In the conclusion of our look at the assassination of John Lennon, we discover that it is a virtual impossibility that the man who has spent the last 44 years behind bars for the crime, Mark Chapman, could have done it. While Chapman confessed to the crime — and may truly believe he committed murder — the evidence simply does not support this, as N…

In the first of a two-part look at the murder of John Lennon, we look at the life and work of the former Beatle, and the strange story of the man who was convicted of killing him, Mark Chapman. Host Niall speaks with author David Whelan about his fascinating new book Mind Games: The Assassination of John Lennon, which contains important and surpris…

A Fairfax, Virginia based computing journalist who had turned his hand to deep-dive investigative journalism, in the early-1990s Casolaro was looking into an alleged theft of cutting-edge software by the US Government, which led him down a rabbit hole of seemingly bizarre conspiracy theories — thanks to disinformation fed to him by a shady self-pro…

Alexander Odeh was a Palestinian who had moved to the United States in the 1970s. While engaged in political activism in support of Arab people, both in the Middle East and in the USA, he was killed in a bombing attack widely attributed to a Jewish American terrorist cell. The alleged perpetrators subsequently fled to Israel in order to evade murde…

A legend and a mystery in his own lifetime, the decades following his death have only added to the mystique — and confusion — about who Jan Erik Hanussen really was and what his role in the rise of the Nazis might have been. We find out about the various dubious accounts that have shaped public perception about this once-famous mesmerist and clairv…

Blown up while sailing on his fishing boat along the coast of County Sligo in Ireland in 1979, the assassination of Lord Mountbatten resulted in international condemnation of the IRA, which claimed responsibility for the blast. Three other people — two teenaged boys and a woman in her eighties — were also killed. Many wondered why the IRA had chose…

On the 5th of November, 1605, a dastardly plot to assassinate King James and the English parliament was foiled. Many of the conspirators, most famously Guy Fawkes, were captured, tortured, and brutally executed. But might they have been mere pawns in some else’s game, part of a devious design to flush out enemies of the state and test the strength …

Did Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal single-handedly nearly wipe out his dynasty, including his own parents and siblings? Or maybe he was a patsy, a pawn in someone else’s game … someone who stood to benefit most from one of the bloodiest moments in the country’s history. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit …

One of the most vocal opponents and the State of Israel, Faisal lavished money on Palestinian causes. Following the 1973 Ramadan / Yom Kippur War, the Saudi king instituted an oil embargo against the United States and other countries that backed Israel. Other Muslim oil-producing countries joined the embargo, leading to the Energy Crisis, which had…

Long before the House of Saud became synonymous with fabulous wealth flowing from their oil rich kingdom, they were tribal warriors who aspired to unite the Arabian Peninsula — and control the holy cities of Mecca and Medina — under their flag and guided by their obscure interpretation of the Islamic faith. Before we look at the details of the assa…

We look at the life and death of another Alexander — this time it’s Tsar Alexander II of Russia. A reformer who granted freedom to some 23 million serfs, he was on the brink of signing into law a program of changes to the Russian system of government that could have set the empire on a democratic and constitutional route. But a team of assassins fr…

The slaying of the Yugoslavian king on the streets of Marseille, France, in 1934 sent shockwaves throughout Europe. His assassination by a squad of Croatian and Macedonian nationalist militants was part of an international conspiracy by more powerful forces that sought to reshape the map of Europe. After a narrative historical recounting of events,…

From a narrative historical account of the slaying of the Macedonian king, we move on to look at the fortunes of his son, Alexander the Great. And we ask the question: What might the world look like if Philip had lived? To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.Assassinati…

Before we start on Season 8 of the show, which will focus on the theme of royal assassinations, we take the opportunity to look at the life and death of the controversial Ukrainian nationalist figure. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. Whi…

Following on from last week’s conversation on the use of assassination by the US during the Cold War, culminating in the “Season of Inquiry” during the Ford administration, historian Luca Trenta discusses the evolving policy on assassination under successive presidents to the present day. Part 2 of 2. Check out producer Lindsey’s exciting new proje…

An academic at the University of Swansea, Dr Trenta discusses his research into America’s use of assassination as a tool of foreign policy during the Cold War and the development of the so-called ban on assassinations, which was instituted through an executive order by President Gerald Ford in 1975. The conversation between Luca and host Niall cont…

