My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - 454 - Together We're Fine

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

This week, Karen and Georgia cover the murder of Sarah Everard and the 1978 Lufthansa Heist.  For our sources and show notes, visit www.myfavoritemurder.com/episodes. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3UFCn1g. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is exactly right. What do Ontario dairy farmers bring to the table? A million little things. But most of all the passion and care that goes into producing the local high quality milk we all love and enjoy every day. With 3,200 dairy farming families across Ontario sharing our love for milk, there's love in every glass.

Dairy Firmers of Ontario. From our families to your table, Everybody Milk. Visit Milk.org to learn more. Interior Chinatown is an all-new series based on the best-selling novel by Charles Yu about a struggling Asian actor who gets a bigger part than he expected when he witnesses a crime in Chinatown. Streaming November 19th, only on Disney+. Hello.

And welcome to To my favorite murder. That is Georgia hard start. That is still Karen Kilgara. Still, even though there's been a fascist takeover in this country. Guys, remember when we recorded on a Monday and we were like, don't let us down everyone. And like, tell us in the future if we had nothing to be worried about. Remember? Anyway. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight.

And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight.

And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had a little bit of a fight. And then we had and like, tell us in the future if we had nothing to be worried about. Remember, anyway. Here we are. Here we are in this fucking position again.

Yeah. Excuse my language. No, it's perfectly appropriate. I kind of don't know what to do. Like I kind of am like, oh, you just like go on with the show normal like. Well, we do in the way that this is what we know how much it helped the first fucking time we did this.

For who? For us or for the listeners? Well, it's about them. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. We're here in the service industry. Yeah, we are.

Trying to give, trying to make a difference. I feel like I didn't do enough. Last time? No, this time. Oh, yeah. That's, I think like I didn't do enough. Last time? No, this time. Oh, yeah, that's, I think that's... How everyone feels. That's the given, right? Yeah, but I don't think we could have changed that much anyway.

It's hard to say. Yeah. But yes, I totally know that feeling. I mean... It comes with the like helplessness and the frustration. And look, we got a little bit of time, but then everybody needs to fucking take the gloves off and get ready because that's what it's about. It's 1938 and you guys, we need to get it together now. It's 1938.

I'm sorry to say it, but there's a lot of people saying some great shit on TikTok that is really helping me. And it's just basically like like let's start planning, read these books, do these things. I think that people, the point that I find that people are making over and over is we've done this already so we kind of know what's coming. Doom and gloom, you get to do it for a little while. Block out some time, doom and gloom it up, and then start making plans. Then start reaching out and making community. Activate. Yeah. Our newsletter this week is actually really good. I don't think I've ever bragged

about the newsletter. It's amazing. Alison Agosti, thank you for being our incredible, she's our incredible copywriter and she put it together in a way that's very, like how do you put a newsletter out for a podcast this fucking week? Hey, guys. Hey, everyone. Hey, everyone. Hey, it's a promotion. Check out the merch store.

And instead it's like, hey, guys, here's some links that you might want to go to. Very impressive. When I read it, I kind of cried a little. I was like, thank you. Thank you. Because that's what we got to do. We'll do it. You and I, we'll, what's the word?

Donate $10,000 to the ACLU? Absolutely, yes. Okay, great. What's the word though when we all... Unite. Yeah, but the, defy, something defy. Oh, I know what you're talking about. Starts with a G.

Galvanize. Galvanize. Yay. Uh-oh. We're going to do it. This is not right this moment. This is a talking podcast. It's a talking podcast and we're not good at it.

Well, together we're fine. Together we're one person. That's right. That's the way it works. You know what I mean? That's the way it works. I have half of the word and you have the other half. Like what the fuck is the problem? I, those fucking Nick Terry MFM Animateds come up on my TikTok feed now. They do? Oh, that's lovely. And I'm like, am I one of those people that has drank my own bathwater?

Because these are delightful. They are. And they're very fun. They are. They're really good. Nick Terry will never be able to thank you enough for joining this family and making the funniest thing. Yeah, MFM animated if you are not watching and following.

My dad's watching and following. He's always telling me about how much he loves them. Hey, Marty! I think you voted wrong, but I'm not gonna ask you. Hey. Because I still need to love you. Oh, it's tough. I mean, there are people that are like, they're going through parent breakups. They're going through family breakups, like, dire.

I have to see my mom tomorrow. I'm really nervous about it, but. Yeah. Well, here's the thing you're good at, fighting with Janet. I'm so good at it. It's not like you're going to lose that improv. You've done it. You know the words to that song. I called my dad, because I wasn't sure. I was just like, I'm going to call my dad just to check in on him. But then I was like, I kind of can't deal with it if my dad's bummed. Because, you know, it's Jim. And of course, he was Jim. And I said, Dad, what the hell? What are we going to do? And he goes, I don't know. What the hell? I don't know. We're going to Sally Forth.

Sally Forth? We're going to Sally Forth. That's Jim's plan. I have not heard that term in decades. Yeah. Sally Forth. I mean, I did send Nora a text where I was just kind of like, hey, look, I know this is scary, but your great-grandmother came here to this country when she was 17 with her two sisters.

She didn't know anybody. To escape. To escape the black and tans. And they built a family, and that's what you're made of, and that's what we're made of and that's what we're made of and that's how we do it. That's right. That's the stock you're made of. Here we go. Good for you. And that's the stock that all of the fucking immigrants in America are made of. So instead

of trying to get rid of them, how about we all look to them because they have been through some real fucking shit. More shit than the non-fucking immigrants in a lot of fucking cases. Like what the fuck? Why are we, we're all human fucking beings. Like that's the class and the race that we should be thinking about, not this really fucking narrow specific weird incestuous fucking thing. It's dividing.

The intention is to divide us all. The intention is to divide us all. The intention is to divide. Sally Forth, that's a great roller derby name. Oh my God. Does it exist? It must. It has to. It must.

Does she listen? Sally Forth, if you're a roller derby queen and fucking. Shout us out. Marfa Texas or whatever, will you let us know? There used to be a comic strip called Sally Forth. Oh. But it was kind of like, it was one of those ones that wasn't necessarily funny or not funny.

I would always read it and go, what are we doing here? Is it a drama? But maybe I need to re-look at that and see. Well, speaking of fucking Sally Forthing, so on Wednesday the 6th, this past week, our episode of MFM Rewind came out, our new weekly show where we comment on and play original old episodes. It's a recap show.

A recap, thank you. Yeah, yeah. And this one, you covered Mary Vincent in it the day after the election. And so that was like, oh no, but it actually got, we got a lot of comments about that being powerful. And I have one from Instagram I want to read. Read it. From Katie Mayfield.

