Michael May tells the story of Barry Cooper, a former crooked narcotics cop who has turned his interest elsewhere...to busting crooked narcotics cops. But after Cooper and a rich benefactor team up to set a trap for the police, Barry's plans are put in jeopardy—including his dream of creating a reality show called "Kop Busters." Michael May is the Culture editor at the Texas Observer.

Patrick Wall was a special kind of monk. He was a fixer.

James Spring had hit his late 30s, and found his life utterly unremarkable. He needed to do something big.

A couple in Texas find a seemingly abandoned car and think they've stumbled across a crime scene. And they're right...but not in the way they imagined.

Host Ira Glass talks to Rich Farrell, writer and former addict, about the code of silence he learned as a kid, and the times he took the fall for his friends' misdeeds.

Nellie Thomas sold ammunition illegally on the South side of Chicago. He made a good living—in cash.

Writer Doug McGray tells the story of a daughter who wanted to be closer to her mom, and went to extremes to do it. Doug McGray is a fellow at the New America Foundation.

Three guys who go by the names Professor So and So, Jojobean and YeaWhatever spend part of each day running elaborate cons on Internet scammers. They consider themselves enforcers of justice, even after they send a man 1400 miles from home, to the least safe place they can bait him: The border of Darfur.

A woman's elderly father has several hired caretakers who help him throughout the day. When one of the caretakers accuses another one of stealing from father, it's up to his daughter to figure out the truth.

The song "Mystery of the Dunbar's Child" describes Bobby Dunbar's disappearance.

When she was in kindergarten, Jennifer, along with her brother and mother,was held hostage by an armed gunman for four days. Their father was a drugdealer and had disappeared with a bunch of cocaine that belonged to someoneelse.

When Sarah was 10 years old, she got a heart transplant. Soon after, her mother decided to find out more about the person who saved her daughter's life.

Host Ira Glass talks to Rachel Howard, whose father, Stan, was murdered when she was 10 years old. His case was never solved.

Josh Bearman grew up in California with his dad, stepmom, and brother. But they're not his whole family.

Ira talks to a waiter named Hassan at Liebman's Deli in the Bronx about some audacious thefts he's witnessed in his years in the restaurant business.

Host Ira Glass talks to Randall Bell, who specializes in assessing how tragedy affects real estate. He's found that the market is much quicker to forgive and forget a scandal than the neighbors are.

Reporter Jack Hitt tells the story of how he helped organize tenants and threaten a rent strike in a New York City building back in the 1980s. Before long, Bob, the building super became his enemy. The situation got pretty ugly.

Alex Kotlowitz reports on a woman with the power to change two people's lives...and at the height of her power, she doesn't even know she has it. Alex is the author of Never a City So Real and other books.

This parrot story began as a journalism school assignment. Then, for reporters Alex Lane and Eric Holm, it became something much bigger.

Nellie Thomas sold ammunition illegally on the South side of Chicago. He made a good living—in cash.

In a way, it's the most classic cat-and-mouse game of all: A nimble graffiti writer dashes out into the night to leave his mark. Watching and waiting for him are the stronger—if less agile—NYPD Vandal Squad, whose sole mission is their arrest.