Category Archives: Episodes

“Delivered Like Pizza”: Sex Slaves in Massachusetts

September 29, 2022Episodesallrise

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A 50-year-old East Boston woman was the mastermind behind a human trafficking operation that forced women into prostitution in Massachusetts. Ramona Hernandez and her husband, Rafael Henriquez, earned the dubious distinction of being the first individuals charged under the state’s new anti-trafficking law. The couple lured women into their net and then shipped them to Massachusetts to be victimized as prostitutes. Law enforcement likened the sex ring to a pizza delivery business: Rafael would deliver the women to customers’ homes in the greater Boston area and wait outside in his green Toyota Corolla while the 15-minute “house call” took place. Their victims were forced to service as many as 15 customers a day. Their scheme came crashing down when multiple law agencies cooperated in fielding “Operation Persistent Rain”, a months-long investigation that resulted in arrests in March 2012.

Sometimes It Gets Nutty

August 13, 2022Episodesallrise

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With all the grimness that occurs in a courthouse, it’s no wonder that sometimes comic relief is on the docket. Diane reveals to Jordan the lighter side of working in the halls of justice, including antics by court officers, a rogue lawyer’s “gymnastics”, odd encounters, and how a bit of levity can help employees cope with the gravity of their work.

A Rape of the Mind

June 23, 2022Episodesallrise

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On February 5, 2015, a bitterly cold morning in the seaside town of Bourne, Massachusetts, a murder-suicide plan was set in motion. A 31-year old Coast Guard Petty Officer, Adrian Loya, armed with an assault rifle, a pistol, and a shotgun, had driven from Virginia to shoot his way into the condominium of a colleague, Coast Guard Petty Officer Lisa Trubnikova, and her wife, Anna. Neighbors heard the sharp reports of multiple gunshots at 2 AM. First responders would be hampered by Loya’s vehicle which was set ablaze and was blocking the neighborhood’s entrance. A boombox blared movie themes from Batman and Bond movies. Hoax bombs were exploded and shook nearby buildings. Anna Trubnikova, bleeding from four wounds, desperately called for help. Her 911 call lasted over an hour as she lay on the floor next to her dead wife and Loya engaged in his elaborately staged stand-off with police.

The motive? Revenge. Loya had had a sexual encounter with Lisa two years before, an encounter he later described to a forensic psychologist as “a rape of the mind”. The full extent of Loya’s twisted mental state would soon emerge.

Up Close: Boston’s Own Hank Phillippi Ryan, Journalist & Crime-Fiction Star

March 28, 2022Episodesallrise

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HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN is the USA Today bestselling author of 13 psychological thrillers, winning the most prestigious awards in the genre: five Agathas, four Anthonys, and the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also the on-air investigative reporter for Boston’s WHDH-TV, with 37 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors. Book critics call her “a master of suspense,” “a superb and gifted storyteller”; she’s the only author to have won the Agatha in four categories: Best First, Best Novel, Best Short Story and Best Non-Fiction. Her newest is HER PERFECT LIFE, a chilling psychological standalone about fame, family, and revenge. It received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, calling it “a superlative thriller.” B.A. Paris says, “Shocking, suspenseful… kept me guessing until the end.” and Julie Clark says, “You will read this in one sitting!” It is now nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. Her next is THE HOUSE GUEST, coming January 2023. Hank is a founder of MWA University, host of CRIME TIME on A Mighty Blaze, and co-host of First Chapter Fun and The Back Room. She is a past president of National Sisters in Crime. Visit Hank at HankPhillippiRyan.com, Twitter @HankPRyan, Instagram @hankpryan and Facebook at HankPhillippiRyanAuthor.

The Insanity Defense in the Real World

February 25, 2022Episodesallrise

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Someone commits a crime but is found “not guilty by reason of insanity”. It doesn’t happen just on TV – it’s a real defense entered by a defendant in a criminal trial. The defendant claims that they were so mentally disturbed or incapacitated at the time of the offense that they did not have the required intention to commit the crime and is therefore not guilty – even though they committed the crime. But as Elliot Levine, a noted criminal defense lawyer in Massachusetts, will explain, this rarely used defense strategy can be difficult for the defense team.

In this episode, Levine and a former client, Pat, will discuss Levine’s successful defense using the insanity defense when Pat was tried for robbery. Pat is an Army veteran who held up a convenience store upon returning to the US after serving on the front lines in the Vietnam War. Levine argued that Pat was suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from his combat experiences. Levine will also share another instance in which he successfully used the insanity defense in a murder trial in front of a jury.

Above Suspicion: The Rise and Ruin of an FBI Agent

February 12, 2022Episodesallrise

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When Mark Putnam graduated from the FBI Academy in 1986, he seemed to have it all: the new career he’d dreamed about his entire life, darkly handsome good looks, an attractive wife from a rich family, a new baby daughter and another child on the way. His first big assignment took them to the podunk town of Pikeville KY, Hatfield and McCoy country, where Mark’s productive record of arrests seemed to make him a model agent. But his secret sexual entanglement with FBI paid informant Susan Smith (an attractive, loose-lipped, high-school dropout, drug user and sometimes prostitute) began a dark spiral downward. When Susan went missing in June 1989, not one bit of evidence led to her whereabouts. Then Mark did something that startled his colleagues and led to his becoming the first FBI agent in history to be charged with and convicted of murder. Was Susan murdered to cover up the affair after she threatened to tell his wife and the FBI she was carrying Mark’s unborn child?