It says, like, it chills every time I hear Mary Vincent's story, and I can't help but think how serendipitous it is to relisten to Karen telling this story today as I process the election results and think of an administration which wants to hack away at our freedoms and our democracy. The despair I feel today cannot compare to what Mary Vincent must have felt at the bottom of an administration which wants to hack away at our freedoms and our democracy. The despair I feel today cannot compare to what Mary Vincent must have felt at the bottom of that ravine. And yet she packed those wounds and climbed out.

And she's built a beautiful life. Mary, you are triumphant. Thank you for showing us what's possible. Incredible. Someone just wrote that as a comment? Yeah. Say the name again. Her name is Katie, K-A-T-I Mayfield.

Incredible work, Katie. Thank you. Uh-oh, now we're crying on video. Shit. Listen. Look, these are some times. We got to focus on what we can focus on, next step after next step, and focus on Mary Vincent.

What are you going to do, talk about the network? Yeah, but we have a network. Highlight some other podcasts. Yeah, if you need some like comic relief or some true crime relief, we have those options. I don't know. Go for it. That's true. Over on Do You Need a Ride, which is my other podcast.

Do you know that I love podcasting? Truly. It's really one of my favorite things. And actually this episode, Chris and I drive around with comedian, writer and organizer Jenny Yang. She literally runs errands, but is a truly delightful episode. I didn't know her before we did that episode. I'd heard of her, but I'd never met her, and it was really fun. That's awesome. And then on Ghosted by Roz Hernandez, a wonderful show, Roz is joined by Sasha Colby,

an iconic performer and winner of season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race. We have to give credit to the fact that we do live in a timeline where RuPaul's Drag Race and the stars from that show dominate entertainment. I fucking live for it. It is the best. We live in a drag queen world and I fucking am very grateful for that. Danielle and Millie have another epic double feature. Listen to this double feature on I Saw What You Did. Parasite from 2019 and Triangle of Sadness from 2022. That movie.

Oh. Vince and I were just sitting on the couch going, what the fuck? For real. What the fuck? The whole time. It is so incredible. And that ending, like when that ending happened,

I was like, you've done it. You've done the perfect ending. This is unbelievable. Oh my God. What's this face's cameo in that as the ship captain was mwah. Was it Woody Harrelson? Yes. Chef's kiss. So good. And then over on Buried Bones, Kate and Paul discuss the 1914 murder of Otto Kohler by one of his two mistresses. 1914 murder of Otto Kohler by one of his two mistresses. Also, we'll take the time as the world is crumpling to sell you T-shirts.

We have no shame. But it's only because the holidays are coming and we have our first ever jewelry collaboration. So a listener and fine jewelry designer named Nina Palaccio at Saval Collective in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, created a beautiful Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered necklace for us. They're very limited. Please head to myfavoritemurder.com today if you want to see if you want to buy one. I love when we do collabs with listeners. There's nothing better than that. Also I just went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for vacation to visit our Great Lakes office and see Bradford-Balazsky and the legal department. And I wonder if I went to Saval and

looked around and just didn't know that we had collaborated with them. I'm going to look them up online. With holiday travel just around the corner, there's no better time to dive into something new on Audible. Their audiobooks, podcasts, and exclusive Audible originals will keep you sane when your flight's delayed again. Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar, especially when you're diving into a thriller, listening to cozy holiday stories, or really anything in between. With thousands of titles released each year, Audible has the best selection of audiobooks, along with popular podcasts and exclusive Audible originals, and its all-in-one easy-to-use app. Enjoy Audible anytime while doing other things like household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it.

You'll find endless inspiration and entertainment without needing to set aside extra time. Check out the Audible Original, 10 Rules for the Perfect Murder by James Patterson. After the killing of a prominent mob lawyer, two NYPD homicide detectives begin receiving chilling written rules on how to commit the perfect murder. I think the Audible app is my maybe longest app that I've ever had.

It's never not been on my phone since, like, you could download it. I just finished a beautiful audiobook about four sisters and like going through life as sisters and how hard it is. It's called Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors and it's so beautiful and heartbreaking and devastating and uplifting and I cannot recommend it enough. It sounds amazing. There's more to imagine when you listen. New members can try Audible now free for 30 days with your first audiobook included. Visit audible.com slash murder or text murder to 500 500. That's audible.com slash murder or text murder to 500 500 to try Audible free for 30 days.

Goodbye. During the holidays, it can be hard to prioritize your health. So if you're looking for support to help you feel balanced, Seeds DSO-1 Daily Synbiotic has you covered. It's a probiotic and prebiotic that's formulated to provide benefits for whole body health. Backed by clinical trials and breakthrough research, Seeds DS01 is a product you know you can trust.

Seeds' patented capsule design ensures that the fragile bacteria survive the shipping journey with no refrigeration required. DS01 is formulated to support gut health, skin health, heart health, immune health, and more. All in just two capsules a day. Symbiotics work best when used regularly, and that's why Seed offers subscription delivery. You know, it's kind of funny. I never really realized how off I can be, how I'm like maybe eating more junk food or just kind of not paying attention. And then when like we got some seed symbiotics

and all of a sudden you feel your system kind of set into place and start working a little cleaner and a little better and you're like, oh, this is making a huge difference. Like it's the kind of thing where you don't realize why you feel off until you take seed and then you're like, oh yeah, I feel much better. Definitely.

So get ahead of the new year with a routine that helps you now by going to seed.com slash murder and use code 25murder to get 25% off your first month. That's 25% off your first month of Seed's DS01 Daily Symbiotic at seed.com slash murder, code 25murder. Goodbye. All right, you want, you go first? I want to tell you a story. Okay, murder code 25 murder. Goodbye. All right. You want you go first. I want to tell you a story.

Okay. Tell me a story. You're not going to like this. So you might remember this. Today's story begins on March 3rd, 2021 in the Clapham area of South London around nine o'clock at night. Oh, fuck. You know what I'm about to say?

Oh, fuck. Thirty three year old Sarah Everard is walking home after spending a couple hours at her friend's house. She's headed back to her apartment in a nearby neighborhood called Brixton. It's like a 50-minute walk from Clapham. It's kind of a long walk, but it's still relatively early at night. But it's also that confusing part of the pandemic where the restrictions seem to be evolving by the day. People are actively kind of trying to figure out how to navigate public spaces. So Sarah's wearing her mask. She's taken a route that she's familiar

with. It's well lit. It's populated. It doesn't require close interactions with other people. So of course, like all women seem to have to all the time, she has chosen the safest option available to her to just move around in public. Not long after setting out, Sarah calls her boyfriend, Josh. They chat for about 15 minutes, they say good night, and then Sarah disappears. This is the story of a tragic senseless crime that ignites a nationwide firestorm of anger

over the lack of women's safety in public spaces and the failure of the systems that are supposed to protect it. This is the murder of Sarah Everard. So sources used in today's research are articles and reports from various British news outlets, including BBC, Sky News, and The Guardian. And the rest of the sources are listed in our show notes. So like many of us, Sarah Everard struggled through 2020. The pandemic sent her employer into a tailspin, so she wound up getting laid off. And at the same time, she and her then boyfriend broke up.

