This transcription discusses the novel "Pumpkin Buttes" by Maureen Ann Meehan, which combines a true crime podcast with elements of the infamous Alcatraz prison escape. The story is set in Wyoming's Pumpkin Buttes, a geologically unique area rich in uranium and high-tech alloys. The book follows Mary Macintosh, a prosecutor in Wyoming, as she investigates the illegal exportation of uranium from Pumpkin Buttes. The podcast also explores the history of Alcatraz Island and the mysterious disappearance of three escapees. Recent developments include the arrest of individuals involved in smuggling uranium. The novel incorporates these real-life events into a fictional story.
Hello there. Deep in the heart of Wyoming lies a place rich in natural resources and mystery. Introducing Pumpkin Buttes, a Mary Macintosh novel by Maureen Ann Meehan. What if I told you that this novel is also the final chapter for one of the most infamous prison escapes in American history? This is Only the Truth, a Mary Macintosh true crime podcast, and today we unravel the story of uranium, Alcatraz, and the last survival of a daring escape in my novel Pumpkin Buttes, a Mary Macintosh novel set in Wyoming where I grew up.
I'm going to start by showing you the copy of this book, Pumpkin Buttes, a Mary Macintosh novel, and I'm going to read you some excerpts that will explain a little bit about the area of Pumpkin Buttes in Wyoming. It's a real area. It looks somewhat similar to Devil's Tower, a monolith kind of in the middle of nowhere, and then I'm going to go explore more about the uranium that is contained and found and extracted from the Pumpkin Buttes area of Wyoming, and then we're going to switch and pivot to the Alcatraz escape, bringing these all together in Mary Macintosh's courtroom as a prosecutor in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Native Americans have always placed a crucial role in America, and their presence in the West remains strong. During Wyoming's frontier era, the Pumpkin Buttes were used as Indian lookouts to monitor game, emigrants on the Lewis and Clark and Bozeman trails, soldiers, and tribal ceremonial locations. They served also as a convenient hideout, much like that of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids at the Hole in the Wall just a few miles away from Pumpkin Buttes. This area is geologically unique.
It's not only beautiful, but it's organically rich, uranium rich specifically. It's also rich in high-tech alloys such as neodymium, praseodymium, and scandium, making mining in this area highly competitive and desirable for those who have access. As most of you would know, uranium is a chemical element with a symbol of U and an atomic number of 92, and it is silvery-gray metal in the ascentite series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which six are valence, making it radioactive decay, an alpha particle.
This half-life of this decay varies between 160,000 and 4.5 billion years for different isotopes, making it useful for dating Earth's age, but it's also useful for the atomic bomb. The most common isotope is that natural uranium is 238, making it the highest atomic weight and denser than lead. The pumpkin buttes rise from rolling grassland that surround the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and consist of three buttes. They are called the North Butte, the South Butte, and the Middle Butte.
Original, I know. The names are not very original, but the natives were much better known for their descriptions, and their names were original and unique. Native Americans, mostly the Dakotas, referred to them as Wohombi, Sayaka, which translates loosely to Vision Quest Buttes. The lands were fought over for decades in the 1870s during the Indian Wars, and a lot of it belongs today to the BLM. There are many corporations that legally mine uranium in the Pumpkin Buttes, as this area has the most uranium than anywhere in the world.
It provides a lot of natural resources, not only to uranium extraction, but these other isotopes and metals and alloys that I refer to are used in high-tech industries such as lasers, satellites, car batteries. So you can see the usefulness of and the desire to be able to mine these alloys. It is legally mined by companies like Cameco, which is a Canadian-based organization with significant operations in Wyoming. Now we are going to kind of pivot towards Alcatraz.
So the name Alcatraz is derived from the Spanish Alcatraces, and in 1775 a Spanish explorer, Juan de Ayala, sailed into the San Francisco Bay Area, and he thought that this island was unique because of the pelicans, or the strange birds that occupied Alcatraz Island. So that is how it got its name. The presidential order in 1850 set aside the island for use as a military post, and during the California Gold Rush, the boom of the Bay Area needed to protect the bay, so it was an army building and a fortress.
Eventually it became, as most people know, a prison, and from that, the greatest escape from prison of all time, the escape from Alcatraz. Many, many high-known prisoners were housed in Alcatraz, including Al Capone, George Machine Gun Kelly, Alvin Karpis, also known as Public Enemy No. 1, and Arthur Dock Barker. It also had the three gentlemen who eventually escaped Alcatraz, and these gentlemen, Frank Morris, and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, were the ones who vanished from their cells in the middle of the night to never be seen again.
