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 "illegal activity" ...
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System Failure
These stories reveal how an alcoholic cardiologist was able to continue practicing for several years. Although he was charged with several alcohol-related traffic offenses and would occasionally show up at the hospital under the influence of alcohol, the system still allowed him to practice. These articles examine the flaws in the system, reveal serious lapses by state officials and document of the doctor's dangerous and illegal activities.
Tags: alcohol; impairment; medical board; surgery; hospital; cardiac procedures; Hilton Head; ambulance service
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Gunrunners
PBS Frontline broadcasts a Center for Investigative Reporting report on arms smuggling. The story details illegal arms shipments from eastern Europe to rebels in Africa and failed international efforts to curtail the smuggling. The investigation also sheds light on the activities of Leonid Minin, a trafficker linked to Russian and Ukrainian organized crime.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Sierra Leone; Liberia; crime; wars; United Nations sanctions; Vadim Rabinovich
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Subject to Inspection: Belleville's Housing Code Enforcement
A Belleville News-Democrat investigation revealed that "a Belleville housing code enforcement officer and an armed police officer routinely show up for occupancy permit inspections without a search warrant. When residents refuse to let them enter, the residents are issued tickets, a violation of the Fourth Amendment guarantee against illegal search and seizure. In some cases, these inspections are used as a cover to search for drugs or other criminal activity."
Tags: housing code enforcement; warrant; law; seizure; violation; Fourth Amendment; illegal; search; drugs; crime; search warrant; occupancy permit inspections; Belleville; Illinois
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Gary City Clerk
When reporter Steve Patterson started investigating the Gary City Clerk's office, he found an office fraught with deception and illegal activity. From the city clerk's attempts to make her employees sell candy for her campaign fund (with threats of being let go for noncompliance) to a ghost-payrolling operation, this in-depth investigation covered it all. The result was a pending trial against Katie Hall, the clerk, and her daughter, who was also involved in the scheme.
Tags: City government; racketeering; payroll fraud
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Feed 5: Best of Show and Tell
1) Jennifer Kraus (WTVF-Nashville) This story exposes problems at the Nashville office of international charity "Feed the Children." In a four-month investigation, WTVF-TV's undercover cameras caught the charity's staff loading up their personal cars with donated items and taking the items home. 2) Deborah Sherman (WFXT - Boston) Costa Rican trips for child sex. Actually spoke with girls who used to get paid by American tourists for sex. Focuses on one area man charged with this crime. 3) Anna Werner, David Raziq (KHOU-Houston) KHOU-TV reports that "You're in physical pain. You need help. So you go to your doctor expecting needed relief and comfort. But what if in the process of treating you, you realize this healer's touch has become 'sexual?' That's what dozens of Houston women claimed happened to them when they were referred to a local health professional, a professional they claimed used their trust to molest and even rape them. His name is Shin Higashiura and he claimed to be a Master of Shiatsu, also known as acupressure, a Japanese massage therapy that promises health benefits...." 4) Jilda Unruh (WCCO-Minneapolis) An investigation reveals that automatic door sensors can't detect certain colors. The doors often close on elderly people, causing them harm. 5) Tom Merriman/Jeff Harris (WEWS-Cleveland) The story investigates how state-trained lifeguards perform on state beaches as compared to privately trained lifeguards on private beaches. Follows both teams though a simulation. The state team fails horribly and never recovers the dummy planted for them to rescue. 6) Jim Schaefer; Shellee Smith (WXYZ-Detroit) WXYZ-TV discovered that the leaders of Highland Park, a poor city surrounded by Detroit, had virtually ignored a major problem in the 911 emergency response system while continuing to enjoy the relatively expensive perks of their jobs. While claiming there was no money in the budget to fix the problem, the mayor leased a brand-new Lincoln with city cash. Undercover video found citizens at risk, fire fighters in danger and no one helping. 7) Drew Griffin (KCBS-Los Angeles) "The Real ConAir" Investigation reveals department of corrections transporting convicts on commercial flights. Passengers are not told who's sitting beside them. Planes are forced to land because of disturbances during the flight. A girl is sexually assaulted by one of these convicts. 8) Robb Leer; Maria Tomasch (KSTP-Minneapolis) Inmates can change their names on the taxpayer's dime. 9) Jeremy Rogalski; Bill Dutton; Gerry Lanosga; Kathleen Johnston (WTHR-Indianapolis) WTHR-TV reports that "a source mentioned to us that numerous DUI cases were being dismissed because police witnesses fail to appear in court... After we crunched a slice of our county's criminal justice data ... We found thousands of DUI cases - nearly one in ten - thrown out because cops didn't show..." 10) Wes Williams; C.J. Ward (KPNX-Phoenix) Security guards with criminal records have a "License to Steal." 11) Tony Kovaleski; Matt Goldberg (KPRC-Houston) Ninety-eight guns were discovered in schools in 10 of Houston's largest school districts -- that works out to 5,864 students per gun. 12) Phil Williams; Chris Clark (WTVF-Nashville) WTVF-TV's investigation into the backgrounds of school teachers found more than three dozen convicted felons working in Metro Nashville-Davidson County schools. 13) Chris Halsne; Kim Albro; Dave Weed (KWTV-Oklahoma City) Voters handed Oklahoma City Schools a 93 million dollar bond in 1993 to improve schools. The money is now gone, but many projects remain unfinished. KWTV-TV's investigation found millions of dollars in waste, fraud and mismanagement. 14) Laure Quinlivan; Jeff Keene; Ken Fulk; Mark Shafer; Scott Diener; Stuart Zanger (WCPO-Cincinnati) WCPO-TV's investigation "... to monitor County officials as they began spending nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money... earmarked to build two, new sports stadiums for our city's professional sports teams, the Bengals and Red. As (the) investigation enters its third year, work on the first stadium is two-thirds complete and ground will soon break on the second. Already, our investigation has revealed broken promises, manipulation of numbers in official reports, political cronyism in contract awards, creation of 'pass-through' companies and other questionable and possibly illegal activities...." 15) Jim Barry; John Campbell; Sam Zeff; Jennifer Snell; Denise Haley; Brad Naw (WTXF-Philadelphia) After transit union strike crippled Philadelphia's bus and subway service for forty days, WTXF-TV investigated the region's transportation agency - Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. SEPTA is one of the largest and most expensive transit systems in the county. This investigation exposed a widespread culture of laziness and dishonest work habits that was allowing hundreds of buses with potentially dangerous problems out onto the street each day. 16)Darcy Spears; Kim Kruger (KVBC-Las Vegas) "Taken for a Ride". Taxi drivers getting kickbacks for taking clients to certain bars/stripclubs.