But by 2021, things are leveling out. She's gotten a new job in marketing. She has a new boyfriend named Josh. They're very happy together. They're actually planning to travel to Ibiza with some friends in a few months. Her life is filled with people who adore her. Her close friend, Rose, says,

quote, she has always been an exceptional friend, dropping everything to be there to support her friends whenever they need her. Her cousin, Tom, adds, quote, Sarah's absolutely amazing. She's lovely and she's fantastic, so sensible, so well loved by her family, by her friends, by everyone. And her sister Katie describes her as, quote, the very best person with so many people who love and cherish her. Sarah's colleagues are surprised when on March 4th, she does not show up for work and she does not call, which is, of course, entirely out of character for her. But what's even stranger than that is that no one can reach her. her for her. But what's even stranger than that is that no one can reach her. Her loved ones immediately sense something is very wrong. So that day Josh reports her missing to the police.

Sarah's parents travel down from her hometown of York to London to figure out what's happening. And meanwhile, her friends and family start distributing flyers and sharing posts on social media, just immediately doing everything they can to spread the word that their friend has disappeared. So the police immediately launch an investigation and they begin to piece together Sarah's route from the night before using footage from CCTV, from security cameras, public buses, and doorbell cameras. So before long, they have around 1800 hours of footage

to comb through. So they're also going door to door to ask residents if they remember seeing anyone fitting Sarah's description. And before long, police have pieced together this timeline. Sarah left her friend's house around 9 p.m. 13 minutes later at 9.13, she calls her boyfriend Josh. They speak until around 9.27. And while she's on the phone, Sarah is captured by two different CCTV cameras as she walks.

At 9.34 p.m., less than 10 minutes after she gets off the phone, Sarah is spotted again, this time by a camera on a city bus as it passes by. And now she's not alone. It's hard to make out the details, so Sarah and another person kind of just look like blobs in this grainy footage, but the other person looks larger and taller than her. And in this footage, Sarah and the stranger seem to be facing one another. They're standing by a white car that's pulled over with its hazards on, and the stranger is holding something up as if they're presenting it to her.

A few minutes later, at 9.38 p.m., another bus passes by. The camera on this one captures that same white car, but now Sarah and the person are no longer standing there. Instead, the car's two front doors are open. About a minute later, the white car is seen driving away. So as investigators piece Sarah's evening together, they also put out a call to any Londoners who might have seen her interacting with this stranger. And two witnesses, who are a couple, come forward claiming to have seen Sarah being handcuffed on the street. They figured she was being arrested by an undercover cop.

So this is a solid lead, but because it's a missing persons case, time is of the essence, of course, so people have to figure out who that second person is and fast. Fortunately, the buses that captured footage of Sarah are also outfitted with technology that automatically reads the license plates of passing vehicles. So it doesn't take long for police to suss out where the white car came from. It's a rental car from Dover, England, which is like about 80 miles southeast of London. When police follow up with the rental car agency, they learn that this white car was rented on the night of March 3rd and that the customer who rented it, rented it under his real name, which made it very easy for police to find him. And he is now the prime

suspect in Sarah Everard's disappearance. This person's name is Wayne Cousins and he's a police officer. Wayne Cousins is 48 years old and he lives with his wife and children in a town called Deal, which is 80 miles from the center of London in the county of Kent. And that's just north of Dover where that car was rented. Cousins has spent the last several years working in law enforcement. He's bounced from department to department while undergoing the requisite background checks to varying results. Back in the 2000s, for example, Cousins starts out as essentially a volunteer officer called a special constable with the Kent police.

Then in 2008, he applies for a formal position with the same department, but the routine background check comes back with an odd red flag. Cousins has a lot of personal debt. So this is considered a risk factor because of bribery and corruption. So he doesn't get the job. But he is still allowed to continue his volunteer post. Two years later in 2010, he applies for a full-time role with the Civil Nuclear Consabulary, or the CNC, which is a specialized police force tasked with protecting nuclear sites across England.

So he's vetted once again by an entirely different team and his debt issues are flagged for a second time, yet he's still hired for this position. Of course, having debt is not uncommon and it's not particularly nefarious, but there will be many more very big red flags. For example, while employed with the CNC, Cousins reportedly has a habit of making the women around him so uncomfortable that his colleagues give him the nickname, The Rapist. I'm sorry. That's a... If you're called that once, that's not a nickname. You get to be called multiple times and keep your fucking job.

No. Well, it feels like a behind his back nickname, but then it is that kind of thing of like, when do you get bad vibes to the point where you have to talk about it to somebody? Totally. I mean, that's extreme. In 2015, Cousins is reported to the police after he's seen driving around Dover naked from the waist down in his own car.

What the fuck? Back. Investigators have Cousins plate information and a photograph, which are captured by a passing bus in that incident. He's investigated for indecent exposure, but the person doing that investigating is a police sergeant who is friends with Cousins' brother, so no charges are ever filed. The tiniest amount of due diligence could have ended Cousins' policing career, but instead in 2017, he applies for a position with the Metropolitan Police, the Met, as

they call it, serving the greater London metropolitan area, and Cousins manages to pass yet another round of vetting and gets that job. But now that he's been identified in this footage with Sarah Everard, Cousins is finally starting to sweat. At first when investigators questioned him about Sarah's disappearance, he remained silent. And then he suddenly just completely changed his course. He claims that he's in serious trouble with an Eastern European gang. And he racked up debts after visiting a gang-affiliated sex worker, but he doesn't have the money to pay them back.

So he claims that these gangsters ordered him to kidnap a woman so that they could eventually sex traffic her. He claims that if he failed to do so, this gang would come after his family, and that's the reason that he kidnapped Sarah. The story only gets more convoluted and confusing from there. He admits following this gang's instructions and ultimately handing Sarah over to them, but he tells police he doesn't have any identifying or contact information that could be used to track these men down.

Unsurprisingly, the police do not buy this story in any way. And so when Cousins realizes he isn't fooling anyone, he stops trying and he simply repeats no comment to every question that they ask him. Meanwhile, investigators are digging deeper into Cousins' life and what they find is damning. They search his house and his car and they find plastic handcuffs, a handcuff key, plastic gloves, Velcro straps, blood and semen stains are found in the backseat of his car. And when that blood is tested, it's a match for Sarah's DNA and the semen matches Cousins.

