Spotlight: Snitch City EPISODE 5: “All this for nothing”
Apr 1, 2025
Andrew Ryan, Boston Globe reporter who analyzes documents and police records. Russ (pseudonym), former dealer turned long-time confidential informant who reflects on decades of cooperation. Carly Medeiros, former New Bedford resident who unknowingly became an informant. They recount secret informant relationships, questionable police practices, destroyed internal files, and the fallout for people caught in the system.
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Unwitting Informant Through An Affair
- Carly Medeiros describes a secret affair with Detective Jared Lucas that led to her unwitting role as an informant.
- She realized later that police used her words in a search-warrant affidavit without her consent or paperwork.
Handler Relationship That Built Cases
- Russ recounts being recruited young by Paul Oliveira and used in dozens of police setups and entrapments.
- He says he participated in at least 20 setups and now regrets the lives ruined and his own wasted years.
Informant System Lacks Safeguards
- Alexandra Natapoff explains the informant system sidelines basic constitutional protections by keeping deals and identities secret.
- Judges rarely require proof an informant exists or is reliable, creating a vacuum of oversight.
