True Crime Reporter

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From Gunship Pilot – To FBI Agent – To NYT’s Best Selling Author Don Bentley Sep 13, 2022

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Don Bentley’s career zigzagged from flying an Army helicopter gunship on combat missions in Afghanistan to working counterintelligence for the FBI, to now writing suspense-filled novels based on the knowledge of his previous careers. In my last episode, former FBI agent Don Bentley took us inside the training of Special Agents at the elite FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. After the FBI, Bentley launched a successful writing career. He intimately knows the subject that he writes fiction about. Don Bentley is the New York Times bestselling author of the Matt Drake series spinning out potboilers about terrorism and intelligence operations. He has also written two Tom Clancy Jack Ryan, Jr. novels…the latest on bookshelves everywhere is Zero Hour. In this second episode, we discuss Bentley’s transition to writing and our individual association with the late Tom Clancy. Clancy, a legendary author, was known for his precise descriptions of everything he wrote about in his best-selling novels about spycraft and military weapon systems. Clancy turned his books into video games and spellbinding movies starting with Hunt For Red October. Here’s my interview with veteran decorated Army helicopter pilot, former FBI agent, and author Don Bentley. https://youtu.be/QinO-HRifzo

This Bank Gets Robbed Every Day – Former FBI Agent Don Bentley Sep 07, 2022

Show notes

There’s a bank in Quantico, Virginia, that gets robbed every day. And I am going to take you there. Hello. I’m Robert Riggs. In this episode of True Crime Reporter®, former FBI Agent Don Bentley takes us inside the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. New Special Agents start their career there in an intensive 20-week long training program. Realistic training scenarios unfold in a mock town called Hogan’s Alley named after a comic strip from the 1890s. Town House In Hogan's Alley That Is The Site Of Many Mock Shootouts At The FBI Academy In Quantico, Virginia I’ve reported there many times on stories ranging from bank robberies to weapons of mass destruction. I’ve posted links to those stories in the show notes. FBI Academy The 10-acre training facility contains a bank, post office, hotel, laundromat, barbershop, theater, homes, and everything you would find in a real urban setting. It’s like a Hollywood set that features actors playing armed criminals. In an homage to the deadly shootout with John Dillinger, there is a mock Biograph Theater where three FBI agents ended the gangster’s reign as “Public Enemy Number One.” My guest, Don Bentley, went through all of that training, and he was well suited for it. Before the FBI, Bentley served in the U.S. Army as a pilot for ten years and flew an AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship. Bentley received the Bronze Star and Air Medal with V device for Valor. He commanded a Quick Reaction Force in support of Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan. The story of that mission can be heard on Episode 56 of Jack Carr’s podcast, Danger Close. Carr, as you may know, is a former Navy SEAL and now a New York Times best-selling author of The Terminal List. The Terminal List starring Chris Pratt, is an acclaimed series on Amazon Prime. Don Bentley is also a New York Times bestselling author of the Matt Drake series spinning out potboilers about terrorism and intelligence operations. In this episode, we discuss the focus of the FBI since 9/11. Here’s my interview with Don Bentley. Links to Robert's TV stories at the FBI Academy: https://bit.ly/RobertRiggsReportsFromFBIAcademyOnWMD https://bit.ly/RobertRiggsReportsFromFBIAcademyOnProfileOfAPsychopath