So investigators learned that in 2019, cousins purchased a small piece of land in a secluded part of Kent called Hoades Wood, around 50 miles from London. Cousins' cell phone pings in the area the night Sarah goes missing, and so officers start combing those woods. Then on March 10th, a full week after Sarah is last seen in London, her remains are found in Hodes Wood. Her body's been badly burned and placed in bags and put into a nearby pond. Her phone is also eventually found by police in a river roughly 30 miles away. So investigators try to theorize what happened on the night of March 3rd when she went missing.

And this is what they, the kind of timeframe and the story they come up with, which is that earlier in the day, Cousins rents a car in Dover, 10 miles from his home in Deal. He drives his car to London. He sees Sarah walking alone. It's believed that he then stops Sarah pretending to be an undercover cop. He seems to have put a lot of thought into this kind of scheme. He actually specifically rented a car that looks like an undercover cop car. In the footage, Sarah appears deferential, her head's down as if she's being confronted by an authority figure. Cousins is also seen

presenting something to Sarah. People are assuming it's his badge. Yeah. Because he's a cop. Right. As far as what Cousins might have been telling Sarah, the most prominent theory is that he was citing COVID rules to her, possibly name-checking actual ordinances or maybe making them up.

But he likely convinced her that she'd done something wrong and he was now placing her under arrest. Yeah, that's so terrifying. Yeah. In any case, Sarah gets into Cousin's rental car and almost certainly assumes she's going to be taken to a nearby police station. Yeah. But instead, she's driven 50 miles out of town. Cousin ditches his rental car and then forces Sarah into his own vehicle that he has left in a specific spot earlier that day. So he's planned this to the point where he's changing cars. He then drives her to the property and hoards wood, rapes and strangles her to death.

Hours later at 8.15 a.m., Cousins stops at a coffee shop and then returns to the rental car at 8.30. He then drives out of town to throw Sarah's phone into the river. Around 2 p.m., he's captured on CCTV footage buying two huge bags, the kind that they use to carry debris on construction sites, and they're the same ones that her remains will be found in later. So to give himself time to dispose of Sarah's body, Cousins calls out of work,

he cites exhaustion and emotional stress, and then he calls his wife and lies telling her that he is at work. He's got a wife and kids. It's so disturbing. It's so disturbing, yeah. So around 11 AM, the next day, March 5th, he's spotted buying gasoline. And that afternoon, residents near Hoads Wood report seeing a large orange and yellow flame.

So then on March 7th, just days after he murders Sarah, Cousins inexplicably brings his wife and children to Hoads Wood. What? That's psychotic. It is kind of like right in the definition. So two days later on March 9th, Cousins, who's probably sensing the walls closing in on him, wipes his phone of all data. He is arrested hours later. So this is an enormous amount of evidence against Cousins, both physical and circumstantial. It's so overwhelming that in June of 2021, he actually pleads guilty to Sarah's kidnapping

and rape, and then a few weeks later, he admits to murdering her. Because Cousins pleads guilty to these charges, he is never brought to trial, meaning that Sarah's family doesn't have to experience the media bullets and the traumatic testimony that often accompanies these horrible cases. But Sarah's loved ones will have a chance to confront him during his sentencing hearing. And that takes place in September of 2021. As Sarah's loved ones share victim impact statements, they repeatedly ask cousins to look them in the eye, but like a true coward,

he can't. These statements are heartbreaking and they drive home the senselessness and the brutality of Sarah's murder, along with the pain felt by all of them, all of her family and loved ones who miss her so dearly. Her father, Jeremy, says, quote, Mr. Cousins, please will you look at me. The impact of what you have done will never end. The horrendous murder of my daughter, Sarah, is in my mind all the time and will be for the rest of my life. She was saving to buy a house

and looking forward to marriage and children. We were looking forward to having grandchildren. We loved being a part of Sarah's world and we expected her to have a full and happy life. The closest we can get to her now is to visit her grave every day." Cousins has ultimately handed a whole life sentence, which is very rare. It's reserved for the UK's most violent offenders and it means that he'll spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole.

So of course, this sentencing does nothing to ease the pain of Sarah's loved ones or to restore the faith the British public would have had in their systems, especially British women. People are completely outraged that a man like Wayne Cousins was able to rise to a position of power and then abuse it in such a horrific way. And there were so many instances where Cousins should have lost his job, talked about some of them already, but there are more. In fact, just days before Sarah's murder, Cousins exposed himself to two different women

that were working at the drive-through at McDonald's in Kent. These were two separate instances. Fuck. Kent, these were two separate instances. So this is a sexual predator who can no longer control himself just driving around town. Yeah, and doesn't have to worry about it because he's not going to get reprimanded in any way. Seems like he never has been. His license plate was clearly captured by the restaurant's CCTV footage and was passed along to the Metropolitan Police. Again, his employer at the time, they did not investigate further. After Sarah's death, the Met promises to do

better. Oh my God. Tell me someone got fucking in trouble for not following through. Their initial response, hold on, their initial response makes things worse. One of the largest demonstrations held after Sarah's death takes place at Clapham Common, a park near where she was last seen, thousands of people gather for a peaceful vigil to honor Sarah's memory and duly raise awareness about violence against women.

But the police citing COVID restrictions forcefully break up the event. Images of women being restrained and arrested are circulated throughout the media, adding to the fury and frustration of what the people are already feeling. So an enormous social media movement begins online with British women sharing their own stories of being violated in public spaces. The same month that Sarah's killed, a report is released by UN Women, which is the arm of the UN that deals with gender equality and women's empowerment.

And it finds that more than 70% of British women have been sexually harassed in public. Sarah Everard's case is horrific, heartbreaking, and perhaps the most notorious murder of a British woman in a public space that's happened in recent years. But this case is not the only one. There's another one from 2020 involving the murders of 27-year-old Nicole Smallman and her 46-year-old sister, Beba Henry, who were killed by a man they did not know in a London park in a random attack. That crime in and of itself is terrible, but it reached a horrifying level of notoriety after the two responding police officers took selfies with the women's bodies, circulated

them in a WhatsApp group, and described them as, quote, dead birds. There's no bottom. There's also the case of 28-year-old Sabina Nessa. In September of 2021, Sabina, who is a beloved school teacher, was murdered by a stranger, a male stranger in a sexually motivated attack. She was on her way to meet up with a friend and she was passing through a London park. And both of these cases happened to women of color, which is why most people say these deaths did not receive as much media attention as Sarah's. But they're all shocking, senseless murders that are being perpetrated or handled

so callously by the police that it really shows how much danger women are in on a regular basis. It's a difficult truth, but it really shows how much women need to come together, need to join together, need to transgress and confront the racial issues and the class issues and actually come together to fight this violence. I mean, what do you do when like your very own life is not taken seriously by the people who are paid via taxes to protect it. Paid in this city billions of dollars. Right, like what do you even fucking, where do you even start?

