Mary Kay McBrayer: Madame Queen

Wicked Words - A True Crime Talk Show with Kate Winkler Dawson

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

True Crime

4.8 • 7.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on Wicked Words we’re traveling back to 1923 Harlem and its seedy world of gambling and racketeering. Author Mary Kay McBrayer tells me about Stephanie St. Clair. She was one of the only female crime bosses in the city. Madame Queen was also a Black, self-made businesswoman. And a legend.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is exactly right.
0:07.1	Marsha P. Johnson is the trans icon of the queer movement,
0:11.7	and it's time to listen to her.
0:13.9	I want to be one of the world's biggest drag queens.
0:18.3	Today, you can buy t-shirts with her face on them, but her death in 1992 was never solved.
0:25.3	I'm dying, dying, dying.
0:27.8	Hear how Marsha's life and legacy reshaped our world.
0:31.5	Just get your heart ready.
0:33.4	Listen to After Lives on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
0:39.8	I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the podcast Betrayal. Police Lieutenant Joel Kern used his badge to
0:46.2	fool everyone. Most of all, his wife Caroline. He texted, I've ruined our lives. You're going to want to divorce me.
0:55.4	How far would he go to cover up what he'd done?
0:58.9	The fact that you lied is absolutely horrific.
1:01.6	And quite frankly, I question how many other women are out there
1:04.3	that may bring forward allegations in the future.
1:07.0	Listen to betrayal on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
1:10.4	or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:16.4	This is your girl T.S. Madison, and I'm coming to you loud, live, and in color from the Outlaws podcast.
1:23.5	Let me tell you something. I've got the voice. My podcast?
1:29.0	The one they never saw coming.
1:34.0	Each week, I sit down with the culture creators and scroll stop us.
1:35.0	Tina knows.
	...

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