True Crime Reporter

Robert Riggs
  • 4.8 (248)
  • TRUE CRIME
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
True Crime Reporter

My deep dive into reporting real-life criminal cases began in 1991 with an investigation into corruption within the Texas Parole Board. This started a ten-year journey that took me into the darkest corners of the prison system, from maximum security units to Texas death row and the Texas Death Chamber. I sat across the table from some of the most violent and reprehensible criminals in Texas history to expose widespread corruption in the state’s criminal justice system. Throughout these inquiries, I built a reputation for uncovering wrongdoing, regardless of where it led. I developed a vast network of trusted sources, including law enforcement officers, prosecutors, criminal justice experts, crime victims, and convicted criminals. In my podcast and audiobooks, you'll hear exclusive interviews in police procedurals as I unravel the complexity and gravity of each case. I am deeply fascinated not just by the 'what' and the 'who' but by the often elusive 'why' behind criminal acts. This fascination drives me to dig deeper into each case. Additionally, I feature interviews with true crime authors and reporters about their books and stories. I draw from my extensive archive of reporters' notebooks to tell true crime stories that might seem familiar at first glance but reveal unexpected and often overlooked aspects of these stories. I take great pleasure in bringing these historical stories back to life, adding a new dimension to the understanding of these cases. As the creator of the True Crime Reporter® podcast, Texas Crime Stories Audiobooks, and the "Freed To Kill" Television documentary series, I employ an immersive, investigative, and deeply human storytelling style. My journey into darkness led me to start reporting about terrorism before and after 9/11. I was an embedded reporter for the CBS station group during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. You can read more about my reporting experience, awards, and work as a Congressional investigator before journalism in the About section of the True Crime Reporter® website. While there, please sign up for my "Stories To Keep You Safe" newsletter where real lessons from true crime cases meet practical advice you can use to protect yourself and those you love. You can reach me at fan@truecrimereporter.com.

  1. JUN 10

    Widow Offers One Million Dollars To Crack Cold Case Murder Mystery

    Unsolved Murder of Jim Grimes Haunts Quiet Tennessee Town By Robert Riggs A bold reward offers ONE MILLION DOLLARS to solve a cold case murder mystery. Since the $25 million bounty on Osama bin Laden, few rewards have reached this level—yet a grieving widow in rural Tennessee is offering $1 million of her own money to find her husband’s killer. A single shotgun blast shattered the life of a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. Sixty-three-year-old Jim Grimes was ambushed while tending animals on his peaceful property on April 19, 2021. No witnesses. No forensic evidence. Just shadows and silence. Who knew Jim's routine? Who knew their way around the property at night? Who lay in wait? And who’s finally ready to talk? This is a true crime story of grief, grit, and the relentless pursuit of justice. Link To Previous Cold Case Episodes With Joe Kennedy Part 1: NCIS From Evidence to Arrest: Analyzing Murder Cases Step by Step Part 2: NCIS Confidential: Solving Real-Life Cold Cases To Catch Killers

    37 min
  2. The Rock: Alcatraz’s Chilling True Crime Legacy

    MAY 13

    The Rock: Alcatraz’s Chilling True Crime Legacy

    Alcatraz shut its cell doors more than 60 years ago, but its grip on the American imagination hasn’t loosened. Each year, nearly a million and a half tourists ride the ferry across San Francisco Bay, through cold, choppy waters, to walk the crumbling corridors of the most infamous prison in U.S. history.  Visitors today frequently cite the desire to see the cellblocks that once confined legendary outlaws, Notorious gangsters such as Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Robert “Birdman” Stroud were inmates here, cementing Alcatraz’s image as the end of the line for incorrigible criminal offenders. I’ve included a link in the show notes to their “rap sheets” from the Warden’s records. During its 29 years as a federal prison, Alcatraz gained a fearsome reputation for strict discipline and inescapable walls. Now, President Donald Trump says he wants to reopen and expand Alcatraz as a high-security federal prison. In this episode, I take a hard look at the history of The Rock—how it earned its reputation as escape-proof, the men it held, the myth it became, and why, even in ruins, it still casts a long shadow over American justice. The Warden's "Rap Sheets" for Alcatraz's infamous convicts.