You just have to rely on each other to try to be loud. Yes. Yes. To be as loud as possible. Yeah. Yeah. We'll end this with Sarah's mother Susan's impact statement. I yearn for her. I remember all the lovely things about her. She was caring, she was funny,

she was clever, but she was good at practical things too. She was a beautiful dancer, she was a wonderful daughter. She was always there to listen, to advise, or simply to share with the minutia of the day. And she was also a strongly principled young woman who knew right from wrong and who lived by those values. She was a good person. She had a purpose to her life. What I do know is that Sarah will never be forgotten and is remembered with boundless

love. And that's the story of the tragic murder of Sarah Everard. LARISA Wow. That's a big one to tackle. Good job. AMT – Thank you. Maren McClashen is our researcher. Alejandra Keck is our producer who also helped pick that story. And what's crazy is because the day after the election, I

called Maren, it was like eight in the morning. I was like, hey, what do you think if we just read out like Project 2025 and we just go over all the plans of what's about to happen and what's about to happen to women? And Maren's like, yeah, it sounds cool. And just like, just starts getting into it immediately. And then I get to work and Alejandra's like, hey, yeah, so, you actually have a really good story. I think you should do the story you have. And I'm like, okay, okay, sounds good. Because I was like, I'm just making shit up. It feels like something big needs to be done.

Yeah. That is. And that is it. Well, that's just it is. that's what this podcast is. Totally. We don't sometimes realize that. And we've definitely done it wrong. We started out rough. We started out basically doing this podcast the way we were taught to ingest this kind of media by the media. But we got taught by our listeners.

We got taught by victims and people on the outside of like, actually here's how you should be doing this, and it actually matters to tell these stories. Definitely. And like women need to hear these stories. Young women need to hear these stories. It's important. It is.

The holidays are a whirlwind of events and family gatherings. And with Quince's Luxe Essentials, you'll feel effortlessly stylish at every single one. Quince is known for their Mongolian cashmere sweaters, starting at 50 bucks. And check out their Mongolian cashmere oversized boyfriend cardigan sweater. You can pull those sleeves all the way over your hands, baby. When you're looking at a piece on the Quince website, you can scroll down to see how people have styled it and if they thought the fit was true to size or not.

Everything is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands because Quince works directly with top factories. They cut out the middleman and they pass the savings on to you. Quince only partners with factories that uphold safe, ethical manufacturing practices and use premium fabrics and finishes. You know, I have been walking around the office almost every day this week in the same Quince sweater that I love so much.

I think it's called the Boyfriend Sweater, but it is like the second it gets cold in LA, it is so fun to bust out sweaters because it's been like nine months and you haven't. You've basically been wearing the same outfit. But these Quince sweaters are so cozy and soft. They look really good. They land at the perfect length. Like they're very stylish and really well made, but then they're not breaking the bank. Like there's no guilt when you buy two or three quince sweaters because you know you're just like

setting yourself up perfectly for fall and winter. That's right. So get cozy in Quince's high quality wardrobe essentials. Go to quince.com slash mfm for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's q u i n c e dot com slash mfm to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash mfm. Goodbye. Hey Karen, you know how cats are perfect creatures and we should do everything in our power to make them happy? Yes, go on. Well with Pretty Litter, we can help our sweet baby angels live their best lives. Pretty Litter is the high-performance

cat litter that controls odors, absorbs moisture, and changes color to help detect potential health issues in your cat. And Pretty Litter is ultra absorbent, lightweight, low dust and one six pound bag lasts up to a month. It's the cat litter that gives you peace of mind. Their crystals will change color to indicate early signs of illness in your cat, such as urinary tract infections and kidney issues. And the best part? Pretty Litter ships free right to your, so you'll never run out. I have three cats and two of them, the ladies are getting a little older, and we take them

regularly to the vet to get checkups. But those little in-between things that can happen can be scary and can get bad before you realize that things are bad. And so the fact that you can monitor their health through the litter, through their urine, I mean, the peace of mind that gives me as a cat owner is huge. It's so good. Pretty litter is pretty amazing. You have to try it. Go to prettylitter.com slash MFM to save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy. That's prettylitter.com slash MFM to save 20% on your first order and get a free cat

toy. Prettylitter.com slash MFM. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details. Goodbye. Well this story just couldn't be further from your story. Okay. Which is okay. That's how we do this now. True. Are we going to get the bends? It's so extremely different. Yes. Okay. Yes. You know why? Why? Because we're hanging out with the mafia now. Okay. Like classic mafia, classic, all of it.

Can you sing the opening theme song to the Sopranos while you start? The love boat. Oh, no, that's a different one. This story is like what the movie Goodfellas was based off of. Oh yes, Henry Hill. Yes. Nice. So I'm going to tell you the story of the Lufthansa heist.

And I've seen Goodfellas, but I forgot that that's what this is about. I did too. Yeah. So the movie Goodfellas is based off the book by Nicolas Pelégy. But what I know better and know and love so much more and like has a special place in my heart is a different movie that was lightly based off of this story. And that story was written by Pileggi's wife whose name was Nora Ephron. And she wrote the fucking 1990 classic, My Blue Heaven, which was literally one of my favorite fucking movies growing up.

I still quote it sometimes. Like if you know, you know. So this is the story of one of the largest cash robberies in American history and possibly the best known mafia crime, the story of the Lufthansa heist. Beautiful. So let's just go in a totally different direction. The main sources used for this story are a book called The Lufthansa Heist written by mafia informant Henry Hill and Daniel Stone and an article from When the Heist Happened

from Time Magazine and the rest of the sources can be found in our show notes. But definitely go watch My Blue Heaven or Goodfellows, whatever. Yeah, whatever you like. Both are classics. All right. So here we are. It's three in the morning on Monday, December 11th, 1978, a great year. And a stolen black Ford van is driving the perimeter of JFK Airport in Queens, New York. It pulls to the side, not by the passenger area where you'd like pick up and drop off passengers, but by a cluster of cargo terminals. Three men hop out and use bolt cutters to cut the chain and open a gate in the chain link fence separating

the road from the terminals. So already, here we go. Yeah. They get back in the car and drive toward a ramp that leads to the loading dock at the cargo terminal for the German airline Lufthansa. There a Lufthansa employee named Kerry Whelan, who is driving a truck around the terminal, spots them. And as Kerry gets close to the passenger side door, one of the men gets out of that van and pistol whips him.

