Nicolazzi on True Crime Podcast

Posted in: Audio Dramas, TV | Tagged: Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Justice System

Host Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi (True Conviction) spoke to Bleeding Cool about the origins of her podcast Law & Order Criminal Justice System.

When Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi retired as a prosecutor for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, she discovered a second career in TV and podcasting, becoming the host of Discovery’s True beliefcurrently in its third season, and the podcast Anatomy of Murder. The latest application of her expertise comes from Wolf Entertainment, the production company behind the largest law enforcement television franchise, Law and orderand iHeartPodcasts in a partnership for a new true crime podcast, Law and Order: Criminal Justice System. The first season will chronicle the fall of the American Mafia in New York City. Nicolazzi spoke to Bleeding Cool about her transition from law to show business, drawing a distinction Criminal justice system from her other shows, the appeal of the true crime genre, cultural changes reflected in law enforcement entertainment and what stood out to her from all the cases she’s covered.

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System Host Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi on Embracing Her Role in Entertainment

Bleeding Cool: When you retired from your work as a prosecutor in the murder cases, what made you decide to go into show business and start presenting?

The media found me. That was not what I had planned to do and I thought I would retire as a prosecutor. Yet I also got tired, mentally and physically, from handling a lot of the complex cases, especially murder cases, for so many years, and my cases had been handled over time. I was used to talking to the media that way and when I was asked to comment on other cases around the country, since a lot of the television studios are in New York City, I found that it was fun. There was definitely a different level of pressure, not much for me versus talking about a case instead of being in the courtroom. I said, “You know what? Instead of answering questions, I want to ask them.” It became, “Maybe this is another way to stay involved in a world that I care about, but with a new path.” So one thing led to another and I went from the district attorney’s office to the media.

How does your work on Law & Order: Criminal Justice System differ from other series like ‘True Conviction’ and ‘Anatomy of Murder’?

They’re all unique in the sense that ‘True Conviction’ was television, and it was from the prosecution’s perspective. We were used to seeing it more from the law enforcement perspective, specifically the investigative side of it. From my perspective, when I was having these conversations with Discovery, I said, “We’re involved in murders from, unfortunately, the moment someone is murdered.” That’s how we came up with the concept of ‘True Conviction.’

‘Anatomy of Murder’ came from my co-host and partner on the show, Scott Weinberger, who said, “Hey, we have these conversations all the time about these cases, so why don’t we try a podcast?” We have the same ethos of, “We want them to be victim-centered and approach it from both perspectives,” with his background as a former law enforcement officer, then a journalist, and me as a prosecutor. That’s the format of ‘Anatomy of Murder,’ which is currently 190 episodes long.

With ‘Law & Order,’ we’re going to explore the criminal justice system and the cases that have helped shape our system, topic by topic. This first season, we decided to focus on the mob, so it’s a topic-specific ‘Law & Order.’ It’s going to be told with what people are used to from the Wolf Entertainment team telling stories and how they tell stories. Now it’s in audio format versus the visual format of television, and the big difference is that these are the real stories being told by the people who worked these cases and were affected by the crimes.

The true crime podcast format has been popular for a while now and I was wondering, based on your observations, what your biggest pet peeves are with this genre.

I understand why people are drawn to it, and I’ll start with that side. People are drawn to true crime for different reasons: there’s the “outsider watching.” Hopefully, people who haven’t been through it are curious, even though it’s horrible. People who have been through it want to see what it’s been like for others in similar shoes. It’s interesting to look at these pieces as a prosecutor. I think it’s the same for the general public, and sometimes for some it’s “What do I do to protect myself? What are my lessons from these stories?” From my background, it’s always been to respect the case and, more importantly, remember that we’re talking about people who have been deeply affected, sometimes gone from this earth, because of crimes that were committed against them, and all the other victims that are left in their wake are the family members. The most important thing in anything that I’m involved in is that I never lose sight of that.

As far as police procedural stories go, most of them are entertainment-based. They tend to stick to a strict narrative, like when it happens, there’s the investigation and the resolution, whereas the reality is different. Do you see a problem with the entertainment side of things? Given the ongoing civil unrest, like the aftermath of George Floyd, combined with how programming often glamorizes the field, and the more grounded reflection in recent years, do you think the narrative has evolved?

It depends on what show you’re talking about, because they all approach it differently. One of the things that attracted me to working with Wolf Entertainment was that they approached it from the standpoint of all their scripted series, and made it as realistic as possible with that little bit of Hollywood flair that the creative side of their business allows them to do while still being respectful of the men and women who work in this world. And also realizing that it’s not a perfect system and we’re not perfect people.
When someone makes a mistake, it is important for me to name it or talk about the complexity of these cases. I believe in our system and most people in it do their best and do it honestly. Do I think that some have crossed those boundaries and sometimes with less good intentions and malicious intentions? I think so, but there are only a few. We have to name those things and when there are mistakes, we talk about it instead of hiding away. I hope that transparency leads to trust in our system, because then you know what it is: the good, the bad and in between.

What was the most shocking detail you ever discovered out of all the topics you covered in your three podcasts?

I’ve seen a lot and there’s not much that shocks me. I was a homicide prosecutor in Brooklyn for 17 years, one of the biggest homicide prosecutors in the country. I’m never going to put one case above the other, but it’s in my mind because any case where someone loses a life is just as devastating to their family members as any other. When we talk about “Law & Order: Criminal Justice System” season one, we’re going to focus on the Mafia and the hold they have on New York City. Even though I’ve done homicide cases that involved people in organized crime, it was also educational for me to see how organized crime was a spider web back then and it’s still amazing to see how far it went into almost every aspect of life in New York City for quite some time.

New episodes of Law and Order: Criminal Justice System will be released on Thursday on iHeartRadio. Watch the first episode below.

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