Deep Cover: The Nameless Man

by Pushkin Industries
3,331
True Crime #73

Deep Cover is a show about people who lead double lives. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jake Halpern reveals webs of deception and dark underworlds, through interviews with federal agents and convicted criminals. 

Sarah Cavanaugh was many things: A decorated veteran. A Marine who saved her comrades. A young woman fighting cancer. She was stoic, humble, tough. In short: a hero. Sarah was everything people wanted her to be—until she wasn’t. Turns out, no one knew the real Sarah. Not her comrades. Not her wife. No one.  

Lies tend to be fragile, temperamental things. Small ones may flourish, but the big ones die, wilting under their own weight—except in this case. The bigger it grew, the more real it became.

Jake Halpern and acclaimed investigative journalist Jess McHugh unravel an epic six-year deception that upended the lives of countless people.

To this day, much of this story is shrouded in mystery. There was never a trial and most of the people involved, including victims and investigators, have never spoken publicly in any depth.

In the sixth season of Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah, Jake and Jess interview all of the key sources—including Sarah, herself—to tell this sprawling tale.

 

Season five covers the rise and fall of George Santos, the former Republican Congressman from New York, and the stories—many of which were not true—he told about his life and credentials.

Season four, The Nameless Man, tells the epic tale of two federal agents who investigate a rumor about a murder that supposedly took place 15 years prior. It is also the story of a family searching for answers about why their brother was killed. These two storylines collide in a courtroom in Philadelphia, where murder, memory, and morality go on trial.     

Season three, Never Seen Again, tells the story of two women living on opposite sides of the country, who went missing in the summer of 1999. Seven years later, their stories collided when a small town detective got a tip and became convinced that if he could solve one mystery, he'd solve the other. 

Season two, Mob Land, is about a high-rolling lawyer who joins forces with the feds to try to bring down one of the most powerful criminal syndicates in the country. 

Season one, The Drug Wars, tells the story of an FBI agent who goes undercover with a biker gang, and follows a trail of clues that eventually leads to the US invasion of a foreign country.

Deep Cover drops on Mondays. To hear episodes early and ad-free, subscribe to Pushkin+ in Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus.

iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

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Recent Reviews
  • Longaway
    Drags
    Stories drag. Over reliance on suspense, create empathy and this listener. A little suspense works, too much and the story drags.
  • esj2654
    Nameless victim
    Really excellent investigative journalism. Bravo to the detectives & all of the Philadelphia police for helping to solve this horrible, senseless crime. My heart goes out to Aaron Wood’s family.
  • Nonicknames2
    Ads are insane
    Yet another podcast about a grifter -- think Belle Gibson, Elizabeth Holmes — with a truly indecent amount of ads. Makes it unlistenable.
  • mikewestside
    Fantastic
    Haven't been so interested in a podcast in a long time. Bravo.
  • 00010si
    Be Honest
    You are posing the question “how did this happen” and clearly playing dumb with the answer. It happened because the donor “Kathy” saw a GAY man who she thought could win a blue district and nothing else mattered. He was their u corn and ALL Republicans choose to live in a post-truth world where facts don’t matter. Trump is clearly accepting gifts and stealing money with his scam crypto and Republicans DONT CARE. This is who they are and it will always be.
  • Heesh4
    Ai reviews
    weird..
  • Cousin I.
    Best true crime podcast
    I’m only on season 3 but so far this is the best true crime podcast and possibly best podcast I’ve heard. The storytelling and follow up on the wider context is completely engrossing without sensationalizing. 5 stars.
  • Yostbomb
    Too many ads…
    Over 3 minutes of ads before the podcast even begins had me stopping before it even started.
  • EHunt222
    Great Podcast
    I don’t understand why every review on here complains about the ads? SUBSCRIBE OR HIT FAST FORWARD 30 seconds. The amount of time you took to write a negative review about ads is 10-fold what it would have taken you to hit that little fast forward button. I think Sarah’s admission is a continuation of her deception. If everything was rooted in her childhood trauma, and mental health, she wouldn’t have taken MONEY FROM PEOPLE!
  • cherylfoster.uri
    Due Diligence Divulges Deception
    Meticulous investigative reporting pays off in this riveting, psychologically astute Season Six profile of a cunning Stolen Valor criminal. Skilled mastery of case detail is fueled by expertise in the larger context of patterns among those who live fraudulent double lives. The resulting series strips away layer after layer of the insidiously intentional, intertwined lies of fabulist Sarah Cavanaugh, leaving us with the stark dishonor at the heart of her cruel manipulation. Brilliant storytelling, perfectly calibrated to the sonic format here - and cathartic for Veterans who have lived through this or similar stolen valor ruses.
  • Kml646
    Fascinating
    This is a great show on a troubling subject matter. Excellent journalism. I was pleasantly surprised and engrossed.
  • Tdubsters
    Great stuff
    The amount of work that Jake must have put into his research is insane
  • Spring7Boy
    A story about storytellers telling a story
    Meticulous interviews are fashioned to express, understandably of course, much more than the facts— we must hear in a truly heartfelt way how victims feel now, and how they felt then. Surrounding every interview we must also hear how the hosts felt before the interview and how they feel after the interview. The multi-episode narrative suspense— since we know what happened from the beginning— is how the hosts will finally feel about their feelings of applying well-practiced empathy, compassion, and altruism. You hear as much from the perpetrator and victims as you hear from the hosts themselves about their own experience in crafting this detailed show. Their pursuit to understand – – why? Why did she do it? Spoiler alert: at the end they are “baffled”. Like the victims, the hosts now have to live with the facts of what happened regardless of their understanding. Mental health problems are not the fault of the perpetrator, so the highly literate but stealthily smug hosts find themselves struggling with the same cognitive confusion that plagues absolutely everybody in society, who is trying to reconcile good and evil. Sorry, I mean good and bad. How can someone say something but then do something else? Something else that damages and deters the lives of innocent strangers in their sphere. We have the scenario set from the very first episode. All of the victims of this criminal, whether they were intimately, close or duped and dumped, reveal nothing particularly surprising. They emote and of course we feel compassion. What is most frustrating about this work is that it too much serves as an exercise to demonstrate the impressive professional prowess of the hosts that wrote and rode these people’s stories into their own.
  • BT2015
    Absolutely riveting!
    The rich texture of the writing and the amazing storytelling will have listeners spellbound. I could not put the podcast down and finished it within 24 hours of its original release. I think this would make a fascinating movie and I can’t wait to see if that happens! Bravo Jess, Jake and the entire team!