And then those men drag Kerry into the van, they land down on the floor and then proceed up the ramp. Once they are at the top of the ramp, the men put on masks and they are met with three other masked thieves who have somehow already gained entry into the building. It's not clear how. So these six thieves have met up at the exact moment when all of the employees in the cargo terminal are taking their coffee break. So sounds timed, doesn't it? Like they had insider info, doesn't it?

They knew when to do it. That's right. They round up all these poor fucking employees who are just trying to have a coffee break and get through their fucking night shift. Night part job. It's three in the morning. They're just trying to get through their day, night, whatever. It's like that thing when you have to like, when you have to work at night

and so you have to drink coffee and you feel kind of like hollow but you're rattling. Yeah. And you're just kind of like, how am I going to do this? Everything's a little dreamlike and woozy. And then when you get off at like 7 a.m., by that time, you're like, forget it, now I have energy. Yeah. Yeah And you can't sleep. What are you going to sleep till 2? And then what? They round up all the employees, these poor employees, and handcuff all of them. They happen to have brought the exact amount of handcuffs needed for the job.

They didn't just happen by. No, they didn't. Then they pick out the manager, they find the manager, hold a gun to his head, and bring him to the terminal's high-security vault. They drive the van right up to the vault, and then threatening to kill this poor manager, hold a gun to his head and bring him to the terminal's high security vault. They drive the van right up to the vault and then threatening to kill this poor manager, they get him to open the vault and they load the vault's contents into the van. What's in the vault, you ask? Non-descript boxes.

There's a ton of them and it takes them 45 minutes to load all of those into the stolen black van. These boxes have arrived on a plane from Germany on Friday. What's that? Germany. The boxes had been scheduled to be transferred to Chase Manhattan Bank first thing the morning when they arrived, but they had been stalled and had stayed over the weekend instead, these boxes.

And the boxes, everyone knows, contain cash and jewelry. It's like a known thing, but nobody knows how much. So the van is loaded up. The thieves take the security tapes, which they know the location of, another insider info, and they drive away, end of the robbery. It's 420 a.m. at this point, and the employees are instructed not to call the police until 430, which they comply with. And at some point, Kerry Whalen, the man who got pistol-whipped, is let out of the van and no one's been killed. He's the only person who had been injured at all and he ends up being okay.

Good. So, right away, investigators are like, hi, inside job. They're fucking totally aware of it. The Lufthansa employees are able to tell the police that all six of them had, quote, strong Brooklyn accents. Just like, ay, ay. The police are right that the thieves had someone helping them on the inside. A man named Lewis Werner is a supervising shipping clerk at the Lufthansa cargo terminal at the airport. And he, unfortunately, it turns out, is a gambler. And he owes $20,000 to a man named

Martin Krugman. I don't want to be judgmental, but it sounds like Lewis is a little bit of a nerd. Which part of, because he's a supervising shipping clerk? Yeah, and he's kind of like, it's probably the guy no one would expect. So they're just like, they're like, hey, Lewis, you know what you're going to do that nobody's ever going to think you would ever do. He's all nervous. I'm probably getting that from the movie. Right, totally. But $20,000 is a fucking lot of money. In 1978?

1978, that's a ton of money now that you owe someone. Like, God, but guess how much it is in today's money? Is it $300,000? It's $100,000. I know. I always go way over. So the guy he owes money to, Martin Krugman, is a Whig salesman. Oh, that's so innocent, right? No.

He's also an associate of certain mobsters named Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke They are both associated with the Lucchese crime family. So wig salesman like come on in everybody We got bobs. We got long hair. Yeah, I think so Okay, like back then when they had like wig shops. Yeah, but like he's in with the mob though Yeah, you know, he actually doesn't know anything about way probablyigs. Probably not. What do you have to know about them? Put them on. Yeah, just pull it on. Try to pull it back a little so it looks normal.

Right. Now, we're into Goodfellows because this Henry Hill fellow is played by Ray Liotta. RIP. And Jimmy Burke, this guy, is played by Robert De Niro. So that's how important they were, is they're played by two of the most, like, classic actors. COLLEEN O'BRIEN Big deal guys. COLLEEN O'BRIEN Big deal guys. So, Lewis Werner's situation, owing all that money, is not good, clearly. When gamblers can't pay Martin, the Whig salesman, he sticks his enforcers on

them. His enforcer goes by the name Spiky. Just immediately bad. COLLEEN O'BRIEN Or it's one of those, like, opposite nicknames where he's, like, real by the name Spiky. Just immediately bad. Or it's one of those like opposite nicknames where he's like real round and fat. It's the opposite of a spike. His fun special MO, his like thing, he's like this is my mob thing. Is to take people into his basement and break their hands with a vice. No. That's going to be my thing. I'm Spiky.

He says, I'm Spiky. I'm Spiky. Fuck. That's the piece when I talk about the mob, I just want to turn away. Because Spiky's doing stuff like that, where it's just like. No, they're not the beautiful people you want them to be and think they are? I just really treasure my wigs, and I

don't want people touching them that have that kind of violence in their hearts. Spiky would never. Spiky, get out of the basement. Take a painting class. Pottery, a nice pottery throwing class. And so, of course, Lewis Werner's like, oh, no, I don't want to fucking deal with my Spiky and his vice grip.

So he proposes an idea to Jimmy. He tells him, hey, man, I work at this cargo place. A large shipment of untraceable U.S US currency regularly comes into the Lufthansa cargo terminal at JFK Airport. This is like a regular thing. He says it doesn't come in on a particular day, so he can't give him the day, but he always knows when it's going to arrive. So the shipment in general, why are they sending boxes of untraceable money from Germany to

the US, right? It's because of an agreement between a German bank and the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City. It's all money that American tourists, business people, and military personnel have exchanged in Germany. So like the money you exchange for German, what are they, fucking Reichmarks? They have to go back to the US. Oh, right. You know what I they? Fucking Reichmarks. They have to go back to the US. Oh, right. You know what I mean? But where's that jewelry coming from?

I don't know. Here, take this necklace. I can have a couple of Deutschmarks. Probably. Buy myself a drink. That was good. Thanks. That was great. I'm working on my accents.

I like it. And the serial numbers from those bills are not recorded, I don't think, until they get to chase. So they're just unmarked bills in boxes at the cargo terminal. It was such a wild time and a loosey-goosey time. So loose and free. They're almost like, please steal this money. Yeah, it's just in a cardboard box. Yeah. With what? A little tape on the top?

