Blood Sweat and Fear

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A true crime podcast with Eve Lazarus

Episode 02: The Murder Factory

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The murder of Naokichi Watanabe in 1931 exposed an insurance scam, the murder of up to 20 people, a Japanese hitman, and was eventually linked to an assassination ring operating out of a house on East Cordova Street, Vancouver.

The stories for this first series are from my book  Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance (Eve Lazarus, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017).  Vance was one of the first forensic scientists in North America, and during his 42-year-career, helped to solve some of the most sensational murders of the 20th Century. Each episode focuses on one of those cases.

Japantown, Vancouver in 1928 showing the CPR tracks where Watanabe’s body was discovered behind the American Can Company. Courtesy VPL 4269

Credits:

  • Intro and outro music: Duke Ellington’s St. Louie Toodle
  • Background track created by Nico Vettese www.wetalkofdreams.com
  • Intro and voice overs: Mark Dunn
“The Murder Factory” on East Cordova Street, Vancouver. Eve Lazarus photo, 2016

Source materials:  

  • Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance, Vancouver’s First Forensic Investigator, by Eve Lazarus (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2017)
  • Nikkei National Museum
  • Stories of My People: A Japanese Canadian Journal, by Roy Ito (Nisei Veterans Association, 1994)
  • Various clippings from the Vancouver Sun, Province, Daily Colonist, Globe and Mail, Vancouver News Herald
  • The Inquest into the death of Naokichi Watanabe
  • The personal files of John F.C.B. Vance located in a grandson’s garage on Gabriola Island in July 2016.

 

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6 comments on “Episode 02: The Murder Factory”

These podcasts are pure gold. Each one is a glimpse into Vancouver’s past with stories beautifully told. I can’t wait for more.

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment Yvonne. I’m so pleased you’re enjoying them. For the next two episodes (5 and 6) Vance travels to Victoria to work on a couple of murders.

Hi Eve,
I have searched for your work on Player FM a podcast app and I haven’t been able to locate it… Please add your podcasts there.
Great work!
Always health,
Debra

Very interesting Eve. That house the murder hospital must have been known by the police. I smell conspiracy! The people that died there had to go to the morgue so wouldn’t it have come out that they were in a private hospital where they died? And so many bodies at that would surely arise suspicion with the police. Hmmm smells fishy to me!

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