Snowball - Episode 2: The Great Houdini

Snowball - Episode 2: The Great Houdini

Author: Pushkin Industries November 10, 2025 Duration: 44:19

What looks like a dream marriage for Ollie Wards' brother Greg soon morphs into a nightmare. With the whole family drawn into the mess, his parents go from a comfortable retirement to being homeless and squatting in the basement at his Aunty's house.

Even though she was on a tourist visa in New Zealand, Greg's American wife had secured a massive loan from the country's state-owned bank. After she flies off, never to be seen again, a box of documents from the bank transaction surfaces.

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There's a hidden world that exists just beneath the surface of everyday life, and Deep Cover pulls back the curtain. This Pushkin Industries production, rooted in history and true crime, isn't about casual secrets; it's an excavation of the elaborate double lives people construct, often at tremendous cost. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jake Halpern guides you through these labyrinths, weaving together testimonies from the federal agents who pursue these stories and the convicted criminals who lived them. The result is a gripping narrative podcast that feels less like a lecture and more like stepping into a shadowy, parallel reality. One season might plunge you into a sprawling undercover operation, while another focuses on a devastating personal betrayal. For instance, in "Deep Cover Presents: Snowball," a special limited series from the team behind Unravel Podcast at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, host Ollie Wards unpacks how his own family lost everything after encountering a charming con artist from California. Each episode is built on firsthand accounts, revealing the meticulous planning, the psychological toll, and the inevitable moment when a fabricated identity collapses. You'll hear the tension in a voice, the pause before a difficult admission, and the chilling details that only someone who was there can provide. It's a deep, often unsettling look at the lengths people will go to become someone else, and the tangled webs they leave behind for others to unravel.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 75

Deep Cover
Podcast Episodes
The Gamble | Episode 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:47
In 2008, Keith Giammanco, also known as the Boonie Hat Bandit, went on a crime spree. Today, he lives in a remote cabin somewhere in the Ozarks. What choices led him here? And what was the original gamble that set it all…
The Raid | Episode 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:03
One night in 2008, Elise and Marissa Giammanco were home, wondering where their dad was and why he hadn’t answered any of their texts. Then the police showed up. Suddenly, the seventeen-year-old twins had to question eve…
Deep Cover: The Family Man [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 4:00
Every family has its secrets. On the new season of Deep Cover, Jake Halpern tells the story of the crimes one man committed in the name of fatherhood–and what happened when his daughters discovered he was living a double…
The Truth About Sarah Revisited (LIVE at WBUR) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:33
Jake sits down with his Season 6 co-host Jess McHugh at WBUR CitySpace for a live conversation. They discuss the value of trust, share some never-before-heard tape, and give an update on what’s happened with Sarah since…
Shame, Scams, and The Stories We Tell Ourselves (with Ollie Wards) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:28
Jake sits down with Snowball creator Ollie Wards to discuss how a family mystery became an international hit. They trace Ollie’s journey from the first recorded conversation with his dad – recorded under a hotel duvet –…
Snowball - Episode 7: The Morning After [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:36
After the confrontation in the supermarket carpark, Ollie is left feeling confused — has he beencharmed just like everyone else in this story? Lezlie left promising Ollie she would meet for a proper interview the next da…
Snowball - Episode 6: Stakeout [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:14
Ollie and Simon have criss-crossed California to find themselves parked in their American muscle carstaking out exits from a supermarket they think Lezlie works in. They may only have one shot to talk toher and finally g…
Snowball - Episode 5: Black Widow [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:06
Ollie and Simon follow the trail of broken dreams and failed restaurants to Paso Robles, California. Ollie discovers his former sister-in-law has manufactured an image of a successful restauranteur in Hawaii, Lake Tahoe…
Snowball - Episode 4: Charmed [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:26
Ollie turns to Lezlie's emails for clues of her whereabouts. Here, he uncovers a bizarre story involving a book deal, a ghost writer and a famous actress. Could this web of lies reveal Lezlie's motivations as a scammer?…
Snowball - Episode 3: The Coconut Wireless [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:04
The stories Lezlie Manukian has told people about her time in Hawaii usually end with murderous local mobsters running her off the island. But this is also coming from the tall tale telling Californian trickster we've he…