When First Responders Need Help This Is Why They Call SWAT Aug 22, 2022

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In the previous episode, Inside Story Of The Deadliest Attack On Police Officers Since 9/11, the negotiator for the Dallas SWAT team revealed the inside story about the mass killer who ambushed Dallas officers during a Black Lives Matter protest five years ago. Members of our True Crime Community have asked to learn more about the purpose of SWAT teams. SWAT stands for Special Weapons and Tactics. It’s a highly trained elite unit selected from rank-and-file officers who apply. In the True Crime Reporter™ podcast episode published on July 18, 2022, about the Uvalde School Shooting, Police Waited To Subdue Killer While Uvalde School Children Lay Dying, you heard how a SWAT team from the U.S. Border Patrol finally stepped in and ended the mass shooting. SWAT teams grew out of the mass shooting at the University of Texas Tower in Austin a half-century ago. In 96 minutes, Charles Whitman, an architectural engineering student, cut down nearly 50 people with 150 rifle shots from the 30th-floor observation deck on August 1, 1966. From his perch, three hundred feet above the campus, he methodically picked off victims as far as five blocks away. Police were outgunned and did not have protective gear to make a quick assault. You can learn more about the incident and how it influenced policing in our March 28, 2022, episode titled, A Sniper In The Tower--Why Did He Do It? L to R Reporter Robert Riggs and Gary Lavergne Author of Sniper In The Tower We interviewed Gary Lavergne, the author of A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders. Here are links to the shooting's black and white film footage and a video of Gary Lavergne following the sniper’s trail to the top of the UT Tower. If SWAT teams had existed back then, that’s who would have responded. Pictured in Center: Lt. Bob Owens Dallas Police Department SWAT We asked retired Dallas Police Lt. Bob Owens to explain the role of SWAT teams. Owens is a 40-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department.

Inside Story Of The Deadliest Attack On Police Officers Since 9/11 Aug 15, 2022

Show notes

On the evening of July 7, 2016, Black Lives Matter protesters marched in downtown Dallas and other cities nationwide. They peacefully gathered in response to the police shootings of two black men, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. A few blocks from the site of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, an African American man who had left the U.S. Army following disgraceful conduct got out of his SUV, ready for combat. The mass murderer arrived with a calculated plan to kill police officers, preferably white officers. Wearing tactical gear, a bullet-resistant vest, and armed with a high-powered assault rifle, he, in effect, executed five officers and wounded eleven others. A cell phone video by a witness in a nearby building recorded Johnson shooting an officer for the city’s transit system, DART, in the back and then standing over the officer to pump eleven more rounds into him at point-blank range. The ambush marked the deadliest and bloodiest day for American law enforcement since 9/11. In a fierce gun battle, officers cornered the shooter inside the downtown campus building of the El Centro Community College. Larry Gordon, a crisis hostage negotiator for the DALLAS SWAT team, spent four hours talking with the gunman who pledged to take his life and the lives of more officers. Gordon and Retired Dallas Police Lt. Bob Owens, a 40-year veteran of DPD who served 20 years on SWAT, join Robert to reveal the inside story of what happened.

Tales of Murder and Mayhem from Former Prosecutor Bill Johnston. Aug 08, 2022

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The True Crime Reporter® Podcast features stories and interviews from the respective careers of investigative reporter Robert Riggs and former U.S. prosecutor Bill Johnston. Listeners have asked how both of them got involved in investigating criminal cases. In response, the podcast featured an episode with Riggs on July 4, 2022, explaining how he first got involved in digging for information during the Watergate scandal case while working for Congressman Wright Patman. In this episode, we cover the highlights of Bill Johnston’s distinguished law career. Bill devoted his career as a federal prosecutor to, in effect, protect the sheep from the wolves. He helped launch the manhunt for notorious serial killer Kenneth Allen McDuff, who tortured and murdered countless young women. His role in bringing McDuff to justice and prosecuting the Texas Parole Board Chairman official who released McDuff under a cloud of corruption is featured in the Fox Nation documentary Freed To Kill. Johnston became the cohost of the True Crime Reporter® podcast with Peabody Award-winning investigative reporter Robert Riggs in 2021. Johnston had a guilty verdict returned in every federal prosecution in hundreds of jury trials that he undertook during his 14-year career with the U.S. Department of Justice. A noteworthy criminal case includes the Branch Davidian cult members who murdered four ATF agents during a raid on their heavily armed compound outside Waco. The Texas Rangers, rather than FBI agents, were Johnston’s go-to investigators for complex murder cases. He managed a team of Rangers to investigate the crime scene at the Davidian compound after the end of the controversial inferno. Johnston successfully prosecuted a mail bomber, which was the first case tried under the U.S. Violence Against Women Act. Other firsts include the first jury trial in the United States in which mitochondrial DNA (hair without root) was used in evidence against a violent “car-jacking” defendant who caused the death of an elderly man in Texas. He received a mandatory life sentence without parole.

