1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,199
Speaker 1: Hey there, I want to introduce you to a new

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,039
Speaker 1: true crime history podcast from the studio behind hits like

3
00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:12,879
Speaker 1: American Scandal and American History Tellers from our Good Friends,

4
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:17,720
Speaker 1: said Lindsey Graham's airship. This one is hosted by Jeremy Schwartz.

5
00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:22,800
Speaker 1: Each episode comes to you weekly and explores the dark

6
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,840
Speaker 1: side of the American dream, the notorious felons and outlaws

7
00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,319
Speaker 1: who try to lie, cheat, and murder their way to

8
00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,960
Speaker 1: the top. You get inside the minds of the criminals

9
00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:38,440
Speaker 1: and their victims and learn about the historical context behind

10
00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,479
Speaker 1: the crimes. Season one is going to cover one of

11
00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:47,280
Speaker 1: the most sensational cases of the twentieth century, the Menendez brothers.

12
00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:52,880
Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty nine, young Lyle and Eric Menendez brutally

13
00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,600
Speaker 1: shot their own parents. Prosecutors in the press said it

14
00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:01,040
Speaker 1: was a multimillion dollar inheritance that led to greedy, rich

15
00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:05,119
Speaker 1: kids to murder, But the picture perfect facade this Hollywood

16
00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:10,040
Speaker 1: family built hid troubling abuse. Could these teenagers have been

17
00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,120
Speaker 1: driven to kill or was it even self defense? Other

18
00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:18,840
Speaker 1: seasons will cover Al Capone, the notorious mob boss who

19
00:01:18,959 --> 00:01:24,040
Speaker 1: was nabbed by the irs, Georgia Tan, the thief who

20
00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:28,640
Speaker 1: stole babies and ruined countless lives. Sam Bankman Fried the

21
00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,039
Speaker 1: crypto king who siphoned off billions in the name of

22
00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,640
Speaker 1: saving the world. Mark Hoffman, the counterfeiter and forger who

23
00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:43,640
Speaker 1: tried to cover his tracks with a string of bombings, Manson, Madeoff, Menendez, Milkin, Gillan, Maxwell.

24
00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:48,000
Speaker 1: And that's just the ems, plus many more, spanning every

25
00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,400
Speaker 1: era of American history in every category of criminal. So

26
00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,400
Speaker 1: I'm about to play you a clip from episode one,

27
00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,240
Speaker 1: which is out now. To hear the full episode, go

28
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,960
Speaker 1: on over to a American Criminal wherever you get your podcasts.

29
00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:12,640
Speaker 1: I think you're going to love this one.

30
00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,440
Speaker 2: It's August twentieth, nineteen eighty nine, a cool, quiet evening

31
00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:23,440
Speaker 2: in Beverly Hills, a city for the rich and famous.

32
00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:28,840
Speaker 2: It's an insular, privileged community. The houses are mansions, the

33
00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,200
Speaker 2: streets are luxuriously wide, and the lawns remain lush and

34
00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,280
Speaker 2: verdant even in a drought. But as the saying goes,

35
00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,119
Speaker 2: all that glitters is not gold. At seven twenty two

36
00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:47,600
Speaker 2: Northelm Drive, a nine thousand square foot Mediterranean style home

37
00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:51,320
Speaker 2: with green palms and monsterras sits behind a black wrought

38
00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:56,320
Speaker 2: iron gate. Inside the house, Jose and Kitty Menendez are relaxing.

39
00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,600
Speaker 2: It's a Sunday night, and the couple are in the

40
00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:03,840
Speaker 2: living The flickering light of the television bounces off the

41
00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:09,040
Speaker 2: wood Peny family photos dot the walls, posed portraits of

42
00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,519
Speaker 2: Jose and Kitty with their two sons, twenty one year

43
00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:17,359
Speaker 2: old Lyle and eighteen year old Eric, all bright smiles,

44
00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:23,720
Speaker 2: perfect teeth, perfect hair, the perfect family. Those two sons

45
00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:29,000
Speaker 2: aren't in the room for this family night, though not yet.

46
00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,280
Speaker 2: Just before ten pm, the living room's double doors burst open.

