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PODCAST

Heroes Behind Headlines

Heroes Behind Headlines

Heroes Behind the Headlines: a new podcast featuring an explosive new story every episode. First-hand accounts of adventures and events which have shaped our world . The real stories behind the headlines you know, told by the heroes you don’t. Hosted by NYT and international bestselling author Ralph Pezzullo.

society & culture documentary

All Episodes

75:50

In Dealey Plaza: Witness To JFK Assassination Speaks!

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/03/31

CIA contract pilot William "Tosh" Plumlee is back—this time with his eyewitness account from the South Knoll of Dealey Plaza, in Dallas on November 22rd, 1963. Present as part of a Pentagon abort team, Tosh counted five shots, coming from at least two directions, with the fatal headshot coming from the South Knoll parking lot. Tosh drew a map of the events as he saw them, and shared his eyewitness account under sworn testimony to the FBI, the Church Committee, the House Select Committee on As...

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74:31

Getting To Know The Son of Sam

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/03/24

Doctor of behavioral science and pastor Michael Caparrelli spent 100 hours with convicted serial killer David Berkowitz in an effort to better understand the reasons he committed the notorious Son of Sam murders, which terrorized New York City during the late ‘70s. His highly compelling book on the subject is called The Monster Mirror. Michael Caparrelli’s approach is unique. Not only is he a doctor of human behavior, he’s also pastor who regularly lectures on mental health in churches, schoo...

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64:20

The Most Harrowing Battle Of The Korean War!

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/03/17

Historian Hampton Sides describes one of the most brutal ground battles ever fought – the 17-day Battle of Chosin Reservoir, which began on the 27th of November 1950. The conditions were relentlessly difficult – frigid temperatures, frozen, rocky ground, and an enemy that kept coming in waves. And they weren’t the North Koreans who General MacArthur had expected. No this was Mao's Red Army. More than 120,000 Chinese soldiers surrounded 30,000 US Marines and UN troops. What was a despera...

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72:12

K-9 Marine And Dog Search For IEDs In Afghanistan

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/03/10

When Alfred Brenner enlisted in the Marines, he was told that the K-9 unit got to travel with air conditioning so he volunteered, even though he didn’t really know anything about dogs. He was assigned a German shepherd named Grief and these two forged a bond during four months of training and in combat in Afghanistan. Alfred explains the role of a K-9 team as part of a platoon, how they train the dogs to detect explosives and bravely lead the way on patrol in enemy territory. This highl...

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66:49

Embedded With The Hardest-Hit Unit In Iraq

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/03/03

"Desert Storm" vet and Army Times reporter Kelly Kennedy leapt at the chance to embed with an infantry unit to work on a story about PTSD. What Kelly couldn't have known is that her unit, Battalion 1-26, Charlie Company, was one of the first to serve 15 months in combat conditions. (A decision later reversed by the U.S. Army.) Kelly's unit was placed in a "hot spot" and given the impossible mission to win hearts and minds. In fact, these soldiers faced almost daily IED incidents, earning them...

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50:37

Navy SEAL Commander On How To Achieve An Uncommon Life

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/02/24

Retired Commander Mark Divine served for over 15 years as a U.S. Navy Seal around the world in Asia Pacific, Africa, Bahrain, and Iraq. A native of upstate New York, and a lifelong student of karate and zen meditation, Mark entered the U.S. Navy in 1989 and entered the Seals’ BUDS training in 1990. As an outgrowth of his training and his service, he ultimately developed his own systems for mental and physical fitness, described in his books "SEALFIT" and “Unbeatable Mind.” In his latest book ...

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83:51

High-Echelon Human Trafficking Survivor Describes Her...

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/02/17

Our remarkable guest from Season One returns explaining how a small group of powerful men create celebrities out of abused children: Anneke Lucas was only a small child growing up in a little town in Belgium, when her mother began taking her to adult parties, and trafficking her to be abused as part of an organized system. When she was nine, she was spotted at one of these events by none other than David Rockefeller, who made her his own special project, whisking her away to America and prese...

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42:01

WWII’s Most Infamous Survival Story: The U.S.S....

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/02/10

Re-airing a Season One fan favorite: The most secretive mission of World War II ended in the largest scale shark attack of all time. The U.S.S. Indianapolis’ mission was so secret, the entire crew was unaware of their cargo: the components of the atomic bomb ‘Little Boy’ which was dropped on Hiroshima. Thus, when the cruiser was sunk by a Japanese torpedo, no one knew, and 900 sailors were left floating in shark-infested waters for four days. HBH is excited to welcome Doug Stanton, author of ...

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66:57

CIA Pilot Describes School Of Illusionary Warfare...

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/02/03

This is the first part of a series of interviews with 87-year-old CIA contract pilot William “Tosh” Plumlee in which he describes being recruited into a top-secret military intelligence unit with other juvenile delinquents at the age of 16. Among the colorful incidents he relates are supplying weapons to Fidel Castro in the mountains of Southern Cuba at age nineteen, and attending the School of Illusionary warfare with Lee Harvey Oswald. Heroes Behind Headlines Executive Producer Ral...

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68:12

The Birth of Special Forces In The Civil War

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/01/27

Military historian Patrick O’Donnell puts a spotlight on America’s original Special Forces units:Founded in Missouri by Major General John C. Fremont, (and ‘named’ after his wife) the Jessie Scouts were a valuable intelligence cadre for President Lincoln during the Civil War. On the other side were Mosby’s Rangers and the Confederate Secret Service. Created to infiltrate and disrupt, these groups operated behind enemy lines, sometimes disguised as women or opposing soldiers, taking huge risks...

