About Crime Waves
Crime Waves brings you interviews with people at the center of the biggest investigations in the world: prosecutors, criminals, professors, corruptors, journalists, undercover investigators, policemen, Olympic Gold Medalists, and mobsters — all primary sources, all experts, and all people with first-hand knowledge of the criminal world. We cover all kinds of investigations from match-fixing to murders to the mafia. We show you real undercover investigators and intelligence operatives, their trade-craft, and techniques. We examine all kinds of detective techniques from the traditional — blood spatters, fingerprints, and crime scene analysis — to the cutting-edge — separation of DNA, forensic archaeology, and genealogy. Our specialty is corruption, organized crime in sports, and forensic science. Join us as we bring you true stories from some of the world’s top investigators.
Format
There will be mini-seasons — five or six episodes each — on a particular theme.
Season 1: “Blood Sports.” You will hear about the links between the mob and the highest levels of international boxing: the couple who live in hiding after revealing to the world the extent of state-sponsored doping in the Russian Olympic teams: the story of gambling addiction that led an NBA referee to link up with Gambino family connected associates to bet on his games; and many other exclusive episodes featuring investigators and fighters for sports integrity.
Season 2: “How to Catch a Killer.” An array of interviews with some of the top forensic investigators in the world. All with a combination of both the practical police background - one of them was the detective that the movie and TV series Fargo was based on - and rare academic expertise. There are episodes on a successful murder investigation just before the advent of DNA and detective work: another former high-ranking investigator will speak about crime scene analysis and why he hates watching CSI; another colleague will speak about the new forensic technology that helped crack the Golden State Killer case.
There are more mini-seasons featuring a range of topics like the links between animal cruelty and serial killers; and how one of the women in the university canteen, that catalyzed this podcast, sparked an investigation that freed an innocent man from prison. That, and much more, here on Crime Waves.
Origins:
This podcast was inspired by one of the most fascinating, interesting, and disgusting lunches I ever consumed. I was in the faculty canteen eating with my forensic colleagues when they began discussing a body farm. Yes, it’s what you think it is. I stared at my cold, soggy macaroni and listened with real intent. It was an extraordinary discussion to hear three professionals analyzing the decomposition rates of corpses and their impact on murder investigations.
I got back to the subterranean, basement lair where presumably most of the staff will shelter from any potential nuclear attack, but for now, everyone calls my office. I was rushing back to the dank, underground grotto to speak to a contact about organized crime in international sport. He was fascinating, modest, and deeply insightful.
I finished the conversation and thought, ‘I have the good fortune to have so many really interesting people around me.’ Thus Crime Waves began.
The guiding principle of the podcast is to bring you — the listener — direct conversations with real experts: people who understand crime, corruption, and investigations in a first-hand way.
Declan Hill