Little tapes. Some stamps? With like this Hello Kitty tape, you know? It was just like, oh, there it is. This side up with a little cash symbol. So much money. It's like this Hello Kitty tape, you know? It was just like, oh, there it is. This side up with a little cash symbol. So much money. Careful money or like fragile money.

I heart money. So it's always a huge amount of money, generally in the millions. And just like everyone fucking knows that. So Martin brings the idea to his mafia connection, Henry Hill, Ray Liotta, and Jimmy Burke, Robert De Niro. He's like, hey, here's this idea, like let's do it. And they run the idea up the chain of command to the capo, which is the head of the Lucchese family, who's like, sounds great, let's do it. Perfect. Yeah. A crew is assembled, mostly made up of the

Lucchese associates who all operate out of a bar in Queens. They all, that's their spot. It's called Robert's Lounge. COLLEEN O'BRIEN So cool. SONIA DARA So sounds great. Let's go. COLLEEN O'BRIEN So good. So many brown drinks in there. SONIA DARA So many. COLLEEN O'BRIEN Rusty Nails. SONIA DARA Pinky Rings.

COLLEEN O'BRIEN Wigs. So many wigs. SONIA DARA So many wigs, too. And that's where Jimmy Burke conducts most of his business. And a plan comes together with the help from Lewis on all of the logistics. He provides plans to the building and says he will tell them exactly when to come and pick up the shipment, which he does that weekend in December. So immediately after the heist, it becomes clear to both authorities and to the thieves exactly how much money has actually been stolen.

It turns out that there were two separate shipments in the vault that day, not one like the thieves had been expecting. And so the total amount of the untraceable bills they stole was $5 million. And in addition to this, there was about $800,000 worth of all that beautiful jewelry we were talking about. American jewelry in Europe. Yeah, the bangles and the brooches. I left my watch on the plane, Lufthansa. Right. So that's about a total of about $5.8 million, which in today's money...

Oh, in 78? 5.8 million. I think everyone's like, oh, fuck. Is it double? Is it like 10 million? It's 28 million. Jesus Christ. Yeah.

They were stoked. At the time, this is the largest cash robbery ever on American soil. So they're like, at Roberts, they're like, pina coladas for everybody. That's right. Let's go. Top shelf. The cash is quickly laundered through a network of additional mob contacts, all of whom are told to lay low.

They're like, don't fucking buy flashy shit because clearly they're kind of on to us and you're going to point them right in our direction. Just play it cool. Yeah. You know? So, things immediately start to go wrong as they tend to do when you make a movie about a thing that happens. Especially a thing that happens in the mafia.

Right. Right. The stolen black van that, you know, was part of the heist is supposed to be driven to a salvage yard in New Jersey. And guess who it's owned by? John Gotti, who's like not, he's not in this family, but he's like, I'll help you guys. I think they had so much money. They're like, let's like spread it around.

Like he's like, yes, I'll get rid of the van. But the man who's supposed to bring the van to the salvage yard, a man named Parnell Edwards, who goes by the nickname Stacks, which is pretty great nickname. By Kean Stacks. By Kean Stacks which is pretty great nickname. Spiky and Stacks. Spiky and Stacks. My favorite cartoon. So instead of doing what he's supposed to do Stacks for some fucking reason parks the van in front of his girlfriend's apartment in Brooklyn.

He loves her. He loves her so much he like has to make a pit stop on the way to getting rid of the van. He's like I'm trying to do these crimes but I gotta come see you sweetheart. Right? All right. Unfortunately, he parks the van in front of a hydrant. Oh.

Oh. So it's immediately... Toed? No, like the police are immediately like, hey, here's... Ticket? They know the van. Yes. They know it's the van that had been reported stolen.

That was used in the heist. Stacks. Stacks really fucking blew it. And also then, Carrie Whelan's wallet is found inside the van. Kerry Whelan sounds like the name of a girl I would have gone to high school with. It's like that does not sound like a mafia name at all. It's K-E-R-R-Y. Is that Irish?

It sounds, it's an Irish last name I think. Right. So he was the one who worked at Lufthansa. He was the one who got pistol-whipped and like put in the van. So they were able to connect that to the van. You know what I mean? So they're like, this is the van. The FBI figures out whose apartment the van is parked in front of, knows who Stax is and who he works for. And because of the rigid hierarchy of the mob, they basically know immediately which general circle of people is connected to this heist.

At the same time, investigators want to find out who the person was on the inside at Lufthansa who orchestrated the heist, like, because he's maybe the worst one. Maybe. Right? They first focus on a Lufthansa employee named Peter Grinwald. And Peter had actually in the past conspired with Lewis Werner to plan this exact kind of heist. But Peter was either cut out of the plan in the end or he just didn't want to participate. But it doesn't matter because Peter knows

all about it and knows who the players are, even though he wasn't participating. So he agrees to testify in exchange for immunity and immediately rats on his co-worker, Lewis Werner. It can't feel good when you're routing on a fellow mafia guy. No, you got to get out of there. All the stuff in the mafia is the opposite of that. Well, Lewis Werner isn't a mafia guy. He just fucking owes the mafia money. Oh, that's right. Sorry. Well, he's an associate.

Yeah. And my association, you're an associate. That's right. You hang around a barbershop, you're going to get a haircut. I love that. I love that. I didn't make it up. It sounds like an old Irish thing. Okay. So Lewis is arrested, charged, found guilty. He's sentenced to 15 years in prison, all within the first half of 1979. Ultimately, though, he's the only person who was ever convicted in connection with the Lufthansa heist. Interestingly. And you're like, oh, why aren't more people

prosecuted for that? Well, people start to get whacked. Mostly at the order of Jimmy Burke. So the first to fall is Stax. I mean. We lost Stax. He fucked up so bad. He really did. Like that was kind of a given, you know. My boyfriend Stax died. Yeah. He's found in an apartment in Ozone Park, Queens having been shot in the head on December 18th, just a week after the heist and he had to know it was coming. Yeah. Like he fucked up real bad. Although if they shot him from behind, it might have been a soprano situation where it was just over.

But he had to know that it was coming. Oh, yes. Because he fucked up, you know what I mean? Yes, he was out in No Zone Park because he knew it was coming. Yeah, he's like, I'm going to get my hand in a vice grip, and then I'm fucking dead. So next to go is Martin Krugman, the wig salesman. Poor Marty.

Part of the problem is that Martin also owes money to loan sharks. He's not just a loan shark himself, he owes money to them. And he's so anxious to get his cut from the heist, which is supposed to be like half a million dollars, that he keeps going to Robert's Lounge and bugging Jimmy Burke for his cut, which is like, you just don't want to do that. No. It's like every, that's mob 101. I feel like that's in the movie.

