Crime Story Editor

Kary: This is the crime story podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is a conversation with David Simon.  David and I met when he came in to HBO to pitch The Corner as a television series. The Corner is a book that he wrote with Ed Burns about the year that they spent in an inner-city Baltimore neighborhood ravaged by drug abuse and distribution. Together with his book Homicide, The Corner was the foundation for David’s series The Wire, which has been widely acclaimed as one...

This is the second in a series of articles about the murder trial of Andrea Moorer. The first was Strong Female Lead by Molly Miller. Outside of Department 111 at the Criminal Courts Building, a stocky man in his late 60s sits upright and energetic, sticking out amongst those lounging in the hallway. The man is Larry Smith, an ex-cop here today to testify in defense of Andrea Dommique Moorer, who is charged with killing an abusive pimp, Ruffino Anderson. A clean-cut, gray-suited, and similarly energetic man with pomade-carved jet-black hair exits 111: Defense Attorney Jimmy Chu. He smiles at Smith,...

As I walk into Department 109 of the Criminal Courts Building, I hear the following words and my ears prick up: IT WASN’T UNTIL THE REIGN OF RICHARD THE FIRST, WHO YOU PROBABLY KNOW AS RICHARD THE LIONHEARTED, THAT THIS CONCEPT THAT A PERSON ACCUSED OF A CRIME MUST BE PRESUMED INNOCENT UNTIL THE CONTRARY IS PROVEN BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT BECAME THE LAW. I’m a history buff, and so I am intrigued to find out what this is all about. I will later learn that the speaker is Bar Panel Attorney Vincent Oliver, a practitioner of criminal law in the city...

Kary: This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and Justice are told. Today’s podcast is a conversation with Jonathan Tropper. Jonathan and I met when he pitched me an idea for a Cinemax show called Banshee. We worked together on that series and on his most recent Cinemax series Warrior. I asked Jonathan to join me for this conversation for two reasons: First, Banshee explores ideas of crime and justice in ways that are very unique in the television landscape. It is a violent and pulpy show, that...

It’s kind of like a heist — think Ocean’s Eleven. You assemble a rag-tag team of 12 to 14 professionals to carry out your operation. There’s just one problem: they have no skills. Even if they do, they are expressly forbidden from using their skills during the heist. They can’t research the heist online or talk to reporters about the heist. It’s really best if they don’t know anything about the heist before it begins.  That’s jury duty: a random selection of citizens without specialized legal knowledge who are assembled to give a verdict on a case. Anything from shoplifting to...

This is the Crime Story Podcast with Kary Antholis where we have conversations about how and why narratives of crime and justice are told. Today’s podcast is a conversation with Steve Zaillian. Steve won an Oscar for writing the screenplay for Schindler’s List and won a Directors Guild Award for his miniseries The Night Of. The conversation was recorded as part of a series of classes that I taught at The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Each week I would host an artist for a discussion that would help us better understand the values and aims of storytellers...