Season 4 is going live on August 5th! The theme for this season is dynasties - assassinations by and within powerful families through the ages. We'll travel from Ancient Rome to Renaissance Italy, and from 20th century New York right up to one of the most infamous dynasties of the present day. We hope you’ll join us on this epic journey into the world of history's most frightening families.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was working on several investigations for her popular blog, Running Commentary, which raised the ire of powerful people on the island of Malta. From Mafia smuggling operations, to dodgy deals with government ministers, to a multi-million dollar "cash-for-passports" scheme, her work touched upon matters that inevitably brought the enmity of people with the means, motive, and opportunity to silence a prominent critic. In our conclusion to this case, we find out about the official investigation into her murder, and we look at the work of other journalists who are continuing her legacy.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Assassinations Podcast is dark this week, but we’re bringing you a sneak peek at our brand new show: Fab Figmentals, a podcast that explores the realm of curious creatures, magical monsters, and beautiful beasts! Each week, host Lindsey Morse (the producer of Assassinations Podcast) explores a different legendary creature by looking at its history and folklore. If you enjoy this episode of Fab Figmentals, you can listen to additional episodes and subscribe here.
Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bombing near her home in 2017. Through her popular blog, Running Commentary, she had exposed crimes and pointed out suspicious activities of powerful forces in Malta, including politicians and business people. For this, she had received multiple death threats and attacks upon her home. In this, the first installment of our two-part investigation, we recreate the events culminating in her assassination, allegedly carried out by three people with links to the criminal underworld.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
In the conclusion to our two-part investigation into the mass shooting at the office of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris, we follow the two attackers as they lead French authorities on a three-day manhunt that culminated in a deadly shootout. We also encounter a third man who carried out a coordinated killing spree in Paris, including the murder of four people in a kosher grocery store. All three attackers were known to have links to Islamist militant groups, though the French government claimed that they had fallen off their radar of terrorist risks.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
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News of the mass shooting at the office of the weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January 2015 shocked millions in France and internationally. Within days, the slogan "Je suis Charlie" became a global phenomenon, with huge solidarity demonstrations organized in honor of the slain journalists and illustrators. The perpetrators of the crime were Islamist extremists who had burst into the newspaper's office and sprayed the editorial boardroom with bullets in an act of bloody retribution for Charlie Hebdo publishing crude cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed. This is Part 1 of a two-part investigation.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
In the conclusion of our two-part investigation into the case of Anna Politkovskaya, we recount the events of the day she was assassinated in what appeared to be a professional contract killing. We then look at the official investigation by Russian authorities, who captured several people who had been involved, but failed to find out who ordered the hit on this prominent journalist and human rights campaigner. Many people pointed the finger of blame at President Putin, but there were others who had motive to kill her.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
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Famous for hard-hitting journalism in war-torn Chechnya and criticisms of the Putin administration, Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated in her apartment building in Moscow in 2006. In the first installment of our two-part investigation, we look at her work for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper and find out about the political situation in Russia. Her death provoked an outcry in Russia and around the world, with many people suspecting that she had been murdered on the orders of senior people within the Russian government - perhaps even President Vladimir Putin himself. But Politkovskaya had made other enemies as a result of her exposures of the nefarious activities of powerful figures in post-Soviet Russia, meaning that there was no shortage of people with the means and motive to silence her.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
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A Chinese American journalist named Henry Liu was murdered in his home in California in 1984. His killers were members of the Bamboo Gang, a Chinese criminal organization with close links to the Taiwanese government. Liu was a prominent critic of the ruling family of Taiwan, and as a result he had received multiple warnings to stop writing about those at the top. As Liu embarked on a new project that could have further embarrassed the authorities, the head of Taiwanese military intelligence sent a hit squad to take him out. The investigation that followed not only exposed the deadly methods used to silence critics, it called into question the strategic relationship between Taiwan and the United States.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
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A journalist in Northern Ireland, Martin O'Hagan was murdered in a drive-by shooting in 2001. He had made many enemies over the years. As a young man, he fought for the IRA in the 1970s. But he abandoned the armed struggle in order to become a journalist, eventually gaining the respect of many of his peers for his hard-hitting investigative work, which exposed the ill deeds of those on both sides of the conflict. A major focus of his work was the alleged collusion of the police and British military with Loyalist paramilitary death squads. With no one ever convicted of his murder, friends of O'Hagan have questioned if the police might still be protecting his assassins.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
This week, we conclude our look at the life and assassination of South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist, Ruth First. In this episode, we look at how worsening conditions in South Africa forced Ruth First & Joe Slovo to make the difficult decision to leave the country. We follow Ruth’s career as she continues her journalistic work and breaks into the world of academia, track Joe’s rise to become leader of the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, and look at the details of Ruth’s assassination in Maputo, Mozambique in 1982.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
EPISODE SPONSORS:
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Shaker & Spoon, a monthly subscription that sends you everything you need to make bartender-designed, craft cocktails at home. Get $20 OFF your subscription by visiting shakerandspoon.com/assassin