  • LivinInTheSwamp
    A riveting podcast — a remarkable work of art!
    In the conclusion of this tour de force, journalist/producer Jake Halpern notes that ”many of us, myself included, hold on to the perhaps naive hope of pure justice and clean endings, where the good guys win and righteousness prevails.” Yet, it is just such a hope of justice that motivates two investigators, starting with little more than a rumor, to patiently build a case that ends in a murder trial. Journalist/producer Jake Halpern and his brilliant team put us inside the car with the investigators as they approach the rural home of the man they believe is the accomplice to the murder. We are emotionally transported to join the investigators, the accomplice, the victim’s family, and others impacted by the murder. We are along for the ride in the highs and lows of this cold case investigation. I hope that Jake and his team continue their investigations – and give us the privilege of joining them in their remarkable work.
  • shauyanne1994
    Thrilling and Very Well Narrated.
    I loved this. Totally worth it.
  • allie87mallie
    Way too many ads
    Only got 19 minutes into the episode and there were already 3 ad breaks, one of which was almost 2-3 minutes. Unlistenable.
  • Panzollitto
    Underwhelming
    Came for season 4 because NYT best of 2024… BEYOND underwhelming
  • TC main
    Good reporting, unlistenable due to adverts
    Some good reporting but the adverts ruin the whole show and make it totally unlistenable. I would guess over half the episode is adverts. They have tried to deliberately make them blend in too, making them hard to skip. This is a guide for every podcast maker on how NOT to make a podcast. Yes you need to make money but if you make an unlistenable show, no one is there to listen to your adverts . A shame as the journalist knows what they’re doing. Id give 2 stars but it is so deeply hard to enjoy that i will never come back.
  • 2728!:&
    Season 4. Deeply dissapointing
    The number of minutes spent on ads and the sorts of ads are really disorienting. The content on season 4 is reall dissapointing as well. A lot of very slow buildup to a conclusion that amounts to more or less a nothing burger. Can’t believe this was on NYTs best podcasts of 2024.
  • tinternmarissa
    Too many ads
    The ads make this an excruciating listening experience.
  • jilly t
    bizarre ads
    content of the actual show is decent, but the ads are so bizarre, frequent and lengthy that it becomes confusing and not worth the trouble.
  • J.cah
    Earlier seasons are better
    The first few seasons are better than the last few. There are way too many ads, and sometimes the narrative isn’t pushed forward too much. This is especially true in seasons 4 and 5, but the early seasons are great.
  • Postwarrior
    Too slow, too thin
    These episodes have too little content and too much foreshadowing. The episode entitled Grand Jury spent about 20 minutes ruminating over how the testimony and evidence might go over, then just jumps and say they issued an indictment. The rest of the time was ads: pointless, endless, painful and repetitive. If you want to punish those who don’t want to pay for the ad-free version, you are overdoing it.
  • FengLida
    This should have been a movie
    This podcast was at least 50 percent ads and 25 percent, “these questions, after the break” or, “next time…” I listened to the nameless man after seeing it recommended on a list of best podcasts of 2024, but if this is one of the best then we are really in trouble. Similarly to when people complain that a tv series could have been a movie, this would have been a great hour long conversation. Fast forwarding the ads won’t help me, because of all the filler about “the next episode “ etc that is more difficult to skip.
  • Bilas Peles
    Great storytelling destroyed by too many ads
    Deep cover Five star storytelling in between tons of ads. Keep your hands on the fast forward button or all you’ll get is ads. But the storytelling is so very good, it’s almost it. In spite of my ad-phobia, I just had to binge listen to the murder story “Never Seen Again”.
  • MeOLbT
    Too many ads
    More ads than podcast
  • makepatsingmore
    Too many ads
    More ads than content. Sad.
  • Sleepyfel
    Too many ads, too little depth
    I swear this thing is at least half ads. You can barely remember what was happening in the story because of all the ad breaks. The reporting itself does not seem that interesting or groundbreaking either.
  • Cynographer
    Lazy, shallow
    Does not go “deep” in any sense of the term. Omits great scads of widely reported, interesting, contextualizing, and entertainingly salacious background. Unskilled and timid reporting. Loses focus frequently. Much of episode 4 is a recording of the the two principles yakking on the phone with terrible audio quality. Know what has great audio quality? The many, many ads aimed at convincing us that it’s dangerous to leave the house.
  • MegTheHippie
    Boring
