It's Not Spying If They're Always Watching
Uncovering Baltimore’s secret aerial surveillance program.
The Inside Story of the Quick Rise and Quicker Fall of DraftKings and FanDuel
The implosion of the daily fantasy industry is a bro-classic tale of hubris, recklessness, political naïveté and a kill-or-be-killed culture.
How Chance the Rapper's Life Became Perfect
"Los Angeles is a weird, complicated town for him. It's where all the record labels are, for one thing. And Chancelor Bennett, as he was born, is unsigned. Won't sign. It's maybe the most interesting, improbable music-industry story going right now—a young, obviously gifted rapper, universally hailed as the heir to Kanye and leader of a new generation of Internet-savvy kids who think of Jay Z as a failed tech entrepreneur, now on his fourth year of refusing to sign with a label."
Rachel Monroe is a freelance writer based in Texas.
“I will totally go emotionally deep with people. If I can find a subject who is into that then it will probably be a good story. Whether that person is a victim of a crime, or a committer of a crime, or a woman who spends a lot of time on the internet looking for hoaxes, or whatever it may be—I guess I just think people are interesting. Particularly when those people have gone through some sort of extreme situation.”
Thanks to MailChimp, Club W, and Igloo for sponsoring this week's episode.
Inside the World’s Biggest Record Collection
Brazilian businessman Zero Freitas has amassed the world’s largest collection of records, the majority of which have never been digitized.
Where the Death Penalty Still Lives
Only 16 counties regularly impose death sentences, and they have three things in common: overaggressive prosecutors, defense lawyers who aren’t up to the task and cultural legacies of racial bias. Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit is among them.
Urban Outfitters Bares All
Inside the secretive $3.4 billion Urban Outfitters empire as it reaches a crucial crossroads.
Pat Dollard’s War on Hollywood
He was just another coked-up agent (repping the likes of Steven Soderbergh) when he disappeared into Iraq, shooting heaps of footage he would attempt to package into a pro-war documentary. And that was just the beginning.
Is Elysium Health’s Basis the Fountain of Youth?
Anti-aging medicine has been an epicenter of quackery for more than a century, but an MIT scientist is waging his reputation on a new pill.
The Race for a Zika Vaccine
In the throes of an epidemic, researchers investigate how to inoculate against the disease.
Playboy Interview: Vladimir Nabokov
The author on Lolita, his work habits, and what he expected from his literary afterlife.
The Uber Killer
On a Saturday evening in February, a 45-year-old Uber driver and father of two named Jason Dalton got into his car, left his home near Kalamazoo, Michigan, and began shooting people. But the strangest, most unfathomable thing about the night that Dalton killed and killed again is what he did in between.
Pin Kings
How two high school wrestling teammates ended up on opposites side of the law during Miami’s cocaine wars.
Chasing ISIS
The investigators tasked with finding jihadists embedded within Europe.
Mad About the Boys
The rise and fall of Lou Pearlman; blimp impresario, packager of boy bands like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, molester, fraudster, and ultimately fugitive from justice.
Walmart’s Out-of-Control Crime Problem Is Driving Police Crazy
The unintended consequences of cost cutting corporate decisions on display at a Tulsa Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Gary Johnson Has a Plan
A week with the Libertarian presidential candidate, who hasn’t ruled out a win in November.
Will Somebody Please Give Norm Macdonald Another TV Show?
The greatest stand-up of his generation is also his own worst enemy.
The Detectives Who Never Forget a Face
On London’s new squad of “super-recognizers.”
McKay Coppins is a senior political writer for Buzzfeed News and the author of The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party's Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House.
“I am part of the problem. Not in the sense that it’s my fault Trump ran, but in the sense that I’m one of many who for his entire life have mocked him and ridiculed him. He’s a billionaire—I don’t feel any moral guilt about it. But if being I’m honest with myself that same part of me can also, when not checked, be projected onto vast swathes of people. It’s easy to have a lazy classism about the type of people who would vote for Donald Trump.”
Thanks to MailChimp and Blue Apron for sponsoring this episode.
Present at the Creation
The story of the meeting that led to the creation of ISIS, as explained by someone still on the inside.
The Longform Guide to Bank Heists
The most prolific duo in history, the Texas woman who robbed banks dressed a pudgy cowboy, and the story that inspired Dog Day Afternon — a collection of our favorite stories about bank robberies.
The Big Smoke
How the “biggest grow op willing to publish its address” could make Canada an international pioneer in the legalization and commercialization of weed.
Are We Losing the Grand Canyon?
On a 650-mile trek, two adventurers faced danger and hardship—and saw how development could spoil an American icon.
Gawker, 2003-2016
Our archive of articles from Gawker, which will cease operations next week.
