The elusive character at the center of the mystery is found, and iO gets his story.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The elusive character at the center of the mystery is found, and iO gets his story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

It’s 1982, and a man bursts into an East Village storefront apartment and shoots punk musician Billy Balls. Author and activist iO Tillett Wright and Crimetown Producer Austin Mitchell unravel a mystery of love and loss, the tender binds of family, and the stories we tell ourselves just to survive. Created by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier.

It’s 1982, and a man bursts into an East Village storefront apartment and shoots punk musician Billy Balls. Author and activist iO Tillett Wright and Crimetown Producer Austin Mitchell unravel a mystery of love and loss, the tender binds of family, and the stories we tell ourselves just to survive. Created by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier.

The Ballad of Billy Balls

Crimetown Presents is an investigative anthology podcast series created by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier.  Every season they introduce you to a new serialized story that pushes the boundaries of storytelling, sound design and music.


Season Two, The Ballad of Billy Balls*: it’s 1982, and a man bursts into an East Village storefront apartment and shoots punk musician Billy Balls. Author and activist iO Tillett Wright and Crimetown Producer Austin Mitchell unravel a mystery of love and loss, the tender binds of family, and the stories we tell ourselves just to survive.  


Season One, The RFK Tapes:  Zac Stuart-Pontier and Bill Klaber take a trip down a rabbit hole surrounding the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.  Featuring never-before heard police recordings, The RFK Tapes starts out a murder investigation and ends up revealing the power of conspiracy theories, and why it’s human nature to believe in them.


* scroll down to see the episodes of Crimetown Presents: The Ballad of Billy Balls.

S2  [12] The Guy in the Cowboy Hat | The Ballad of Billy Balls

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/0e03b173-ce57-4a42-a222-ae9300feb517/transcript

Imagine if, one day, you are accused of something. Something horrible, violent, heinous. Something you swear you did not do, and nothing you say can convince anyone otherwise — even the people closest to you.

That’s Sophia Johnson’s story.

Sophia was starting fresh: A new life, a new husband, a baby on the way. But it all unraveled on January 10, 2002, when her mother-in-law Marlyne Johnson was found bludgeoned to death in her home. Days later, Sophia was charged with the murder.

To this day, Sophia swears she didn’t do it. But someone says they witnessed it — her own brother.

When family betrays family, who do you believe? In this story of a sibling rivalry beyond compare, WBUR’s Amory Sivertson turns the clock back. She reexamines an unsolved case, a family torn apart, and a woman who wasn’t believed.

From WBUR and ZSP Media, Beyond All Repair is a 10-part true crime investigation into a cold case. The series ends with an answer.

Imagine if, one day, you are accused of something. Something horrible, violent, heinous. Something you swear you did not do, and nothing you say can convince anyone otherwise — even the people closest to you.
That’s Sophia Johnson’s story.
Sophia was starting fresh: A new life, a new husband, a baby on the way. But it all unraveled on January 10, 2002, when her mother-in-law Marlyne Johnson was found bludgeoned to death in her home. Days later, Sophia was charged with the murder.
To this day, Sophia swears she didn’t do it. But someone says they witnessed it — her own brother.
When family betrays family, who do you believe? In this story of a sibling rivalry beyond compare, WBUR’s Amory Sivertson turns the clock back. She reexamines an unsolved case, a family torn apart, and a woman who wasn’t believed.
From WBUR and ZSP Media, Beyond All Repair is a 10-part true crime investigation into a cold case. The series ends with an answer.

Introducing Beyond All Repair

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/06a3b07c-b17b-4cfe-ac5d-b1550100e024/transcript

From the co-creator of The Ballad of Billy Balls, Crimetown and host of Morally Indefensible comes a new podcast, Firebug. In the early 1990s, a manuscript for a novel called “Points of Origin” lands at literary agencies across the country. It tells the story of a fictional serial arsonist who lights up southern California. The thing is… the fires described in the novel may actually be real. Was Points of Origin a work of fiction, or the confessions of a prolific arsonist and murderer? Host Kary Antholis goes on a journey to figure out where fiction meets reality. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the co-creator of The Ballad of Billy Balls, Crimetown and host of Morally Indefensible comes a new podcast, Firebug. In the early 1990s, a manuscript for a novel called “Points of Origin” lands at literary agencies across the country. It tells the story of a fictional serial arsonist who lights up southern California. The thing is… the fires described in the novel may actually be real. Was Points of Origin a work of fiction, or the confessions of a prolific arsonist and murderer? Host Kary Antholis goes on a journey to figure out where fiction meets reality. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

Introducing | Firebug

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/f3d6a490-85b1-40f4-a87c-ae9300fe1297/transcript

1979 is the year that Ex-Green Beret Doctor Jeffrey MacDonald is convicted of the murders of his pregnant wife and two young daughters. It’s also the year he meets a new friend in famous journalist Joe McGinniss. Joe agrees to write a book about Jeff’s case. That book becomes a smash bestseller and a TV limited series watched by over 65 million people, but the story it tells isn’t quite the story Jeff expected and that sets off a series of events that ruin both men’s lives…Who’s the real bad guy here, the journalist or the murderer?



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1979 is the year that Ex-Green Beret Doctor Jeffrey MacDonald is convicted of the murders of his pregnant wife and two young daughters. It’s also the year he meets a new friend in famous journalist Joe McGinniss. Joe agrees to write a book about Jeff’s case. That book becomes a smash bestseller and a TV limited series watched by over 65 million people, but the story it tells isn’t quite the story Jeff expected and that sets off a series of events that ruin both men’s lives…Who’s the real bad guy here, the journalist or the murderer? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.

Introducing | Morally Indefensible

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/092ca8ae-4bd9-41ee-b275-ae9300fe1595/transcript

S2 [12] The Guy in the Cowboy Hat | The Ballad of Billy Balls

In 1 playlist(s)

The Ballad of Billy Balls

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips