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Crimetown

Crimetown is a serial documentary podcast hosted by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier and produced by Gimlet Media which looks at how organized crime has shaped particular American cities. The first season started in 2016 and focused on the city of Providence, Rhode Island.

Background and production
Hosts Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier first worked together on the film Catfish, and later collaborated on HBO's The Jinx. Publisher Gimlet Media's CEO Alex Blumberg met Stuart-Pontier when Blumberg interviewed him for a This American Life segment in 2000. Smerling and Stuart-Pontier initially tried to bring Blumberg on as producer of an audio follow-up to The Jinx, but Blumberg was more interested in a new project, rather than a companion piece. Production of season 1 began in summer 2015. Smerling and Stuart-Pontier took senior producer and host roles. Production staff also includes Drew Nelles, Austin Mitchell, Kaitlin Roberts, Mike Plunkett, and Laura Sim. It is edited by Blumberg and Caitlin Kenney, and fact checked by Mick Rouse. Smerling and Stuart-Pontier conducted extensive local research for the podcast, and received help from the Providence Journal, the Rhode Island Historical Society, and the Providence city archives. In particular, podcast personnel worked with the Journal and its staff at many stages of the process, from developing connections with sources to regular reviews of each episode as they were released. Nieman Labs Ken Doctor noted this unofficial partnership between podcasters and local journalism—which has struggled to adapt to the Internet—might be the beginning of "a new local media format". It was the Journals first step into podcasting other than its sports-related coverage. Although the paper's Managing Editor, Alan Rosenberg, is unsure how far it can go into the medium, former executive editor Dave Butler said "Promoting, using, and helping Crimetown was a natural for the Providence Journal. It gave us the opportunity to relive history thru a podcast—as in real voices. This part of the future—partnering with others on their specialty — is great for readers and offers revenue opportunities. [...] a great reminder of the kind of material we have in our archives but don't know what to do with it..." The creators and producers of Crimetown have explored the possibility of turning the series into a film or television show. The creators of Crimetown launched the podcast The RFK Tapes under Crimetown Presents on June 5, 2018, marking the 50th anniversary since the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. ==Season 1==
Season 1
Season 1 of Crimetown focuses on organized crime and corruption in Providence, Rhode Island. It debuted in November 2016 and includes 18 episodes plus 7 bonus episodes. • Buddy Cianci, former prosecutor who ran for mayor of Providence on an anti-corruption platform but became corrupt himself. After resigning when convicted of assault, he ran for mayor again and won, only to be convicted again for racketeering and other charges years later. The Boston Globe described Cianci's portrayal as "a walking embodiment of the city's contradictions." • Robert Dussault, lead thief of the Bonded Vault heist who turned state's evidence when a hit was put on him. • Tony Fiore, organized career thief with connections to the Patriarca family. Pursued for years by officer Brian Andrews. After a 10-year prison stint, Fiore began robbing armored cars. He and several associates were caught during an attempted robbery at Emerald Square Mall. After a total of about 30 years in prison, he was released and went into the painting business. • Charles "The Ghost" Kennedy, a major drug trafficker and lock picker who got his nickname because he was so difficult to catch. He became known for his financial success, elaborate parties, and pet wolves at his house in East Greenwich. • Raymond L. S. Patriarca, head of the Patriarca crime family. • Barbara H. Roberts, Rhode Island's first woman cardiologist and director of the Women's Cardiac Center at Miriam Hospital. She was Raymond Patriarca's cardiologist who kept him out of court for health reasons towards the end of his life. Also, as she disclosed publicly for the first time on Crimetown, she had been mistress to mob boss Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio. • Gerald "Gerry" Tillinghast, a Vietnam veteran turned mob enforcer for Patriarca. Tillinghast helped to get Buddy Cianci elected and, despite Cianci running on an anti-corruption platform, he was given a high-profile government job in exchange. He was acquitted in the Bonded Vault heist trial, but convicted on a later murder charge. At the time of recording, he was spending time as a Dungeons & Dragons's Dungeon Master. • Arlene Violet, sometimes called "Attila the Nun", left the convent who became Rhode Island's attorney general and foresaw the banking collapse of the 1990s. • Bobby Walason, worked for Patriarca doing loan sharking and running protection rackets. After being shot and nearly dying, he decided to leave organized crime. He has since sold a fitness product on the Home Shopping Network and started a moving and storage business. Soundtrack The title song, used throughout the show, is "Run To Your Mama" by the Swedish band Goat. Gimlet Media's Matthew Boll was sound designer and theme music was composed by Jon Ivans, with additional scoring by Edwin, Bienart, John Kusiak, and Kenny Kusiak. Towards the end of the season, producers released a stand-alone soundtrack with music from the show. It includes a combination of original and previously released tracks. ==Season 2==
Season 2
Crimetown's second season, focusing on police corruption and brutality in the city of Detroit, Michigan in the 1970s, began on October 2, 2018. The final episodes of the season discuss the corruption case against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. ==Episodes==
Episodes
Season 1 (2016–2017) Season 2 (2018–2019) ==Reception==
Reception
Crimetown received mostly positive reviews from critics, and by the end of the month was the most downloaded podcast on iTunes in the United States, third most popular in Canada, second in Australia, and sixth in the United Kingdom. ==Events==
Events
During and following the end of the first season, creators Smerling and Stuart-Pontier held live events in Brooklyn, Boston, and Providence, and then went on tour with "Crimetown Live." Different characters from the podcast join for a live conversation and to answer audience questions. ==See also==
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