Tags: TAPE; Investigative reporting; computer-assisted reporting; IRE; FOI; CAR; no transcripts
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Drama in three acts
A Polish Public Television investigative report exposes the scams of corrupt Polish politicians in the beginning of the 90s. The series reveals that most of the key players are "still active and herald the idea of "clean hands in politics." The major finding is that -- with the support of those in power -- huge amount of public money has been illegally transferred to private pockets and enterprises. The investigation focuses specifically on the embezzlement of money from the Foreign Debt Fund, an institution created to manage the debt of the country to foreign creditors. The reporting took place both in Poland and Venezuela, as one of the main players lives in Latin America.
Tags: intelligence; money and politics; fraud; money laundering; counter espionage; international reporting; business
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The Underground Economy: Illegal Markets in America
A Marketplace week-long investigative series explores "how underground entrepreneurs - or criminals - make their business work while operating in ... America's many illegal markets." Washington-based reporter Steven Henn reveals how, in one way or another, government has pushed underground many industries and activities - including currency exchange, drugs, gun sales and ownership, gambling, abortion services, prostitution and midwives' birth-help practice. The series poises the question: Are these industries made more or less dangerous and abhorrent now that they have been pushed underground? One of the main reporting challenges has been protecting the identity of the interviewed criminals.
Tags: AUDIO TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; money laundering; drugs; gambling; trafficking; guns; drug dealers; CIA; intelligence; OECD; economy; personal safety; black markets; peso exchange
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Digital Dilemma
National Journal questions the increase in copyright protections as opposed to "fundamental rights as freedom of speech and of the press." The report looks at copyright practices in other countries, and finds that some of them are even more stringent than in the U.S.A. The story also examines how companies - mostly in the software business - use technology to prevent illegal activity, and to protect their products from copying. The article voices the concerns of library associations, which find that there is a gap between the price of the information and most users' ability to pay.
Tags: digital pirates; Hollywood; Disney; information technology; economy; business; Recording Industry Association of America; Business Software Alliance; Congress
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No Vacancy
"A look under the sheets of area motels has driven area officials to pull the plug on the neon signs that invited drugs, bugs and illegal activities into otherwise peaceful suburban surroundings," reports Cleveland Magazine. The story details the problems at the Cleveland Motel & Lounge, and details how Fairview Park shut down two motels similar to the Cleveland. The analysis finds that suburban motels "were made obsolete decades ago by the development of the interstate highway system," and later attracted a new clientele of transients.
Tags: utilities; crime; drug deals; community; U.S. 42; Lorain Road; prostitution; police
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Guns, Money and Cell Phones
The Industry Standard reports that the demand for an ore called columbite-tantalite -- or coltan -- is helping to fuel the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. When refined, coltan becomes tantalum, a highly heat-resistant metal powder that is a key component in everything from mobile phones to computer chips and VCR's. As the demand for these products has increased, "a new, more sinister market began flourishing in the ...Congo. There, warring groups - many funded and supplied by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda - are exploiting coltan mining to help finance a bloody civil war now in its third year." Although selling coltan is not illegal, a United Nations report in April suggested that thousands of tons of coltan had been smuggled from the Congo into Rwanda and Uganda, and may have eventually made it to the U.S. companies that use the material. For their part, these companies have no way of knowing whether the tantalum they use is helping to finance the civil war. Another side effect of the coltan trade: mining activity is especially big in the mountainous northeastern region of the Congo, where endangered gorillas live.
Tags: Democratic Republic of Congo; cellular phones; Nokia; Sony; Intel; AVX; Cabot; H.C. Starck; Kemet; Columbite-tantalite; coltan; civil war; Uganda; Rwanda; tantalum capacitors; Sogem; mountain gorillas