    We tried to listen to the 3rd season and felt it didn’t go anywhere. Turned it off because I was falling asleep. No great details or storyline to keep things moving and the audience interested. Maybe try a test audience next time or focus group to see if you grab listeners. Hope you can learn from this. Not being rude, just think it could be told better.
  • renejr525
    so many ads
    i really wanted to listen to this, there was an ad every 3 minutes seemingly. felt like i was only ning to ads.
  • papakila
    Professional malpractice
    This is just flat out crappy journalism. I know more about George Santos than you will learn in this podcast. You probably do too. The producers shamelessly ripped off the actual reporters who dug up all the lies and misdeeds of this man and made it 50% less interesting. There’s nothing here about how the NYT missed the scoop, about Kitara, about the North Shore paper that broke the story BEFORE the election, about elder abuse in Brazil….don’t waste your time. And Malcolm Gladwell better clean house.
  • USA Mknitter
    George Santos - Season 5
    Why did George lie? Affirmation of his self worth? Maintain a level of expectations, as required by our current culture? Think of modern day influencers and smooth talkers. Refusal to accept the evidence (no different than a current politician who refuses to accept evidence from 2020)? No different than others who have pushed “the envelope” and not pay the consequences? TRUTH requires hard work and effort, and our society has become so accustomed to comfort that it refuses to accept blame. Thanks for this deeper dive into Mr. Santos than what I was able to hear briefly from the regular news media. Great reporting and narrators and speakers!
  • Bugseye66
    Poor delivery
    This is one podcast I was so looking forward to , such an interesting story, but I can’t get past the first episode , how the presenter (female) speaks is like nails on a chalkboard . I know a lot of people that age group speaks like that, but I just can’t.
  • Namsalot
    Disjointed bad story telling
    I really wanted to love this. It was hard to listen to. It’s not the story of who Santos is and how his life/political career/downfall unfolded. It’s more listening to a teenage girl reading a group text thread. I really hope another better podcast does his story. It’s so worth telling.
  • TildaJean
    For heaven’s sake
    Learn the difference between loan and lend! You set my teeth on edge.
  • looska
    Interesting but annoying for a number of reasons
    The story of Santos is strong and the reporting was good but I wish it had been more in depth. Overall I think they were too soft on Santos. The reporter (Amy) sounded like she thought Santos antics were a lark when it’s anything but funny. Kathy the donor infuriated me. She made excuses for him too. I wonder what Warren Zevon would think of Republicans who’d named their ginormous house after his song. Finally, both hosts have an annoying verbal tic of completing sentences with “right?” Please stop.
  • Janith
    Vocal fry alert
    Why can’t female reporters realize that their vocal fry is offensive? Good grief.
  • Fthisnikcnames
    This should have been 2 episodes MAX
    At the end I didn’t learn anything new. Instead heard the same thing over and over repeated by different people. Way to stretch a podcast, truly with no added value for the listener.
  • X13 b45 8
    Adverts
    If you like ads, this is the podcast for you! Have fun! 🤩
  • deemcc02
    tenacious!
    Impressive research and stellar journalism. I don’t know how they find these stories. I am going to be sad when I get through season 5. Good stuff!
  • SMT883
    Too many ads
    It was a meh for me & too many ads to hang in there.
  • IMHO FR
    9 ads per episode??
    It’s insane to me that a ~30 minute episode has 9 ads, it is so off-putting and ruins the flow of the show. While the topic is interesting, given that they’re just retelling other people’s research and insight into the topic, throwing in a couple of interviews, it’s a pass for me.
  • matty2lines
    The voice over
    I like this show. The reporting is solid. Her voice over is very hard to take. Most of the time it sounds like she wants to laugh. It makes it hard to take the information seriously. It’s a very immature way of telling the story.
  • teenuts23
    Good story, SO. Many. Commercials.
    Good story telling, but no flow because there are so many ad breaks. skip.
  • Calipodlistener
    Too Many Ads!!
    Season 4 is a decent story but the ads are making it unlistenable. The same ads over and over and over. I spend half my time fast forwarding. I understand you need sponsors but what makes you think your audience will be okay with that?
  • Smollett454
    Not for me
    Lots of guessing and innuendo. The host doesn’t clarify or go back and state truths when clear lies are spoken by the people being interviewed.
  • by50&;hx
    Terrible audio
    That very long phone conversation was so hard to understand. The audio was terrible. Didn’t you listen to how this sounded before you included it in the podcast?
  • BernieSpencer
    Love Amy!
    Amy is incredible! So smart and enjoyable to listen to. This is a great season!
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