47
00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:39,120
Speaker 2: Lyle and Eric are bull holding twelve gate shotguns. Without

48
00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,280
Speaker 2: saying the word, the brothers raise their weapons and start

49
00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:48,120
Speaker 2: firing immediately. Jose gets to his feet and shouts something

50
00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,720
Speaker 2: at his son's a protest or a plea for mercy,

51
00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:55,760
Speaker 2: but they're not listening. The brothers unload yell after shell

52
00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:01,960
Speaker 2: into their own parents. It feels like ours, but is

53
00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,680
Speaker 2: actually closer to seconds. The brothers are out of ammunition

54
00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:10,120
Speaker 2: and rush from the darkened room. Jose's lifeless body is

55
00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,560
Speaker 2: slumped on the couch, chunks of his flesh ripped away

56
00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:18,240
Speaker 2: by buckshot, but on the ground. Forty seven year old

57
00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:24,000
Speaker 2: Kitty is still moving, pained moans emanating from her bloody form.

58
00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,240
Speaker 2: Kitty's eyes swim upwards as she sees her oldest son

59
00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:32,200
Speaker 2: step back into the room with a reloaded shotgun on

60
00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:37,279
Speaker 2: his side. Lyle holds the muzzle against her face. He

61
00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:48,159
Speaker 2: closes his eyes afterwards. It's eerily quiet in the house.

62
00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:52,000
Speaker 2: It's only been a few minutes since the brothers burst in,

63
00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:57,440
Speaker 2: but the room is transformed. Blood splatters the walls, soaks

64
00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:01,000
Speaker 2: the couch, and stains the gold rug and parquet floor.

65
00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,920
Speaker 2: The peppery smell of gun smoke hangs in the air.

66
00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,680
Speaker 2: Lyle retreats from the wreckage. He heads down the hallway

67
00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,440
Speaker 2: and out of the house. His younger brother, Eric waits

68
00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,159
Speaker 2: by the car, a stricken look in his eyes. Lyle

69
00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,400
Speaker 2: scans the neighborhood, half expecting to hear the sound of

70
00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,440
Speaker 2: sirens or to see the flash of red and blue lights.

71
00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,880
Speaker 2: But there's nothing. No one's emerged to ask about the

72
00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:32,040
Speaker 2: shotgun blasts that just echoed through the street. No one's

73
00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:35,240
Speaker 2: called the police about the screams coming from number seven

74
00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,919
Speaker 2: twenty two. No one knows that Jose and Kitty Menendez

75
00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:44,159
Speaker 2: are dead, or that their picture perfect sons are the

76
00:05:44,200 --> 00:06:00,640
Speaker 2: ones who murdered them from airship. I'm Jeremy Schwartz, and

77
00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:25,200
Speaker 2: this is American criminal. In the early nineteen nineties, Los

78
00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,480
Speaker 2: Angeles saw a run of trials that kept the entire

79
00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:33,560
Speaker 2: country glued to their television screens. First, Rodney King was

80
00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:38,640
Speaker 2: brutally beaten by four LAPD officers. The assault was caught

81
00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:42,919
Speaker 2: on videotape, but it recorded more than just a violent beating.

82
00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,280
Speaker 2: The footage shone a light on the systemic racism which

83
00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:51,159
Speaker 2: seemed to exist in the Los Angeles police force. When

84
00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,600
Speaker 2: those cops were acquitted of any wrongdoing, deadly days long

85
00:06:55,760 --> 00:07:00,520
Speaker 2: riots shook the city. A few years later, former nflay

86
00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:03,880
Speaker 2: O J. Simpson, one of the most famous men in America,

87
00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,000
Speaker 2: was acquitted for the murders of his ex wife, Nicole

88
00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,560
Speaker 2: Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. That case and

89
00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:15,920
Speaker 2: the media storm it stirred up raised questions about celebrity

90
00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:20,800
Speaker 2: and how it might enable or excuse criminal actions. But

91
00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:25,200
Speaker 2: between those two historic trials, the story of the Menendez

92
00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:29,480
Speaker 2: family captured the nation's attention in an entirely different way.

93
00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:35,640
Speaker 2: On the surface, it's a simple, if disturbing tale. In

94
00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,640
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty nine brothers, Lyle and Eric Menendez, killed their

95
00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,480
Speaker 2: parents and tried to get away with it. When the

96
00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,440
Speaker 2: matter finally made it to trial in the nineties, there

97
00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:49,120
Speaker 2: was no question about who did what. The facts of

98
00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,720
Speaker 2: the case were not in question. What was up for

99
00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:56,760
Speaker 2: debate was the motivation for the bloody crime. As the

100
00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:01,640
Speaker 2: courtroom drama unfolded live on television, everything that people thought

101
00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,960
Speaker 2: they knew about the Menendez family shifted. In the end,

102
00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,240
Speaker 2: the trial of Lyle and Eric Menendez came down to

103
00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:13,400
Speaker 2: not just what crime was done, but why and whether

104
00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:19,520
Speaker 2: one stomach churning crime excuses another. Some three decades later,

105
00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:24,120
Speaker 2: the Menendez story isn't any simpler. Out of this family

106
00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:28,040
Speaker 2: of four, there were two monsters to play, but just

107
00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:32,440
Speaker 2: who those were isn't a simple question to answer. Lyle

108
00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,280
Speaker 2: and Eric picked up the shotguns of their own accord,

109
00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:39,719
Speaker 2: but maybe over years of abuse, it was jose and

110
00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:44,440
Speaker 2: Kitty who drove them to pull the triggers. This is

111
00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,360
Speaker 2: episode one of a four part series on the Menendez brothers,

112
00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:59,880
Speaker 2: The Five Year Plan. It's July of nineteen forty four

113
00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:04,000
Speaker 2: in the tiny village of Oak Lawn, just outside of Chicago,

114
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:08,640
Speaker 2: in a stucco bungalow with a manicured lawn and tidy hedges.

115
00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:14,080
Speaker 2: The Anderson family is about to fracture forever. Patriarch Andy

116
00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:16,960
Speaker 2: has just derived home from work to find an empty

117
00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,520
Speaker 2: dinner table, kids scattered, and his wife fussing about in

118
00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,840
Speaker 2: the kitchen. Andy has a skewed perspective on what marriage

119
00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:28,719
Speaker 2: and fatherhood should look like, and tonight it gets it

120
00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,040
Speaker 2: worked up into a rage. He's had enough of his

121
00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,480
Speaker 2: wife's backtalk of playing the role of father to children

122
00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:38,120
Speaker 2: who don't respect him, not in the way he feels

123
00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:42,520
Speaker 2: he deserves. Reading the warning signs, his wife tries to

124
00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,480
Speaker 2: placate him, bringing him a cool beer and promising that

125
00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:49,280
Speaker 2: dinner won't be long, but the gesture only frustrates Andy

126
00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,600
Speaker 2: even more. He throws the can onto the floor, where

127
00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:56,880
Speaker 2: it splits apart, fizzing over the linoleum. Then he storms

128
00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:00,640
Speaker 2: from the kitchen, through the living room and into his bedroom.

129
00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:03,959
Speaker 2: He's watched by his young daughter, who's playing on the rug.

130
00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,920
Speaker 2: A few minutes pass, and then the toddler sees her

131
00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,120
Speaker 2: father march out of the house with a suitcase under

132
00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:15,000
Speaker 2: his arm. He doesn't even look at her, just slams

133
00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:19,200
Speaker 2: the door on his way out. Mary Louise or Kitty

134
00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:23,600
Speaker 2: isn't quite three. She has no idea that her father

135
00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:27,680
Speaker 2: won't be coming home again. She doesn't understand that in

136
00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:31,920
Speaker 2: this moment her life is changing. All she knows is

137
00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,040
Speaker 2: that her mother is sobbing at the kitchen table. A

138
00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,600
Speaker 2: born performer, Kitty just wants her mommy to stop crying.

139
00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:43,360
Speaker 2: So in the sudden stillness after Andy disappears, the toddler

140
00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:46,959
Speaker 2: dances and twirls clumsily about the house, hoping to make

141
00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,640
Speaker 2: her mother smile, but it doesn't work. As she gets older,

142
00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,440
Speaker 2: Kitty will hear stories about their family, about what happened

143
00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,439
Speaker 2: when she was just a baby. She'll learn that her

144
00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:02,760
Speaker 2: father was abusive for years, but that won't stand out

145
00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:05,959
Speaker 2: in her mind so much. The memory of what he

146
00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:10,400
Speaker 2: did will fade, but her mother's actions will stay seared

147
00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,560
Speaker 2: in Kitty's mind, and she'll wonder if her mom had

148
00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:17,920
Speaker 2: been the problem. Had she let her husband slip away?

149
00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:22,160
Speaker 2: Was that why Kitty's happy childhood was ripped apart? Was

150
00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:24,760
Speaker 2: it her mother's fault that Kitty grew up in what

151
00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:30,080
Speaker 2: people called a broken home? These questions solidify into a

152
00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:33,720
Speaker 2: distorted cautionary tale. Kitty carries with her for the rest

153
00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:36,920
Speaker 2: of her life. She will not repeat the sins of

154
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:41,440
Speaker 2: her mother. She won't watch another marriage implode, no matter

155
00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:41,560
Speaker 2: what