If you enjoyed Spotlight: Snitch City, you might be interested in the new season of Deep Cover from Pushkin Industries. Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah is a podcast about people who lead double lives, reveals a story of stolen valor and misplaced heroism. Sarah Cavanaugh was many things: a decorated veteran, a Marine who saved her comrades, a young woman fighting cancer. Sarah was everything people wanted her to be – until she wasn’t. Turns out, no one knew the real Sarah. Not her comrades. Not her wife. No one. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jake Halpern and acclaimed investigative journalist Jess McHugh unravel an epic six-year deception that upended lives of countless people. Here’s episode 1, The Warrior.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
44:17
--------
44:17
UPDATE: Case Dismissed
Reporters Dugan Arnett and Andrew Ryan are back in court to learn the fate of a case that has spanned eight years. In 2017, New Bedford police accused Steven Ortiz of being at the center of a major drug trafficking ring. But an officer involved in his arrest was sleeping with Ortiz’s fiancee while using her as an unwitting confidential informant. This case was what first brought Arnett to New Bedford. In the two years since he broke the story, one drug trafficking case has already been tossed. Now, an even bigger case hangs in the balance. And the outcome could bring a reckoning for police and prosecutors.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
22:22
--------
22:22
Introducing The Burden
Today, we’re sharing the first episode of the 2025 Ambie Award-nominated investigative podcast The Burden from our friends at Orbit Media. The Burden tells the story of detective Louis Scarcella, once celebrated for his prowess in solving tough cases in 1990s New York City. Scarcella becomes embroiled in controversy as a group of convicted murderers uncover Scarcella’s involvement in dozens of cases, leading to the release of over 20 individuals he helped convict. But can these jailhouse lawyers get themselves out too?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
34:31
--------
34:31
EPISODE 4: Cops & Robbers
When Frank "Rizzo" Simmons was a big-time drug dealer in New Bedford in the '90s, he went toe-to-toe with a drug cop named Paul Oliveira. After a major bust of Frank’s headquarters, Oliveira tries to turn Frank into an informant. But snitching goes against everything Frank believes in. This won’t be the last time Frank will have to decide if he should cooperate. But the next time, it’s going to be harder to stay true to his code. Because next time, he'll be asked to snitch on Paul Oliveira.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
37:49
--------
37:49
EPISODE 1: Officer Pastillas
On the docks of New Bedford, Massachusetts, whispers about a rogue police officer harassing fishermen and stealing drugs come to a head aboard a scalloping boat late one night. The officer forces his way on board, saying an informant told him there would be drugs on board, and demands some. But when another officer, Mark Raposo, shows up, he thinks his colleague is in the middle of a “drug rip.” Now Raposo is ready to blow the whistle on what he’s seen. And it turns out that this officer’s abuse of the informant system is just the tip of the iceberg in this historic port city.
*Note: this episode was updated Mar 12, 2025, to include a statement from police that the Globe received after the deadline.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Spotlight: Snitch City brings listeners inside the clandestine world of police informants through the story of one police department. Investigative reporter Dugan Arnett uncovers rampant misconduct and explores how, in a nation addicted to drugs, police have become addicted to informants.
New Zealand