San Francisco Homicide Cases / Inside the Music Business

About the show

After the Summer of Love and the heyday of the Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s, San Francisco mutated over the next two decades into a city under siege by serial killers, radical underground extremists, anti-establishment groups, gangs, and drug wars, according to Frank Falzon, a highly decorated former San Francisco police homicide inspector. In the first half, Falzon discussed his investigations of numerous murder cases during that time, including the Night Stalker, the killing of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, and the Zodiac Killer. In the 1980s, the Night Stalker initially struck in the Southern California area, where he was known as the "Walk-in Killer," committing atrocities like gouging out a victim's eyes.

Falzon began investigating when gruesome murders occurred in San Francisco, and he recounted how he first learned the name of the suspect, Richard Ramirez, from an acquaintance of the killer. Ramirez was captured just 11 days after they uncovered his name, and at one point, Falzon exchanged words with him at the courthouse. Ramirez yelled to him, "Hey, Falzon. I bet you'd like to know about those two old ladies up on Telegraph Hill...That was me." He was referring to a heinous murder case from six months earlier. Falzon revealed that San Francisco Supervisor Dan White (a former police officer) had been a good friend of his, and had chosen him and another officer to make his confession to after his shocking murder of Moscone and Milk in 1978.

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Steven Machat is an entertainment icon, renowned music industry and showbiz attorney, film producer, and bestselling author. He is the owner of record labels and has represented Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Bobby Brown, Leonard Cohen, Phil Spector, Electric Light Orchestra, Snoop Dog, and more. In the latter half, he shared his insider's account of the deals, dodges, and manipulations inside the music and entertainment business extending over decades.

He recounted stories involving such well-known figures as Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Sharon Osbourne, Elvis Presley, Allen Klein, David Geffen, Phil Spector, and Sam Cooke. He also talked about the early era of music videos made for MTV, and how he negotiated the use of the Phil Collins song "In the Air Tonight" for the TV show "Miami Vice" in its influential premiere season.