Podcast
Crude ACTS - A True Crime Podcast
Hosted by Jen Schaffer · EN
No banter. No jokes. No deviation from the story. Crude Acts is a straight-to-the-fact, investigative true crime podcast focused on the dark and gripping cases that occurred in and around Texas. If you are tired of small talk and want pure journalistic storytelling, this show delivers. Host Jen Schaffer shoots it straight, bringing you deep-dive exposition, exclusive interviews, and a relentless focus on the victims and the facts of the Lone Star State's most compelling crimes. New episodes drop regularly. Turn on notifications so you never miss a case.
18episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Blood Will Tell: The Trial of Texas Tycoon T. Cullen Davis
3w ago00:43:48Tap to summarizeIn 1976, a gunman walked through the largest privately-owned home in the United States and shot four people. Two of them died. The man charged was T. Cullen Davis — heir to a Texas oil fortune, one of the wealthiest men in America, and by every account, a man who believed the rules did not apply to him.What followed were two of the most expensive, most watched, and most controversial murder trials in Texas history. He was acquitted both times.Gary Cartwright’s Blood Will Tell is the book. This episode is the reckoning.Crude Acts is a Texas true crime podcast covering cases drawn from nonfiction books. Season 4: Murder in Print.
Transcribe →Run Brother Run: Hitman Charles Harrelson & The Berg Murder
May 400:39:34Tap to summarizeHouston true crime. A contract killing. A rigged trial. And the most dangerous defense attorney in Texas.In 1968, Alan Berg — a Houston carpet salesman — was lured to the parking lot of the Brass Jug on Sin Alley, forced into a car, and murdered for hire. His body was found six months later in a cedar grove off County Road 257 between Surfside and Galveston, clad in one shoe, a coat, trousers and a belt. He was 31 years old.Charles Harrelson — the contract killer who would later assassinate a federal judge — pulled the trigger for $1,500. Percy Foreman, the most feared criminal defense attorney in America, represented both Harrelson and the man who allegedly ordered the hit. The eyewitness was Sandra Sue Attaway, who had worked at Houston's Cork Club — the same private club where Ash Robinson drank and Joan Robinson Hill was a regular. Foreman destroyed her testimony with a single legal argument. Both men walked free.This week on Crude Acts, we're covering David Berg's memoir Run Brother Run — the book Berg spent forty years waiting to write about his brother Alan's murder, the 1970 Angleton trial, DA Ogden Bass, and the Houston organized crime infrastructure that made all of it possible.If you've been following our Blood and Money deep dive this season, this episode is the connective tissue. Same lawyers. Same city. One year apart.Key names: Alan Berg, Charles Harrelson, Percy Foreman, Racehorse Haynes, Sandra Sue Attaway, Frank DiMaria, Nathan Berg, Robert Leonard, Dennis Weadock, Crawford Booth, Ogden BassKey locations: Brass Jug Club Houston, Sin Alley Houston, Cork Club Shamrock Hotel, Imperial Carpets Montrose, Surfside Island, Brazoria County, Angleton TexasCrude Acts is a Texas true crime podcast covering organized crime, corruption, and the cases that shaped the Gulf Coast. New episodes every week.
Transcribe →Blood and Money: The Mysterious Death of Joan Robinson Hill
Apr 2000:45:31Tap to summarizeCrude Acts digs into Thomas Thompson’s landmark true crime book Blood and Money, the 1976 bestseller that shocked Texas. Host Jen Schaffer investigates the Joan Robinson Hill case: a suspicious death, a grieving father with dangerous connections, and a story Houston’s elite tried to bury. New episodes every [day].Houston true crime | Texas cold case | true crime podcast | Blood and Money | Joan Robinson Hill | Ash Robinson | Thomas Thompson | true crime history
Transcribe →What This Case Leaves Behind - The Syndicate Part 7
Apr 700:38:13Tap to summarizeTrue Crime deep dive into Dean Corll and his connections to a wider crime Syndicate is wrapped up in this episode. Next season will be out soon!!
