true crime

Subscribercast #42 – Systemic Racism and Cop Shows

How much responsibility does the TV crime genre have for police racism, brutality and corruption? On this month’s subscriber-only podcast...

ClandesTime 203 – Psychopaths and the Copycat Effect

‘Movies don’t create psychos, movies make psychos more creative.’ That is a quote from the 1996 horror-comedy Scream, but it...

ClandesTime 203 – Psychopaths and the Copycat Effect

‘Movies don’t create psychos, movies make psychos more creative.’ That is a quote from the 1996 horror-comedy Scream, but it...

Subscriber Podcast #36 – The LAPD’s Hollywood Office

Just like many federal agencies the Los Angeles Police Department have a dedicated entertainment liaison office for dealing with Hollywood....

Subscriber Podcast #36 – The LAPD’s Hollywood Office

Just like many federal agencies the Los Angeles Police Department have a dedicated entertainment liaison office for dealing with Hollywood....

Subscriber Podcast #36 – The LAPD’s Hollywood Office

Just like many federal agencies the Los Angeles Police Department have a dedicated entertainment liaison office for dealing with Hollywood....

Even the US Army Warned of Violence at the Joker Premiere But So Far, So Good

For weeks the internet has been awash with claims, rumours, scuttlebutt and hearsay about some kind of shooting at the premiere of the new Joker movie.  Even the US Army sent out a memo saying they'd received a 'credible threat

The FBI and DEA Spy on Hollywood Producers

The relationship between intelligence agencies and the entertainment industry is complex and multi-faceted.  Angles include the influence of the agencies on their own public image, the influence of entertainment on the agencies, and intelligence-gathering by those agencies on the culture industry.

‘A Complete Rewrite of the Storyline Would be Required’ – DOD File on The Presidio

1988's The Presidio wanted to film at the real Presidio in San Francisco, an Army installation.  As per usual this required a full military script review, but the DOD responded demanding a 'complete rewrite' before they would approve access to

‘All Assistance is Provided at No Cost to You’ – FBI Letter to Martin Scorcese

In late 2009 the FBI got wind of the fact that Martin Scorcese was developing The Wolf of Wall Street, about stock fraudster turned federal cooperator Jordan Belfort.  So the Bureau's Michael Kortan wrote to Scorcese to offer their help and supp

ClandesTime 173 – Public Enemies

Public Enemies is a 2009 historical drama/thriller film that tells the story of the Bureau of Investigation’s manhunt for Public Enemy Number One John Dillinger. In this episode I examine the film, the politics of crime and the romanticising of criminals.

The Wire Season 4 Review (Preview)

In this penultimate review episode I look at how the education system is a poor place to learn anything, how standardised testing is a form of child abuse, the fundamental problems of electoral politics, and expand on why an intelligence-based approach to societal problems is always better than a military-based ap

ClandesTime 150 – The Weather Underground - Spy Culture

The Weather Underground were the most active and successful militant left-wing group in US history. As part of their anti-Vietnam war operations they bombed the Pentagon, the State Department, corporate headquarters and other high-profile targets.

How the FBI Rewrote Weather Underground Movie The Company You Keep - Spy Culture

The Weather Underground were the most successful Leftist militant group in history, a radical offshoot of the SDS and the anti-Vietnam War movement.  As a result, Hollywood has almost no interest in telling stories about them and the only recent

ClandesTime 133 – Was the Unabomber Right? - Spy Culture

Ted Kaczynski is most famous for both being the most prolific serial bomber in US history and for writing the Unabomber Manifesto – a political-philosophical tract that was published by major newspapers and by the FBI.