There was a fourth man involved in this escape, Allen West, but he chickened out at the very end, for reasons we don't know. So they still remain on America's Most Wanted list, these three gentlemen. Some believe they drowned in the bay, some people believe they were eaten by great white sharks, but nobody knows what happened to them. Did they make it to San Francisco and then beyond? Well, in my book, Pumpkin Buttes, the Mary McIntosh novel, they did.
They ended up in the Pumpkin Buttes area of Wyoming, and so it begins. There has been recent developments in this area. A recent arrest, September 9th, 2024, of two gentlemen who were illegally exporting uranium out of the Pumpkin Buttes area, and they were caught, and they are standing prosecution for trial for illegally exporting uranium to Russia, putting it in the hands of dangerous people who want to use it for atomic bombs. So, I will explain more about these gentlemen, but Sam Bandini of Massachusetts and Max Teslenko of Moscow were both indicted on counts of smuggling and conspiracy to violate and evade export controls.
Their case is pending, so I won't talk too much about it other than the illegal smuggling and export of uranium from Pumpkin Buttes is real, it's recent, it's been ongoing for some time, and I do include it in the novel. But we'll pivot back to Alcatraz for a minute. Alcatraz is a unique place. Native Americans occupied Alcatraz Island from November 1969 to June of 1971 as part of a protest movement to highlight the issues of Native American rights, sovereignty, and mistreatment by the U.S.
government. After Alcatraz prison was closed in 1963, after these two gentlemen escaped, a group of Native American activists ended up occupying the island, and they did remain there for several years. The island is sacred to Native Americans for a number of reasons. Back to the escapees, Frank Lee Morris and the Anglin brothers. Frank Morris was not a good guy. He spent most of his life in prison. He was a product of abuse and neglect as a child, ended up in the prison system very young, spent time at The Rock, Louisiana State Penitentiary, and Alcatraz.
He escaped from all of them. He was very, very intelligent. They believe his IQ was around 130. But unfortunately, he used crime instead of using his intellect in order to support himself. So back to Pumpkin Buttes and Mary McIntosh novel. I told you a little bit about Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers who escaped from Alcatraz and fictionally live in the Pumpkin Buttes area of Wyoming. They also, fictionally, are illegally exporting uranium, and no one knows who they are.
They're living in plain sight after they escaped Alcatraz in my novel. In this story, how Mary McIntosh, the prosecutor from Sheridan, Wyoming, gets involved is that they discover this illegal exportation of uranium, and it is within her jurisdiction to find out who these people are and prosecute them. While Mac is a tenacious prosecutor, as many of you know if you've read any of her The Mary McIntosh series, and she is going to find out who these people are, and she's going to prosecute them to the full extent of the law, like these two gentlemen were, who were illegally exporting uranium to Moscow.
She's a determined prosecutor, and her fictionalized courtroom drama is vivacious, and she's smart. She figures out how to prosecute a case she's never taken before. She does the research. She calls in experts, and she is looking for these people, which she eventually figures out that they are the Alcatraz escapees in this novel. Could these three men survive the escape from Alcatraz? Who knows? But true crime is the best kind of crime. You can't make this stuff up, so Mary McIntosh brings it to life in her novel, Pumpkin Beards.
What are your thoughts? Could these guys have escaped? Alcatraz survived, traveled to the west, to Wyoming, and figured out how to illegally export uranium and become some of the richest men in Wyoming, in the Pumpkin Beards area? Who knows? You'll have to tune in to this podcast, and purchase the book, Pumpkin Beards, a Mary McIntosh novel, and find out. So the recent developments I wanted to tell you about, about this arrest that happened in September of 2024, like I told you, Sam Bombenian, a 55-year-old man from Massachusetts, and Maxim Talensko, a 35-year-old Russian citizen based in Moscow, they were arrested and they were arraigned in Boston, and they are charged with smuggling charges, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years and $250,000 fine for each smuggle, as well as conspiracy to commit the smuggling charges, falsifying exportation documents, utilizing shell companies as fictional personas, and they altered documents, altered shipping routes to get around the laws that pertain to exportation of uranium, which you can imagine, they're federal laws and they're tight, for a good reason, this is a very dangerous subject.
