Zoe talks to people in the county who believe the Bladen Improvement PAC has been cheating for years. She tries to get beyond the rumors and into specifics, and comes face to face with the intense suspicion and scrutiny leveled against the organization. In the middle of another election, Zoe goes out with members of the PAC to watch how they operate and try ... Show More
Apr 2021
Chapter One: ‘The Big Shadoo’
Following a notorious case of election fraud in Bladen County, North Carolina, in 2018, the reporter Zoe Chace gets an invitation from Horace Munn, the leader of the Bladen County Improvement Association PAC, a Black political advocacy group whose name was dragged into the scanda ... Show More
46m 2s
May 2021
Introducing: ‘The Improvement Association,’ From the Makers of Serial
<p>For at least a decade, allegations of cheating have swirled around elections in rural Bladen County, N.C. Some people point fingers at a Black advocacy group, the Bladen County Improvement Association, accusing it of bullying voters, tampering with ballots and stealing votes o ... Show More
3m 57s
Apr 2021
Chapter Five: ‘Democrat, Republican, White, Black, Green’
The Improvement Association PAC’s power in the county is threatened when an unlikely candidate enters the race for county commissioner. Plenty of people outside the PAC now have their own ideas about how to build Black political power here. Zoe examines what this election could m ... Show More
48m 49s
Aug 2020
Episode 6: The Silent Partner
As Ned is in Grand Cayman working undercover to investigate Leigh Ritch, he hears talk about a “general” sometimes called “Pineapple Face.” That can only be the Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who, it turns out, has effectively become the syndicate's launderer and protector. ... Show More
37m 4s