From Convict To CEO — Turning Inmates Into Business Entrepreneurs Aug 03, 2022

Show notes

Many U.S. prisons are trade schools for crime. High recidivism rates underscore the failure of the current criminal justice system. Released and rearrested inmates pass through an expensive revolving door. The Texas prison used to be called the Texas Department of Corrections (TDC), but there was little evidence that it corrected bad behavior. In Texas, nearly one-fourth of the prisoners released return within three years. Nationally, half of the prisoners released return within three years. However, the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP), an independent nonprofit organization in Texas, puts inmates within one to three years of parole eligibility on the path to jobs and even running a business. Less than 7% of its graduates return to prison within three years. 500 participants are chosen yearly out of more than 10,000 eligible inmates. The screening process, which is more selective than prestigious universities, includes a 20-page application, three exams, and an interview with PEP staff members. Death row inmates or those convicted of sex crimes are not eligible. The program exposes them to PEP’s ten driving values: fresh-start outlook, servant-leader mentality, love, innovation, accountability, integrity, execution, fun, excellence, and wise stewardship. The entrepreneurship program starts with a three-month Leadership Academy that teaches character development and computer skills. Next, they take a rigorous six-month “mini-MBA” course taught by staff, volunteer business executives, and college students. Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business has worked with PEP since 2007. It awards certificates of Entrepreneurship at the program’s graduation ceremonies. All of the inmates who have graduated get a job within 90 days of walking out of prison. More than 1,500 PEP graduates have launched 300 businesses. Six of those companies generate more than $1 million in annual sales. Nearly half of the grads own homes within three years of their release. Bryan Kelley, the CEO of PEP, has “walked the line” in the prison system. Kelley served 22 years of a life sentence for a drug-related murder. (note: In this context, "walk the line" refers to the white lines painted on the floors of prison cellblocks. Inmates must stay inside the white line and against the wall as they walk in both directions.) Investigative reporter Robert Riggs spent a decade in every corner of the prison system, exposing corruption in the Texas parole system. Riggs interviews Kelley about the life-changing Prison Entrepreneurship Program.

The Growing Threat Of Grievance Killings – Why More People Are Losing It Jul 25, 2022

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A growing threat of grievance killings is taking center stage across the world. Recent examples include the assassination of Japan’s popular prime minister to a patient in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who gunned down two doctors and two medical personnel because he was angry about ongoing pain following his surgery. Sasha Larkin, the Deputy Chief of the Homeland Security Division at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, describes this new threat. Dep Chief Sasha Larkin of the Homeland Security Division at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department The 22-year veteran of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says it was easier to deal with the Osama bin Laden’s of the terrorist world because it was easier to identify them and their motivations. Larkin came up through the ranks reaching Deputy Chief. From her post overseeing the Homeland Security Division, Larkin has a unique perspective on crime trends. In a wide-ranging conversation with investigative reporter Robert Riggs, Larkin discusses the new phenomenon of grievance shootings, her approach to stopping murders that arise out of domestic violence, her path to leadership as a role model to women, and the deadly Route 91 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip that occurred on October 1st of 2017. You may recall that a 64-year-old lone, heavily armed rifleman perched in a 32nd-floor suite of the Mandalay Bay Hotel opened fire on a crowd at the Harvest Music Festival below. He killed 60 people. Wounded 411. Caused chaos that led to the injury of 456 people. It was the deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual in U.S. history. And the killer’s motive remains a mystery. In this episode, Robert Riggs takes a look inside the crime scene tape at America’s playground—Las Vegas.

