Episode 4: Tinkerers, Traders, Solderers, Spies

Introducing The Professor: Hunting for the Mafia's Missing Masterpiece

This week on Spy Valley we’re sharing the first episode of a new four-part series from Brazen called ‘The Professor’.

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 a pan-European art-smuggling ring with ties to the Sicilian mafia. He is alleged to have stolen $40 million worth of art and antiquities from Italy. Charged with 14 counts, including money laundering, forgery, wire fraud and conspiracy, he 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 listeners deep into the underworld and into the dark heart of the most famous criminal organization of them all – Cosa Nostra. It is a story of drug dealers, hitmen, smugglers, spies – even a corrupt prime minister. And in the middle of it all is William Veres’s quest to save himself. How? By solving the coldest cold case in the history of art crime – the theft of Caravaggio’s Nativity.

The Professor is a series for Hidden Worlds, the home of unbelievable true stories and gripping investigations into shadowy places. Subscribe to Hidden Worlds and get brand new series delivered to your favorite podcast app year-round. One podcast, endless stories. For more, visit brazen.fm/hidden-worlds.

Don’t want to wait for the next episode? Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus to listen to the full series today, and get ad-free listening.

From SpyCast and Spy Valley: a night at the museum

In collaboration with SpyCast, this week on Spy Valley we're sharing a bonus episode recorded live atthe International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. The panel was moderated by Sharon Weinberger, the national security and foreign policy editor at The Wall Street Journal, featuringSpy Valleyhost Zach Dorfman with Dr. Raymond J. Batvinis, a historian and former FBI Special Agent, John Gibbons, who headed the US Attorney's prosecution team in the case against James Harper, and nuclear historian and National Cryptologic Museum Director, Dr. Vince Houghton.

For more espionage stories from the International Spy Museum, listen to SpyCast, hosted by the museum’s Historian and Curator, Dr. Andrew Hammond.

Listen Now—Agent of Betrayal: The Double Life of Robert Hanssen

Thanks for listening to Spy Valley. If you’re looking for a new podcast to follow, we think you’ll enjoy Agent of Betrayal: The Double Life of Robert Hanssen. Listen here for a special preview of the series.

Amid the nuclear threat of the Cold War, America's prized secrets were falling into the hands of its sworn enemy—the Kremlin. The FBI's hunt for the leak led to an astonishing discovery—the mole was one of its own, special agent Robert Hanssen.

For two decades, Hanssen masqueraded as a devoted patriot while ruthlessly selling out his country, trading classified intelligence to the Soviet Union and later Russia, in exchange for cash and diamonds. He was a whirlwind of contradictions—a self-proclaimed patriot and a traitor; a family man who sexually betrayed his wife; an ardent man of God and a sinner.

In this CBS News limited series, CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett delves into the double life of Robert Hanssen and unravels the chilling truth about the most damaging spy in FBI history. Listen to Agent of Betrayal: The Double Life of Robert Hanssen wherever you get your podcasts.

Bonus: Caribou: An American Agent in Communist Warsaw with Hanna Kozlowska

The man codenamed “Caribou” plays a critical role in James Harper’s story, but his own story remains in the shadows. In this bonus episode, Spy Valley host Zach Dorfman sits down with Hanna Kozlowska, journalist and translator of the Polish archives used in the series, to discuss Caribou’s position as a mole for the US within the Polish spy service—and what happened when the Poles found out about his double-cross.

For more, visitbrazen.fm/spy-valley.

Episode 6: Crossing the Rubicon

Spyhunters and prosecutors are closing in on James Harper. They need one last fount of information that could help put him away for good. But obtaining it could prove fatal for its source.

For more from Spy Valley, subscribe to Brazen+ and get ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content from the show. To sign up, head to the Brazen channel in Apple Podcasts or visit brazen.fm/plus.