All Episodes

December 30, 2025 14 mins
Curtis Sliwa is filling in for Mark Simone, bringing a different vibe to the show. Meanwhile, a major fraud center in Minneapolis has been shut down, with the FBI increasing its involvement. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is under growing pressure, possibly due to a scandal. Ilhan Omar is facing an investigation over how her net worth reportedly grew from $0 to over $30 million in just one year. There's a lot of speculation about her and the Somali community, with some people questioning whether they truly understand the situation or are just making assumptions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the Red Beret has returned to radio. Curtis Lee
Wall guest host the Mark Simone Show on sevent ten. Woor,
substituting for Mark, will be back on January second. So

(00:22):
I want to tiptoe around the tulips a little bit
and talk about Somalians and ripoffs of the taxpayers. Cause
a lot of sensitive people out there. They know that
I know where all the bones are buried and who
buried it. So I'll do a tiny tim dance around

(00:42):
the tulips a little bit. So it's to not aggravate
Mark upon his return. Play the ukulele? Who's Who's his girlfriend?
Remember he saw it on Ed Sullivan and quite a
merv Griffin the talk shows. Remember who is it? A
quick little trip? Do you hear? One eight hundred three
two one zero seven ten? That's one eight hundred three

(01:05):
two one zero seven ten. Who's the girlfriend? Then he
played the ukulele too. But also I just want to
before we talk about Somalian I give you a geography
and a history lesson, and a lesson about ripoffs that
didn't start with the Somalians actually started. I first learned
about them in nineteen seventy five. And it wasn't in Minnesota,

(01:29):
was right in our tri state area. Get ready. But
as Tom Cuddy brought to my attention our program director
here WOR, you got to get the inside radio edition.
The headline Curtis Sleewer's radio persona resonates with a new generation.
And as you know, I'm on here my new found

(01:50):
friendly station at seven ten WOR that I Nancy listened to.
But there's another station on also that's broadcasting talk and
that's WNYC, which I actually was there for a while.
Believe it or not. You've been in this business, you've
been fired, you've been hired. That's just the nature of it.
It's like counting the rings of a tree to determine

(02:11):
how long the tree is out. So yes, they I'm
out there, and there are a number of Zorinistas. They
listened to WNYC and Brian Lair he's been on forever,
like from ten to twelve, and apparently he had a
contest on his show and the first question was which

(02:34):
mayoral candidate listened to edm in this last mayoral election,
And apparently a caller a Zorin East and nailed it
first right out of the box. At the start of
his program. Oh that's Chainsmokers, you know, Curtis EDM electronic
dance music, that's for sure. Under the Kasjusco bridge. We

(02:58):
saw Nancy and him there like really grooving into it,
and it was. It was a great concert. And we
love Chainsmokers all their songs, but especially Don't Let Me Down.
I liked the version with Daya singing. And then you
got to Alex Paul and Drew Taggart and this is
what we do in the wee hours in the morning

(03:19):
to decompress at the Slattle household with our six cats.
That's tried. If you don't like it, tough noogies. But
we listened to a lot of EDM and we watched
the reruns of the Office. As I told you, my
favorite episode is the snowball fight. Was that not great?

(03:41):
You know when there was a little dusting of snow
and Scranton, Pennsylvania. Now there's a threat of more inclement
weather in the anyway, the point is that's what we
do to decompress. I cannot listen to talk radio all day. Sorry,
gives me a headache, gives me a migraine. It's two
repetitious it's like you want to do good talk radio,

(04:03):
You've got to do two hours of preparation for every
one hour on the air, and you gotta be entertaining.
I don't need to hear what was on the news
from the day before. I got it already. But maybe,
like you'll hear coming up a little education on Somalians
and Somali's and also the ripoffs that have taken place
there that have gotten everyone bent out of shape, as

(04:25):
they should. But now that it's started, and this is good, FBI,
you know, Department of Homeland Service says, are we gonna
do that in other communities, including amongst many of our
political allies in France. Oh, that maybe is where you
want to draw the line. But anyway, high five to

