California State Assemblyman Mike Gatto was a rising star in the California Democratic Party when on November 12th, 2013, his retired father Joseph Gatto was found murdered in their family home in the neighborhood of Los Angeles. Emotionally devastated, Mike put his career on hold to pursue his father's murderer. With very few clues nad more questions than evidence, the murder has never been solved, and the rate of unsolved murders is higher than ever.

Mike recounts the facts of this still unsolved crime, and his own experience grappling with his grief. He asks anyone with information about the murder to step forward.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Proud Canadian and innovative thinker and author, Jeff Brown was flattered beyond when Sophie Trudeau, (his country’s “first lady” at the time.) reached out to compliment his writing and aphorisms, and engage him to think about ideas that expressed the spirit of what Justin Trudeau and his wife sought to communicate as part of their platform.

At their first meeting, Sophie quickly disclosed her own dissatisfaction in her marriage, and proceeded to behave in a flirty and what felt inappropriate manner through their subsequent conversations and collaborations, both live and virtual. Uncomfortable as an unpaid, uncredited speech writer, and deeply distressed by his growing insight into the Trudeaus’ life, marriage, and hypocrisy, Jeff sought to separate in a civil manner, putting polite space between them and retreating from future requests.

And then the nightmare began… Sophie sought to pressure Jeff to stay tethered to the ‘first couple,’ and when he resisted, Jeff and his wife were subjected to a four-year whirlwind of digital surveillance, political pressure, and personal transformation which reshaped his understanding of trust, truth and freedom.social ostracism, government monitoring, and even harassment, including the suppression of his book about the experience, In Trudeau’s Kitchen. Jeff describes how an ordinary citizen can become the target of not only the political world— but of a hidden network of covert systems, governmental agencies, and corporations. His book stands as a warning to all of us.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Growing up in the New Hampshire mountains, country boy Brennan Morton couldn’t wait to join the military, and when 9/11 occurred, it provided the final push for enlistment. Brennan loved every minute of the training as a Marine recon sniper, and was surprised as physically superior candidates washed out. But then he was deployed to Iraq with his unit, and the reality of what he’d sought hit home. Sent into a brutal fighting environment he saw his comrades brutally harmed by IEDs without any visible enemy to directly fight.

His acclaimed memoir "Valhalla Boys: Marine Recon Sniper in Iraq" has Brennan Morton hailed as one of the most powerful and literary war memoirs of the post-9/11 generation. "Valhalla Boys" has been called a raw, reflective, and often poetic meditation on combat, brotherhood, and the darkness that war leaves behind. Drawing comparisons to Tim O’Brien, Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut, Morton invites readers not just into the battlefield at the height of the Iraqi insurgency, but into the mind of a Marine Recon sniper struggling to make sense of a war with no clear front lines—and no clear purpose.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Mark Shaw shares his recent discoveries linking the JFK and RFK assassinations, and also the mysterious and dreadful death of famed journalist Dorothy Kilgallen who was hot on the trail to solve the mystery behind President Kennedy's death. Ripped from the pages of his new book, "Abuse of Power," there's plenty of thought-provoking revelation that further strengthens the inescapable conclusion that the President's death was not caused by a lone gunman, and that the American people--in spite of the recent release of documents relating to the assassination--still haven't heard the full truth about the most notorious American crime ever.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Mark Blocksom found himself inside Synanon in the 80s, a notorious rehab program criticized for abusing its members, and was rescued by friends who were actively working to help deprogram members of the bigger cults at that time, including the Moonies and Hare Krishna.

They hired Mark to help share his experiences, but what he gravitated to were the actual rescues of cult victims, which were generally illegal kidnappings requested by family members.

Mark shares his adventures and the inner satisfaction and the global fame he earned doing this work. His own life story was more complicated, and while he ultimately prevailed over his personal battles, he recently passed away. Rest in peace, Mark. Your good heart inspires us.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Retired FBI Agent Stewart Fillmore was trained to break down evidence to solve crimes and build cases. Here, he focuses on the forensics of the JFK assassination and the likelihood that the hole in the front of the late President’s throat was an entry wound, not an exit wound as the FBI and Warren Report had concluded.

Stewart walks us through the evidence he’s gathered, and what it tells him about the nature of the crime. Importantly, his account aligns with the prior testimony of HBH guest Tosh Plumlee: Namely, that there was a shooter to the left front of the President’s limousine, from the top of the South Knoll and that gunman was captured in photo taken by UPI reporter Frank Cancellare.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Early in the morning of October 23, 1983 two truck bombs were detonated at buildings in Beirut Lebanon housing members of the US and French Multinational Force in Lebanon – a military peace mission in the eight-year-old Lebanese civil war. The attack by a terrorist group called Islamic Jihad, which had backing from the governments of Iran and Syria, killed 307 people: 241 U.S. and 58 French military personnel, six civilians and two of the attackers.

Two hundred of the 241 US casualties were US Marines, making it the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Based on interviews with survivors, military records and personal records, Targeted Beirut by today's guest, Pulitzer Prize nominated historian and NYT bestselling author author James M. Scott, and past HBH guest Jack Carr is the authoritative account of the deadly attack.

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com

Writer and editor Sarah McCarthy set out to write a book about her friend of 15 years and Jeffrey Epstein survivor Juliette Bryant. She reveals details about how Epstein and his powerful friends lured girls and young women into his network and the techniques he used to manipulate them. But the part that is most shocking, is what Julie experience at Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico – the little-talked-about Zorro Ranch – and the bizarre activities that took place there.

Her account helps explain his purpose and how he was able to fund his extravagant lifestyle; and why important men and women were interested in him in the first place. The answer has to do with his interest in eugenics, human cloning and mind control. Sarah’s book about her friend Julie Bryant and her experience with Jeffrey Epstein entitled Blue Butterfly: Inside the Diary of an Epstein Survivor was recently canceled for reasons of, in Sarah’s words, “sustained physical and electronic harassment.”

Heroes Behind Headlines
Executive Producer Ralph Pezzullo
Produced & Engineered by Mike Dawson
Music provided by ExtremeMusic.com