Assassinations Podcast

In 2004, Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko claimed he was poisoned by pro-Russian rivals, an allegation that drew global attention due to his disfigured face and a diagnosis of dioxin poisoning. The incident fueled the pro-Western “Orange Revolution,” which overturned an initial election result and led to Yushchenko’s eventual victory. However, his presidency was marred by economic decline, corruption, and political infighting. By 2010, he had lost public support and finished with just 5% of the vote. Later investigations cast doubt on the poisoning, with some suggesting it may have been a politically motivated fabrication. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! If you’d like to support the show through our Patreon page, and get access to exclusive content, go to patreon.com/assassinationspodcast You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Jonathan Moyle, likely an MI6/CIA asset, died suspiciously in Santiago, Chile, in March 1990, after questioning Cardoen Industries’ alleged military helicopter sales to Iraq. His death, ruled a suicide, showed signs of murder. Wensley Clarkson’s book, which we used as a key source for our episode on this case last year, suggested Cardoen’s role, but new evidence shows Cardoen’s Bell 206 helicopters were civilian, not military, by the end of 1988, as confirmed by FAA-approved inspectors. Moyle’s aggressive questioning of Cardoen Industries about military use for the helicopter may reflect a covert US and UK plan to frame Cardoen after Iraq’s August 1990 Kuwait invasion. In the light of this information, Moyle’s death and British cover-up efforts suggest MI6/CIA involvement, more than Cardoen’s lieutenants. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Independent journalists Kit Klarenberg and Tim Norman have conducted significant investigations into the alleged 2018 assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer turned British spy, and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England. The episode also covers the related death of Dawn Sturgess in nearby Amesbury, which was recently the subject of a UK inquiry. Skripal, who betrayed Russia for MI6 in the 1990s, was settled in Salisbury after a spy swap in 2010. On March 4, 2018, he and Yulia were found unconscious on a bench, allegedly poisoned by the nerve agent "novichok," which the British government attributed to Russian operatives. The official narrative claims this poison was smeared on Skripal’s door, though inconsistencies—such as the delayed onset of symptoms, the survival of the Skripals, and lack of definitive evidence linking the agent to Russia—raise doubts about the UK government’s story. Months later, Englishwoman Dawn Sturgess died after reportedly spraying herself with "novichok" from a sealed perfume bottle found by her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley, prompting further accusations against Russia. However, the apparently sealed bottle and the inability of scientists to confirm the nerve agent’s origin undermined the government’s claims. The British narrative was shaky and possibly propped up by intelligence-linked entities like Bellingcat and the Institute for Statecraft’s Integrity Initiative, which may have pushed disinformation. The recently concluded Sturgess Inquiry, designed to control the narrative, inadvertently exposed its weaknesses. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com You can find Tim’s work on the Propaganda in Focus website (https://propagandainfocus.com/author/h7_2q94aatnh5/) and UK Column (https://www.ukcolumn.org/writer/tim-norman), as well as on X.com @timtron2020 Kit writes for The Grayzone website (https://thegrayzone.com/author/kit-klarenberg/), including on the Skripal/Sturgess case: https://thegrayzone.com/2025/01/13/british-inquiry-skripal-poisoning/. He’s also on X.com @KitKlarenberg You can also contact the show through our website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! And you can find us on X @AssassinsPod Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Jonathan Moyle, once an RAF pilot and editor of the specialist trade journal Defense Helicopter World, died under suspicious circumstances in Santiago, Chile, in 1990. Was his death linked to his investigation of an arms deal involving Carlos Cardoen and Saddam Hussein's Iraq, focusing on converting civilian Bell helicopters for military use? Moyle’s aggressive questioning at an arms fair seems to have made him a likely target. But was was there more going on? While his death was ruled a suicide, evidence — like a sedative injection — suggested it was in fact a murder. The British government seemed to cover up the case, first claiming suicide, then suggesting a sex game mishap, to obscure Moyle’s espionage ties. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

With the US election upon us, host Niall takes a look at this year’s political drama, including two apparent attempts on the life of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Things often aren’t quite what they seem—especially in the world of high-level politics—and this might be no exception. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

When the United States decided to extend its “manifest destiny” across the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines at the end of the 19th century, Antonio Luna helped to defend his country. His assassination at the hands of his fellow Filipinos dealt a mortal blow to the independence movement. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

In the conclusion of our look at the assassination of John Lennon, we discover that it is a virtual impossibility that the man who has spent the last 44 years behind bars for the crime, Mark Chapman, could have done it. While Chapman confessed to the crime — and may truly believe he committed murder — the evidence simply does not support this, as Niall discusses with David Whelan, the author of Mind Games: the Assassination of John Lennon. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com There, you can find a map of the entrance area of the Dakota Building, taken from David Whelan’s book. You can order David’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Games-Assassination-John-Lennon/dp/B0CPMYSK9Z You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! And you can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

In the first of a two-part look at the murder of John Lennon, we look at the life and work of the former Beatle, and the strange story of the man who was convicted of killing him, Mark Chapman. Host Niall speaks with author David Whelan about his fascinating new book Mind Games: The Assassination of John Lennon, which contains important and surprising fresh insight on the case. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod And you can order David’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Games-Assassination-John-Lennon/dp/B0CPMYSK9Z Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

