This is The Illuminator - coming November 11, from Brazen. Subscribe to get early releases and listen ad-free. http://brazen.fm/plus Mark Lombardi, a conceptual artist on the cusp of international success, had everything to live for. So why was the 48-year-old found hanged and deemed suicidal? Was his death the ultimate conceptual art, an afterlife laugh at those who doubted his brilliance? He did, after all, carry business cards eerily portending "death defying acts of art and...

Thanks for listening to The Professor. If you're looking for a podcast to dive into next, we have something that you might like. It's a called Death of an Artist: Krasner and Pollock, from Pushkin Industries. You’ve heard of Jackson Pollock, but you may have never heard of Lee Krasner. Krasner was an artist, Pollock’s wife, and the woman who made him famous. She also changed everything about the landscape of modern art.Death of an Artist: Krasner and Pollock is a story about love, power,...

Thanks for listening to The Professor. There will be a brand new Hidden Worlds series coming soon. In the meantime, we wanted to share The Burden — a new investigative true-crime podcast from Orbit Media. The show tells the story of Detective Louis Scarcella, once celebrated for his prowess in solving tough cases in 1990s New York City. But then a group of convicted murderers-turned-jailhouse lawyers made a startling discovery that linked all their cases: Scarcella was the cop who helped...

Veres receives some photographs of parts of the Caravaggio canvas. He follows the lead to a source in Belgium, who is close to the Sicilian mafia. The source provides crucial new information about what happened to the painting. And it points to one man: a mafioso who has been on the run for thirty years. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus to get ad-free listening. The Professor is a series for Hidden Worlds, the home of unbelievable true stories and gripping...

Veres gets word that the mafia are willing to talk about returning stolen art. He meets a group of middlemen in Naples, who tell him there’s a canvas on offer. As Veres negotiates the return of the painting, we begin to doubt Veres and Brand’s account of how they recover stolen art. It looks like they risk breaking the law to get the painting back. In his quest to get himself out of trouble, is Veres getting himself deeper into it? Don’t want to wait for the next episode? Subscribe to...

Veres goes to Belgium to meet a contact who he believes can help him obtain vital information about the Caravaggio painting. The contact agrees to act as Veres’s go-between, connecting Veres with senior figures in the mafia hierarchy. Meanwhile, host Simon Willis delves into the past investigations of the case, and finds out why the official investigation went nowhere: it was closed down after it uncovered links between the Caravaggio theft and Mafiosi close to Italian politicians. Don’t...

William Veres is arrested in a dawn raid – one of 50 simultaneous raids across Europe to bust his criminal gang. To get out of trouble he agrees a deal with Italian anti-mafia police: if he can help them solve the coldest cold case in the history of art theft, they will help him in his own case. In this episode, we follow Veres as he begins his quest to find Caravaggio’s Nativity, believed to be in the hands of Cosa Nostra. Don’t want to wait for the next episode? Subscribe to Brazen+ on...

William Veres is in trouble. In 2018 he was arrested following the largest ever investigation by the Italian police’s art squad. They accuse him of running an art-smuggling ring with ties to the Sicilian mafia. He is alleged to have stolen $40 million worth of art and antiquities from Italy – and faces a jail term of up to 20 years. But he has a plan to get out of trouble. In this four-part podcast, host Simon Willis follows him as he puts that plan into action. It’s a story that takes...

Can an accused criminal solve the coldest cold case in the history of art crime? In this special pre-season bonus episode, Brazen co-founder Tom Wright speaks with Simon Willis about his upcoming podcast series, The Professor. Simon shares his experience following William Veres – an art merchant accused of stealing $40 million worth of antiquities – as he attempts to solve a legendary cold case and save himself from jail in the process. The Professor is a story of drug dealers, hitmen,...

Right now, around the world, there are real life stories unfolding that you wouldn’t believe. Stories that are stranger than fiction. In Hidden Worlds, we’ll take you inside these stories and into places usually concealed from view. Every few weeks, we’ll use this feed to share a new podcast series with you — everything from organised crime to espionage, political corruption to international conspiracies. Subscribe to Hidden Worlds, the home of gripping investigations and unbelievable true...

Reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was killed while reporting in the occupied West Bank in 2022. While no one person has been held responsible for her death, investigations say it was most likely Israel Defense Forces who fired the bullet. At least 20 reporters have been shot by Israel Defense Forces since the year 2000.  In this special episode of Brazen Presents, journalist Ahmed Shihab Eldin speaks to Project Brazen reporter Neha Wadekar about the risks of reporting in Israel and the occupied...

This week on Brazen Presents, Project Brazen co-founder Tom Wright talks with Zeke Faux about his investigation into the wild world of crypto, and his new book on the subject, Number Go Up. In 2021, cryptocurrency entered the mainstream. Investment funds were buying it, celebrities were endorsing it. But Zeke, an investigative reporter, couldn't help questioning – what if it was all just a confidence game of epic proportions? In Number Go Up, he shares the story of his global quest to try...

This week on Brazen Presents, we’re sharing a special preview of Spy Valley: An Engineer's Nuclear Betrayal. This new series uncovers Silicon Valley’s origins as a laboratory for espionage. At the dawn of the hi-tech age, Moscow’s spies opened up shop in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. In this podcast, you’ll get to know the group of FBI spy hunters who assembled to stop them—and solve the case of a lifetime.  Hosted by national security journalist Zach Dorfman, Spy Valley will walk you...

This week on Brazen Presents, we’re revisiting our series Resistance: Stories from Ukraine. The show, hosted by photojournalist Laurel Chor, documented how ordinary Ukrainians have been resisting the Russian invasion — whether that meant taking up arms, or supporting the war effort in other ways. Now, nearly one year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukrainians are still fighting for their freedom. So we’re re-sharing one of the episodes, ‘Defending Borodyanka’, about four men...

This week on Brazen Presents, we’re bringing you an episode from the investigative podcast Motive from WBEZ Chicago. Chicago gangs: Real people. Real stories. A way forward. The new season of Motive from WBEZ Chicago explores violence on the streets of Chicago and the former gang members working to stop it. In episode 1, host Patrick Smith and Cecilia Mannion, takes listeners out to the streets where workers are desperately trying to prevent shootings and help the victims of gun...