Police Waited To Subdue Killer While Uvalde School Children Lay Dying Jul 18, 2022

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A 77-page report by a special committee of the Texas House of Representatives concluded that no one was able to stop the gunman from carrying out the deadliest school shooting in Texas history, in part because of “systemic failures and egregious poor decision making” by nearly everyone involved who was in a position of power. 376 law enforcement officers descended on the school in a chaotic, uncoordinated scene devoid of clear leadership and a sense of urgency to take down the gunman, according to the report. It is the most exhaustive account of what happened to date, and it was released on Sunday, July 17, 2022. It found that the mass killer had been dubbed "school shooter" on social media a year before the massacre because of his violent threats against others. The high school dropout and social outcast consumed gore and violent sex online. He sometimes shared videos and images of suicides and beheadings. In real life, he was fired from two fast-food jobs for harassing a female coworker at one and refusing to speak to coworkers at the other. He spent more than $3,000 on two AR-15-style rifles and accessories when he turned 18 years of age, two weeks before he attacked the school. The massacre was the first time that he had ever handled a firearm. The committee found that the killer took advantage of a culture of complacency about school security. Doors were routinely left unlocked and propped open. Teachers had become desensitized to false alarms and did not quickly react to a lockdown alert. The report suggests that stopping the gunman sooner could have made a difference. “Given the information known about victims who survived through the time of the breach and who later died on the way to the hospital,” the committee wrote, “it is plausible that some victims could have survived if they had not had to wait 73 additional minutes for rescue.” The critical report underscores the indecisive and disorganized police response recorded on the school's security cameras. Images of police standing around waiting for more than an hour while twenty-one wounded Uvalde, Texas students and teachers needed medical aid drew outrage across the United States. All 21 victims, two teachers and their fourth-grade students, died at the hands of an 18-year-old mass killer. Security camera footage from inside the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, records the sound of repeated bursts of gunfire from the killer's assault rifle for two and half minutes. Three officers arrived and advanced down a colorful school hallway toward the classrooms within three minutes. But when the gunman opened fire through the classroom door, the officers frantically retreated. Heavily armed officers with shields congregated at the end of the corridor, where they waited to confront the killer for excruciatingly 77 minutes. At one point, an officer paused to squirt hand sanitizer into his hands and rubs his palms together. The security camera footage underscores a painfully slow response that contradicts everything the FBI has taught U.S. law enforcement since the Columbine Colorado High School massacre occurred 23 years ago in April 1999. Katherine Schweit, the former FBI agent and executive who established the Bureau's active shooting training program, emphasizes that even if an officer responds alone, they are supposed to go in harm's way to neutralize the gunman to stop the carnage. After reviewing the security camera footage, Schweit concluded that indecision and a lack of leadership turned a bad situation into a catastrophe. An editorial in the New York Post ran a headline denouncing the slow response, "Video proves Uvalde was the greatest act of cowardice in modern American history." Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs interviewed Schweit about the shooting video and the legislative report's damning conclusion that the police response by local, state, and federal agencies disregarded its active shooting training. Schweit is the author of Stop The Killing: How To End The Mass Shooting Crisis. The former FBI agent says law enforcement agencies worldwide need to revise the effectiveness of their active shooter training programs. Here's a link if you wish to donate to the victims' fund. Here's a link to the security camera video. Warning: it is graphic and disturbing.

A Love Triangle Ends In An Alleged Murderous Fit Of Jealous Rage Jul 11, 2022

Show notes

25-year-old Anna Moriah Wilson, known as “Mo” was an up-and-coming professional cyclist in gravel racing. Friends described her as a beacon and light and energy. But another cyclist, Kailin Armstrong allegedly snuffed out that light in a hail of gunfire. Shockwaves from the grievance killing spread from Austin, Texas where the murder occurred to news media around the world. It is a true-crime story that is stranger than fiction. Two female cyclists vying for the affection of a male cyclist were on a tragic collision course. Investigative Reporter Robert Riggs takes fans inside the crime scene tape with Austin homicide detectives and U.S. Marshals.

The Watergate Scandal — A Tale Of Bribery And International Intrigue Jul 04, 2022

Show notes

Many of you have asked how Robert became an investigative reporter. After all, most of the stories you hear on this podcast come from my reporter’s notebook. Riggs' career path has zigged and zagged since I received a degree in Architecture and Construction from Texas A&M University. Upon graduation, he headed off to Capitol Hill. In this episode, my cohost, former prosecutor Bill Johnston, takes me back to the Watergate scandal 50 years ago. Bill has never heard some of these stories, and in later episodes, Riggs will interview him about his high-profile criminal cases. Riggs shares a muck-raking tale of bribery and international intrigue.

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