary bravado, government conspiracy, family history, and firsthand anecdote shows how Edwin Kaiser was willing to lay it all on the line to accomplish what he thought was right.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Throughout the seventeenth century, medical lecturers demonstrated human anatomy by dissecting a cadaver while surrounded by students. After the Revolutionary War, though, instructors realized that they needed many more cadavers to serve a growing number of medical students. Enter the “resurrectionists” – body snatchers. Resurrectionists were a cruel lot; men (almost always men and often medical students themselves) who would sneak into a cemetery under the cover of darkness, remove a body, and then sell it to a physician or anatomist – usually for around $100.In April 1788, word of one particular body snatching quickly spread, and over the course of days, thousands of New Yorkers descended upon a New York City anatomy lab in a growing and dangerous riot. This book reveals the forgotten history of the so-called Doctors' Riot of 1788, along the way explaining the history of body snatching in the United States and England and exploring the moral questions behind an existential medical crisis: Does the need for medical students to learn anatomy on cadavers override society’s demand for maintaining the dignity of its dead?As the Doctors' Riot boiled over, Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and Revolutionary War hero Baron von Steuben were called in to quell the rioters, to no avail. Eventually, the state militia was ordered to fire into the crowd, killing several and injuring far more.In this riveting and revelatory history, Andy McPhee delves into the post-revolutionary period of America to trace the foundational changes spurred by the riot, the influence of the riot on framers of the Constitution, the formation of Black-only churches and graveyards, how the discovery of formaldehyde heralded a new era in embalming practices, what body snatching looks like today, and how the teaching of anatomy continues to change and adapt to new technologies.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

The true story of the world's largest art heist, as told by the FBI agent who investigated the case.On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art were plucked from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by two subjects posing as police officers. They rang the night bell, claiming they were responding to a call of a disturbance. After incapacitating the guard and his partner with handcuffs and duct tape, the subjects spent the next eighty-one minutes inside the museum, leisurely removing some of the world's most valuable pieces of artwork from the walls, including a rare Vermeer and Rembrandt's only known seascape. The total loss associated with this robbery has been estimated at over $1 billion.Based on meticulous investigations conducted to the standards required of an FBI special agent, Thirteen Perfect Fugitives offers author Geoffrey Kelly's insights and theories about the infamous heist.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

The Source Familywas a high-profile spiritual commune and cult founded in Hollywood in the early 1970s by James Edward Baker, better known as Father Yod. The group is famous for its early adoption of organic health foods, its psychedelic rock band, and its eventual tragic relocation to Hawaii. Key Aspects of The Source FamilyThe Leader: Father Yod was a former WWII hero, Hollywood restaurateur, and stuntman who reinvented himself as a guru. He lived in a mansion with 14 wives and drove a Rolls Royce, claiming he was a "spiritual father" to his 140 followers.The Source Restaurant: The group operated a popular vegetarian restaurant on the Sunset Strip that became a celebrity hotspot for figures like John Lennon and Warren Beatty. It is famously parodied in Woody Allen's Annie Hall.Music: The Family formed an experimental psychedelic rock band called Ya Ho Wha 13. They recorded nine albums between 1973 and 1975, which are now considered cult classics in the psych-rock genre.Beliefs & Lifestyle: Members practiced communal living, yoga, and meditation based on a blend of Western esotericism and the Age of Aquarius. They all adopted the last name "Aquarian".The End: Following pressure from local authorities, the group moved to Hawaii in 1974. In 1975, Father Yod died following a hang-gliding accident on Oahu. The Family largely disbanded shortly after his death. Media & LegacyThe story of the group was brought to a wider audience through the 2012 documentary The Source Family, directed by Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulos. It was based on the book The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13 and The Source Family by original members Isis Aquarian and Electricity Aquarian. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

In 1993, three eight-year old boys, Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Chris Byers, were murdered; their naked, mutilated bodies found shoved into the mud at the bottom of a ditch. The information developed by investigators pointed to three teenagers as the murderers. The three teens were convicted after two separate trials. One was sentenced to life imprisonment, one was sentenced to life plus forty years, and the third was sentenced to death. The convictions of the three teens became one of the most controversial cases in the State of Arkansas. During the early years of their incarceration, the growth of the Internet connected people all over the world through discussion forums and websites. As a result, the three teens, who became known as the “West Memphis Three,” developed a cult following that included the support of high-profile celebrities, including Johnny Depp, Peter Jackson, and Eddie Vedder and others, who all bought into the myth that the three convicted murderers were innocent.Today, the three convicted murderers are free. They appear to have given up their quest for judicial exoneration. Once they exhausted all other potential “guilty” parties, (some joined their camp and others were obviously not guilty), they focused their attention on Terry Hobbs, step-father of Stevie Branch, in an effort to divert attention from the evidence proving their guilt. Terry Hobbs was never a suspect in the murders and the facts of the case do not support his guilt. Undeterred, the convicted killers and their supporters continue to point fingers at Terry Hobbs.This is Terry Hobbs' story.https://amzn.to/4ui86q1Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.