Episode 497: Order of the Solar Temple: Murder, Suicide, and Sex

Explicit content warning

07/10/20 • 99 min

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we sift through the ashes of a pretty wicked cult that most people have near heard of: The Order of the Solar Temple. The OTS was a group that was loosely based on the beliefs of the Knights Templar with a heavy dash of the Rosicrucians, but after it met with some financial success and had a good base of followers, it was all about brain washing, sex, extortion, and transitioning to the Dog Star Sirius to escape the upcoming apocalypse. Oh, and then there was the time all of the members killed each other and themselves. That’s how you get to Sirius after all... The whole thing started in 1976 when Jo Di Mambro launched the Centre for the Preparation of the New Age. It was a small affair, but soon he had small groups coming to live with him and give him their money. He started a second franchise in Geneva, and a few years later, he met Luc Jouret. Di Mambro recognized that Jouret was even more charismatic than he was, and they partnered up. Di Mambro would be the shot caller behind the scenes, and Jouret would become the face man of the group. Eventually, the groups they had started merged to become The Order of the Solar Temple. They recruited more and more people and accrued more and more wealth. Their beliefs also grew more and more crazy. Eventually, Di Mambro became the reincarnation of Christ, and they were both forcing women to have sex with them as part of their rituals to appease the Jesus sun god. Their con game got more elaborate as they installed projectors, special effects, and holograms into their lodges to help show their miracles to the members of the different “clubs” of their cult. This went south, however. The guy who installed the devices and Di Mambro’s son told the cult about the false miracles. A lot of them bailed, but many stayed behind and doubled down in their belief. And this was when The Transit was born. The Transit was how they would use flame to cleanse their bodies and push their spirits to new reincarnations on a planet orbiting Sirius. They would live in paradise and start a new human race. This, of course, didn’t go so well. So, how many people died in their murder/suicide Transition to Sirius? What was the method of death? What happened to the three month old baby who they said was the antichrist? How man Transits were there for the Order of the Solar Temple? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Solar_Temple https://torontosun.com/news/world/solar-temple-massacre-mystery-endures-25-years-later https://people.howstuffworks.com/10-infamous-cults6.htm https://infosect.freeshell.org/infocult/phenomene/English/HTML/doc0008.htm https://filmdaily.co/news/order-of-the-solar-temple/ https://www.ranker.com/list/order-of-the-solar-temple-cult/amandasedlakhevener https://www.voxspace.in/2018/09/12/order-of-the-solar-temple/

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Episode 496: Gardner Museum Heist: Half a Billion Dollar Mystery

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the largest art heist in American history, the Gardner Museum Heist. In 1990, thirteen pieces of art were stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The grade total? A whopping half $600 million dollars. Just one painting was worth half of that. The FBI thinks it was done by a group of local Irish mobsters, and though the statute of limitations is past, it is still an active case as the FBI hopes to retrieve the art back. The Gardner museum was troubled. The FBI discovered a plot for Whitey Bulger’s Irish mob to rob the place with a storm of smoke bombs. After this, the museum upgraded its security. However, the museum was on hard financial times, and they were limited by the wealthy (deceased) Gardner’s wishes. The museum had to stay as is, no renovations, no exceptions, so every upgrade of security was a breach of this agreement Eventually, some motion sensors and outdoor cameras were installed, but it wasn’t enough. Because on the night of March 18th, two robbers dressed as police men came to investigate “a disturbance” and handcuffed the two night guards to pipes in the basement with tape across their faces. The robbers took their time. They were in the museum for 81 minutes. They tripped motion sensors in two rooms, but somehow, they went back and forth without activating sensors. The FBI still can’t figure that one out. They stole painting from Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer. In fact, Vermeer’s painting, The Concert, is considered the most expensive single item ever stolen in the world. So, what happened when a reliable contact came forward wanting to give the paintings back to the Gardner Museum in 1994? How did the FBI learn the identities of the thieves, and why was there never an arrest? What is the connection to the Irish mob? What are the theories about where the art ended up? Why did the robbers take some stuff worth next to nothing but left the most expensive painting hanging up on the third floor? Why do people think the security guard named Rick Abath was involved? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.gardnermuseum.org/about/theft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner_Museum_theft https://news.artnet.com/art-world/gardner-heist-suspect-released-prison-1703613 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAxZSdNej-I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyNdZmrqNFE&list=PLfJ_d5dtb0oG_u6AwgAL8px7X4_LQO_Az&index=39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyNdZmrqNFE&list=PLfJ_d5dtb0oG_u6AwgAL8px7X4_LQO_Az&index=39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noX0jW9E6NU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Stewart_Gardner https://news.artnet.com/art-world/isabella-stewart-gardner-heist-solved-283368

