Dark History - 179: The Oil Scandal They Tried to Erase from History

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I always wanted to date Robbie Sinclair from Dinosaurs. Anyone else? [CRICKETS] So whenever I drive by a Sinclair gas station, you know, the one with the dinosaur logo? I always think of him. His spiky hair. That letterman jacket.  I don’t care that he was a foam puppet. I was eight and I knew what I wanted. And what I wanted… was Robbie.  I was so distracted by my thoughts of Robbie that I never realized Sinclair Oil had a dark secret. And the whole time it was hiding in plain sight.  Back in the 1920s, oil was the new gold. Because out of nowhere, all of a sudden, everything was running on it. Literally. Cars and airplanes were taking over. And if World War 1 taught us anything, it was that we needed an emergency stash of oil for the military… Just in case.  It was like a gold rush… but with oil. And when there’s money on the table, somebody’s gonna get greedy. This is how a *huge*  government scandal happened. I’m talking corruption, shady deals, and millions of dollars stuffed into a black briefcase.  Today we’re diving into one of the dirtiest scandals in U.S. history. Before Watergate, before Enron, before Bill Clinton and Monica, there was… Teapot Dome. And yes, it involves a teapot. Kind of. Welcome to the Dark History of Teapot Dome. I sometimes talk about my Good Reads in the show. So here's the link if you want to check it out. IDK. lol: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/139701263-bailey ________ FOLLOW ME AROUND Tik Tok: https://bit.ly/3e3jL9v Instagram: http://bit.ly/2nbO4PR Facebook: http://bit.ly/2mdZtK6 Twitter: http://bit.ly/2yT4BLV Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2mVpXnY Youtube: http://bit.ly/1HGw3Og Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3cC0V9d Discord: https://discord.gg/BaileySarian RECOMMEND A STORY HERE: [e-mail] Business Related Emails: [e-mail] Business Related Mail: Bailey Sarian 4400 W. Riverside Dr., Ste 110-300 Burbank, CA 91505 ________ This podcast is Executive Produced by: Bailey Sarian & Kevin Grosch and Joey Scavuzzo from Made In Network Head Writer: Katie Burris Research provided by: Xander Elmore Special thank you to our Historical Consultant: Luke Nichter, Professor of History at Chapman University. Director: Brian Jaggers Edited by: Julien Perez Additional Editing: Maria Norris Post Supervisor: Kelly Hardin  Production Management: Ross Woodruff Hair: Luca Burnett Makeup: Nikki La Rose ________ When shoppers choose to buy your products, turn them into loyal customers with cheaper, faster, and better shipping. Go to https://www.shipstation.com/darkhistory to sign up for your FREE trial. Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to https://www.zocdoc.com/DARKHISTORY to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.  And right now, OpenPhone is offering my listeners 20% off of your first 6 months at https://www.openphone.com/darkhistory. If you have existing numbers with another service, OpenPhone will port them over at no extra charge. OpenPhone: no missed calls, no missed customers.

Did you guys ever watch the show Dinosaurus when we were younger? Did you ever watch that show? So when I was younger, I had such a little crush on Robbie Sinclair. Anyone else? Ah, he was so cute. I loved him. I don't know what it was. The Mohawk, the jacket.

He was just cool. So anyways, you know, whenever I drive by a Sinclair gas station, you know, the one with the little dinosaur logo, I think of him. The Letterman jacket, the spiky hand. the cool personality. And I was like, was the show based on that, actually? You know, I don't know. I don't care they use a puppet. No, I was young and I knew what I wanted. And it was Robbie. I've always been just very distracted by my thoughts about Robbie that I never really realized that Sinclair Oil, the actual business, had a very dark secret the whole time, hiding in plain sight. Back in the 1920s, I mean, oil was the new gold. Because out of nowhere, all of a sudden, everything was

running on it. Literally cars and airplanes were taking over. And if World War I taught us anything, it was that we needed an emergency stash of oil for the military just in case. And when there's money on the table, you know, someone's going to get greedy. And this is how a huge government scandal happened. I'm talking corruption, shady deals, and millions of dollars stuffed into like a black briefcase. Today we're diving into one of the dirtiest scandals in U.S. history. Before water before Enron, before Bill and Monica, there was teapot Dome. I know, it's not a catchy name, you know? And yeah, it does kind of involve a teapot.

Anyhow, welcome to the dark history of teapot dome. Hi, friends, I hope you're having a wonderful date. today my name is bailey sarian and i'd like to welcome you to my podcast dark history here we believe history does not have to be boring it might be tragic a lot of times it is huh uh sometimes it's happy but either away it's our dark history before we get into it don't forget to like and subscribe i'm always posting new content and let me know what you think down below in the comments section i love hearing from you and we read comments at the end we might be talking to you when you missed it.

Anywho, oil. She's so hot right now. So in the early 1900s, oil was hot. People realized it could power warships, planes, trains, factories, you name it, everything. And by fall of 1921, America was pumping out 80% of the world's oil supply. I mean, oil is everything. Oil is life. So the Navy, they switched their ships from being coal to oil powered.

but this made the government nervous about maybe running out. So in 1912, Congress passed a law called the Naval Petroleum Reserves Act. This just meant that the government set aside tons of oil fields that were supposed to be for military emergencies only. Nobody was supposed to touch them unless the country was in serious trouble and they needed oil. So there were a couple of reserves in California and one out in Wyoming. and it was called teapot dome because there was like this big rock formation in the area and people said it looked like a teapot. Yeah.

Sometimes the definition is so literal, you know. Yeah, they're like, that's a teapot. Teapot dome, I don't know. But that's where it gets its name. Anywho, around this time, a guy named Warren G. Harding gets elected to the U.S. Senate. Yes, he goes on to become president, but he's not there yet. We're talking about him being a Senate first. You might remember him from our weird president's episode.