A Fairfax, Virginia based computing journalist who had turned his hand to deep-dive investigative journalism, in the early-1990s Casolaro was looking into an alleged theft of cutting-edge software by the US Government, which led him down a rabbit hole of seemingly bizarre conspiracy theories — thanks to disinformation fed to him by a shady self-professed tech expert — a project that Casolaro called “The Octopus”. His dead body was found in the bathtub of a hotel room in a small town in West Virginia on August 10th, 1991. He had gone there to meet at least one contact who was helping with his investigation. While police assumed it had been a suicide, not everything added up to that conclusion — not least the strange circumstances leading up to Casolaro’s death. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, videos, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Alexander Odeh was a Palestinian who had moved to the United States in the 1970s. While engaged in political activism in support of Arab people, both in the Middle East and in the USA, he was killed in a bombing attack widely attributed to a Jewish American terrorist cell. The alleged perpetrators subsequently fled to Israel in order to evade murder charges. One of the potential murderers, Andy Green / Baruch Ben-Yosef, is back in the news as he seemingly leads protests aimed at preventing essential aid from reaching starving Palestinians in Gaza. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com While there, you can check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, or shop our Merch Store to nab a logo tee or tote bag. You can also contact us through the website — we love to hear your comments, questions, corrections, and suggestions! You can find us on Twitter @AssassinsPod If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, videos, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

A legend and a mystery in his own lifetime, the decades following his death have only added to the mystique — and confusion — about who Jan Erik Hanussen really was and what his role in the rise of the Nazis might have been. We find out about the various dubious accounts that have shaped public perception about this once-famous mesmerist and clairvoyant, and how an entire subcategory of popular history was born — Occultism and the Nazis. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Blown up while sailing on his fishing boat along the coast of County Sligo in Ireland in 1979, the assassination of Lord Mountbatten resulted in international condemnation of the IRA, which claimed responsibility for the blast. Three other people — two teenaged boys and a woman in her eighties — were also killed. Many wondered why the IRA had chosen to kill Mountbatten, an old man who had long ago retired from public life, and who regularly summered in Ireland. It was especially strange that the Irish Republican group would choose to carry out the assassination on the same day as, and overshadowing, a bombing attack against a British Army barracks. Many years later, it was revealed that there was another aspect of Mountbatten’s life, quite apart from his royal status, that might have put a target on his back. A disgraceful secret that could have made him a liability to the British. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books — including Andrew Lowney’s biography of Mountbatten and his wife, Edwina — and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

On the 5th of November, 1605, a dastardly plot to assassinate King James and the English parliament was foiled. Many of the conspirators, most famously Guy Fawkes, were captured, tortured, and brutally executed. But might they have been mere pawns in some else’s game, part of a devious design to flush out enemies of the state and test the strength of England’s alliance with a foreign power? To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Did Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal single-handedly nearly wipe out his dynasty, including his own parents and siblings? Or maybe he was a patsy, a pawn in someone else’s game … someone who stood to benefit most from one of the bloodiest moments in the country’s history. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

One of the most vocal opponents and the State of Israel, Faisal lavished money on Palestinian causes. Following the 1973 Ramadan / Yom Kippur War, the Saudi king instituted an oil embargo against the United States and other countries that backed Israel. Other Muslim oil-producing countries joined the embargo, leading to the Energy Crisis, which had a damaging impact on the global economy. When Faisal was assassinated in 1975, many in the Muslim world thought that he had been targeted by the Americans or the Israelis in retaliation. Part 2 of 2. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Long before the House of Saud became synonymous with fabulous wealth flowing from their oil rich kingdom, they were tribal warriors who aspired to unite the Arabian Peninsula — and control the holy cities of Mecca and Medina — under their flag and guided by their obscure interpretation of the Islamic faith. Before we look at the details of the assassination of King Faisal, this episode considers the origins of the Saudi royal family, including their connection to British intrigues in the Middle East. Part 1 of 2. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. The sponsor of today’s show is Athletic Greens. Head on over to athleticgreens.com/EMERGING If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

We look at the life and death of another Alexander — this time it’s Tsar Alexander II of Russia. A reformer who granted freedom to some 23 million serfs, he was on the brink of signing into law a program of changes to the Russian system of government that could have set the empire on a democratic and constitutional route. But a team of assassins from a shadowy political group killed the tsar before he could sign the reforms into law, thus ushering in a period of political reaction that ultimately led to revolution. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. The sponsor of today’s show is Athletic Greens. Head on over to athleticgreens.com/EMERGING If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

The slaying of the Yugoslavian king on the streets of Marseille, France, in 1934 sent shockwaves throughout Europe. His assassination by a squad of Croatian and Macedonian nationalist militants was part of an international conspiracy by more powerful forces that sought to reshape the map of Europe. After a narrative historical recounting of events, host Niall discusses the case with Dr. Chris Millington of Manchester Metropolitan University. To learn more about Chris and his work, go to: https://www.mmu.ac.uk/hpp/staff/profile/index.php?id=3857 To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. The sponsor of today’s show is Athletic Greens. Head on over to athleticgreens.com/EMERGING If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

From a narrative historical account of the slaying of the Macedonian king, we move on to look at the fortunes of his son, Alexander the Great. And we ask the question: What might the world look like if Philip had lived? To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.

Before we start on Season 8 of the show, which will focus on the theme of royal assassinations, we take the opportunity to look at the life and death of the controversial Ukrainian nationalist figure. To find out more about the people and music featured in today’s episode, visit the Assassinations Podcast website, www.AssassinationsPodcast.com. While there, you can also check out our Bookstore, where we recommend some great episode-related books and reading material, and shop our Merch Store to nab a log tee or tote bag. If you’d like to support the show, we have a Patreon page. We offer a variety of different support levels with lots of fun perks, including bonus episodes, stickers, merch store credit, and more! Find us at patreon.com/AssassinationsPodcast Assassinations Podcast was created by Niall Cooper, who also researches and writes the show. Lindsey Morse is our editor and producer. Our theme music was created by Graeme Ronald. If you’d like to hear more from Graeme, check out his band, Remember Remember. You’ll find them on iTunes.