Introducing ‘Spotlight: Snitch City’

Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.

The Boston Globe | Wondery

The Boston Globe, The Gladiator, Sports, Boston Globe, Exhibit C, Patriots, News, Aaron Hernandez, True Crime

4.8 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, we’re sharing the first episode of the brand new podcast Spotlight: Snitch City, produced by The Boston Globe's award-winning Spotlight team – some of the same folks who brought you the Gladiator podcast!

Named a “must listen” podcast by The Guardian, Snitch City brings you inside the secret world of police informants through one small city – at the forefront of America’s drug war – New Bedford, Massachusetts. Featuring never-before-told cases, the podcast investigates how officers have exploited the secrecy of the informant system to enrich themselves, break laws, protect drug dealers, and attack perceived enemies… all with impunity.

In this specific episode of Snitch City, you’ll find yourself on the docks of New Bedford, hearing whispers about a rogue police officer harassing fishermen and stealing drugs, all of which come to a head one late night aboard a scalloping boat. 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.

To listen to the rest of the series, follow Spotlight: Snitch City on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, it's Andrew Ryan. I'm one of the reporters who worked on the original Gladiator podcast.
0:06.5	Now, I'm part of the team behind a brand new podcast from the Boston Globe Spotlight Team.
0:12.3	Like Gladiator, this is another deeply reported project that holds the powerful to account.
0:17.6	It's called Spotlight Snitch City. And if you're a fan of Gladiator, you need to hear
0:22.5	this story. Snitch City brings you inside the secret world of police informants through one small
0:29.4	city at the forefront of America's drug war, New Bedford, Massachusetts. Featuring never-before-told
0:36.6	cases, the podcast investigates how officers have exploited the
0:40.7	secrecy of the informant system to enrich themselves, break laws, protect drug dealers,
0:46.3	and attack perceived enemies, all with impunity.
0:50.1	In this specific episode, you'll find yourself on the docks of New Bedford,
1:02.6	hearing whispers about a rogue police officer harassing fishermen and stealing drugs, all of which comes to a head one night aboard a scalloping boat.
1:09.0	And it turns out that this officer's abuse is just the tip of the iceberg in this historic port city.
1:14.9	Before we get into the full episode, be sure to follow Spotlight, Snitch City, on your favorite listening app.
1:16.5	Now, here's the episode.
1:23.0	Before we begin, this story includes strong language.
1:27.4	Please take care when listening.
1:33.0	It's a warm summer night in 2018, and there's a strange situation unfolding,
1:39.1	aboard a scalping boat docked in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
1:43.8	Not one of a quarter language emergency. Yes, but. Not on a quarter-language emergency.
1:45.0	Yeah, but you know that no problem
1:48.0	to be on this boat.
1:49.0	The caller says there's an intruder on board.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -5 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Boston Globe | Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Boston Globe | Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.