    48 min
  3. The Click That Opens The Door To Cyber Hell

    MAY 6

    The Click That Opens The Door To Cyber Hell

    You Just Thought Your Home Was Safe By Robert Riggs You lock your doors at night. You check on your kids.  But what if the real threat is already inside—hiding in your phone, your smart TV, or your child's video game chat?  In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, former federal probation officer Art Bowker takes us into the digital battlefield unfolding inside your home. Bowker’s book Surviving a Cyberattack: Securing Social Media and Protecting Your Home warns how predators groom teenagers with flattery, how romance scammers bleed retirees dry, and how artificial intelligence is being weaponized to impersonate loved ones. Bowker and his coauthor Todd Shipley call themselves “The Cyber Safety Guys”.  This is the story about how cybercriminals not only bleed their victims but leave them emotionally devastated, isolated, and too ashamed to ask for help.  FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center - (IC3.gov)

    35 min

  4. APR 29

    Why Do Women Love True Crime?

    A Former 48 Hours Producer Reveals the Psychology and Power Behind the Genre By Robert Riggs When the curtain drops on everyday life, true crime shows like this podcast and especially those on television expose the darkest side of humanity. Television relentlessly chases the latest trending crimes on police blotters and court dockets. Claire St. Amant pursued those stories in the cutthroat world of prime-time television as a producer for CBS 48 Hours. She also produced segments for 60 Minutes. She’s written a memoir about her experiences, Killer Story: The Truth Behind True Crime Televison. Television executives have known for decades that the audience is overwhelmingly female.  We’re talking 70-80 percent, sometimes more. Mothers and daughters. Best friends.  Women of all ages coming together for what amounts to a girls’ night out… centered on murder. You may want to go back and listen to my episode with Journalist Mike Cox. He wrote a satire, Getting Away With Murder, Learning From Dateline and Other True Crime Shows.  So what’s going on here? Why are women so drawn to true crime? Claire St Amant, now a fellow true crime podcaster, shares her insights.

    36 min
  5. This Is Not The Godfather – It’s the Brutal Truth About the Mob

    APR 22

    This Is Not The Godfather – It’s the Brutal Truth About the Mob

    By Robert Riggs The Godfather. Goodfellas. The Sopranos. Hollywood entertained us with polished fiction—honor among thieves, loyalty bound by blood, men of principle wrapped in tailored suits. But the real mob? It was darker. Colder. Predatory. The smile came first. The knife came after. This is the true story of how FBI Special Agent Mike Campi helped dismantle the Genovese crime family—the oldest, largest, and most insidious of New York’s five Mafia Families. Founded by Charles “Lucky” Luciano in 1931. Consolidated under Vito Genovese in the late 1950s. The family once ruled Manhattan’s west side piers and the Fulton Fish Market on the East River with quiet brutality. Everything moved through their hands—money, muscle, silence. Campi joined the FBI’s Organized Crime Squad in 1985, stepping into the heart of a sweeping federal assault on the American Mafia. Over the next two decades, he led investigations that exposed the rot behind the façade. His new book, Mafia Takedown, pulls back the curtain on what really happened. Not the Hollywood version. The truth.

    27 min

  6. APR 15

    CIA Mafia Spies Plot To Kill Castro Hidden From JFK Probe

    Mobsters Hit Tony Soprano Style Before They Can Testify By Robert Riggs The JFK assassination files recently released by President Trump shed more light on the secret plot by the CIA to use Mafia gangsters to kill Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Investigative reporter Thomas Maier, the author of Mafia Spies, his book about the unlikely alliance between the CIA and mobsters, is back to discuss the latest revelations. This is the second part of my True Crime Reporter® series about the Mafia Spies. Two Chicago gangsters, Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli, were central to a Congressional investigation by Senator Frank Church in the mid-1970s  Both were murdered shortly before they could testify. I was an investigator for another committee working on a related inquiry at the time.  The mob-style hit sent a chill through Senators digging into CIA abuses. Speculation continues about whether the CIA or a Mafia kingpin silenced the mobsters. Maier and I discuss the murders and revelations from his new book, “The Invisible Spy.” His dogged investigation uncovered how former CIA Director Allen Dulles steered the Warren Commission’s investigation of President Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas away from the plot to kill Castro. Here's a link to the cast of characters.