So this case is ongoing, and I bring it into this novel because, like I said, true crime is what I write about, I find it fascinating that these things can happen. With respect to the isotopes and alloys that are found in pumpkin buttes, these alloys make magnets, they do 3D printing, they're used in aerospace, they are exporting equipment like bats, bite frames, they are used in lasers, ceramics, glass coloration, lighting, and they are also used for fuel cells, because they're high strength, low weight, they are used in batteries, such as for the Tesla, and they're rare earth minerals that really have a high impact and a high value in a high tech society.
Now I'm going to pivot to read a few of the reviews on Pumpkin Buttes, a Mary McIntosh novel. The first one is from Steven Max Finkelstein, and he reviewed this book December 23rd, 2024. A Twisting and Turning Crime Story. Mary McIntosh, the prosecutor from Sheridan, Wyoming, who is known as Mac to her friends, is back from another crime and mayhem. This time she's teamed up with Sheriff Burgess, who informs Mac that multiple crimes have taken place which seem to connect to each other.
Rare earth elements are being extracted, and at the same time, two individuals charged with the illegal uranium exporting make their presence known. Meanwhile, three hardened criminals escape from a prison. These seemingly desperate and disparate events all converge in the region of Wyoming known by the colorful name of Pumpkin Buttes. It is there that the sheriff and the prosecutor must figure out how all these pieces fit together. Pumpkin Buttes by Maureen Meehan is another novel belonging to the Mary McIntosh crime series.
These tales, set in the western United States, are a guilty pleasure. So is spending time with Mac, a woman with flaws, but a deep-held sense of justice that drives her very action. Pairing her with the solid figure of lawman Sheriff Burgess was a stroke of genius. The two play off each other, first ruffling each other's feathers, but soon coming to having some grudging respect for one another professionally. They need to get along, because the case is so baffling that neither of them has a prayer solving it on their own.
What's so impressive about Meehan's writing, other than her spare, restrained prose, is that she's able to weave together complex narratives that seem structurally simplistic, but that unfold in increasingly complex ways the further the reader progresses in the narrative. That is undeniably the case here, as the way everything fits together gradually reveals itself in the novel's second and third acts. It is like the origami figurine that impresses through the intricacy of its final form. Though there have never been any weak installments of the series, this is perhaps the best of them to date, which is really saying something.
Well betides anyone who chooses to commit a crime near the fictitious town of Sheridan, Wyoming, with the fictitious prosecutor, Mary McIntosh, because you will have her to contend with. The next review I'd like to read to you is a couple days ago, Twisting and Turning, this is one by Lenore, 5-star review, December 23, 2024. A gripping tale with plenty of twists, this novel will keep you on the edge of your seat. With high stakes and twists galore, this suspenseful novel keeps you hooked from start to finish.
Pumpkin Buttes by Maureen Ann Meehan takes the readers to the rugged remote landscapes of Wyoming, where three true crimes unexpectedly collide. The story involves escaped prisoners, illegal uranium exports to Russia, and the extraction of rare earth elements crucial to modern technology. Prosecutor Mary McIntosh and Sheriff Burgess are soon targeted after Mack's involvement in a high-profile case, as they team up to investigate danger loans at every turn. The last one I'll read to you is from Megan Brame, again, December 23, 2024.
Maureen Ann Meehan's Pumpkin Buttes is a wild ride through the rugged landscapes of Wyoming, where three separate crimes collide in one explosive plot. This action-packed novel follows Mary McIntosh and Sheriff Burgess as they find themselves caught in the crosshairs of some seriously shady characters. Meehan does a great job of weaving together multiple storylines, from a prison escape to illegal uranium exports and rare earth element extraction. It's like a crime buffet, and the author serves it up with style.
The remote setting of Pumpkin Buttes adds an extra layer of tension to the story, reminding readers of the area's outlaw history, with nods to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids. The dynamic between Mack and Burgess is highlighted in the book, with their treatment and determination driving the investigation forward. Meehan keeps readers on their toes, with plenty of twists and turns making it hard to put the book down. While the multiple plot threads can be a bit overwhelming at times, the overall story is engaging and fast-paced.
If you're looking for a thriller that combines contemporary crimes with a touch of wild west flavor, Pumpkin Buttes is definitely worth checking out. Meehan has crafted another suspenseful tale that you'll have to read. You'll be rooting for Mack and Burgess, while keeping you guessing until the very end. Alright, well I hope you have enjoyed this podcast on Pumpkin Buttes, a Mary Macintosh novel, where true crime is the best crime. You can't make it up, and I truly enjoy this podcast, only the truth.
I'm Maureen Meehan, covering the Mary Macintosh novels. Alright, thank you very much for your time.