In Part 1 of our two-part episode on the life and death of South African journalist Ruth First, we find out about her early involvement in the struggle against racial inequality. Working for various newspapers, Ruth exposed some of the horrific living and working condition endured by black South Africans in the 1940s and 50s. With her husband, Joe Slovo, she became a leading member of the Communist Party and an ally of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress. With the passage of the apartheid laws in 1948 and then the Suppression of Communist Act in 1950, the National Party government cracked down on all opposition to white minority rule, making life increasingly difficult for Ruth, Joe, and the entire anti-apartheid movement.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
EPISODE SPONSORS:
Free Your Tea is a premium loose leaf tea subscription that helps you discover your new favorite tea! Get 10% OFF your subscription by using code ASSASSINATIONS at FreeYourTea.com
Shaker & Spoon, a monthly subscription that sends you everything you need to make bartender-designed, craft cocktails at home. Get $20 OFF your subscription by visiting shakerandspoon.com/assassin
Ghana is one of the safest places in Africa to be a journalist. In fact, it ranks higher in terms of press freedom than the United States and Great Britain. But earlier this year, the status of journalism in Ghana took a massive step backwards. Ahmed Divela, who worked for the investigative journalism website Tiger Eye, was shot to death on the streets of Accra on January 17, 2019. Divela had helped to expose corruption inside the country's soccer association, and had been threatened by a leading Ghanaian politician who was implicated in the scandal.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Free Your Tea is a premium loose leaf tea subscription that helps you discover your new favorite tea! Get 10% OFF your subscription by using code ASSASSINATIONS at FreeYourTea.com
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This week, we’re taking a quick break from our current season about journalists to investigate a breaking story. On March 18, Sergio Rojas, an indigenous rights leader, was gunned down in his home in Costa Rica. His death has been linked to the long-running disputes between tribal peoples and non-indigenous farmers in the Térraba River region of Costa Rica. While it is currently unclear who killed Rojas, many who knew him believe that he was assassinated because of his role at the forefront of the struggle for indigenous land rights. The case has received almost no coverage in the English-language press, but it was brought to our attention by Russell Davis. Russell is a celebrity bartender and consultant, who's also the Chief Cocktail Officer of our program sponsor, Shaker & Spoon. He was working with indigenous groups in Costa Rica when Sergio Rojas was killed, and in this episode we speak with Davis, who offers us his insight into the situation.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Shaker & Spoon, a monthly subscription that sends you everything you need to make bartender-designed, craft cocktails at home. Get $20 OFF your subscription by visiting shakerandspoon.com/assassin
This episode marks the conclusion of our three-part investigation into the assassination of the Saudi writer and political commentator Jamal Khashoggi. After a massive international public outcry, and with clear signs that the United States' government was in possession of damning evidence that Khashoggi was the victim of a brutal assassination, the Saudis put eleven men on trial in January 2019. There are claims that the accused were part of a team of Saudi operatives known as the "Tiger Squad,” which has allegedly carried out several assassinations of opponents of the Saudi leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Whatever the outcome of this trial, which has been criticized by numerous human rights groups, questions remain as to whether anyone at the top of the Saudi government will be held responsible.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Shaker & Spoon, a monthly subscription that sends you everything you need to make bartender-designed, craft cocktails at home. Get $20 OFF your subscription by visiting shakerandspoon.com/assassin
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In the second part of our three part investigation into the assassination of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, we find out about his criticisms of the government of his home country, and especially its new leader, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman. Even as the Saudi government launched an international charm offensive in 2018 to improve the image of the oil-rich kingdom, Khashoggi, living in exile in the United States, wrote about human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and attempted to organize opponents of the regime. It seems that he was deliberately lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where a team of assassins - allegedly known as the Tiger Squad - was waiting for him.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
Shaker & Spoon, a monthly subscription that sends you everything you need to make bartender-designed, craft cocktails at home. Get $20 OFF your subscription by visiting shakerandspoon.com/assassin
Free Your Tea is a premium loose leaf tea subscription that helps you discover your new favorite tea! Get 10% OFF your subscription by using code ASSASSINATIONS at FreeYourTea.com
We’re kicking off Season 3 with a three-part investigation into the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Looking to pick up some routine paperwork, he walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in October, 2018 … and never walked out. In Part 1, we explore Khashoggi’s background as the scion of one of the most important families in Saudi Arabia, his work as a journalist, his relationship with Osama bin-Laden, and his escalating disputes with the Saudi government. It is a journey that will take us from from the royal palaces of Riyadh, to the caves of Afghanistan, to the clandestine world of the CIA, as we discover that the assassination of Khashoggi has important implications for Saudi Arabia, its international relations, and the status of journalists.
A transcript of this episode is available here.
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DreamCloud is offering Assassinations Podcast listeners $200 OFF any side mattress. Just use this link.
Whether they’re working for a major international news organization or their own humble blog, a threat against a journalist is an attack on the very right of free speech. In Season 3 of Assassinations Podcast, we will look at some of the threats faced by journalists who have been targeted for digging up “inconvenient” facts and challenging those in positions of power.
Our new season launches March 25th. Check out our teaser trailer for a taste of what's coming this season, and subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher to make sure you're one of the first to know when new episodes go live.
In this, the final episode of Season 2, we revisit the case of Alexander Litvinenko & the Polonium Plot. After closing the book on this investigation several weeks ago, we couldn’t ignore the niggling suspicion that something wasn’t quite right about the timeline of events on the day that Litvinenko was allegedly poisoned. After delving deeper into the evidence, a shocking number of inconsistencies emerged. Here, we look at the conflicting evidence and testimony, challenge the findings of the British inquiry, and try to make sense of this sensational case.
In the final installment of our three-part episode, we begin by traveling to Bulgaria to examine a possible link between the Salisbury poisonings and an alleged assassination attempt against a Bulgarian arms dealer. Navigating through the diplomatic storm that rages between Britain and Russia since the Skripals fell ill, we enter a realm of hackers, spies, and informational warfare. Sorting evidence from assertion, we consider the strange aspects of the case, and we consider the very real tragedy of the death of Dawn Sturgess.
