Here’s a preview of a new Pushkin podcast, The Chinatown Sting. In the late 1980s, a group of women connected through the mahjong parlors in Manhattan’s Chinatown were caught in a massive undercover drug bust. But this bust was just the beginning of an even bigger case. Host Lidia Jean Kott and co-reporter Shuyu Wang interview sources who’ve never spoken on record before, including witnesses, defendants, and federal prosecutors, to reconstruct a case that still has repercussions today. In this episode, we meet Tina Wong, a young mother who found herself in the middle of the operation with two choices—go to prison, or risk her life to bring down the man at the helm. Listen to The Chinatown Sting wherever you get podcasts and binge the entire season, ad-free, with a Pushkin+ subscription—sign up on The Chinatown Sting Apple Podcasts show page or at pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode 5: All Costs
“You know, that incident was what many of us consider the ugliest black molar in our local history. It was just pure evil and ugly.” August 26th, 1950 was the night that changed Myrtle Beach. It changed Charlie and the impact reverberated throughout the south. Subscribe to Pushkin+ to binge the entire season early & ad-free in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode 4: Mr. Nobody From Nowhere
“And in the minds of many, Charlie Fitzgerald's dance hall becomes the worst fears of the champions of white supremacy.” There’s much mystery surrounding Charlie Fitzgerald and who he was before Myrtle Beach. Before he was Charlie Fitzgerald he was Lucious Rucker. So who is Lucious Rucker? Subscribe to Pushkin+ to binge the entire season early & ad-free in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode 3: Power Cedes to Power
“He helped people. He loaned people. He wasn't to be trifled with” Charlie Fitzgerald built multiple businesses across Myrtle Beach – the hotel, the club, the cab company, the high-stakes poker game – and loaned money to white folks in town to bend the rules in his favor. How long would this last before Charlie became a target? Subscribe to Pushkin+ to binge the entire season early & ad-free in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode 2: Sin City
“All the dancers wanted that black music. Why? Because it had a danceable backbeat.” Dance at Charlie’s Place wasn’t just dance; it captured the spirit of an era defined by both segregation and creativity. When white audiences arrived for the music, these moments sparked shifts that transformed Myrtle Beach and resonated far beyond its borders. Subscribe to Pushkin+ to binge the entire season early & ad-free in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How did a Black man in 1940s Jim Crow South open a club where Black and white people danced together?
Charlie’s Place was revolutionary, and that meant it was dangerous.
In this 5-part series, host Rhym Guissé explores the unbelievable true story of Charlie Fitzgerald, a mysterious Black businessman whose nightclub became an unlikely site of integration in 1940s Myrtle Beach.
Charlie broke down racial barriers through the power of music and dance, hosting some of the greatest musicians of our time: Little Richard, Count Basie, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, and many more.
But who was Charlie? How did he rise to power? And what price did he pay for achieving the impossible—an integrated club in the Jim Crow South? This is a story of joy and passion that erupted into violence and changed a community forever.
Subscribe to Pushkin+ to binge the entire season early & ad-free in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus.
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