I recommend watching it if you want, like, you know, some little fun facts about his personal life. For example, he named his penis. He called it Jerry. Yeah. Anyhow, so back then, he gets into the Senate. And the Senate was less about governing and more about being in, like, an exclusive boys club. And Harding, he, you know, he played the game. Harding's House in D.C. became the hot spot for Senators to unwind, play poker, eat, and maybe even drink a little bootleg liquor.

During this time, it was prohibition. So, like, you're not supposed to have alcohol, but the rules didn't apply to these guys. And they would just go to Harding's House and drink. So one of the regulars at Harding's House was a guy named Albert B. Fall. Albert is quite the character. He kind of looked like he stepped off a wild West movie set. Honestly, when I look at a picture of him, it looks like he's going to solve some mysteries

because he's got like this big Hannibal Bar mustache. He just looks old-timey. I guess he wore cowboy boots. It was a deal. Okay, he was a whole deal. So Fall was a lawyer, a landowner, and a former New Mexico Supreme Court Justice. And people really respected him for being like self.

He was self-made, you know? A little fun side note, Albert Fall's middle name was Bacon. B-A-C-O-N-B-A-C-O-N-B-A-Lbert-Bacon, Fall. So Fall and Harding become, you know, very close. And when Harding eventually ran for president in 1920, Fall was part of his inner circle. The weird thing about Harding's presidential campaign was that it looked like he really wasn't even trying. He kind of, he, like, he campaigned from his front porch in Ohio,

while his opponents, you know, they went around the country, giving speeches and, like, putting themselves out there. And Harding didn't do any of that. He, like, came outside in his pajamas and was like, yeah, I'm going to try to be president. But Harding, he promised to, like, take the country back to how things were before World War I. His line that he kept repeating was, return to normalcy. That's always, like, a presidential campaign. Return to this. Bring us back to this.

Back back. And it's like, was it ever really good, though? Why are we always trying to return to something that really wasn't that great? Okay, anyways, moving on. So anyways, return to normalcy. It seemed to work because Harding, he, he won. He became president. Yeah. He won by a lot. As soon as he was elected, Harding, he filled his cabinet with friends and people who were loyal to him. You know, not the ones that were best for the job, just people who liked him and like when in chance. challenge him at all. And this crew became known as the Ohio gang. Even though not all of them were from Ohio, but okay. So of course, you know, his good friend Albert Fall made the cut. And Harding had a special job just for Albert. Secretary of the Interior. What does it mean? I don't know. It's the person who would now control all of those off-limit oil reserves. Oh. I don't know about you, but when I order something online, the shipping experience pretty much decides if I'm ever ordering from that business again. Like if my package shows up late, lost, damaged, like it got into a fight on the way like to delivery, you know? I'll listen. I'm probably not coming back. Maybe. I don't know.

But when the shipping is smooth, fast, and, I don't know, packed well, I'm a loyal customer. If you're running an e-commerce business, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And that's why smart retailers are using ShipStation. Look how pretty my nails are, I know. ShipStation is a web-based shipping and order management platform designed to help e-commerce businesses streamline how they fulfill in ship customer orders. With ShipStation, you can sync orders from everywhere you sell to one dashboard and replace all those tedious manual tasks with custom automations that reduce shipping airs,

all for the fraction of the cost. Wow! And I'll be honest. I didn't realize how much shipping could make or break a business until I tried. Ship Station. Oh, you're gonna see it and be like, wow, this is a game changer. So yeah, one package at a time, ship stations helping shoppers everywhere become loyal customers. And if you're serious about growing your business, I'll promise they'll do the same for you.

I'm so congested still. COVID got me good, bitch. When shoppers choose to buy your products, turn them into loyal customers with cheaper, faster, and better shipping. Go to shipstation.com slash dark history to sign up for your free trial. There's no credit card or contract required and you can cancel any time. That's shipstation.com slash dark history. So President Warren G. Harding is in office because everyone was feeling the, we're Turn to normalcy, vibe that he was selling.

Right? Like, that's what everyone wanted. Wrong. It turns out there was actually a reason why Harding didn't feel like he needed to, like, leave his porch during the entire presidential campaign. He already knew he was going to win. Because he was being secretly funded by oil money.

Ah! Yes. You see, behind the scenes, two oil tycoons were secretly funded. funding the election. Their names were Harry Sinclair of Sinclair Oil and Jake Hammond, from like Oklahoma Oil Man. These guys weren't just donating money out of like the kindness of their hearts. You know, they had a motive. They were making sure that Harding would win the election so that in return this president would give them access to that secret stash of government oil. So Sinclair and Harding, they basically had a little arrangement that once

Harding won, with Sinclair's money, of course, Jake Hammond would take the job of Secretary of the Interior. That was the plan. From there, Hammond had already promised to lease the teapot dome oil to Sinclair, which was worth millions, a lot of money. And Sinclair would return the favor by giving Hammond a third of those profits. So everything went according to plan, but I guess they hit a little snag, because Because in 1920, Jake Hammond, he died.

Yeah. And he didn't just, like, die, like, from a heart attack or anything. He died from a gunshot wound. Guess who shot him? Any guesses? Joan, you know. His mistress. Yeah.

Maybe you shouldn't be cheating on your wife. I don't know. Not that he deserves it or anything. No one should do that. Anyways, I'll get back to the story. Suddenly, the guy who was supposed to be Interior Secretary and Sinclair's guy on the inside, Well, he's gone. He's not around.

