Crimetown
Welcome to Crimetown, a series produced by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier in partnership with Gimlet Media. Each season, we investigate the culture of crime in a different city. In Season 2, Crimetown heads to the heart of the Rust Belt: Detroit, Michigan. From its heyday as Motor City to its rebirth as the Brooklyn of the Midwest, Detroit’s history reflects a series of issues that strike at the heart of American identity: race, poverty, policing, loss of industry, the war on drugs, and our universal desire for a savior. Detroit’s a tough town, and its residents are even tougher. They’ve weathered riots, a drug epidemic, political scandal, and innumerable other hardships, but they’re still here—and they have stories to tell.
Episodes
November 4, 2019 • 42 min
Still hung up on the unsolved murder of Damion Lucas, FBI agent Herm Groman devises an elaborate sting to ensnare the corrupt cops of the Detroit Police Department. Will it bring down Mayor Coleman Young, too?
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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October 1, 2019 • 39 min
Introducing Mogul, a show about hip-hop's most iconic moments, told by the people who lived them. This season starts with Luke Campbell of the 2 Live Crew getting thrown in jail. Luke wound up in handcuffs because, according to a Florida judge, his music was obscene. To understand how this happened, we have to go back in time to 1980s Miami, to a sweatbox teen disco that birthed a new kind of hip hop: Miami bass.
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September 5, 2019 • 41 min
Growing up, Rob Boyd is ignored by his absent, womanizing father, a well-known local preacher. His mother marries a kindhearted factory worker, who helps raise Rob and his siblings. But after his stepfather is murdered, Rob goes astray, entering a brutal world of drugs and violence.
To learn more about Rob's work today, visit thestreetsdontloveyouback.ning.com.
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August 29, 2019 • 37 min
In the Crimetown Season 2 finale, Kwame Kilpatrick begins his 28-year prison sentence. Although he still maintains his innocence, his chances of a retrial are slim. Meanwhile, Detroit is undergoing a remarkable economic transformation. But who is benefitting from the Motor City miracle? And is the era of crime and corruption really over?
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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August 22, 2019 • 39 min
After a decade of scandals and a sprawling corruption investigation, Kwame Kilpatrick faces his most daunting challenge yet: a federal trial that could put him in prison for decades. The former mayor is no longer fighting for his political life or his marriage — now, he’s fighting for his freedom.
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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August 15, 2019 • 42 min
For years, the FBI has been running a wide-ranging corruption investigation into the Kilpatrick administration. As they dig deeper, the feds uncover a massive pay-to-play enterprise that reaches every level of City Hall. Is Kwame Kilpatrick a crook? Or are his associates just exploiting his name in order to enrich themselves?
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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August 8, 2019 • 30 min
After serving 99 days in jail, former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick walks free. He heads to Texas and tries to settle into a new life. But Detroit isn’t quite ready to let him go.
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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August 1, 2019 • 39 min
With the mayor behind bars, a crusading lawyer takes up the case of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene. Could Kwame Kilpatrick have ordered her murder — or is it all an urban legend?
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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July 31, 2019 • 9 min
From the same team that brought you Crimetown comes Crimetown Presents: The Ballad of Billy Balls. It’s 1982 in New York City, and a man bursts into an East Village storefront apartment and shoots punk musician Billy Balls. What follows is a mystery of love and loss that examines the tender binds of family, and the stories we tell ourselves just to survive. Learn more at www.theballadofbillyballs.com.
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July 25, 2019 • 44 min
The revelation that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had an affair with his chief of staff — a romance detailed in thousands of explicit text messages — rocks Detroit. But it’s only the beginning of their troubles.
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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July 18, 2019 • 30 min
Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown files a whistleblower suit against City Hall, alleging he was fired for investigating the long-rumored Manoogian Mansion party. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick denies the accusations. But while he’s on the stand, he’s asked a surprising, seemingly unrelated question — one that just might bring him down.
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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July 17, 2019 • 14 min
From the partnership that brought you Dirty John, comes Man in the Window. Pulitzer prize winning reporter Paige St. John investigates The Golden State Killer, and traces his path of devastation through the eyes of his victims. Binge the series now at wondery.fm/CT
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July 11, 2019 • 39 min
As rumors about a wild party at the mayor’s mansion continue to spread, Kwame Kilpatrick must fend off an increasingly unsympathetic media. Meanwhile, his opponent in the next election has a double-digit lead. Can the hip hop mayor survive?
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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July 4, 2019 • 37 min
To his supporters, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is a new breed of politician: young, cool, and in touch with black culture. To his critics, his flashy appearance and taste for nightlife are evidence of his immaturity. Rumors about Kilpatrick begin to swirl: sky-high spending, an out-of-control entourage, and wild parties at the mayoral mansion. Is Kwame Kilpatrick in over his head? Or is he being targeted because of his race?
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June 27, 2019 • 33 min
When Mayor Coleman Young dies after twenty years in office, he leaves a yawning vacuum in Detroit’s power structure. But a successor quickly arises: a young, ambitious state legislator named Kwame Kilpatrick. He’s charismatic, larger than life, and has an impeccable political pedigree. There’s only one person who can stop Kwame Kilpatrick: himself.
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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June 20, 2019 • 42 min
Dimitri Mugianis is a rarity in Detroit: a white kid whose family stayed after everyone like them left. Growing up, he throws himself into the city’s avant-garde underworld, playing in art-punk bands and partying in gay clubs. But when his taste for the nightlife becomes a full-blown heroin addiction, he realizes that he’s in trouble—and, with a hot new drug called crack hitting the streets, it’s only going to get worse.
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June 6, 2019 • 37 min
A thirteen-year-old boy is murdered in a drive-by shooting. The Detroit police quickly apprehend a suspect. But the FBI is convinced that the wrong man is in jail — and that the real killers are escaping justice thanks to friends in high places.
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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May 30, 2019 • 32 min
Coleman Young has more underworld connections than you might expect of a big-city mayor. Sometimes those connections come in handy. But when his favorite niece starts dating an infamous drug dealer, Mayor Young must choose between keeping her out of trouble and keeping his hands clean.
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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May 23, 2019 • 40 min
It’s the early eighties, and a new organization is revolutionizing the heroin trade: Young Boys Inc. Unlike other drug operations, YBI recruits juveniles, brands smack as if it were designer clothing, and moves the industry out of the dope houses and onto the corners. As YBI’s relentless expansion causes more and more bloodshed, its foot soldiers must reckon with their impact on Detroit.
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May 16, 2019 • 32 min
When a hungry young DEA agent arrives in Detroit, he picks the perfect case to make his bones: taking down Eddie Jackson and Courtney Brown’s sprawling heroin organization. But if the drug kingpins fall, what will happen to their kids? As the feds close in, Eddie Jr. and Courtney Jr. must face the possibility of growing up without their fathers.
For bonus content from this episode, visit crimetownshow.com.
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