Defending Whitey Bulger: A Candid Conversation with J.W. Carney

January 4, 2022Episodesallrise

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J.W. “Jay” Carney, a prominent Boston-based criminal defense lawyer, rose to national fame when he defended James “Whitey” Bulger, the infamous South Boston crime boss. Jay is known for taking on the gruesome or difficult cases, such as that of Tarek Mehanna, the pharmacist from Sudbury, MA who was convicted in 2012 for providing support to Al Qaeda, and of John Salvi, who in 1994 killed two people and wounded five others at two Brookline, MA abortion clinics. He has been spotlighted in media outlets such as CNN, The Boston Globe, and The Wall Street Journal for his work. Boston Magazine named Jay one of The Five Best Private Criminal Defense Attorneys in Massachusetts. Join us as Jay recounts his first encounter with Mr. Bulger and what it was like to represent one of the most notorious criminals in Boston – and US – history.

BLOOD WILL TELL: Clemente Aguirre Was Innocent

December 6, 2021Episodesallrise

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Clemente “Shorty” Aguirre thought he had finally found a place beyond the reach of death. He had fled threats and violence in his home country, Honduras, after refusing to join a gang. When he saw his best friend’s body dumped in front of his house, he got the message to join or be killed as well. A grueling journey through Nicaragua and Mexico, then across the Rio Grande, got him to his sister’s house in Florida. He got a job, found a place to stay in a trailer park, and looked forward to a chance at a new life. That all came crashing down when went over to his friend Samantha’s place to cadge a beer and found a gruesome scene inside: Sam’s mother and grandmother lay slaughtered, stabbed multiple times in a trailer now spattered (the forensic term is blood spatter, not blood splatter) with blood. Were they still alive? He checked the bodies, getting smeared in blood, then heard a noise. In his panic, Clemente picked up the murder weapon, a knife on the floor, thinking the killer was still inside. Then he ran back home, tossed the knife away onto the grass, and tried to hide his bloody clothes. An illegal immigrant would never be believed, he thought. Those misjudgments were enough to help convict him and ultimately send him to Death Row. But then The Innocence Project got involved, and discovered that over 150 blood samples were collected at the scene, but not one had ever been analyzed for DNA. When that evidence was finally properly examined, a very difference picture of the crime emerged. Clemente would be exonerated, and is now able to share his experiences.

The Lonely Death of Mary Lou Arruda

December 4, 2021Episodesallrise

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“She still stays in St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Nobody overturns that verdict.”

Joanne Arruda knew something was terribly wrong. It was late afternoon on Friday, September 8th, 1978: two days after her daughter’s 15th birthday. But Mary Lou still wasn’t home. She had been out riding her bike in her Raynham, MA neighborhood, about 32 miles south of Boston. The orange ten-speed bike turned up on a dirt road near her home, but Mary Lou would not be found for two months. On November 11th, kids riding dirt-bikes came across her standing body tied to a tree 18 miles away from the Arruda home, in Freetown State Forest. Her possessions had been arranged in a semi-circle in front of her, and most gruesomely: her head was near them. She had been strangled and abandoned.

James Kater, a 31-year-old who worked in a Brockton MA doughnut shop, soon emerged as a suspect. He had been released from prison in January 1976 for a shockingly similar crime. In that case, the 13-year-old girl had survived the strangulation, and after Kater left her was able to untie herself. His lime green car had been seen in Mary Lou’s neighborhood, physical evidence was found, and his alibi soon fell apart. Kater’s sentence for kidnapping and murder sent him to prison for the rest of his life, but he continued to fight the verdict.

Her bitter comment about her daughter buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery came after she heard of the third retrial having been ordered. I worked on the fourth and final Kater trial and will discuss the case, conviction, appeals, and retrials.

Living Unsheltered: A Survivor’s Story

September 18, 2021Episodesallrise

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Violence against the homeless is only too common and has been on the rise over the last few years. Violence among the homeless is unfortunately also frequent; the odds of a homeless person becoming a crime victim are appallingly high. Going beyond the courtroom, today’s podcast brings you onto the streets of Boston to hear what it was like to be a crime victim while “living unsheltered”, the term now used to refer to the homeless. Ginny, a former registered nurse, ended up living on the sidewalk in front of the Boston hospital where she once had a thriving career and where her mother was the director of nursing for many years. For seven years, Ginny witnessed street violence firsthand – and too often experienced it herself: “I received eight concussions as a victim of crime.” Homeless individuals, particularly women, are among the most vulnerable in society because they are very often ostracized and demonized. The segregation of the unsheltered population helps make it a breeding ground for violence. Too many Americans living “normal” lives are just one lost job, health crisis, or accident away from being homeless. Ginny will recount her struggles and how she made her way back from the streets.

All Rise Boston

With Diane Godfrey