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.

News
Society & Culture
Government
1
Introducing “Operation: Tradebom”
1 min
2
Bonus Episode: The Streets Don't Love You Back
After a boy’s stepfather is murdered, he goes astray, entering a brutal world of drugs and violence.
37 min
3
S2 E19: From the Ashes
With Kwame Kilpatrick sentenced to 28 years in federal prison, Detroit tries to move on. But is the era of crime and corruption really over?
32 min
4
S2 E18: United States v. Kwame Kilpatrick
Kwame Kilpatrick faces his most daunting challenge yet: a federal trial that could put him in prison for decades.
34 min
5
S2 E17: Operation Bombay Dreams
A massive corruption investigation threatens to put Kwame Kilpatrick behind bars for good.
37 min
6
S2 E16: Surrendered
After 99 days in jail, Kwame Kilpatrick gets a taste of freedom. But it won’t last long.
25 min
7
S2 E15: The Murder of Tamara Greene
With Kwame Kilpatrick behind bars, a lawsuit pushes the killing of an exotic dancer back into the headlines.
34 min
8
Introducing The Ballad of Billy Balls
9 min
9
S2 E14: The Affair
The revelation that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had an affair with his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, rocks Detroit. But it’s only the beginning of their troubles.
40 min
10
S2 E13: Gary Brown v. Mayor of Detroit
When a cop files a whistleblower suit against the city, Kwame Kilpatrick must take the stand.
26 min
11
Introducing Man in the Window
14 min
12
S2 E12: Fake News
As scandals swirl around him, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick faces a tough re-election battle.
35 min
13
S2 E11: The Hip Hop Mayor
As Kwame Kilpatrick takes office, rumors swirl about his outsized spending and hard-partying lifestyle.
32 min
14
S2 E10: Right Here, Right Now
Several years after Coleman Young’s death, a mayoral race pits the old guard against the new.
28 min
15
S2 E09: Dimitri
A teenager’s taste for the nightlife becomes a full-blown heroin addiction.
36 min
16
S2 E08: Operation Backbone
The FBI devises an elaborate sting to take down Detroit’s corrupt cops.
37 min
17
S2 E07: Who Killed Damion Lucas?
The murder of a thirteen-year-old boy reveals a web of connections between the drug world, the police department, and the mayor’s office.
32 min
18
S2 E06: The Mayor, the Barber, and the Babysitter
Coleman Young rose from the streets to become mayor of Detroit. Now, his old connections are coming back to haunt him.
26 min
19
S2 E05: YBI to the Day I Die
A new generation of dealers takes the heroin trade corporate — with devastating effects on Detroit.
35 min
20
S2 E04: The Kingpins' Kids
As an ambitious DEA agent closes in on Eddie Jackson and Courtney Brown, their children discover what their fathers really do for a living.
27 min
21
S2 E03: The Fat Man and the Field Marshall
Two childhood friends elbow their way into one of Detroit’s only remaining growth industries: heroin.
29 min
22
S2 E02: The Battle for Detroit
The police shooting of two black teenagers sparks a movement to elect Detroit's first black mayor.
28 min
23
S2 E01: Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets
In the first episode of Crimetown Season 2, a crime lab technician takes on a notorious cop.
30 min
24
Coming Soon: Season 2
Crimetown returns with stories of crime and corruption from a new city: Detroit, Michigan.
2 min
25
Bonus Episode: Buddy Cianci...The Musical
Inside the world’s best (well, only) Fringe Festival-approved, Off-Off-Broadway, speed-written, side-splittin’, six-night-run-and-then-we’re-done musical about everyone’s favorite felonious mayor.
31 min