At a time when we’re debating where policing is going, we’re going to tell you where the police came from. Guided by Peabody award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika, Empire City will provide the first accessible narrative history of the American police and its place in popular culture. Who are the police? And why were police departments created in the first place? To find answers, we’re going to tell the origin story of the largest police force in the world: The NYPD. We begin in the late 1800’s at a moment when the entire police force was on trial. It’s the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the NYPD, and it all plays out like a high stakes courtroom drama. What follows is the action-packed account of how the NYPD got to this point and what happened next. It involves Black abolitionists fighting slave patrols in the courts of Gotham; two rival police forces duking it out for power at City Hall; the origins of the true crime genre; and how the NYPD spread their tactics worldwide.

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In the winter of 2002, police discovered more than 300 bodies on one property in the tiny town of Noble, Georgia. What followed was one of the biggest and most expensive investigations in the history of the American South. To get to the bottom of this forgotten case, journalist Shaun Raviv visits a rural community with plenty of secrets. 

He discovers the epic history of the well-respected family who owned the property, uncovers the fates of the bodies sent to a crematory called Tri-State, and searches for the mysterious man at the center of it all. And in the process, Shaun explores one of the most primal and vexing questions we face as human beings: What do the living owe the dead?

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Music is a central part of how Leon Benson experiences the world around him. Suspect sound designer, Garrett Tiedemann, sits down with Leon to discuss his lifelong musical journey.

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After being released from prison, and exonerated on charges of murdering Kasey Schoen, Leon Benson meets for the first time with Kasey’s sister, Kolleen.

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The paperwork has been filed, an alternate suspect identified. But without any indication that Leon will be released from prison, Lara and her team begin to lose hope – until suddenly, everything is tipped on its head.

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To prove that Leon is innocent, Lara and her team attempt to discover everything they can about their alternate suspect. But after every possible lead is exhausted, they are forced to make the only decision left to them: Meeting the suspect face to face.

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Leon’s newest attorney, Lara Bazelon, and her students at the Racial Justice Clinic of the University of San Francisco’s Law School, continue to dig through Leon’s case files searching for any new evidence to prove his innocence. Months into their investigation, Lara and one of her students make a discovery that changes everything. 

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While petitioning for clemency nearly a quarter century after his conviction, Leon connects with a wrongful incarceration advocate who believes his case could be overturned. But in order to exonerate him, Leon needs to find a good attorney to stand by his side.

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With a retrial looming, Leon faces mounting pressure to strengthen his defense. He enlists the help of Jimmy Hendrix, a skilled private investigator known for persuading even the most reluctant alibi witnesses to come forward. Unfortunately, an ill-fated decision from the defense undercuts Hendrix's hard work.

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As Leon maintains his innocence, he hires a defense attorney to help him prepare for his upcoming trial. But the proceedings take a strange turn when his chosen attorney turns out to be the wrong man for the job.

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On a misty August night in 1998, a young man named Kasey Schoen was shot in downtown Indianapolis. Now – 24 years later – attorney, Lara Bazelon, reopens the case and uncovers a botched investigation based almost entirely on the memories of two eyewitness testimonies. 

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