Spotlight: Snitch City

Reporters Dugan Arnett and Andrew Ryan are back in court to learn the fate of a case that has spanned eight years. In 2017, New Bedford police accused Steven Ortiz of being at the center of a major drug trafficking ring. But an officer involved in his arrest was sleeping with Ortiz’s fiancee while using her as an unwitting confidential informant. This case was what first brought Arnett to New Bedford. In the two years since he broke the story, one drug trafficking case has already been tossed. Now, an even bigger case hangs in the balance. And the outcome could bring a reckoning for police and prosecutors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.

When Frank "Rizzo" Simmons was a big-time drug dealer in New Bedford in the '90s, he went toe-to-toe with a drug cop named Paul Oliveira. After a major bust of Frank’s headquarters, Oliveira tries to turn Frank into an informant. But snitching goes against everything Frank believes in. This won’t be the last time Frank will have to decide if he should cooperate. But the next time, it’s going to be harder to stay true to his code. Because next time, he'll be asked to snitch on Paul Oliveira. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet New Bedford’s police chief, Paul Oliveira. He’s had a hand in both of the stories we’ve already heard. And the Spotlight Team's reporting shows there's a dark backstory behind Oliveira's rise to the top of the department. Oliveira wrote the playbook on using informants. In this episode, a former New Bedford narcotics cop who worked alongside the chief for nearly two decades agrees to go on the record about everything he’s seen… and taken part in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel, a former gang member turned confidential informant, speaks in first person about cooperating with police and the dangers that followed. He describes being pressured into informing, then outed and betrayed. The conversation covers police leaks, internal affairs probes, and how institutional practices left him exposed and endangered.

A tense waterfront showdown over alleged informant-driven drug searches and missing pills. Fishermen recount repeated stops, coercion, and a late-night boarding that sparks an internal probe. Records and interviews reveal how secrecy around confidential informants can hide misconduct. A colleague struggles with whether to speak up amid fear of retaliation and career consequences.

In a nation addicted to drugs, police across the country have become addicted to informants. Nowhere is this more apparent than in one New England port city, where police have been empowered to use informants to take down dealers by almost any means necessary. This is the story of a deeply flawed system, the flawed individuals working within it, and the injustices that can occur when no one’s watching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In just a few weeks, the Boston Globe’s new podcast will drop. Informants are the nameless, faceless cogs of the criminal justice system. And their use is cloaked in near total secrecy. Reporter Dugan Arnett will show how police misconduct and informant abuse have run rampant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Confidential informants are the backbone of America’s war on drugs. But the way police use them has remained almost entirely hidden. Until now.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices