The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "criminal ring" ...
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Project Flicker
A four-year undercover international operation to expose the market for child pornography ends with hundreds of convictions and the identification of 30,000 child porn customers in 132 countries. The Scripps Howard report discloses the extent of the international investigation and shows step-by-step how the criminal rings exploited gaps in international law to perpetuate their crimes.
Tags: child porn; child pornography; international investigation; undercover; criminal ring
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Air Marshals: Undercover and Under Arrest
The Federal Air Marshal Service presents the image of an elite undercover force charged with making life-and-death decisions that demand sound judgment. ProPublica found that dozens of air marshals have been charged with crimes, including 18 felonies, and hundreds more have been accused of misconduct. Cases include smuggling drugs past airport security, aiding a human trafficking ring, child sex abuse, bribery, drunken driving, domestic violence, holding an escort against her will during an overnight layover, solicitation to commit murder and voyeurism after one air marshal was caught taking photos of women's genitals on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Tags: air marshals; Transportation Safety Agency; human trafficking; child sex abuse; drunken driving; domestic violence; criminal convictions
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To Catch an ID Thief
NBC worked with specialized investigators to penetrate an Internet underground "where criminals brazenly buy and sell credit cards, bank accounts, passwords, PIN codes and social security numbers." Their investigation tracked packages bought with stolen identities to a theft ring in Europe.
Tags: identity theft; Hansen Electronics; illegal charges; theft ring; Dateline
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Human Smuggling
The Arizona Republic tackles the issue and the "big business" of human smuggling. This investigation "shows how coyote rings operate not just by guiding illegal immigrants across the U.S. border, but by engaging in money-laundering, bribery, forgery and other crimes." Wire transfer companies including Western Union were funneling money to these Arizona-based criminals.
Tags: Human trafficking; human smuggling; illegal immigration; undocumented workers
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Crime Reporting
The collection of work includes a broad range of crime reporting angles, including: the impact on victims; the ramifications of crimes that sometimes escape public attention like robberies and stalking; how shoe leather police work can crack an international gambling and money laundering ring and bring a murder suspect who escaped to Mexico to trial in Austin for the first time in recent history.
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"Grave Robbers"
This investigation involves the case of two brothers who organized an identity theft ring and kept it going for more than two years. They were accused of stealing the identities of the recently deceased and using them to obtain more than $1.5 million worth of luxury cars, loans, and merchandise. Their ringleaders also stole 23 luxury cars.
Tags: identity theft ring; criminal court records; police reports; arrest warrant affidavits; Texas open records law; taxing authorities; deed transfers; auto registrations; real estate sales price; federal crime; Countrywide Home Loans; mortgage; Michael F. Tisdale; William R. Tisdale Jr.; America's Team Mortgage; Social Security Administration
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Pros or Cons
A joint investigation by the Arlington Heights Daily Herald and WMAQ-TV in Chicago revealed "a ring of telemarketers who illegally solicit donations from private citizens for police officers and fire fighters. (The) stories found an organized ring of convicted criminals working at three telemarketing companies hired by police, fire and other charitable groups. State law bans ex-cons from working as telemarketers, yet we found that among those seeking contributions locally were people convicted of check theft, credit card theft, armed robbery and drug crimes."
Tags: Illinois; telemarketing; convicted criminals; police; fire; charities
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Pros or Cons?
WMAQ, in a joint project with the Daily Herald, investigates a secret ring of convicted felons who work at telemarketing companies and solicit funds for injured police officers and fire fighters. The report revealed that the criminals deceived people in donating money and then kept most of the donations. The investigation resulted in Illinois' Attorney General suing three telemarketing companies, their owners and the workers with criminal past. The reporters obtained many of the documents for the story by digging through the garbage of the telemarketing companies. The file includes transcript and clips from the investigation in the Daily Herald.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; background checks; employment; drugs; crime; identity theft; credit card numbers
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Blood on the Rings - Tales of Torture
The human rights violations by Saddam Hussein and his ruling family are well documented. Tom Farrey uncovered a new aspect of this story. Iraqi Olympic athletes were often tortured for failing to win competitions. Some accuse Saddam's son Uday Hussein with turning the Iraqi Olympic building into headquarters for criminal operations involving smuggling stolen cars and other goods.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Iraq; human rights; Olympics; torture; Saddam Hussein; Uday Hussein; athletes
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Of Human Bondage
NBC News Dateline investigates a "startling and disturbing new criminal trend: the buying and selling of women for sexual slavery in developed countries like the United States." The story "follows the trail of women from rural Ukraine to the Czech Republic and finally to brothels in the United States," and identifies "entire communities and villages where brothels were stocked with enslaved girls as young as 14 years old." The story "profiles a handful of the estimated 2 million women who are illegally trafficked out of their home countries ..." "The report visits bogus employment offices and documents exactly how recruiters entice young, educated women with false promises of lucrative jobs abroad."
Tags: TAPE; NO TRANSCRIPT; California Public Records Act; prostitution; women; slavery rings; Eastern Europe: Ukraine; Czech Republic; Poland; Bulgaria; Bosnia; INS; FBI; INTERPOL