He's dead. So at this point, they needed someone that they could really trust to fill in. You know, because what they're planning on doing was it was very much illegal. The oil business was new and a not very well understood or, like, regulated space. And those in charge, they knew it. So, you know, who does President Harding call? Well, it's his buddy with the big mustache, Albert Fault. This job was like kind of, he's like, hey, this job is kind of perfect for you.

I gotta go. Secretary of Interior typically went to someone from the West since the job had dealt with public lands and natural resources. I guess that's more so on the West. And Albert Fall was a New Mexico

guy and he lived that cowboy slash lawyer life. He understood land, he understood oil, he understood money. And most of all, Harding trusted him. The whole point of Albert Baconfall, becoming secretary of the interior, was so he could get his hands on that secret

government stash of oil. So he's in. Hi, I'm in. And in 1921, he writes up an executive order that gives his department full control of the oil reserves. And President Harding, he signs it, la la, la, no questions asked. This means that Albert Fall is now able to secretly lease those oil reserves out to his friends. So on July 12th, 1921, Albert Fall gives Edward Doheny reserve number one in Elk Hills, California. Edward Doherini was the founder of Pan American Petroleum, and he was like super, super, super rich. Oh, and he was an old mining buddy of Albert Fall. One big circle jerk is what's going on here. Anywho, so, like, this meant that he got access to cheap oil

so he could, like, turn it around and sell it at a higher cost, just making a ton of money off of it. Doheny, that is. Anyway, if you've ever been to Los Angeles and the name Doheny sounds familiar, yes, it is that same Doheny. There's a couple of streets named after him,

a beach, a library. You see the name everywhere. It's after this guy. Later that year, Albert Fall makes good on his promise, and he leases the teapot dome reserve in Wyoming to his friend Harry Sinclair. And it is a very sweet and completely illegal deal, okay? Doheny and Sinclair not only get the rights to millions of barrels of oil, they also get to build pipelines, storage facilities, a lot of things.

and they don't have to pay for it. The government has to pay for it. And if anyone asked, Albert Fall was like, you know, this is all for America. You know, we want America to be prepared. So Albert Fall is leasing out secret reserves of oil without the public knowing.

Plus, even if you didn't know, what are you going to do about it, you know? And a big motive for Albert Fall was the cash. Now, at this time, he was drowning and back taxes and, like, scrambling to save his, I guess, a failing ranch in New Mexico, so he could use the money. So about five months after he leased the land to Doheny,

Albert hits him up and is like, hey, you know, where's my thank you cash for like helping you get this oil for cheap? You know, where's my little payout? And of course, Doheny was happy to pay, you know, because this oil, having access to this oil, has been a huge success for him. He's making a ton of money.

And it's just cheap and it's working out. So of course he's going to pay. So in December of 1921, Edward Doheny sends his son, his name is Ned Doheny, to go out and like pay Albert Fall. Now, Ned, he's 27 at this point. It said he's handsome, ish, he's tall, and he was super rich. But, you know, he's not exactly built for the boardroom. He was flunking out of college. He was barely getting by at USC.

And he was spending most of his time bouncing between parties, clubs, and golf courses and loss. Angeles. Technically he was the VP and his father's oil company, but Ned wasn't actually like helping or working, you know. But Daddy Doheny thought it was time for Ned to learn a little something about the family business. So he's like, you can help me out with money laundering. So Daddy Doheny, he tells his son Ned, hey, go to the bank, take out $100,000 in cash, and then he did. Which would be. have almost like $200 million today. So he takes out all this cash, puts it in a bag, whatever. The Ned heads to Washington with his best friend slash personal assistant, Hugh Plunkett,

with this big black bag of cash. Hugh Plunkett and Ned were always together. They lived together. They traveled together. They were just inseparable. Their relationship raised a lot of eyebrows at the time because, you know, they were

close. They were close. They were close. close. But no one said anything because the Dohenies were very powerful. So Ned has that bag of money and he tells Hugh, come on, we're going. And the two of them, they go from New York to D.C. And they head straight to the Wardman Park Hotel where they meet Albert Fall. Albert Fall has an apartment there. Now picture this. You know, they walk into Fall Suite and it's like this old cowboy politician. He takes one look. Look at the black bag and he just lights up. I mean, he knows exactly what's inside. It's all his money. So he opens it up and he starts counting, you know, the money. Untraceable cash.

Then Ned and Hugh, they hop back in a cab, head to the train station, and they just go back to New York. Like, no big deal. Just another Tuesday, you know? A few months after this handoff, there's another one. In May of 1922, Albert Fall hits up Harry Sinclair. for a little payday. And Sinclair, you know, agreed, of course, and handed over almost $300,000, which today, beep-bap-boop is like $4.8 million.

So, like, this was a lot of money, okay? These were not business loans. These, there were no contracts, no paperwork, no receipts, just a lot of money for Mr. Albert Fall. So, you know, Albert Fall is loving this deal. He's promising Doheny, like, more oil. and special access to all the California reserves. And in return, Doheny is promising Albert Fall a job once he left the government. He's like, yeah, you can come work for me at Pan American Petroleum, have a nice, like, you know, office job.

So everything's going great, okay? Everything's, the bribes are being paid, leases signed. Albert Fall was, like, confident he's going to get away with this. Who's going to check him? No one. But inside the government, apparently people were already starting to raise their eyebrows. They're like, who or why is Harry Sinclair always popping into Albert Falls' office? Why are the president's closest friends holding thousands of shares of Sinclair stock?

Apparently, in like January of 1922, Sinclair stock was selling at $18 a share. But by April, it had doubled. Some of the guys in President Harding's circle made $33 million in just a few days. So everyone was kind of jealous, honestly. They were like, damn, what? They were pissed. Everyone was pissed. They knew something was going on.

