Wanted: “It’s not about getting to the truth”

Jack Laurence (right). Image supplied.

By Sonia Yee

New Australian true crime podcast Wanted features interviews with intriguing people who have been wanted by authorities in connection with alleged crimes.

Jack Laurence is a former radio host and creator of award-winning Australian true crime podcast, One Minute Remaining and has just released a new podcast, Wanted, exploring the unexpected stories of people wanted by the authorities. Layrence says it all started because he was tagged in a video one day.

“[There was] a guy claiming to be wanted by the FBI and living in the Caribbean, so curiosity got the better of me. I messaged him and he agreed to chat with me,” Laurence says.

Before he knew it he was researching Wanted people, and the list of interviews grew, including picking up other leads while recording. In one scenario, he was told about someone who was wanted for helping North Korea avoid global sanctions.

“So I hooked up with him from his new home in Russia…I had started going down this rabbit hole, and this whole world was opening up to me. I’ve spoken with people who have incredible stories of being on the run,” Laurence says.

But how do you determine whether someone is telling the truth, or just spinning a great yarn?

Wanted explores the stories of people on the run. Image supplied.

Laurence says it is difficult to know 100 percent of the time, but his stories are backed up by researching court documents and news articles.

“This podcast is not about getting to the truth, it's about finding out who these men and women are, where they have come from and what got them to the point of becoming wanted. I'm not here to interrogate anyone, [but to] ask the questions and let the audience decide…” Laurence says.

He reinforces that shock value is also not the aim, and as a result, the stories don’t deal with the details of the crimes, or the methods used to carry them out.

“Even with the Cartel Hitman … he told me some crazy stories about what he used to get up to with his partying, and even owning a monkey [which] would make for some jaw dropping stories,” he says of the content that ended up on the cutting room floor.

The guests on Wanted include a former MI5 officer who leaked government secrets, a man who escaped a Thai prison weeks before he was due to be executed by firing squad, and someone who says he was once a hitman for a Panamanian drug cartel.

Laurence says one of the most surprising things he discovered while making Wanted, was about the power of the US Government. He spoke to a British crypto wiz on the FBI’s wanted list - a man who traveled to international conferences to speak on the topic, including at a conference in North Korea.

“He gets word [afterwards], that an American guy from the trip has been arrested and now the crypto wiz is on the FBI's wanted list.”

The FBI froze the man’s UK bank account and then arrested him in the UAE, detaining him for months, while they went through the extradition process.

“To think that an organisation like the FBI [can] have non-US citizens accounts frozen is pretty scary. This guy had even gone as far as contacting the UK government prior to going [to]North Korea trip to inform them about it… He's now unable to return home to the UK, [because] they would instantly take him into custody and ship him off to the US,” Laurence says.

There are many reasons why Laurence believes these stories are important to tell. Each of them are unique, with some individuals finding themselves in bizarre situations and grey areas.

He says the grey areas regarding who is convicted and why, were illuminated for him whole making his first podcast, and that sometimes things just aren’t black and white or clear-cut.

In Wanted, he says the MI5 intelligence officer who leaked information to the press because she was disturbed by what was going on behind closed doors, is also a good example of this.

“Others are absolutely guilty of the crimes,” he says.

Season One of Wanted is out now.

Listen to the first three episodes (above) featuring The TikTok Fugitive - Chad Hower. New episodes drop every Monday.

Wanted is hosted and distributed by Acast.

You also might like