From Sony Music Entertainment and Truth Media Comes the Incredible Story of Big Scandal & Big Money in a Small Town  

Subscribe to The Binge to Listen To The Full Season Today

New York, NY – October 2, 2023 – Sony Music Entertainment and Truth Media today launched the third season of hit podcast series Crooked City. Hosted by Alexa Burke, Crooked City: Dixon, IL,delves into the astounding story of Rita Crundwell, a small-town treasurer and comptroller who orchestrated the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history right under the noses of Dixon residents. The first episode is available now and subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes, all at once today.  

Rita Crundwell was a humble farm girl who came from a big family and had dreams of having beautiful show horses. She began working at Dixon’s City Hall as a high school intern, and worked her way up to becoming Dixon’s Treasurer, a position she held for 20 years. At the same time, she accumulated hundreds of champion quarter horses and purchased an 80-acre horse breeding operation. In the Quarter Horse world, Rita was known as sparing no expense for the care of her impressive herd. She won hundreds of American Quarter Horse championships, proving that they were the best in the world. But what no one knew was that she embezzled millions of dollars from the trusting citizens of Dixon all to fund her dreams.

Composed of eight gripping episodes, Burke tells the dramatic tale of how Crundwell fooled the citizens of Dixon for years in pursuit of her passion, leaving the town known for being Ronald Reagan’s hometown on the brink of financial ruin. The captivating story goes beyond organized crime and delves deep into a small-town, hard-working woman who swindled an entire community until the FBI raided City Hall in 2012 arresting her for over 60 theft charges. 

“This season of Crooked City tells a shocking story of betrayal, theft, and the lengths Rita went to turn her passion into a reality” said host Alexa Burke. “What I found fascinating was how those closest to Rita grappled with the unimaginable breach of trust, questioned everything they believed about themselves and their town, and pieced themselves back together.” 

Crooked City: Dixon, IL is produced by Alexa Burke, Kenny Kusiak, Elissa Mardiney, Kevin Shepherd, and Zach St. Louis. The series is edited by Marc Smerling.

Subscribers to “The Binge” can listen to all eight episodes of Crooked City: Dixon, IL all at once today. Subscribing to “The Binge” channel will also grant listeners access to the first two seasons of Crooked City. 

Listeners can subscribe to Crooked City: Dixon, IL on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher. For more information on Dixon, IL and all other Sony Podcast shows, follow @SonyPodcasts on Twitter and Instagram.