Kit has extensively looked into the alleged attempted assassination of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in England in 2018. In this interview he shares his thoughts on the case, as well as more recent developments and a potential connection with another other high-profile alleged chemical weapons attack that year. Thanks to Kit Klarenberg for joining us fo…

A former British Army officer and private security contractor, Le Mesurier helped to found the Syrian Civil Defense, aka the White Helmets. Embroiled in scandals in the last months of his life, was his death an accident, suicide, or murder? In this episode we talked about an organization called ARK. It’s website is: https://www.ark.international To…

In this mini episode we consider the life and death of the Lebanese leader, whose extensive business interests and political activities made him a friend, confidante, and rival to some of the most powerful - and dangerous - people on earth. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast web…

One was a Nazi torturer, protected by the United States. The other was a Marxist guerrilla, hunted by the Bolivian government. Their paths would cross in one of the most infamous episodes of the Cold War. Assassinated, Guevara would become a countercultural icon. Meanwhile Barbie would go on to commit many more crimes before his final date with des…

Though authorities blamed an outlawed far-left militant group called the Red Army Faction for the assassination of this prominent West German businessman, there is good reason to think that other forces might have been behind the hit. This episode is brought to you by Omio. Use the link https://omio.sjv.io/c/2544961/1078765/7385 and promo code OMIO…

Gerald Bull had been developing “super guns” for decades, culminating in his work for the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. Assassinated in 1990, it is unclear if Bull was killed by the Israelis, the Iranians, some other covert agency … or by the Iraqis themselves. This episode is brought to you by Omio. Use the link https://omio.sjv.io/c/2544961…

For our 100th episode, we travel back to the thirteenth century to hear a story about the most feared killers of their age: the Order of Assassins, led by the mysterious Old Man of the Mountains. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While the…

Our 100th episode, which comes out next week, will bring us face to face with the OG assassins of yore. To find out more, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a log…

Host Niall is joined this week by historian Sue Woolmans, the co-author of a book on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne who was killed in Sarajevo in 1914 - the event that sparked the First World War. This episode is brought to you by Brüush. Follow this link and use promo code POD15 to get 15% off your o…

In the concluding installment of our three-part investigation into the life and death of Roberto Calvi, we consider the forensic evidence from the scene of what at first appeared to be a suicide. Police eventually came to believe that he had been murdered. We go on a hunt for possible motives - a search that leads us from London, to Italy, to Polan…

The financial scandal centered on the dodgy activities of Roberto Calvi brought with it assassination, Mafia threats, and the exposure of corruption at the highest levels in Rome. This is the second installment of a three-part series. This episode is brought to you by Podgo.co To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode,…

This is Part 1 of our three-part investigation into the life, time, crimes, and suspicious demise of Roberto Calvi - a man dubbed “God’s banker” because of his association with the Vatican. We begin by imagining (based on first hand accounts) an initiation ceremony that Calvi might have gone through in order to join a secret society called Propagan…

Soleimani was killed in an American drone missile strike at Bagdad International Airport. Many feared that the assassination would incite a major military response from Iran; however, the whole affair appeared to have been quite carefully stage-managed by both sides. This episode is brought to you by Away Travel. To get the best deal on premium lug…

A soldier, a diplomat, the grandson of a king, and a man who helped to save thousands of people from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, Folke Bernadotte was selected to help resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict in Palestine in 1948. It was a mission that cost him his life. This episode is brought to you by Clarks. Clarks and PODGO are bringing y…

For decades a leading figure in the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement, al-Mabhouh was remarkably negligent in his security arrangements leading up to his assassination in 2010. An Israeli death squad was sent to Dubai to eliminate him; but they ended up making their own set of strange decisions, causing an international diplomatic inc…

We take a lighthearted narrative approach to finding out about the great Pan-American Exposition in New York, before turning to the somber matter of the assassination of President McKinley, who was shot there on September 6th, 1901. This episode is brought to you by Purple Carrot - the plant-based subscription meal kit that makes it easy to cook ir…

In the third and concluding installment of this investigation, we consider the case against Barry George, the sole person charged and convicted for the crime - only to be acquitted after six years in prison. Finally, we consider one other highly controversial potential motive for the murder of Jill Dando. To find out more about the people and music…

As outlandish as it might seem, British police and the media considered whether Jill Dando might have been murdered on the orders of the Serbian government, possibly in an act of revenge for the NATO bombing of a TV station in Belgrade. We also consider some other more conventional motives in this, the second installment of our three-part look at t…

