The Cowgirl’s Con

Cheat!

Sony Music

True Crime, Tv & Film, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2023

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Growing up in Dixon, Illinois, in the 90s, Li Arellano never understood why his town seemed to be crumbling, the streets were a mess, the library’s roof leaked, and the old downtown theater was an eyesore. It didn’t seem like it should’ve been that way— plenty of people in town seemed to do well for themselves. Especially Rita Crundwell. She owned hundreds of championship show horses that earned her ribbons and fancy belt buckles, and built a successful horse breeding business. Or at least that’s what people thought. But, for decades, Dixon’s decline was tied to its most razzle-dazzle resident in ways no one suspected. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up for us?
0:10.0	When Lee Ariano was growing up in the 1990s, he was your typical Midwestern suburban team.
0:16.4	This is the Jordan years, right, in Illinois.
0:18.8	So, of course, I loved basketball, I loved video games, and I loved to read.
0:23.1	Loved going to our library.
0:24.8	But the town where Lee grew up, a little one-horse town called Dixon,
0:28.8	about 100 miles outside of Chicago, well, that place, he couldn't wait to leave.
0:35.6	The streets were a mess. The old theater downtown, it became an eye sore,
0:40.5	and the roof of the library leaked.
0:42.8	Things like roofs, they were just starting to decay, you know, that probably factored
0:47.6	into one of the reasons I was so eager to get away. I didn't think there was a lot going on.
0:51.4	I didn't think there was a lot of opportunities. Dixon just didn't seem to have a lot.
0:56.7	It didn't seem like the town should have been struggling.
1:00.0	The unemployment rate was lower than the national average.
1:03.1	The economy was chugging along, and lots of people found work at the big hospital in town,
1:08.3	or at the battery factory. And there are plenty of folks with money around.
1:14.5	People like Rita Cronwell.
1:18.3	Rita had a day job as a comptroller of the city of Dixon.
1:21.8	But she was better known for what she did in her spare time,
1:25.2	buying and breeding competition quarter horses.
1:27.8	For the most versatile and athletic horses in the world, it's the American
1:32.0	Quarter Horse Association World Championship Show.
	...

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