Or there's something in the movie where it's like there's a guy that comes to the barn. Just keeps nagging. Yes. Yeah. I haven't seen it in a long time. Great fucking movie. Such a good movie. Double feature. Fucking good fellas.

I'm just going to keep pushing my blue heaven. It's really a gem and I feel like it's not given enough credit. Do it. Okay. By early January Martin goes missing and his body's never found. Another member of the crew named Tommy DeSimone, who's played by Joe Pesci, classic, he gets killed by members of the Gotti crew as vengeance for a different killing not even directly related to the Lufthansa heist. But the heist probably did set the events in motion that led to it.

So it is connected. It's all connected in the mob. Then another member of the crew named Louis Gaffora, whose nickname, it's a deli meat. Oh, it's a head cheese, Louis head cheese Gamora. Nickname is roast beef. No. Who wouldn't have gotten that? Who would have gotten that?

It's so simple. I know. And delicious. Roast beef. Hey, roast beef. This guy goes and buys his wife a custom pink Cadillac right away.

Fool. With his share of the money. You put a Mary Kay sticker on the back then no one's the wiser. That's true, but he didn't do that. It was like, they told you not to buy flashy shit and you buy a pink Cadillac. You buy the flashy shit. Right. You know my second cousin wrote the song Pink Cadillac?

What? Yeah. What? Yeah. We've been doing this podcast for eight and a half years and you've never bragged about that? I'm trying to make sure that that's right. I'm fact checking that in my mind.

And is it the Bruce Springsteen song? Pink Cadillac. No, is it? Yeah, but who else sang it? Aretha Franklin? There you go. He wrote that from the Bay Area. Maybe you knew him.

Yeah, I did. I was very good friends with him. I loved his music. So, Lewis and his wife, they disappear. Their bodies are never found. The wife too. That's a bummer. Sad.

Yeah. Then two other members of the crew who were likely directly involved in the heist because they actually worked at JFK for Air France's cargo terminal were found dead in the same car, both of them shot in the head. So, like, everyone's taken out at this point, which I kind of remember that part in Goodfellas. Yes, where the killings start and it's just like boom, boom, boom. It's like a montage of hits. And so while all this is going on, Henry Hill, our friend Ray Liotta, who first brought the idea of the heist to Jimmy Burke is starting to worry a little bit. He's worried that Burke's going to find a reason to kill him too.

Henry wasn't actually directly involved in the heist that we know of, but at this point, even people who are tangentially involved are getting killed. So, in 1980, Henry Hill is arrested on drug trafficking charges, and he's ultimately convinced to become an informant. And that is so his family can enter the witness protection program. Right around the time Henry becomes an informant, Jimmy Burke is arrested for a totally separate crime, a college basketball points fixing scheme. Of course Vince knows about it when I asked him about it. Of course, it's sports.

He knows everything. Well, so how the fuck do you do that? I don't know. It says this happens at Boston College and it's a big scandal on its own. I think you just, I think you... Get people to not score. Not score I guess, or not block or whatever but.

Right, or like get a certain amount of points, I don't know. Okay. Burke is sentenced to 12 years in prison but then is also convicted of the murder of a Florida club owner who likely also laundered money from the Lufthansa heist and had been skimming. So Jimmy goes to prison but he dies there in 1996. So Henry Hill's testimony, he becomes a rat, his testimony leads to 50 separate convictions in assorted mob cases.

So it's like one of the biggest fucking turns in mob history. His family changes their name and lives in various other states around the country, which I like, I don't know why I found fascinating and I want to know everything about it. Yeah, so about the witness protection program. Yeah, and then you start thinking about like the kids who were at your school for like six months and then like had a weird background story and then left again. Yes. That happened all the time where I'm like, I've always lived here. How come you just, you're coming and going willy-nilly?

Right. In Orange County, when someone would transfer from like Florida, you'd be like, what the fuck are you doing in Irvine from Florida? I don't buy this story of that you're only in the second grade. Exactly. You look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. You're not a kindergarten cop or teacher. Anyway, so they live in various states around the country. I think he marries and remarries and he dies at the age of 69 in 2012. So he never gets fucking off by the mafia. That's crazy.

He gets away. Yeah. And so none of the cash or jewels that were stolen from the cargo terminal, which would be worth about 28 million today, has ever been found. Because it wasn't traceable. It's like the last great heist. That money puts some fucking kids through college of it.

Oh my god, just real low-key paying for like a pool and some nice purses. Sure, a couple fur coats. Maybe a nice cruise. A nice cruise. Low-key. Low-key, not a pink catalog. And when Henry Hill was working with Nicolas Pelégie to write Goodfellas, or to write the book that Goodfellas was based on in the screenplay, sometimes he'd call late at night and Nicolas

wouldn't be around, so he talked to his wife, Nora Efron, not knowing that she was just getting information from him to write My Blue Heaven the whole time when she's just like, hey, let's chat. And he said, quote, I never got a penny for it, but Nick, her husband, had been so generous with me that I let it slide, had it been anyone else's wife, dot, dot, dot. Yeah. Oh, my God. So she fucking pushed it. So essentially, it's almost like those are mirror movies.

And they came out in the same year. Did the people that made them kind of know that? I think so. That's hilarious. Yeah. And that's the story of a Lutonza heist. Incredible. That was great.

Thank you. So different. Yeah. It's the light and dark of life. The was great. Thank you. So different. Yeah. It's the light and dark of life. The duality. The duality of this human experience. That we are just going to have to keep on playing back and forth over and over to get through the next four years. I mean, what is the reasoning? What is the answer? What is the purpose? What is the... We'll figure it out. Will we? Maybe. Okay. What is the reasoning? What is the answer? What is the purpose? What is the...

We'll figure it out. Will we? Maybe. Okay. You never know. You don't never know. Yes, you do never know. You do never not know.

All right. Well, guys, thanks. Thanks for listening. Thanks for sticking with us. Yeah, that's right. Stay strong. Go outside and walk around. Turn your head from left to right. That's real good for the nervous system. Adopt a puppy or a kitten or an older dog or a senior cat. Adopt an animal.

They really give you that endorphin rush that you need. They do help you. And if you can't afford an animal, pick a bird in the park that you like and visit it day after day. And remember, we're going to get through this. Stay sexy. And don, we're going to get through this. Stay sexy. And don't get murdered.

Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck. Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle Creighton. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo. This episode was mixed by Liana Squillace. Our researchers are Maren McClashen and Ali Elkin.

Email your hometowns to MyFavoriteMurder at gmail.com. Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at MyFavoriteMurder and Twitter at MyFaveMurder. Goodbye!