Crimes of the Times

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

The Abduction of Polly Klaas

#27 trending · True Crime

When a violent felon with a long record kidnapped a 12-year-old girl from a slumber party in Northern California in 1993, it triggered a massive search -- and far-reachin

Nov 3
34 min

The Trials of Robert Blake

Robert Blake, the star of "In Cold Blood," played killers with unsettling intensity and spoke openly of his own dark impulses. As his fame faded, he was charged with murd

Oct 27
34 min

The Water Czar's Deadly Hubris

William Mulholland was the water boss who made L.A. possible. His reputation gave him unchecked authority as a dam builder. In 1928, that led to one of America's deadlies

Oct 20
34 min

The Shadow War Against L.A. Nazis

From his law office in downtown Los Angeles, an attorney named Leon Lewis ran a clandestine operation to thwart Nazi and fascist plots in the 1930s and 40s to kill Jews i

Oct 13
35 min

The Trial of Errol Flynn

On screen, Errol Flynn played a series of daredevils, fortune hunters, and suave romantics. Off screen, he lived a life of outsize debauchery and recklessness, including

Oct 6
34 min

Introducing: House of Troy

House of Troy is a new podcast from LA Times Studios tracing the rise and fall of USC football, from coach Pete Carroll’s back-to-back national titles in the 2000s, to th

Sep 22
16 min

How A Hillside Strangler Nearly Went Free

The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—unti

Jun 30
33 min

Suicide by Father? The Tragic Death of Marvin Gaye

In 1984, soul legend Marvin Gaye was in the grip of a cocaine habit and living with his father, a hard-drinking Pentecostal preacher with whom he had a lifetime of bad bl

Jun 23
29 min

The Unsolved Slaying of Joe Gatto

When retired art teacher Joseph Gatto was shot to death inside his Silver Lake home in 2013, the LAPD theorized that a fleeing car burglar might be the killer. The victim

Jun 16
38 min

The Trials of Tokyo Rose

Iva Toguri was a Los Angeles native who became trapped in Japan during World War II. When she returned home, the U.S. government put her on trial as a traitor for her war

Jun 9
33 min

The Forgotten Prophet of Los Angeles

Aimee Semple McPherson built a religious empire in Los Angeles and became one of the most influential evangelists in America. When she vanished from a California beach an

Jun 2
30 min

The Assassination of RFK

On today’s episode, we discuss one of the pivotal events of the 1960s: the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a promising presidential candidate at the time of his murde

May 19
37 min

O.C.’s Jailhouse Informant Scandal: Part Two

Orange County’s most prolific mass shooter admits his guilt, but a series of explosive hearings uncovers a longstanding jailhouse snitch operation that taints many other

May 12
36 min

O.C.’s Jailhouse Informant Scandal: Part One

In 2012, the judge presiding over Orange County’s worst mass-shooter case gave a seemingly simple order. He told the Sheriff’s Department to reveal information about a my

May 5
37 min

The Dahlia Zodiac Connection: Part Four

In the final episode of this four part series, we’ll talk to historian William J. Mann about his new book on the Dahlia case, which points to the same long-forgotten susp

Apr 28
30 min

The Dahlia Zodiac Connection: Part Three

Were the Black Dahlia and Zodiac murders the work of the same man? A new theory argues a disturbed World War II veteran was responsible. In this episode, a former FBI pro

Apr 21
24 min

The Dahlia Zodiac Connection: Part Two

Marvin Margolis was a promising early suspect in the Black Dahlia murder, but he managed to slip through the cracks. So who was this man of many pseudonyms? In this episo

Apr 14
24 min

The Dahlia Zodiac Connection: Part One

The identity of the Zodiac Killer has remained a mystery for decades, but new developments may finally point to an answer. At the center is the infamous Z13 cipher, a 13-

Apr 7
22 min

Announcing: Crimes of the Times, Season 4

On this season of Crimes of the Times, Los Angeles Times journalist Christopher Goffard explores criminal cases that have left a mark on California history. This season’s

Mar 30
1 min

“The Trials of Frank Carson” Update

Attorney Frank Carson spent decades defending the accused in California's Central Valley. He made powerful enemies among law enforcement. When they put him on trial for m

Dec 2 2025
26 min

Chart trend

Position in the True Crime chart (US), last 90 days.

#1#101#200SepOctNov

#23

all-time peak

days in the top 50 since Nov 2024

Chart positions

Where Crimes of the Times ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Nov 4, 2026).

#159 ▲ 19 True Crime US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

The storyline is amazing. The narrator and interviewer did a great job. However, the editing and where the ads were placed was horrible. All the ads happened mid sentences. There’s no break to know when an ad is about to come on, it just abruptly cuts off and goes to ad. It’s hard to believe that it’s a Wondery podcast with the poor editing.

forgetmynicknameapple! · Dec 2024

This podcast is very good however it sounds as if it was edited by a high schooler on an iPhone. People are cut off mid-sentence as it cuts abruptly to a commercial for another podcast. Like another reviewer, I thought I’d accidentally hit the forward button. I thought it must be a fluke but no the entire series is like this. For real? There’s free apps that can edit sound bites better than this. It’s really distracting.

AmyLB0904 · Sep 2023

The reporting is good but the casting of Debra as an innocent victim is ridiculous. She puts her children in danger because of her own selfishness. Her only defense could be that she is genuinely very unintelligent but I think she knows better. She never once says out loud that she feels guilty, the podcaster reports it which I think means she never actually expressed any remorse, they had to add it in to make her sympathetic

bscottnick · Jul 2022

One of the most binge-worthy pods I’ve ever listened to. Great pace, without feeling rushed or dragged out. And I really enjoyed the way they presented each person in the story. Instead of each person being boringly predictable from the start, I found myself feeling one way fairly strongly... only to feel *very* differently as it all unfolded. An obvious example of this was with her daughters. In the first episode, I was like ‘what self-centered b**ches’. Then in the subsequent episode, I was like ‘ahh what great young women’.. hahaha Highly recommended.

Taki Z · Apr 2021

The audio editing on this podcast is *so bad* that I felt compelled to review. Ads are always placed abruptly in the middle of a sentence, and there are 3-4 (very long!) ads per episode. So someone is speaking, then in the middle of their sentence it cuts to a 3-minute ad, then it abruptly cuts back to the rest of their sentence. Makes me hate Simplisafe (the advertiser), even though it’s not their fault. At least once (episode 3 I think?), the audio company promoted themselves on top of the podcast, i.e. two different voices were going at the same time. The storytelling is good, but it’s borderline unlistenable.

XtremeCurling · Aug 2024

Usually wonderly podcasts get an automatic 5 stars, and I usually finish them in a day. They’re well told and always super interesting. This one I kinda felt less interested, and more forced into just sticking with the story. The story was definitely done well and good but nothing comparable to the other wonderly podcasts I’ve listened to.

alexis 🌙 · Sep 2022

We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.