So people are kind of like catching it on that something is happening. And Albert, Albert Fall, he knew he had to do something about it to get everyone to, like, show up. So he came up with a defense strategy. Allegedly, his plan was to announce the teapot dome and California leases to the public. I know. I don't. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was going to tell people that this was like a really brilliant national security strategy. Like, look, if America needed oil because of a war or an attack, they would have it available, you guys. Thanks to my genius plan. But before he could announce all this, Albert, he went out of town for a few days. And before he left, he told everyone, keep your mouth shut and don't say anything. When I come back, you know, I'll do my little Just don't say anything, okay? So he leaves. So before he can come and, like, make his announcement,

the Wall Street Journal was doing some investigating of their own, and they ended up breaking the teapot dome story. All right, confession time. What was the last time you needed to see a doctor, but you put it off? Thank you, I don't. It seems like, you know, for me, I'm always too busy. Or I just, like, where do you start? You know, or it's like when you do have free time,

I don't want to go to the doctor. That's the last thing I want to do. Because, listen, booking a doctor's appointment, trying to find a doctor, trying to, like, do all that. Mm-mm, I'd rather not. But thanks to Zoc Doc, there's no reason to delay anymore. Listen, here's how it works. If you are not using Zocococ, I don't know what you're doing with your life.

It's the best. Because Zocococ is a free app and website where you can search and compare High quality and network doctors, and you can click to instantly book an appointment. All on the system, all on ZocDoc. So you don't even have to make a phone call. You don't have to try and figure out anything. It does it all through the app.

It's incredible. I found all of my doctors to Zock Doc. Okay, my eye doctor. I just recently got a new gynaecologist. I've been putting that off for a while. So I was like, let me just use Doc, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. boop boop boop hopped on there found a new gynaecologist book the appointment and i showed up go me i didn't cancel oh you know i didn't want to do it they always got some wild like harsh lighting in there

right take your pants off it's a wild experience it's like can you at least give me a glass of wine and dim the lights geez on doc doc you can filter for doctors who take your insurance which is great right by who fit exactly what you need, whether that's mental health, a dentist, primary care, urgent care, gynaecologist, foot doctor, I don't know, whatever you need, they got it. And appointments they usually happen within like 24 to 72 hours, sometimes even like same day. I've been using Zocococ for years and you should too. Like right now I have a migraine and I would just love to go just I don't even know. So listen, if you've been putting off making an appointment, going to the dentist. I know your butt needs to go the dentist. Yeah. Stop making excuses. Okay. With

Zok-Doc, finding the right doctor is actually as easy as booking a manicure. I actually think booking a manicure is kind of harder. Yeah. Take care of yourself. Who else is going to do it? No one's going to take care of you. You got to do it for yourself, okay? And Zoc-Toc is here to help. You're welcome. Stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zoc-Doc.com slash dark history to find an instantly book a top-rated doctor today. That's Zok-Tock. Doc, Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash dark history. Zoc-D-C-D-C-C-O-C-D-C-O-C-D-C-O-C-D-C-O-C-T-O-C-T-O-C-T-O-E. On April 14th, 1922, the Wall Street Journal, they released an article

about a secret agreement between the Department of the Interior and the private oil companies. It was an expose. So now it's out in the public. And it's confusing because it's kind of like, well, why do we care? But think of it like this. This is like if the. government owned the only emergency water supply in a drought. And instead of saving it for actual emergencies, you find out that they were like quietly

handing it out, you know, to their friends, their private golf courses or just handing it out to their friends. Meanwhile, the, you know, regular people are standing in line, painful price, kind of rationing every drop just to like stay hydrated or whatever. It's like that. So people are finding out about it, but anything that has to do with the government and stuff is so confusing, huh? I know. So in this little expose thing, they didn't have any information about the bribes.

It was just about, like, the agreements. Still, this news had sparked public outrage and led to a Senate investigation the very next day. Albert Fall, meanwhile, he was like playing it cool. He told reporters, quote, I welcome any investigation, end quote. So then at the end of April. April 29th, 1922, the U.S. Senate, they approve the Committee of Public Lands and Surveys. I know these names, not. To officially investigate the situation.

It has to go through so many different people before they can actually do anything. It's very annoying. The president was like, hey, nothing to see here. Like, don't worry about it. I don't know what you guys are talking about. Teapots, love. Have you been on that ride? Disney, fun.

I don't even know if Disney's built yet, but love that ride that's going to be happening in the future. So honestly, it looked like the teapot dome scandal was just going to, like, fizzle out. I, you know. And President Harding, he definitely thought like he was in the clear because he just continues doing the same thing. In 1923, oh yeah, Disney's not like alive yet or whatever. Okay, sorry. In 1923, President Harding took like a big PR trip to Alaska. Now, he was going to be the first sitting president to ever go to Alaska.

He was going to wrestle bear. He was going to go fishing. He was going to do Alaska things. I don't know. But just before leaving, President Harding accepts, you know, another low-key bribe of like $500,000 from Harry Sinclair. He's like, thanks. Love you, bitch. So regardless of the investigation, you know, they don't care.

They're still doing it. I feel like it would have been easier to get away with doing this kind of stuff back then because, like, no cameras, no paper trail, no receipts, no nothing. Okay, so anyways, he's in Alaska. Wow, Alaska. President Harding, he made like a big show about protecting land from oil drilling. And then he would go on about how great oil was. So it was kind of like, okay. The vibe was a little weird, especially because he kept calling Alaska, Nebraska.

Yeah. They're like, wrong state. I can see the confusion, the ASCA. I get it. Anyways, not a good look. And honestly, President Harding just looked like crap. And he was just kind of ready to retire. He didn't care.