    33 min
  7. The James Bondesque Mafia Spies Plot To Kill Castro With A Poison Cigar

    APR 8

    The James Bondesque Mafia Spies Plot To Kill Castro With A Poison Cigar

    The story sounds like something straight out of a spy thriller.  A plot by America’s most feared criminal syndicate and its most secretive intelligence agency to assassinate a foreign leader using poison cigars and other James Bond-inspired schemes.  But this isn’t fiction. This is the true story of how the CIA joined forces with Mafia hitmen to assassinate Fidel Castro. The revelations with ties to the Watergate scandal in the 1970s have fueled conspiracy theories about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, I sit down with fellow investigative reporter Thomas Maier, whose book Mafia Spies pulls back the curtain on a chilling chapter of American history.  Together, we trace how the mob lost its Cuban gambling empire after Castro’s revolution and how, in Cold War fear, U.S. intelligence agents turned its gangsters to eliminate Castro. Maier says the challenge of his investigation was figuring how out to tell a story in which everyone lies.  Here's a link to the cast of characters in the episode.

    33 min

  8. APR 1

    How To Read People To Protect Yourself From Crime Part 2

    In this episode, we continue our deep dive with retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke—a man whose job wasn’t just catching spies but recruiting them. Dreeke led the FBI’s elite Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, where he mastered the art of predicting human behavior. He turned foreign operatives into informants—not with force, but with trust.  Now, he’s sharing the same tools that can help you avoid fraud, betrayal, and toxic relationships in everyday life. In part one, we peeled back the curtain on his high-stakes career in counter espionage against Russian operatives in the United States.  Now, in part two, Dreeke reveals how you can learn to think like an FBI behavioral analyst. How to see the red flags before they wave. How to spot manipulation before it wraps around your life. And how to use behavior patterns—what he calls “behavior arcs”—to make better decisions about who you can trust. If you’ve ever been lied to, blindsided, or left asking how did I not see that coming?—this episode is for you. Dreeke is the author of “Sizing People Up”, a book I recommend every listener study and underline.  His short guide, “It’s Not All About Me”, offers a crash course in building rapport in any situation. Let’s get into it—here’s part two of my conversation with Robin Dreeke.

    33 min
See All (144)

4.8
out of 5
248 Ratings

About

My deep dive into reporting real-life criminal cases began in 1991 with an investigation into corruption within the Texas Parole Board. This started a ten-year journey that took me into the darkest corners of the prison system, from maximum security units to Texas death row and the Texas Death Chamber. I sat across the table from some of the most violent and reprehensible criminals in Texas history to expose widespread corruption in the state’s criminal justice system. Throughout these inquiries, I built a reputation for uncovering wrongdoing, regardless of where it led. I developed a vast network of trusted sources, including law enforcement officers, prosecutors, criminal justice experts, crime victims, and convicted criminals. In my podcast and audiobooks, you'll hear exclusive interviews in police procedurals as I unravel the complexity and gravity of each case. I am deeply fascinated not just by the 'what' and the 'who' but by the often elusive 'why' behind criminal acts. This fascination drives me to dig deeper into each case. Additionally, I feature interviews with true crime authors and reporters about their books and stories. I draw from my extensive archive of reporters' notebooks to tell true crime stories that might seem familiar at first glance but reveal unexpected and often overlooked aspects of these stories. I take great pleasure in bringing these historical stories back to life, adding a new dimension to the understanding of these cases. As the creator of the True Crime Reporter® podcast, Texas Crime Stories Audiobooks, and the "Freed To Kill" Television documentary series, I employ an immersive, investigative, and deeply human storytelling style. My journey into darkness led me to start reporting about terrorism before and after 9/11. I was an embedded reporter for the CBS station group during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. You can read more about my reporting experience, awards, and work as a Congressional investigator before journalism in the About section of the True Crime Reporter® website. While there, please sign up for my "Stories To Keep You Safe" newsletter where real lessons from true crime cases meet practical advice you can use to protect yourself and those you love. You can reach me at fan@truecrimereporter.com.

Information

  • Creator
    Robert Riggs
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    144
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    ©2025 True Crime Reporter, LLC
  • Show Website
    True Crime Reporter

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada