What We Really Know About the CIA and Crack
The CIA claimed that any story linking it to the 1980s crack cocaine explosion was conspiratorial slander. But the evidence of its complicity is all there in the congressional record.
Blog
New York’s Cop Coup
In 1993, New York had its first black mayor — and Rudy Giuliani stirred up a police riot at City Hall.
Barbies and Bullets
In Colombia and around the world, right-wing paramilitaries and traffickers have adopted a populist feint to win over the communities they terrorize.
It’s Not Just the Drug War
The prison reforms on the table are unlikely to make even a dent in the forces that keep millions behind bars.
Planned Paranoia
There’s a reason why urban housing developments and suburban subdivisions can seem threatening and unwelcoming to outsiders: they’re planned that way, in order to “design out crime.”
Did the LAPD Kill the Notorious B.I.G.?
Criminal police officers ran law enforcement in 1990s Los Angeles — and they may have a story to tell.
Everywhere Grime in America, Terrible Time in America
Forget the parodies — West Side Story was an epic musical about gang violence that was as hard-hitting as it was stunning.
Breaking up the Party
Britain is rightly known for its multicultural popular music — but these musical styles have frequently emerged in the face of legal attempts to suppress them.
The Devil Goes to Preschool
In 1983, journalists helped conjure a nationwide sex panic.
Communists Against the Mafia
The battle against the Sicilian Mafia wasn’t waged by cops and judges — it was waged by communists and labor militants.
The Real Burglars Aren’t Wearing Masks
Across the country and across industries, employers steal billions from workers each year. Minimum wage violation — the act of paying workers below the legal limit — is just one form of wage theft, but it results in at least $15 billion in lost wages annually. In 2015, minimum wage violations cost workers more than all robberies, burglaries, larcenies, and motor vehicle thefts combined.
A Death Sentence for Disorderly Conduct
The story of Shali Tilson, a 22-year-old who died from dehydration at a jail in Georgia.