Crime Writers On...True Crime Review
True Crime
“Twin Peaks” actor Kyle MacLachlan had a crazy story for his friend. In the 1980s, kingpin Pablo Escobar bribed an entire North Carolina town to let him land airplanes and smuggle cocaine into the US. The little-known story happened in Varnamtown, population 300. They found that residents, many with the last name of Varnam, got rich as a cog in the cartel's trafficking operation. But one fisherman who refused to be intimidated took on the town in a quixotic effort to stop the smuggling. It took a spate of bad luck and double crosses to bring the whole thing down.
In the podcast “Varnamtown,” MacLachlan and war correspondent Joshua Davis revisit this drug war footnote in a tale that features REO Speedwagon, lawn mowing Playboy bunnies, and an attack turkey. We hear from residents, investigators and drug smugglers while the actor and the journalist banter with each other about the story’s quirky twists and turns.
OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "VARNAMTOWN" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.
For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.
Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com
The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping
Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative
The Truth About Jim
CWO Classic: Murder on Middle Beach
Cover Up: Body Brokers
CWO Classic: True Detective 3
True Detective: Night Country
Runaway Joe
They Called Him Mostly Harmless
On Our Watch: New Folsom
Dr. Death: Bad Magic
Gwyneth vs Terry: The Ski Crash Trial
The Runaway Princesses
The Vanishing Point
Radical
The Estate
American Nightmare
In Her Defence
Peacock's Dr Death 2
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Ghosts of Dallas
Crime Beat
The Pope’s Long Con
Uncover
CrimeFeed
Criminal