Ridiculous Crime

Ridiculous Crime

True Crime is more than blood, guts, mayhem, and murder. Zaron Burnett and Elizabeth Dutton share outlandish tales of capers, heists, and cons that shine a light on the absurd and outrageous side of criminality. Always 99% murder-free and 100% ridiculous, this is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast by iHeartRadio.

Episodes

July 10, 2025 45 mins

A thief breaks into luxury homes in tony Boca del Mar. the cops are flummoxed by this brazen burglar. Even more so when they find out it’s a lady thief! How could the Bandit of Boca del Mar be a woman? That’s unthinkable! Hey, anything is possible in Palm Beach County, baby.

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Sometimes you just need to get away. For a Chinese dissident that meant making a daring escape on a jet ski. For a former cyclist turned "ocean jogger," it meant building himself a human-powered hamster wheel so he could run across the sea. In both cases, these men's choices were crimes, but their methods were... ridiculous!

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It was a pretty genius plan. Steal gems from a Brinks truck as it made its way from one jewelry show to another. And the heist crew pulled it off…sort of. Seems practice runs can both improve the actual big theft, but also leave a trail of evidence for the feds. Oh, well.

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Elizabeth, what's your third-favorite bird? On the heels of that question follows one of the strangest tales we've told. It's a globe-trotting, desert-crossing, ostrich-wrangling, feather-lusting, pith-helmeted, African cowboy adventure... with crime! Just how far will a bunch of profit-minded South Africans go to steal a flock of coveted French colonial ostriches?

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Recently, Zaron Burnett and Elizabeth Dutton joined AJ Jacobs on The Puzzler to test their puzzling skills!

Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.

Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts! 

"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs...

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June 26, 2025 55 mins

If you are dissatisfied with the state of the world, you have to get out there and make some changes yourself. Joshua Norton, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, tried to do just that. He dubbed himself leader and issued proclamations asserting his vision for a better life. Only in San Francisco, California, could a madman be a wise man and a folk hero for the ages.

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For centuries, wigs were the look. And in the era of Marie Antoinette, the bigger the better, and the more fantastical, the more whimsical, even better. Industries were built to attend to the many needs of the big wigs of Europe. And there was another industry born of the decadence and hair-based opulence. Enter the professional wigjacker! (Ridiculous crimes guaranteed.)

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An idealistic British MP had it all, until a series of bad decisions nearly destroyed his career. But that didn't stop the bad decisions, it only made them worse.

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Whether it's Steven Seagal versus his pants, or Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere battling over Princess Di, over Tom Hardy going toe-to-toe with Shia LaBoeuf, or the one celeb brief that led to the greatest pop art of the 21st century, this week, we've got the beef... the celebrity beef you need... for a good laugh!

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A true sovereign citizen, George Streeter claimed land as his own. Then he made even more of it. The cops and the courts and the fat cats of Chicago couldn't pry him out. Instead, he provided entertainment, vice, and choice quotes to a fabulous city that knows how to celebrate a character. 

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At the height of the swing music era, jazz drummer and musical great Gene Krupa was caught up in a federal bust. He was used as a cautionary tale in America's First Drug War. Taken down in order to scare young people away from that serious and dire threat to America... jazz music.

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An ocean-loving, expert mariner Florida man made his living transporting bales of marijuana until the law caught up with him. Then he went to a land down under, where women glow and men plunder (as they say in the song). He made a new life for himself there. Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover.

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Black Bart was not his government name. While the name was fearsome and his occupation as a stagecoach robbing outlaw was typically violent and careers short-lived, Black Bart was the opposite in every way. He was a gentleman outlaw folk hero who never hurt anyone. Not only that, he left poems for the lawmen chasing after him. The secret to his success? Black Bart was not at all what anyone expected!

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A lumber baron who set his sights on facilitating luxury living established an enormous, posh, private ski club. And in a shocking turn of events that absolutely no one could ever see coming, hundreds of lawsuits followed.

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A Florida club promoter had a big idea: he'd take four young American lads, grow out their hair, dress 'em like John, Paul, George and Ringo, and call 'em the American Beetles to cash in on a thing called Beatlesmania. That worked so well the four lads embarked on a magical mystery tour of South America. And that's how Los Beetles Americanos came to Buenos Aires. Only trouble was: no one told Argentina it wasn't the real Beatles.&n...

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A cardsharp, a ladies man, a con artist extraordinaire. Nicky Arnstein skirted the law and lived the high life, even married the most famous woman in radio. A couple stretches of hard labor in the pen couldn't break him, but a film adaptation of his life almost did. Tough guy, thin skin.

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There's the big leagues of insider trading, like what we see from both sides of the aisle in Washington DC. And when we think of Wall St. crimes taking place it's in boardrooms, backrooms, and out on golf courses. But what about in the Tampa Bay Rays farm system? That's where a roster of struggling minor leaguers tried to grab a big league pay day off of Del Taco stock options. Ridiculous crimes followed.

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May 15, 2025 58 mins

We've come to expect corruption and lies in Washington, but there are times when it just goes too far. Witness George Santos, a guy who is seemingly allergic to the truth (but not Hermès). He proves that there's money to be made in the outrage machine, whether we like it or not.

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There's Sebastian Bach. The former lead singer of the hair metal band, Skid Row. You expect stories of him acting out –– that's kinda his whole deal. He goes through life like he's a one-man reality show about a former rock star who now enjoys wine bars and Broadway. But there's also his namesake, Johann Sebastian Bach. And let us tell ya, he was every bit the bad boy. And just as criminally ridiculous. 

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Two con men. Each masters of financial fraud. Each on the run from the law, using aliases and wild maneuvers to stay one step ahead of the authorities. Until they weren't. And it was only then that they crossed paths, with ridiculous result. Get ready to throw a couple more tomes into the Ridiculous Crime library!

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Hosts And Creators

Zaron Burnett

Zaron Burnett

Elizabeth Dutton

Elizabeth Dutton

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