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Episode 498: Whitey Bulger: Boston’s Godfather of Crime

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we do some mobster-style true crime and talk about the kingpin of Boston, Whitey Bulger. In the 1970s and 80s, Bulger ran the Winter Hill Gang and was the head of the Irish Mob in the Boston area. This was a title he earned through several wars with the Irish, a deal with the Italians, and a whole lotta bodies. His story was so wild that Martin Scorsese based Jack Nicholson’s character from The Departed on him. Johnny Depp also played him in Black Mass. Whitey was part of MKUltra, supported the Irish Republican Army, and turned his job as an FBI informant on its ear, corrupting the local feds. He managed to escape capture by globe-trotting with his girlfriend for 16 years. Born to two immigrants from Canada, James “Whitey” Bulger was a typical Southie kid from Boston. His father was a longshoreman who lost his arm in an accident and could no longer work. While Whitey’s siblings all did well in school and walked the straight and narrow, he turned to the streets. He was in a gang called the Shamrocks by the age of 14, and in his time with them he was arrested for assault, forgery and armed robbery. Once out of jail, he spent some time in the military but spent as much time in the brig as he did serving his country. At 26 years old, he got arrested for armed robbery while jacking a truck. In prison, he volunteered for the MKUltra project once he found out he’d get paid to take drugs. It didn’t go so well as the LSD took its toll, but eventually he got out. Once free, he found himself in the middle of a war between Irish gangs. He killed the wrong guy, like you do, and escalated things until the Italian mob got involved and settled a peace. This was the birth of the Winter Hill Gang. From there, he raised in the ranks. He did it all. Extortion, theft, armed robbery, murder, anything you can think of that a mafia does, you can bet Whitey did it. Some say his mob was even responsible for the Gardner Museum Heist. Eventually, he became an FBI informant, though he prided himself on serving them weak information in return for favors. In time, he had his two FBI handlers accepting bribes and giving him tips and covering from every crime he committed. In fact, when the entire leadership of the Winter Hill Gang was arrested, Whitey was spared by the FBI and took control of the gang. He ran Boston with a strange code that he had, and he was racist, using terrorist tactics to try and stop desegregation of schools in the 1960s. Eventually, the DEA and local police figured out that the FBI was covering for him, so they build their own case. Whitey’s FBI guys tipped him off, however, and he went on the run for a whopping 16 years. At one point, he even beat Osama Bin Laden on the top 10 most wanted list. So, how did his girlfriend’s boob job help get them caught? Where were they living? How many murders did he get sentenced for? What brutal end did he face at the hands of other mobsters while an old man in jail? How did his own plans to die on the lamb lead to an abandoned mine shaft in Arizona? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitey_Bulger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9j5I6h8Q-0 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/obituaries/whitey-bulger-dead.html https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/bulger-timeline.html https://themobmuseum.org/notable_names/whitey-bulger/ https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/31/us/james-whitey-bulger/index.html https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/whitey-bulger-juror-regrets-conviction-after-receiving-dozens-letters-crime-n1137871