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 "kingpin" ...
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For sale: Keys to the City; Mayor Al's Shady Pal
"Norman's investigation into Deerfield Beach Mayor Al Capellini found that he'd systematically used the power of his office over the course of many years to financially benefit himself, his business clients, and his friends. It also found that he was serving as a front man and construction supervisor for a notorious former cocaine kingpin who was opening an illegal nightclub with help of former drug associates."
Tags: construction; drugs; city government; mayor; fraud
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Mortgage Fraud Kingpin
XETV investigated a real estate kingpin who was involved in extensive mortgage fraud. The reporters uncovered a real estate empire of almost thirty properties, tainted by bank fraud, forgery and wire fraud that the "kingpin" had amassed.
Tags: fraud; mortgage; real estate; kingpin; mortgage fraud
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Government's kingpin-sting tactic may threaten airline safety; Yale law professor's client contends he was wrongly convicted
An investigation of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's practice of using commercial airlines to transport illegal drugs as part of undercover operations. Neither the airlines nor passengers are made aware of these stings, meaning this little-known tactic in the drug war can put passengers at risk should an operation be compromised by drug cartels or corrupt law enforcement officers.
Tags: airline safety; drugs; DEA; Steven B. Duke; FAA; kingpin sting
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Every Man A Kingpin
The Texas Observer reports on the meth epidemic. "Nazi meth" is easy to cook in rural areas. The only component you can't get at Wal-Mart is anhydrous ammonia, which can be found in fertilizer tanks that dot the rural landscape. Meth cooks face high sentences in rural courts. "Unlike guns, drugs are not viewed as agents of harm. They are harm itself, measurable in grams," the Observer reports.
Tags: meth; meth labs; methamphetamines; Nazi meth
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Free at Last! Free at Last!
Glamour tells the story of Amy Ralston Pofahl, the former wife of a drug kingpin. Ralston (she no longer goes by her married name) found out her ex-husband, Sandy Pofahl, was the mastermind of a syndicate that made and distributed Ecstasy when he was arrested in 1989. Even though they had been separated for a year, Ralston agreed to help Pofahl make bail by recovering some of his drug profits at various, secret locations. Ralston had no idea this was illegal. During the trial, Pofahl implicated Ralston into the syndicate. She ended up receiving a sentence of 24-years in jail, while he only got one of four years. Glamour profiled Ralston in the June 1999 issue. President Clinton heard of her story and granted her clemency. This article tells the story of what happened to Ralston following her release from jail.
Tags: Amy Ralston Pofahl; President Bill Clinton; Sandy Pofahl; jail; prison; Ecstasy; drug laws; mandatory sentencing
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End of the Line
Cleveland Scene reports that "When gambling kingpin Lenny Strollo spilled his guts in federal court last month, he broke the Mafia's decades-long grip on Youngstown (Ohio) and drew the final curtain on the fabled Northern Ohio Mob. This story traces the Mob's control of Youngstown back to the 1920s through the slew of gangland killings and the botched assassination attempt on Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains in 1996 to the recent FBI sting in Youngstown (that) yielded 46 guilty verdicts, including that of Mob boss Lenny Strollo..."
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Baja Police Chief Slain After Vowing Shake-up
The Los Angeles Times reports that "An outspoken Baja California police commander who had vowed to purge his ranks of agents corrupted by Tijuana narcotics kingpins was gunned down early Saturday along with three others after less than a month on the job, the attorney general's office said. Cmdr. Ernesto Ibarra Santes, the Baja director of the Federal Judicial Police, was the sixth senior law enforcement official linked to the Baja California federal attorney general's office to be killed in a gangland-style murder this year...."
Tags: organized crime; murder; law enforcement
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DoubleCross
PrimeTime Live reveals how the U.S. Customs Service turned a marijuana smuggler into a cocaine kingpin and turned a blind eye while he poured billions of dollars of cocaine into America. "Letting dope walk" is routinely accepted as the cost of doing business with criminal informants.
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Women and drugs: Unequal justice
For more than a decade, women caught on the fringes of the nation's drug war have been sent away for long prison terms -- often longer than the sentences for male kingpins of multi-million dollar narcotics rings. That Star Tribune finds that the lengthy sentences for women disrupt and damage the lives of their children.
Tags: Crime Courts
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Inside Detroit's Mafia
The Detroit Mafia, with the longest actively reigning mob boss in the country, has stayed ahead of the FBI for more than 30 years. Four months after 17 of the mob's hierarchy were indicted, the Free Press unraveled a slick casino deal in a tiny Nevada town that likely will be the cornerstone of the mob's undoing. The newspaper also uncovered the mob's infiltration of the Edgewater casino, connections that had been hidden for two decades, and revealed how the government's principal witness, a long-dead mobster from Toledo, will whisper his story form the grave. The second day revealed how the mob's reputed kingpins have operated shrewdly and discreetly through apparently legitimate businesses and real estate developments, making millions for their empire.
Tags: CAR; Inside Detroit's mafia; Contest entry