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 "undercover" ...
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Concealing County Corruption: Anatomy of a Cover-Up
Wayne Dolcefino saves the best for last. In his final investigation for KTRK-TV, he and the 13 Undercover Unit demonstrated relentless persistence as they attempted to shake up a county government with an abysmal record of policing itself. This submission begins with four reports detailing shocking evidence of corruption inside the downtown precinct of Constable Jack Abercia. 13 Undercover spent several months doing painstaking surveillance -- catching the Constable’s deputies running his personal errands, working extra jobs on the clock and stockpiling never driven county patrol cars while lawmen were being laid off. 13 Undercover then managed to get a hidden camera inside the chief deputy’s office as he and two deputies talked openly about corruption inside the precinct. The language is often foul mouthed and always revealing. The FBI nabbed Aberica and two top commanders in a bribery sting weeks later. The veteran former constable is now awaiting trial. Eventually, 13 Undercover turned our cameras on county leaders to say “enough is enough.” Not only was action not forthcoming, it quickly became clear that many in positions of power wanted this all to go away without getting their hands dirty, without ending decades of a patronage system that made deputies feel required to give money to their boss’s campaigns and charities to keep their jobs. That was not an option. This investigation demanded accountability and we held leaders to the promises they made to the public. In late summer, 13 Undercover scored a major public records victory that revealed what one commentator dubbed "a cover-up of Nixonian proportions." The series culminated with the long awaited, and previously unimaginable, indictment of one of the county’s most popular elected officials – precinct 6 Constable Victor Trevino. New county directives now prohibit constables from soliciting money from their deputies and legislation is expected to filed in Austin to protect county employees from further shakedowns.
Tags: Corruption; county government; officials
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The Informants
In the package, "Terrorists for the FBI," Mother Jones exposed this pattern with in-depth pieces that drilled deep into what has become federal law enforcement's No. 1 priority. As a part of an 18-month investigation, reporter Trevor Aaronson pulled court documents of all 508 federal terrorism convictions since September 11, 2001, and interviewed everyone from undercover FBI informants to street agents, top bureau officials, and legal and terrorism experts. The investigation found that following 9/11, the FBI built a massive network of domestic informants -15,000 in all- many of them tasked with surveilling and infiltrating Muslim neighborhoods and institutions.
Tags: FBI; informants; undercover; federal agents; terrorism
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Terror on the Tracks
"Terror on the Tracks" exposes major gaps in freight rail security. We spent months criss-crossing the state gathering undercover video of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway trains carrying hazardous cargo. We found locomotives idling, unlocked, unmanned, unguarded - with the key, called a reverser, inside. The reverser makes the train move forward or backward on the track. The presence of the reverser would allow any intruder with basic knowledge to steal the train - potentially making them easy targets for terrorists. Our sources - current engineers and conductors working for BNSF with everything to lose by talking to us - say the trains are much more vulnerable than the company or the government is willing to admit. During our investigation we discovered trains had been stolen before - mostly by joy riders - all across the country.
Tags: freight rail security; terrorists; hazardous; cargo; engineers; conductors
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Constable Corruption
KTRK-TV has already exposed a culture of corruption on the front lines of Houston law enforcement. The interactive web component called "Undercover Interactive" offers viewers unprecedented access to the evidence and gives them a change to make their own conclusions.
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Judge Me
The story summarizes the attempt by Elroy Phillips to prove he's in prison for a crime several legal experts say he did not commit. Phillips was arrested by the West Palm Beach police in 2001 for allegedly selling $50 worth of crack to an undercover cop, Phillips has spent the years since his arrest collecting evidence. Phillip's legal work appears to show that cops fabricated the evidence against him.
Tags: Elroy Phillips; West Palm Beach Police; Judge; Court
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Constable Corruption
"Over a six month period, 13 Undercover reviewed thousands of documents to expose the entrenched constable system and the elected officials who single-handedly control the fate of thousands of deputies. At the time of the entry, three constables face possible indictments."
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The Mysterious Case of Kevin Ku
The story reports on Kevin Xu -- a Chinese national who was cuaght trying to sell fake drugs to undercover immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and FDA agents in 2007.
Tags: Intellgectual Property Rights Coordination Center; IPRCC; Kevin Xu; FDA; ICE; Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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ESPN Outside the Lines: Human Trafficking and the World Cup
For more than nine months, the team investigated whether the presence of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa had an effect on human trafficking in the country. The investigation included undercover footage recorded from within the South African sex industry in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Tags: Cape Town; Johannesburg; World Cup; FIFA; human trafficking; trafficking
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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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Double Exposure
The author discovers that a celebrated civil rights photographer actually doubled as an FBI informant in the late 1960s. The author pieces together elements of his undercover work and finds that the informant's work included reporting on the activities of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike.
Tags: spy; FBI; FBI informant; civil rights; confidential