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59:13

Dropped Behind Enemy Lines: The Lost Paratroopers Of...

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/01/20

A fantastic WWII adventure: On June 16, 1944, the storied 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions accidentally dropped U.S. paratroopers off-target behind enemy lines in France near the ancient town of Graignes, Normandy, as part of the D-Day offensive. At great risk to themselves, including penalty of death, the 900 townspeople of Graignes determined to protect the paratroopers and fight the Nazis as a combined force, using the weapons the paratroopers had brought with them. What transpired c...

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45:39

Part Two: 300 Huey Combat Missions in the "Secret...

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/01/14

Part two of our interview with Don Haase: Don joined the U.S. Army in 1966, and ultimately became crew chief with the 195th Assault Helicopter Company in the 2nd Platoon (“Ghostriders”) that —beginning in December 1967 — supported top-secret MACV-SOG Recon teams during the deadly secret war fought during the Vietnam War. Don received 12 Air Medals over 300 combat missions, and the Presidential Unit Citation. Don and his unit participated in the defense of Plantation Airfield during the 1968 T...

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60:40

Part One: 300 Huey Combat Missions In "The Secret...

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/01/13

Don Haase joined the U.S. Army in 1966, and ultimately became crew chief with the 195th Assault Helicopter Company in the 2nd Platoon (“Ghostriders”) that —beginning in December 1967 — supported top-secret MACV-SOG Recon teams during the deadly secret war fought during the Vietnam War. Don received 12 Air Medals over 300 combat missions, and the Presidential Unit Citation. Don and his unit participated in the defense of Plantation Airfield during the 1968 Tet offensive and the subsequent coun...

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65:13

U.S.C.G. Rescue Swimmers Adventures!

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2025/01/06

Prior guest Martha LaGuardia-Kotite is back with three U.S.C.G. Rescue Swimmer vets: John Whitten, Jason "Quitty" Quinn, and Ashley Ulbrich—who each share their adventures piloting helicopters over swimmers struggling to save people, leaping out of helicopters into the brink, or saving stranded folks in a hurricane. This lesser-known band of heroes are the brave people who come to our aid in often frigid or stormy seas, within 300 miles of the U.S. coastline, including Alaska.Heroes Behind He...

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69:22

A Story Of Murder And Redemption

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2024/12/30

As a toddler, Quan Huynh came to the U.S. as a Vietnamese refugee. A few years later he lost his father to cancer, and as an angry teenager joined up with the Vietnamese gangs of Los Angeles. He quickly got into trouble, shooting three people and killing a fourth. Quan was sentenced to 15 years to life, and sent to prison.Quan shares his story of redemption and inner discovery during his incarceration, built upon the principle of taking responsibility, as detailed in his book "Sparrow In The ...

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47:46

A True Crime Case Solved By Defense Attorney's Son

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2024/12/23

A riveting account of a true crime, the criminal justice system, and unlocking a decades-old cold case: In 1964, David Miraldi's father Ray L. Miraldi was a prominent Ohio former city prosecutor and then a private attorney when he jumped at the chance to defend tavern keeper Caspar Bennett of the lurid bathtub murder of his wife, Florence Bennett, believing him to be innocent.Attorney Miraldi won an acquittal but oddly never spoke of this professional triumph to his family. Years later while ...

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59:56

JFK Secret Service Agent Speaks

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2024/12/16

When he joined the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, Jerry Blaine thought that that his service in the underwater demolition teams (UDTs) would be his life's biggest adventure. Instead, he returned stateside to a career as a Secret Service Special Agent accompanying Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and LBJ. Jerry shares his memories, including his closeness with the Kennedy family and that fateful trip to Dallas.Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered b...

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52:05

WWII Japanese Spy In The Heart Of Hollywood

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2024/12/09

Frederick Rutland was nothing short of a navy hero in the UK following WWI, but his own charisma, quirks, and opportunism led him to Hollywood to spy for Japan in the years leading to Pearl Harbor, playing a key role in the Japanese attack. Though British officials knew what he was doing, they quietly sidelined him to avoid the public embarrassment of revealing one of their own as a traitor. Author Ron Drabkin shares the outrageous story of Rutland, including his friendships with Hollywood st...

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63:58

SAS Rescue of the Iranian Embassy in London On Live TV!

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2024/12/02

A Fan-Favorite Reprise Episode From Season One:Prior to May 5, 1980, the world was largely unaware that the UK’s SAS (Special Air Service), or any elite special operations units, existed at all. Six days earlier, terrorists had stormed the Iranian Embassy in London and taken 21 hostages. As the situation was being covered on live TV around the world, the SAS attacked the embassy. HBH is honored to be joined by two members of that elite SAS team, Pete Winner and Sekonaia ‘Tak’ Takevisi.&...

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55:59

The $3T Cartel You Never Heard Of

Heroes Behind Headlines ·

2024/11/25

Run by the Venezuelan regime and military, the Cartel del Sol is currently the largest transnational criminal organization in the world, earning trillions of dollars per year from drug and human trafficking, and other crimes. The name derives from the fact that the Venezuelan military wear suns on their uniforms in place of epaulets. In fact, this cartel oversees better-known criminal groups, including the Tren del Aragua (recently, Colombia's Cali cartel, and Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. Ex...

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188 results

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