(04:47):
Lenny Lowpate of having me as the first question out
of the box. Quick point I had been fired. I
think it was like ninety three, right at the point
that Rudy Juliet He was elected mayor, and as I mentioned,
I went to his inauguration sitting there watching little Andrew
Giuliani climb up the podium at Chris Farley popularized on

(05:10):
Saturday Night Live. Those were great bits, but also David Dinkins,
who I did not support, felt was a horrible mayor,
was a gentleman and attended the inauguration to show the
passing of the mayoralty. And Rudy calls me up. He says,

(05:31):
I understand you got fired at WABC. I like you
to come over to WNYC, which at that time was
owned by the City of New York along with its
TV station. And when we said we got to get
out of the business of subsidizing radio and TV, we
got these two big sticks. I'm sure there are commercial
outlets that'll be more than happy to have them. I

(05:52):
want you to come over do a program. You know,
they're all bent out of shape thinking you're going to
come over and just do it about communities. Nobody knows
more about New York City than you. I said, of course,
we couldn't know everything about the three hundred and fifty
neighborhoods in make up the city. And I went over
there and it was like mixing a moan you with bleach.
They were all bent out of shape. Oh, very liberal,

(06:14):
very progressive. And the guy on before me, because I
was on from two to four, was the cultural guy,
Lenny Lopate. No longer alive. And he introduced me to
the audience by saying, and now you're gonna hear from
the guy that was forced on to us by Mayor
elect Rudy Giuliani, a guy who, uh, the best he

(06:36):
can do is read magazine covers and comic books. And
I said, oh, really, Lenny, huh, that's that's all I'm
known for reading magazine covers and comic books. And then
he broke wild on me. He just he lost it.
He said, I know you. You went to a prestigious Jesuit
high school. They kicked you out Brooke Prep. I went

(06:58):
to Eastern District High School. I lived in a coldwater
flat where the toilet was all the way down. We
had to share it on the floor. Guy went, I
mean wild, He went ghetto Wamie. I lasted all the
seven months I could not be there. That was not
my place to be WNYC. And I ended up being

(07:19):
hired back at WABC. Had to do overnights by a
guy named Don Belucas, who was the general manager because
the program director, John Minelly said, you will never work
here at WABC, and I come on, I noticed business. Okay,
they come, they go and I got back there, but
I shout out to Lenny Loped you know, he was

(07:39):
one of the three moderators in that second debate. It
broke all records in terms of people watching. The New
York one hosted at LaGuardia Community College. You had Eron Lewis,
he was the moderator. You had Katie Katie Hanlin oh Man,
I is pronouncing a name, I'll get it right from

(08:00):
the city. And then of course there was Brian Lair
and they had It was a good debate, a fair debate,
fair to CuMo, fair to me, fair to Zoran. Although
that's the one he was schmitzing it. Remember that's the
one where we had him on the ropes. It was
a tko, it wasn't a kao. And all of this
leading into his inauguration and as I said, the song

(08:25):
by the Clash, the greatest counterculture band of all time.
Should I stay or should I go? Hmm to be determined,
but it is likely the cheechin Chog album. Remember Class, Class,
Class and everyone shut up? Was that system? Mary Mark

(08:50):
and common Sita whatever. We're gonna have a little lesson
on Somalia since everyone is a newfound expert on the
corruption in Minneso soda that has come with the migration
of refugees from the Somalian Civil War. It occurred back
in the early nineties. Remember it was Bush forty one

(09:11):
who was going to bring him bread and peace and love.
And then all of a sudden, the warlords turned their
guns on the Americans and we were at war. There's
no other way to describe it. Oh, it's a police action. No,
it was a war. And again, Somalia was part of
the Italian provinces then Benito Mussolini was before World War Two. Somalia.