He's like, yeah, it's Nebraska. I don't know. Whatever. And like, that was actually the goal. He had his retirement plan all set and ready. He was ready. Yeah. His retirement plan was like a luxury year-long cruise around the world with his friends.

And it would all be paid for by Sinclair. A big thank you. Honestly, it seemed like since he wasn't going to be president again, and he was just trying to, like, get that cash in while he could before retirement. I don't see why not, right? That makes sense. But luckily, karma is real. President Harding never made it to his cruise era. Because just one week after getting back from Alaska, on August 2nd, 1923, Harding had a stroke and he died.

And Vice President Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president. So, um, the president dies, you know, and this almost buried the two. teapot dome scandal from ever fully coming to the surface. You know, with the president being dead, it seemed like there was really no point pursuing the story any further. You know, the whole thing just like disappeared. It was put away in a folder, just kind of sat in the office, gathering dust. There was one person who did seem to care. It was a senator named Thomas J. Walsh from Montana. Walsh, Thomas J. Walsh, he knew there was more to the story, and he wasn't going to let it go. Now, Senator Walsh didn't know it, but he wasn't the only one who wanted to know more about

this teapot dome situation. Over in New Mexico, okay, there was a journalist. His name was Carl McGee. Sounds fake, but it was real. He was on the case. Carl, he had made a name for himself as a journalist in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But then his wife got sick, and then they moved to like Albuquerque and he ended up like taking over the Albuquerque journal. He likes to write about scandalous things. He sure does. Okay. I don't know why I am going like this because I, did they have type runners then?

I don't know where I'm at. What year? It doesn't matter. But he might have been like that. Carl's mission in life was to take down corruption with the power of the newspaper. Love to see it. But this made him, he didn't have a lot of friends. he had a lot of enemies.

People didn't like him because he was exposing everyone. And you know who really didn't like him? Yeah, Mr. New Mexico himself, Albert Bacon, Fall. Oh, Carl was on his radar. Sure was. Carl never trusted Albert Fall, okay? And when this whole thing was going down, he knew something deeper was going on.

Meanwhile, in Denver, a letter ends up on the desk of Frederick Bonfee. a publisher at the Denver Post. In the letter, it suggested that Albert Fall was giving away oil leases, quote, like kisses at a wedding, end quote. So great. Bonfie is like, oh, this is very interesting information. Now, again, he could, he could publish the story. But he's thinking to himself, I can maybe do something more with this. I could use it for some good old-fashioned blackmail. That's fun, and I'm feeling fun.

But before Bonfie can properly blackmail Albert Fall, he needs a little bit more dirt. So he sends his star reporter, D.F. Stacklebeck, to New Mexico to get evidence. D.F. Stacklebeck gets to New Mexico, probably realizes that he needs help, so he hits up Carl McGee. Okay? They're contacts. So at this point, when they get in touch, Carl, he got forced out of the Albuquerque Journal because it was being a little too spicy and, you know, legal and all that stuff. So they're like, we gotta get ready, bro. But when Stacklebeck reaches out to Carl, Carl's really excited.

He's like, oh my gosh, I've got so much information, you know, on Albert Fall. And I want to see this guy get taken down, so I'll give you whatever you want. So Carl shows him Albert Falls land purchases, proof of his shady rail car meetings. He shows an old unsolved murder connected to Albert Fall. Mm-hmm. Well, D.F. Stecklebeck spends weeks investigating. But he has to, you know, he has to be low-key about it because he's on Albert Falls' home turf. And if Albert Fall finds out, you know,

no, he'll get rid of him. So he's scared. Okay, so Stacklebeck, he returns to Denver, and he hands over everything to Bonfee's. So Bonfee takes all of this evidence, and he locks it up, he puts it in a safe, and he tells Stacklebeck or whatever his name is, damn it, he tells him, like, hey, I'm afraid of, like, a lawsuit, you know?

This is, like, really crazy, so we should keep it locked up in a safe. But really, Bonfie is just gathering the info, for his blackmail plan. So it's just shadiness, on shadiness, on shadiness, on shadiness. It's exhausting, huh? Okay, so in September of 1922, Bonfie puts his blackmail plan into action. He calls up Sinclair. And he tells him, hey, we're going to meet in a hotel, Kansas City.

In Missouri or Kansas? Not sure, but meet me there. Because he's got some information that Sinclair might want to hear. So you better meet me there? Click. Now, we don't know what the conversation was like at the hotel or whatever, but we know what happened.

I'm assuming Bonfie presents his blackmail information and, you know, confronts Sinclair like, hey, I'm going to air all of this unless you pay me off. So Sinclair ends up paying him off. He pays him $250,000 in cash, which would be like $4.5 million to do. So again, the truth stays buried. People are making money and just so much money, you know? So annoying. So you know who can't let it go?

Carl McGee. He's like, nope, I'm not letting this story go, okay? I'm going to keep it going. He keeps fighting. So in 1923, all the information Carl has on Albert Fault ends up getting to Thomas Walsh. Thomas Walsh was a senator in Montana, the one who also couldn't let it go. Thomas had been pushing for an investigation into Albert Fall, so he jumped at the opportunity to finally take him down. So Thomas ends up making a phone call to that star reporter guy, Stacklebeck, and he confirms everything, but he insists on staying anonymous.

So then Thomas calls up Carl McGee to come forward and testify, and Carl agrees. So on November 30th, 1923, Carl McGee tells Congress, everything he knew. Albert Fall has a bunch of money and, you know, maybe they should be looking at Doheny and Sinclair. So this is when everything just really exploded, okay? Edward Doheny, he admits in a hearing

that he had loaned, quote unquote, loaned, Albert Fall $100,000 in cash. So after he testified, I mean, this again, is when everything is now out in the open. It was game over, bitch. On July 1st, 1924, Albert Fall, Harry Sinclair, Edward Doheny, Sr., and Ned Doheny, Jr., were all indicted for criminal fraud in connection with the Teapot Dome scandal. Okay, so they do an investigation. They're able to confirm all the bribes that happen, you know, that Sinclair and Doheny had paid Albert Fall a lot of freaking money.

