The Art of Crime

Mar 19 2025 67 ep. 41 mins 1.9k
The Art of Crime Podcast artwork

The Art of Crime is a history podcast about the unlikely collisions between true crime and the arts. New theme each season.

  History  Arts
RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


Wig Heist! (Crimes of Old New York)

Mar 19 2025 37 mins  
One Monday morning in 1958, Nina Lawson, Mistress of Wigs at the Metropolitan Opera, came into work to discover that someone had stolen thirty thousand dollars' worth of wigs from the Met. The theft made national headlines, and the FBI joined the hunt for the culprits. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com. If you'd like to support the show, ple

The Meteoric Rise of Audrey Munson (Crimes of Old New York)

Mar 12 2025 51 mins  
Today, I'm thrilled to share an episode of a wonderful podcast, ArtMuse. This is part one of a two-part episode about Audrey Munson, sometimes referred to as "America's first supermodel." She inspired more than a dozen prominent statues throughout New York. After reaching the height of her fame, she got roped into one of the early twentieth century's most sensational homicide trial

To Catch a Book Thief (Crimes of Old New York)

Mar 05 2025 59 mins  
In 1931, a trio of thieves stole a rare book by Edgar Allan Poe worth more than half a million dollars from the New York Public Library. To bring them to justice, the library called in G. William Bergquist, an investigator who specialized in recovering stolen books.

Mae West Goes to Jail (Crimes of Old New York)

Feb 19 2025 58 mins  
In 1927, blond-haired bombshell and future movie star Mae West performed the lead role in a play about a prostitute titled SEX. The risqué production launched her to stardom on Broadway. There was just one problem--it also launched her straight into a jail cell. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com. If you'd like to support the show, please co

A Gentleman and a Thief (Crimes of Old New York)

Feb 05 2025 50 mins  
In the Roaring Twenties, Arthur Barry stole millions of dollars' worth of jewels from some of New York's wealthiest residents. Today, we talk about the cat burglar's audacious capers with best-selling author Dean Jobb, whose new biography of Barry is titled A Gentleman and a Thief. For more about Jobb's writing, visit his website at https://www.deanjobb.com/. If you'd like to sup

Murder at Madison Square Garden (Crimes of Old New York)

Jan 22 2025 60 mins  
In 1901, Broadway chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit met Stanford White, the fabulously wealthy and influential architect who designed Madison Square Garden. They formed a relationship that ended in murder six years later, right in the middle of a crowded performance at Madison Square Garden. If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrim

The Child Musicians of Crosby Street (Crimes of Old New York)

Jan 08 2025 47 mins  
In the 1860s and '70s, hundreds--maybe thousands--of Italian children migrated to New York to make money as street musicians. They worked for bosses known as padroni, living in squalor and suffering abuse at the hands of their employers. In 1873, the plight of these little street performers unleashed outrage in New York and neighboring states, which prompted the federal government

The Yuletide Art Heists of 1990 (Crimes of Old New York)

Dec 18 2024 18 mins  
In 1990, three separate art heists took place in the week leading up to Christmas, baffling New York authorities as well as the FBI. In this special holiday episode, we look at police efforts to recover the stolen artworks as well as the many mysteries that hover over the case to this day. Music featured in this episode: "Deck The Halls" by Alexander Nakarada (CreatorChords) |

The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum (Crimes of Old New York)

Dec 03 2024 58 mins  
Today, we're joined by best-selling author Margalit Fox to talk about Fredericka "Marm" Mandelbaum, who rose to the top of New York's underworld as a criminal fence and financial backer of bank burglaries in the 1860s and '70s. Earlier this year, Margalit published a brand-new biography of the crime boss, titled The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum, which you will most assuredly enjoy if

George L. Leslie and the Gilded Age of Bank Robbery (Crimes of Old New York)

Nov 19 2024 53 mins  
In the late 1860s, gentleman bank robber George L. Leslie arrived in New York and started working for Fredericka Mandelbaum, one of the city’s most notorious crime bosses. Leslie always claimed to have studied architecture in college and drew on his training to mastermind some of the most daring heists of the century, earning the nickname of “King of Bank Robbers.” His reign