(09:39):
Then there was Eritrea, always at war with Ethiopia, and
then of course Libya before Momar Kaddafi came around with
in his drug induced psychosis. They were all Italian provinces.
You know. I found out about it. I was gone
to our Lady of Miracles rectory where the head preach,
the monseignor was u Father Simonetti, and he had a

(10:03):
big picture of Benito Mussolini taking care of older natives
from and that case was Ethiopia. My mother had taken
me there because she wanted me to be an altar boy.
I did not want to be an Aultipoy for a
lot of reasons, you know what I'm hinting at. But
I was patronizing the Monta Signor Father Siminetti, who was

(10:25):
eyebailing me a little too nicely, and he was explaining
to me how Yeah, Benito Massolini was a benevolent dictator.
He took care of the people in Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Libya.
It would have been better for them better. Wasn't he
our enemy? Yeah? Yeah, but there was a lot of misunderstandings.

(10:46):
I knew right then and there. I didn't want to
be anywhere near this mun signor Father Semene years ahead.
He is one of many of the priests that were
found to be perving yep altar boys, in which the
Archdiocese of Brooklyn, Queens was paying out millions and millions

(11:07):
of dollars. You see. My intuition was, Mom, Francesca, my
beloved mother, who would go to the Lvena's, would go
to the stations of the Cross whenever cursed, would do
the rosaries. Mom, I'm not becoming an altar boy. So
I became a choir boy, and you wore all red
and the nuns took care of you. The nuns. They
were pious, they were chased, they were true believers, they

(11:29):
were married to Jesus Christ. They had the wedding band armed.
You went into the rectory. Boy, the priests were ostentageous. Hey,
you know, where'd you get this? You didn't get this
carpet from Kalfmy carpet, that's for sure. Wow, that looks
like design of furniture. Trust me, never liked the priests.
I always trusted the nuns. And that's where my intuition

(11:53):
saved me at that point from who knows, possibly becoming
another victim of that monster. But let's talk all about
some Many of you became familiar with Somalia when you
were in your rock and roll days, you know, following
David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust, You remember those great albums. You
wouldn't know is he that's before your time, The Rising

(12:14):
Fall of Ziggi, Stardust, Starman, h Space. Out of these
were great. But he married Iman. Whenever you're a one
named person, you're like super spectacular share Iman. She was
a high profile model for Haasace Calvin Kleines. She had

(12:34):
been married at Spencer Heywood, the basketball player. They divorced.
She had been born in Mogadishu, well before Black Hawk Down.
By the way, that reminds me a black Hawk Down.
You know what that was the result of Bill Clinton
was in charge at the time, and he was seeking
out the warlord Adid, who by the way, was doing

(12:56):
interviews with every network in the world. You know, he
got We're out there, gonna find a deed. He's right
there Morgadishu's doing interviews at CNN, with Fox News Channel
to be beachd couldn't find them, so they send the
helicopters in to get our deed, the warlord, and uh,
you know the disaster they followed. By the way, our

(13:19):
deed's son was a United States Marine translator at that
time for the Marines that were in Somalia. He had
been raised in Long Beach, California. When his father died
because we never got him guests who went back to
Somalia from Long Beach, California and declared himself to be

(13:42):
the warlord taking over for his father. What a mess.
And then of course the Somalian pirates during the time
of the Smooth Operator, Barack Obama so much about Somalia
and so many of you have no idea where it
is in the map on its history is all you
want to know is about all the fraud as you

(14:02):
should want to know of what may be ten billion
dollars they got ripped off from the tax bears. When
we come back, I'll explain a little bit of that.
But then I'll say, we're not gonna stop here, are we?
Because you know they're Democrats, they voted in a block
they vote in a block code language. We're not gonna

(14:24):
stop here, are we. We're gonna go after our friends too,
those that are supportive of our politics, those who have
ripped us off over the years to the tune of
billions and billions of dollars. Right we are. We're gonna
go the whole nine yards, right, FBI, all the federal agencies.
Not just after our perceived political enemies. We're gonna go

(14:45):
after our friends. Still want to bet we don't. One
eight hundred three two one zero seven ten. That's one
eight hundred three two one zero seven ten. It's seven
ten w R. This is your new place to be.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

The Burden

The Burden

The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.