A lot, okay? And you're not supposed to do that. Eventually, Harry Sinclair, he gets, he ends up going to jail for, like, contempt. I guess this was for refusing to answer Senate questions. And he also hired a private detective to intimidate jurors. So he gets, he gets sent to jail. And I'm like, yay, finally, like justice. They're like, you get six months.

Yeah, that's it. He got six months in jail. So annoying. So the Dohenies, father and son, they were charged with inducing Albert Fall to commit a, quote, unlawful and felonious act. In other words, giving him a bag of cash in exchange for oil. So Ned, Ned Dohini, the guy who delivered the money with his friend Hugh Plunkett, well, Ned, you know, he didn't really, he was like, I was just like running an errand for

my dad or whatever, but the government saw it way differently. It was not looking good for the Dohini family. Ned was like fully crashing out I mean this was a huge change of pace he was young rich he was having fun he was like going to parties and stuff and fancy dinners and just having just being rich

and now he's like facing felony charges and his name was getting dragged through the tabloids and the rumor mill you know over at USC where Ned was on the board of trustees the board threatened to kick him out

unless he could prove he was innocent. So he was like, oh my God, that's so crazy. Don't kick me out. And he did what any, like, rich boy in a crisis would do. And so he donated $200,000 to the university. It's like $3.5 million today. So USC is like, oh, my God, thank you so much. We changed our mind.

You can stay for a little bit. Now, Ned's dad was like, Don't worry, this is all going to blow over. Like, just chill out. Stop acting crazy. But Ned started to, like, just disappear. He was spending more time in New York. He was staying at his private townhouse on 84th Street.

And he was, you know, with Hugh Plunkett, just glued to his side. Back in L.A., Daddy Dohini was going into full damage control mode. So, you know, when you have a lot of money and you do something bad, you can hire a high-profile defense attorney. So that's what he did. He got this guy named Frank J. Hogan. And this defense attorney was known for making indictments just disappear. It was his specialty. Hogan once said, quote,

the best client is a rich man who is scared, end quote. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's a good quote. And Doheny was, you know, he was a rich man and he was scared. So it was great. So Mr. Doheny, he gives his defense attorney. a million dollar retainer, and he's like, look, I'll give you more money if you can get both me and my son acquitted. I got you. But before Hogan could work his magic, something weird happens.

On February 17th, 1929, someone got away with murder. I know a little bit of a jump scare here. Coming into me, no makeup on reading this advertisement. This is what I look like in real life. You know how stressful it is when you're waiting for a phone call all day, like a doctor or something, and then you miss it. Even worse. If you run your own business, I mean, it's like if you miss an important phone call, it could be like money just walking out the door. Or if you have some kind of household emergency, like your plumbing goes bad.

Maybe you have a leak coming through the ceiling and you're waiting for the plumber to call you back. Then you miss the damn call because, I don't know, you just do. That's why you need a phone system that actually keeps up. That's why you need open phone. Open phone is the number one business phone system that streamlines and scales your customer communications. And the best part is that it works right through an app on your phone or computer. So no more juggling two phones or being chained. a landline. I do love a landline though. Hello? Hello? Your team can even share one phone number

and collaborate on customer calls and texts like a shared inbox, which means if you can't answer, someone else on your team can pick up exactly where you left off. So now you can stop panicking every time you miss a phone call. Because with open phone, you won't have to worry about that anymore. I love if you're a business owner, you can have your whole team, connect to one phone number. So no matter where you are, you know, the customers, if they're calling or a call comes through, they won't be ignored.

Somebody will get to it. So if you're running a business, don't let money slip through the cracks with OpenFone. You'll never miss a call again. OpenFone is offering my listeners 20% off your first six months at openphone.com slash dark history. That's OpenFone, O-P-E-H-O-N-P-H-O-N-E.com slash dark history.

And if you have an existing number with another service, open phone will port them over at no extra charge. Oh, that's so great. Open phone. No missed calls, no missed customers. So the teapot dome investigation had been dragging on for years at this point. Okay? We're tired of it.

But 2 a.m., February 17, 1929, veteran LAPD Detective Leslie T. White gets a call from his boss over at the DA's office. Detective White is told, quote, less, young Doheny has just been murdered. Get out to their Beverly Hills home now, end quote. So Detective White, he, you know, he books it to Greystone Mansion. So Greystone Mansion was where Ned Doheny lived. It was a gift from his dad. And let me just tell you, okay, this place was a palace. It's nestled right above Doheny Drive, named after the family. Geez, I know.

So they have this, like, huge old mansion. It's 46,000 square feet of just opulence. 55 rooms. Yeah. 55. I don't even know four people. There was a private movie theater. There was a bowling alley. They had their own fire station.

There was a vault for furs and diamonds, of course. Swimming pool with a waterfall. Okay, and then high tech, the pool table? Yeah, it could disappear into the wall. Some kind of house, huh? The security at Greystone was twight. Toit, like a toigga. I mean, think about like Buckingham Palace, it's like tighter than that, okay?

Private guards, locked gates, high walls. Okay, so it was like, hey, how does someone get murdered here? Okay? Like, what the hell happened that night? So when Detective White arrived, the police was already swarming with private investigators and guards. Some of them tried to actually keep him out, but White finally made it in, and he was escorted to the guest suite. on the ground floor.