The murder of journalist and television personality Jill Dando, slain outside her home in London in April 1999, sparked one of largest manhunts in British history. Many theories were considered as to who was responsible, but the case remains unsolved 20 years later. In the first episode in our three part investigation, we recreate events on the day…

Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England had a rollercoaster relationship. Once a trusted ally who was awarded the highest offices of the land and even care of the monarch’s own son, Archbishop Becket became an intractable obstacle to Henry’s ambitions. This lead to one of the most notorious chapters in the long struggle between Church and Crown …

In the corridors of power in Washington, DC and the plantation houses of Louisiana, there were many who sighed with relief when news broke that an assassin’s bullet had put paid to the relentless ambition of Senator Huey Long, a man described by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as one of the most dangerous in America. This episode is brought to you by POD…

In honor of both Halloween and the current US presidential election campaign, we take an offbeat look at one of history’s most notorious assassinations. After leading the Union to victory over the Confederacy, in 1865 President Lincoln was struck down by John Wilkes Booth. Just as “Honest Abe” loomed like a colossus over the nation during the Civil…

The seventh season of Assassinations Podcast will be a “potpourri” of subjects - some cases that host Niall has wanted to cover for a while, as well as cases suggested by listeners. The first episode of the new season, which comes out next week, will be Halloween/US election special on the legend of Abraham Lincoln’s ghost, which is said to stalk t…

The closer Don Bolles got to the truth of criminal activities in Arizona, the deeper he entered into a world of danger. On the verge of exposing a massive money laundering operation by the Mafia, with links to the political and business elite of the state, he was seriously wounded in a car bombing, dying eleven days later. The following year, anoth…

Author Andy Thomas joins the show once again this season, helping us to consider what might really have happened to David Kelly. The conclusion of the Hutton Inquiry was that the British weapons inspector had committed suicide, but there are many indicators that this was an unsound verdict. This is the last installment of our look at the case. To f…

Kelly’s death was looked into not by a coroner’s inquest but by a judge, Lord Hutton, who was specially appointed by the government. This meant evidence could be given in secret and witnesses protected from cross examination. The verdict raised more questions than answers, leading several doctors to question the plausibility of the claim that Kelly…

We begin our deep dive into the case of Dr David Kelly by considering the finding of the inquiry into his death in the summer of 2003: suicide. But were there any signs that the British biological weapons inspector, who found himself at the center of an almighty political and media storm, was suicidal? Were there aspects of his death, and the offic…

Willie McRae’s campaigning work made him enemies, no doubt. But did he posses information so explosive that people would be willing to kill him? In the conclusion to our investigation, we consider just what McRae might have known. And we find out about an extraordinary revelation made in 2018, which, if true, would turn upside down the official inv…

Willie McRae led a remarkable life: a scholar, a naval officer, a lawyer, a politician, and an activist. Yet it is the strange circumstances of his death - and the dodgy investigation that followed - for which he is best known in his native Scotland. This is the first episode of a two-part investigation. To find out more about the people and music …

Fred Hampton was a leading member of the Black Panther Party, a self-proclaimed revolutionary socialist organization, which was founded in 1966 in order to fight back against police brutality. Hampton’s death during a raid on his apartment by the Chicago police and the FBI was initially ruled a justifiable homicide; however, subsequent revelations …

A high-level Republican political consultant and media strategist, Michael Connell was killed in a plane crash in 2008. Officially an accident, many have claimed that Connell was killed to prevent him testifying in a lawsuit over alleged election fraud in the 2004 US presidential election. To find out more about the people and music featured in tod…

Hour of the Assassin, the latest book by best-selling novelist Matthew Quirk, is a romp through a dangerous world of dark money, dirty secrets, political manipulation, and murder. Matthew speaks with Niall about his work, and his own experiences of life inside the Beltway. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, vis…

When the Prime Minister of Sweden was murdered on a freezing cold sidewalk in Stockholm in 1986, a nation unused to political violence was thrown into a state of shock. But could it be that the truth of who lay behind the assassination is even more disturbing than anyone had imagined? To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s …

This week’s episode is an interview with Andy Thomas, the author of a new book called Conspiracies: The Facts. The Theories. The Evidence. His book focuses on some of the most popular conspiracies of our times, including high-profile assassinations, and he asks why it is that people so often look for explanations that go beyond the official narrati…