Transcribe →When the Story Starts to Expand - The Syndicate Part 6
Feb 1000:47:51Tap to summarizeEpstein files illegal activity is nothing new. Our examination of the Syndicate proves it. In this episode we talk about Serial Killer Dean Corll's victim Jeff Konen on our search to find proof of whether or not the Candyman was apart of something bigger.
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Why This Case Still Doesn’t Sit Right - The Syndicate Part 5
Jan 1000:41:05Tap to summarizeSend us a textThe true crime genre has been diving deep into the world of sex trafficking and discovering it has lineages, that it existed well before Epstein and his associates. Serial Killer Dean Corll's victims in relation to the discussion of The Syndicate and sex trafficking and adjacent industries are talked about in this episode. Support the showCheck out our websitewww.crudeacts.comSee videos of the content on our YouTube channel@CrudeActsSupport the show by clicking https://www.buzzsprout.com/1935432/support
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What Didn’t Get Investigated - The Syndicate - Part 4
Dec 500:35:08Tap to summarizeSend us a textIn this episode of Crude Acts, host Jen Schaffer uncovers the disturbing story of Houston music producer Roy C. Ames—a man whose career in Texas blues and R&B masked a massive child-exploitation network operating in the shadows of the 1960s and 1970s. Jen follows Ames’ early ties to Dean Corll, the FBI investigations he escaped, and the shocking warehouses filled with tons of illegal material that revealed the scale of his trafficking enterprise.Jen also exposes the darker side of Houston’s music scene through figures connected to Ames, including producer Huey P. Meaux, repeatedly tied to the abuse of minors, and Charlie Booth, who used industry access to transport vulnerable teens. Their stories reveal how the music business, organized crime, and institutional neglect enabled predators to operate for decades.Part 4 of The Syndicate highlights the hidden networks behind the Houston Mass Murders and shows how power, money, and influence shielded dangerous men from accountability. As Jen unravels these connections, she sets the stage for Part 5, where she will examine the victims of Dean Corll and the theories linking him to the broader trafficking operation.A must-listen for fans of true crime, Texas history, and investigations into systemic abuse and cover-ups.Support the showCheck out our websitewww.crudeacts.comSee videos of the content on our YouTube channel@CrudeActsSupport the show by clicking https://www.buzzsprout.com/1935432/support
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The Pattern Behind the Case - The Syndicate Part 3
Nov 1800:46:12Tap to summarizeSend us a textThis is a Texas True Crime case that goes beyond time and place. Before Epstein there were men sex trafficking throughout the US and some believe serial Killer Dean Corll was apart of it. This is the syndicate part 3 of our deep dive into the seedy underworld. Support the showCheck out our websitewww.crudeacts.comSee videos of the content on our YouTube channel@CrudeActsSupport the show by clicking https://www.buzzsprout.com/1935432/support
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The Connections That Raise Questions - The Syndicate - Part 2
Oct 800:47:33Tap to summarizeSend us a textSex trafficking didn't start with Jeffery Epstein. We’re moving on to part 2 of the series within the series called The Syndicate. These episodes are about the epidemic of boy exploitation in the 1970 and 80s. In this episode we look at Texas through the lens of a documentary titled Boys for Sale that was released in 1981. From there we examine the connections bringing it closer to the Houston Heights where serial killer Dean Corll, The Candyman, lived and killed. Support the showCheck out our websitewww.crudeacts.comSee videos of the content on our YouTube channel@CrudeActsSupport the show by clicking https://www.buzzsprout.com/1935432/support
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What If This Case Was Bigger Than We Were Told? The Syndicate - Part 1
Aug 1800:53:19Tap to summarizeSend us a textSex trafficking didn't start with Jeffery Epstein. In this episode we kick off our delve into the theory that serial killer Dean Corll and his duo of apprentices - Elmer Wayne Henley Jr and David Brooks, were killing as a part of a nationwide sex trafficking ring beyond even Epstein proportions. This episode includes the connection to John David Norman, France’s Sheldon, Guy Strait, Billy Bears Jr and more. Support the showCheck out our websitewww.crudeacts.comSee videos of the content on our YouTube channel@CrudeActsSupport the show by clicking https://www.buzzsprout.com/1935432/support
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