279: Wrath - The Dead Man’s Switch

Seven Deadly Sinners

Rachael O'Brien

Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality, True Crime

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1977, inside a quiet mortgage office in Indianapolis, Tony Kiritsis strapped a shotgun to his mortgage broker's neck, rigged it to a dead-man’s switch, and turned a personal grievance into one of the most disturbing standoffs in American history. For hours, police, negotiators, and a stunned public watched as Kiritsis dared anyone to make the wrong move.

This week on Seven Deadly Sinners, we dissect the anatomy of obsession, grievance, and pride — how a financial dispute metastasized into a public spectacle fueled by paranoia and control. When a bank takes advantage of a customer, they never expect to end up on the other end of the barrel.

From the psychological unraveling to the media circus that amplified every second, this episode explores wrath at its most theatrical—and most tragic.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Guy me
0:07.0	Go to guide me. Welcome back to another episode of Seven Deadly Sinners.
0:28.7	Thank you guys so much for listening.
0:30.6	We love you.
0:31.6	Happy New Year.
0:33.4	And this is a great hunter episode that I'm very, very excited to hear about.
0:40.0	It's still a classic seven deadly sinners.
0:42.3	Probably more classic seven deadly sinners than our most recent episodes.
0:46.8	Whatever, just because I'm into weather phenomenon doesn't mean that it's not seven deadly sinners.
0:51.4	We're going back to true crime.
0:55.4	Fair enough, fair enough, fair enough. But do not fret. It's got an Indiana tie. Of course it does. The psychopath.
1:04.1	Well, I thought the story was relevant in light of... Don't even mention... don't even mention don't even mention the Hoosiers oh I wasn't I was going to say in
1:18.7	the political landscape and the banking you know the one percent first to 99 percent of us
1:26.5	fair enough regular poor folks who have 1% versus the 99% of us. Fair enough.
1:37.5	Regular poor folks who have to get mortgages from banks.
1:39.0	Yeah, so it's very classic.
1:41.2	It's like John Mellencamp. Well, let me ask you, have you ever felt that a bank was doing you wrong?
1:46.0	Have you ever felt that your hands were tied
1:48.2	and that you were in something that they got you in
1:51.1	and then it wouldn't help you get out of?
1:53.0	To be perfectly honest,
1:53.9	they've been very nice to me.
	...

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