Rick Wershe Jr.

WHITE BOY RICK (2019)

(Collection Christophel / LBI Productions / Alamy)

Georgia:

Detroit’s drug kingpin White Boy Rick

Episode sources:

1. “The Trials of White Boy Rick” by Evan Hughes (The Atavist, September, 2014)

2. “White Boy Rick’s Parole Hearing and Drug-War Lessons Unlearned” by Evan Hughes (The New Yorker, June 27, 2017)

3. “Operation Backbone” (Crackdown, University of Michigan History Labs)

4. “ACLU History: Black America: Casualties of the 'War on Drugs'” (ACLU)

5. “Chambers Brothers Drug Network” (Crackdown, University of Michigan History Labs)

6. “How This Freelancer’s Pitch Ended Up in Hollywood” by Spenser Davis (The Freelance Creative, November 17, 2014)

7. “White Boy Rick launches his own cannabis brand at Pleasantrees in East Lansing” by Luisa Wiewgorra (Fox47 News, November 19, 2021)

8. “Richard Wershe Jr.” (Wikipedia)

9. “Wershe asks deal in cop-drug probe” by Brian Flanigan, Joe Swickard and Jack Kresnak (Detroit Free Press, May 11, 1988)

Karen:

The “Queen of Sinking Ships” Violet Jessop

Episode sources:

1. “Titanic Survivor: The Memoirs of Violet Jessop, Stewardess” by Violet Jessop

2. “She survived the Titanic—but it wasn’t the only time she faced death at sea” by David Kindy (National Geographic) 2023

3. “Olympic” (Britannica)

4. “The ‘Hawke’-‘Olympic’ Collision by Robert G. Skerrett

5. “Britannic” (Britannica)

6. “Britannic, sister ship to the Titanic, sinks in Aegean Sea” (History) 2009

7. “First Class on R.M.S. Olympic” (Cabin Liners)

8. “Violet Jessop: Stewardess” (Encyclopedia Titanica)

9. “Launching the Lifeboats” (Museums Worcestershire) 2021

10. “Violet Jessop” by Dona Sussan Chacko (Medium) 2020

11. “Titanic: History’s Most Famous Ship” by Joshua Allen Milford (jmildford-titanic)

12. Violet Jessop: Irish-Argentine Traveler & Titanic Survivor (Nomad Flag) 2023

13. “The Loss of the Britannic : 21 November 1916” (Western Front Association)

14. “Photos show how the RMS Carpathia saved hundreds of Titanic passengers 113 years ago” by Erin McDowell and Jenny McGrath (Business Insider) 2025

15. “Violet Jessop” (Wikipedia)

Violet Jessop

RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic, HMHS Britannic

Hot Dog Sisters!

Karen and her sister at the Sonoma-Marin Fair pictured in the Petaluma Argus-Courier on June 24, 1972