Operation Sideswipe: The Louisiana Fraud Conspiracy

Operation Sideswipe: The Louisiana Fraud Conspiracy

This conspiracy is called Operation Sideswipe, so get ready to get wrecked.  In New Orleans, on Interstate 10,  there was a string of crashes over a period of ten years that looked random at first glance until insurance investigators noticed a pattern.  What started as a routine insurance claim exploded into one of the most shocking fraud conspiracies in Louisiana history.  Staged car wrecks, fake victims, corrupt lawsuits, and millions of dollars allegedly drained from trucking companies and their insurers.  Federal investigators say participants intentionally caused crashes with eighteen wheeler trucks, then filed fraudulent injury claims designed to look legitimate.  But the deeper investigators dug, the darker the story became.  According to the prosecutors, the operation involved slammers who would drive the cars, their recruited passengers, a spotter vehicle with witnesses, and their attorneys working together to orchestrate collisions along the interstate.  More than fifty people have been convicted or charged in the connection of this scheme.  As the investigations deepened, there was another twist.  No one expected allegations of witness intimidation, but a key cooperating witness in the investigation, Cornelius Garrison, was gunned down in 2020, a killing prosecutors linked directly to the growing federal case. This is the story of Operation Sideswipe. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2265385/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/3schemequeens] Theme song by INDA

Encephalitis Lethargica: The Mysterious Pandemic That's Been Forgotten

Between 1918 and 1920, the Spanish Flu killed 50 million people worldwide.  This pandemic, arrived on the heels of WW1, and between the two events, nearly 5% of the world’s population was killed.  But there was another pandemic occurring, one that is less well known and less frequently talked about, that remains a mystery to this day.  In the winter of 1916 in Europe, people were seeking medical attention for general malaise.  At first, it looked like a mild case of the flu with fever, headaches, and fatigue.  Many would recover, but some would begin exhibiting tremors and many slowed down mentally and physically, until they were completely immobile despite being conscious and alive.  The symptoms presented on a spectrum, but patients sometimes experienced lethargy or even obtundation, paralysis of eye muscles, rigid muscles, frozen posture, loss of speech, and sudden immobility.  In some cases, the progression was overnight.  In others, it took weeks to months.   Doctors called it Encephalitis Lethargica, but no one really understood it.  Some patients slept for days.  Others stayed awake, trapped inside bodies that no longer moved.  Hundreds of thousands of people lost the ability to walk and talk, and then in 1928 new cases just stopped appearing.  By then, however, there had been more than 1 million cases, and half of those had ended in death.  Those that did survive, often developed a post-encephalitic Parkinsonism leaving them rigid, slow, and unable to move normally for the rest of their lives. And then, just as mysteriously as it appeared… it vanished.  So what was this disease? A viral epidemic? A post-war complication? Something we still don’t fully understand?  This week, we’re diving into one of the most unsettling medical mysteries in modern history, Encephalitis Lethargica, also known as the Sleeping Sickness. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2265385/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/3schemequeens] Theme song by INDA

Updates on the Missing and Murdered US Scientists

**Discussion begins at 2:30** A few weeks ago, we told you about the strange connection between missing and dead scientists in the United States.  The researchers all had ties to aerospace, nuclear science, and advanced technology.  Since that episode, the number has grown.  Some missing.  Some dead.  All connected, at least on the surface, to some of the most sensitive research in the United States.  Today we’re going to update you on the more recent connected cases, and give you overall updates on the investigations. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2265385/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/3schemequeens] Theme song by INDA

The Circleville Letters: Someone is Always Watching

**Discussion begins at 3:50** In the late 1970s, the peaceful, small town community of Circleville, OH, was shaken when individuals began receiving strange letters.  They all came in the mail with absent or fake return addresses, and were postmarked from Columbus, OH, 25 miles north of Circleville.  The letters were handwritten in strange block letters and contained details about the recipients.  Over 1000 letters were sent, accusing neighbors of affairs, exposing private lives, and threatening violence if confessions weren’t made.  And whoever was behind them seemed to know everything including intimate details no outsider should have known.  Then, things escalated.  One victim died under suspicious circumstances while confronting the writer.  Another was set up with a booby trap that was supposed to kill her on contact.  What started as anonymous harassment was now something far darker and far more deadly.  But here’s where the mystery deepens.  A suspect was caught. A trial was held.  A man was sent to prison.  Case closed… right?  Not even close.  Because even after the conviction, the letters didn’t stop.  So who was really behind the Circleville letters?  Today we’re talking about a wild story involving secrets, paranoia, and the terrifying idea that someone out there might know you better than you know yourself. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2265385/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/3schemequeens] Theme song by INDA

The Vanishing Minds: The Mysterious Deaths and Disappearances of US Scientists

**Discussion begins at 5:35** What if the brightest minds in science were being erased?  Over the past few years, a quiet pattern has begun to emerge.  Names that once lived in research papers, conference panels, and classified briefings are now showing up somewhere else entirely: missing persons reports, obituaries, and unanswered questions. Today we’re talking about nine scientists: William McCasland. Monica Reza. Carl Grillmair. Melissa Casias. Anthony Chavez. Frank Maiwald.  Micheal David Hicks.  Nuno Loureiro. Jason Thomas. Different fields.  Different backgrounds.  And yet their stories seem to echo each other.  Some were working on advanced energy systems.  Others on space observation, defense technologies, or experimental physics.  All of them were operating at the edge of what we understand.  Then, suddenly, they were gone.  So today we’re discussing these cases and trying to decide if this is just a tragic series of coincidences or if there is something linking these cases together. Note: After recording another scientist was added to the list of mysterious deaths and disappearances.  Steven Garcia, 48, was a property custodian for the Kansas City National Security Campus, the facility that manufactures more than 80% of all the non-nuclear components used to build the military’s nuclear weapons.  On August 28, 2025 he left his home on foot with a hand gun and no other personal belongings.  He has not been seen since. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2265385/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/3schemequeens] Theme song by INDA