This is the house you would want to play Clue in. It's one of those. Yeah, that'd be fun. Live action clue. But someone really does die. So he gets to the guest suite on the ground floor, and that's where he found Ned Doheny. He was on the floor next to the bed.

He was wearing a silk bathrobe, pajamas, and slippers. He was lying face up in a pool of blood. What? Now look, he looked close. and there was a bullet hole straight through his skull from ear to ear. On his left, his left, there was a knocked over chair. There was a highball glass to his right.

And a few feet away, there was another body. So they walk over there. Who is it? It was Hugh Plunkett. Ned Doheny's bestie slash personal assistant slash bribe money delivery boy slash lover, depending on who you ask. He was dead. Oh, poor Hugh.

He was face down, sprawled in the doorway of an adjoining room. He had a gunshot wound to the head. The whole thing was brutal. So the Dohenies, they like put out a statement, you know, with their doctor. The official story was that Hugh Plunkett was mentally unstable. And that the Dohenies, they had been trying to get him into a hospital for months. They said that earlier that night, Ned and his wife, Lucy, allegedly visited Hugh to try and convince him to voluntarily check himself into a hospital. Yeah, Ned was married.

It was messy. Okay. So they tried to convince him to check into a hospital. But Hugh refused. He got angry and then he stormed off. Now, they said later that night, Hugh shows up at Greystone uninvited and wakes up Lucy and Ned. in their bedroom. Now he's pissed off.

So Ned takes him downstairs to the guest bedroom to try and calm him down. They pour a drink, try to talk. But according to the family, Hugh just doesn't want to calm down. So Ned, he gets on the phone and he calls the family doctor, Dr. Fishbaugh. He can help. Bling, bring, Dr. Fishbaugh, help me up. So Dr. Fishball shows up to the home around. Around 11 p.m.

And Ned's wife, Lucy, meets him at the door. They head down the hall, and that's when Hugh Plunkett appears, waving a Colt 45. According to their story, Hugh tells them to leave and slams the guest room door. A second later, they allegedly hear a single gunshot. According to Dr. Fishbaugh and Lucy, Hugh Plunkett had a mental breakdown, shot Ned in a fit of rage, then immediately turned the gun on himself. It was a classic murder suicide. Case closed.

Mystery assault, everyone. By the time Ned's wife and the doctor got downstairs, it's believed that Ned had allegedly already been shot, and then Hugh allegedly shot himself like a few minutes later. That's what the family told police, and that's what Dr. Fishbaugh swore to. I don't know why Dr. Fishbaugh was there. People had questions, but it didn't matter.

Because within hours, the coroner seemed to agree and ruled the case a murder-suicide almost immediately. There was no inquest, no grand jury, no real investigation. But Detective White, he was not buying it. First of all, the physical evidence just didn't line up. The Doheny story made no sense with the way the bodies and the scene were found. Almost immediately, Detective White notices that Ned Doheny's story. had powder burns around his wound, which meant that the shot was fired at a very close range. And from the angle, it was clear he was sitting when he was shot not standing up.

The murder weapon was found in Hugh's right hand, and in his left hand he had a half-smoked cigarette. It was still there when they found the body. It was like, how was he supposed to be having a mental? until breakdown, waving a gun around, shooting his best friend, and having a cigarette without dropping it. It just didn't, it was, it was questionable because you can tell me like, that's possible, but it's, you know, on top of that, the murder weapon, no fingerprints, none, not Hughes, not

Neds, none, a ghost did it. You know, someone had very clearly wiped it clean. So the detective, White, he takes all this evidence to the DA and he lays it all out. And he's like, listen, I don't believe Hugh Plunkett killed Dohini and then like committed suicide, not in the way that these witnesses describe. The DA listens and he's like, oh my God, yeah, that's crazy. You're kind of, you're kind of right. The DA even says, quote, there isn't a man in the United States that's big enough to stop me from conducting a criminal investigation, end quote. And for like a few hours, it kind of seemed like an investigation might happen.

But two days later, on February 19th, the DA calls a press conference and says, case closed. He parrots the same story that Doheny's had been telling. Hugh Plunkett was mentally disturbed, and it was like a murder-suicide. It was super sad. But, end of story. Detective White is just stunned, but then he remembers this is Doheny money. They can get away with anything, you know? So what actually happened that night?

Some believe that Lucy Doheny, she caught her husband, Ned, and Hugh in bed. Yeah, they were in bed together, and she pulled the trigger herself. Other people say maybe there was an intruder. But again, the security and all that, just like didn't really make sense, but there is another theory, and it's probably one that chills me the most. So February 17th, two dead bodies are found. Ned Doheny and his buddy slash maybe lover, Hugh Plunkett. The weird thing is, these murders happened just a couple of weeks before Ned and Hugh were supposed to testify in the teapot dome trial. Convenient.

One biographer even said, quote, Plunkett was being put under tremendous pressure by the senior Doherini, who wanted him out of the way, end quote. And guess what? Since he was dead, now he was. It's also possible that, you know, Daddy Dohini, he wanted Hugh labeled as insane to keep his son out of jail. And if he was willing to do that, maybe he was even willing to kill Hugh if, you know, he had to. Then he could call the family doctor in to cover up everything. But then why would he kill a son? Maybe he didn't really give shit. He's like, fuck my son. Or maybe. Daddy Doheny was the one who caught his son in bed with another man and said, you know, two birds, one stone? I don't know. Maybe it was the wife. Maybe it was, I don't know. Either way,

two people died in one of the most secure homes at the time, you know, and just weeks before a federal bribery trial. And then within 48 hours, it was completely swept under the rug. To this day, no one has ever been charged. Now, if you visit Los Angeles, you or you live here, You can go to Greystone Mansion. It's still there and you can visit. You can take a tour. You'd be like, where were the dead bodies? Which is kind of dark, but like that's what I asked.

Sorry. And like walk the grounds and stuff. It's huge. It's massive. It's beautiful. And you've actually may have seen it in movies because they film a ton of stuff there. If you ever watched Gilmore Girls, it's like the prep school. I never watched Gilmore Girls.

I hear, I just never got into it. They found a ton of stuff there. Whatever happened that night in 1929, someone got away with murder. So Daddy Doheny, Ned's dad, he ended up being acquitted in 1930. God damn it. Yeah, his high power attorney, he painted him as like a devoted patriot, a grieving father. He just lost his son. And he used the death of his son.

son to sway the jury. It was beautiful and it worked. He ended up returning to Los Angeles, but people say that he was just physically and emotionally broken at this point. He ended up dying five years later in 1935. Sad, not really. In 1931, Albert Bacon Fall became the first U.S. Cabinet Secretary ever to go to prison for corruption. Congratulations, Albert. You did it. That's great. The first one. Way to go. He was sentenced to one whole year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Really going to teach him. Yeah. So he spends a whole year in prison, whatever. And then, you know, he ends up dying in 1944. And I guess he didn't even have like a penny to his name. The funny thing is, President Warren G. Harding, the guy who like really started this whole thing, He was never directly implicated in the teapot dome scandal because he died and he got out of it by dying. Yep.

So the lesson here and why this is kind of interesting is like this is the first time in American history where like a major scandal broke with like within the government type of situation. And like they kind of got away with it. And people did go to prison for it, barely. but it wasn't like the biggest guy behind the whole situation. The guy who paid the biggest price, I think, was Albert Fall. And because of this, some say that is where the phrase Fall Guy comes from. You know, Fall Guy, he's not wearing Ugg boots and like flannel. Fall Guy is like that guy that the scapegoat, the one that you blame everything on.

He's the fall guy, right? So it's believed that he's the original fall guy, Albert Fall. In the end, Teapot Dome really became the blueprint for future American scandals. And it really was like one of the biggest scandals until Watergate happened. And then we kind of forgot about it. Should we do an episode on Watergate? I personally, this might be silly, but I don't really remember what Watergate was about. But I assume it's the same thing.

We should do an episode home. No, I don't know. It's exhausting. When enough money and power are involved, the system just, It protects itself. It looks out for those people, huh? We think someone's watching out for us, the normal people, but no. They're looking out for themselves.

Always, throughout history, huh? It's exhausting. And sometimes the only reason the truth comes out is because someone couldn't be bullied into silence. Well, one of them was he was shot in murder too, actually. If you thought the teapot dome scandal was wild, just wait. Because the government isn't the only one with secrets that have stayed buried for way too long. Next time we're leaving the oil fields behind and heading somewhere a little more personal. Like your bathroom, your vanity, the drawer where you keep the tools that promise

beauty, but maybe hiding something way more dangerous. I'm getting into all the unexpected dangers hiding in plain sight at nail salons, tanning beds, and in your hair dryer. Join me next time for the dark history of deadly beauty tools. Now, I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story, so make sure to leave a comment down below so I can see what you're saying. Your comment might even be mentioned in a future episode. Have you been to Greystone Mansion, Manor? What's it called? I already forget.

Have you been? Let me know. Have you ever stole oil or anything? Let me know. Now let me read a couple of comments you guys have left me. Millie Squirrel, great name, left us a comment on our Eartha Kit episode saying, quote, my nanny became friends with Eartha when they lived in the same neighborhood

in England. I never knew until Isma called my nan's house for their catch-up phone calls and I answered. She was so incredibly sweet. That's so cool. You got to talk to Isma. I'm sure she got so sick of it of people asking like

can you say pull the lever, cronk? You know, but it was such a good line. Oh, I love that story. Thanks for sharing. Aw, that's really special. Okay. Thank you. Jesse Gowan, 9020, left us a comment on Spotify saying, quote, Joan is literally always bringing it. Joan? Okay, that's fine. Because Joan, sure, she does, she does well with the wardrobe, the wigs, the jewels, the purses. She's definitely a bit of a diva. I would love to know, like, to you, well, Joan wants to know, let me be real here. What, uh, what's your favorite look? Your favorite Joan look? I'm trying to think. think of what my favorite. What about Paul? Paul always shows up. Paul is always looking the best.

Paul needs more love. Today, Paul looks incredible. Incredible, Paul. We are going on a date after this. I love it. Celest Taylor 2346 gave us an episode suggestion saying, quote, bestie Bailey, you must do a dark history on glitter, end quote. I know. I've been hearing about this for years. I know what you're talking about. The whole conspiracy. about glitter. Didn't someone solve it recently? I don't know. Okay, listen.

Big glitter doesn't want us to know what it's made of but also who their biggest client is. It's very bizarre. They've got a whole thing going on that they're trying to hide and they've been hiding it for years and people have been talking about it for years

and that could be interesting. I'm not against that idea. Glitter. I mean, who doesn't love glitter? Okay. Thank you for the suggestion. I appreciate it. And stay tuned.

Did you watch the Mariah Carey movie, Glitter? We should do a dark history on that. Yeah. Anyways, I love you guys for watching and keep on commenting because maybe your comment will be featured in a future episode. Wouldn't that be fun? Hey, did you know that you can join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs?

And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. Yeah, you should do that. Hey, don't forget to subscribe. And if you don't know, Dark History is an audio boom original. A special thank you to our expert, Luke Nichter, Professor of History at Chapman University. Oh, wow. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian.

I hope you have a good day today. You make good choices. Yeah? Make good choices. Don't be a little shit. And I'll be talking to you guys later. Goodbye. Oh.

Oh. Oh. Oh! Ah! Thank you.