Host Ira Glass plays tape from a political rally in support of a Chicago politician named Derrick Smith, who had just been arrested for accepting a bribe. His supporters likely believed that Smith had erred...but they also believed that the other candidate was even worse. Then Ira speaks with a Franciscan priest named Father Augustino Torres, to help clarify what separates serious sins — the mortal ones — from the not so serious, venial sins.
(9 minutes)
More in Crime
Act One
When Lissa’s niece, Carla Yellow Bird, went missing in 2016, Lissa threw everything she had into figuring out what happened to her—including talking for hours on the phone with someone she suspected was involved.
Act Two: Conning The Con Men
The story of a con man, one of the most successful salesmen in a long-running multimillion-dollar telemarketing scam, who finally got caught when he was conned himself.
Act One: Grime Scene
Reporter Nancy Updike spends two days with Neal Smither, who cleans up crime scenes for a living, and comes away wanting to open his Los Angeles franchise, despite the gore — or maybe because of it.
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We go to the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans to talk to residents about what matters most to them ten years after the hurricane.