Resource Center

Stories

The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast.

These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need.

Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:



Search results for "trafficking" ...

  • Policing For Profit

    NewsChannel 5's award-winning investigative team wrapped up a two-year investigation into practices that some call "policing for profit" with a primetime documentary that aired Friday, Dec. 21. The one-hour special included actual police "dashcam" videos of officers seizing cash from out-of-state drivers and extended interviews that have never been aired. The documentary examines civil forfeiture laws that allow Tennessee police to legally take cash from individuals based on suspicion that the money might be linked to drug trafficking. If an individual does not take legal action to recover the money, the police agency gets to keep it all – sometimes to pay the salaries of the officers seizing the cash. As our investigation showed, such "profit motives" create the potential for corruption.

    Tags: Police officers; corruption; drug trafficking; civil forfeiture laws

    By Phil Williams, Chief Investigative Reporter; Bryan Staples, Photojournalist/Editor; Kevin Wisniewski, Producer; Iain Montgomery, Photojournalist

    WTVF-TV (Nashville, Tenn.)

    2012

  • Fallout: The True Story of the CIA's Secret War on Nuclear Trafficking

    Using confidential documents from government sources and dozens of interviews with key players, the authors revealed how for more than a quarter of a century, while the Central Intelligence Agency turned a dismissive eye, a globe-straddling network run by Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan sold the equipment and expertise to make nuclear weapons to a rogues' gallery of nations.

    Tags: government sources; Central Intelligence Agency; Pakistan; CIA; Tehran; nuclear weapon

    By Catherine Collins; Douglas Frantz

    Free Press (New York)

    2011

  • Crime and Human Organs

    Bloomberg Markets magazine shows how impoverished people from Belarus to Nicaragua have been humiliated, maimed, and killed by organ traffickers and the doctors with whom they work. The stories expose the activities of transplant rings that supply wealthy Americans, Europeans, and Israelis with kidneys extracted from the poor.

    Tags: Belarus; Nicaragua; Kidney; Organ Donation; Black Market

    By Michael Smith, Daryna Krasnolutsa, David Glovin

    Bloomberg Business News (Princeton

    2011

  • Documenting Russian Federation Corruption

    With documentation from several secret bank accounts and offshore corporate records, Barron's Dow Jones traced how Russia's most powerful officials have looted their nation in cahoots with cops, gangsters, and oligarchs. They show how a worldwide network of money laundering professionals that facilitates that plunder, while also abetting other global mischief like drug smuggling and arms trafficking.

    Tags: corruption; drug smuggling; arms trafficking; Russia

    By Bill Alpert

    Barron

    2011

  • Human Trafficking in the Heartland

    The Center found that three years after Wisconsin legislators passed a law banning trafficking, little had been done to curb the practice in the state.

    Tags: human trafficking; sex trafficking; Backpage.com

    By Julie Strupp; Kate Golden; Dee J. Hall; Bill Leuders; Andy Hall

    Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

    2011

  • Deceptive Nonprofit

    Investigation of "Stop Child Trafficking Now" nonprofit. Despite bold claims at its fundraising events, the investigation found SCTNow was not living up to its promoted message of taking child predators off the streets. In fact, the organization could not point to one case anywhere in the country where information gathered by "special operatives" had lead to an arrest or prosecution. It did not seem like much of a return on a $400,000 investment- the annual amount used to fund "special operative" teams.

    Tags: Child Trafficking; Nonprofits

    By Ryan Kath; Michael Butler

    KSHB-TV (Kansas City

    2011

  • Death In The Desert

    Exposing trafficking and enslavement of African refugees in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula -- a lawless place ruled by Bedouin tribes. Crimes involved include, but are not limited to, extortion, torture, human and organ trafficking, and murder.

    Tags: sinai; peninsula; human trafficking; africa; refugee; Bedouin; torture; extortion; organ trafficking

    By Frederik Pleitgen

    CNN (Atlanta)

    2011

  • Sheila Devereaux Freed From Prison

    A synopsis of Sheila Devereux's false conviction of drug trafficking and sentence to prison is investigated, as well as the policemen who were involved in the Devereux's case were investigated for corruption.

    Tags: Sheila Devereux; Policemen; Corruption; Drug Trafficking

    By Omer GIllham; Ziva Branstetter

    Tulsa World (Tulsa, OK)

    2011

  • Death in the Desert

    "This story exposes the trafficking and enslavement of African refugees in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula--a lawless place ruled by Bedouin tribes. What CNN's Pleitgen found was not only trafficking and enslavement, but also organ trafficking."

    Tags: African refugees; Sinai Peninsula; Bedouin tribes; human trafficking; enslavement; broadcast

    By Frederik Pleitgen; Mohamed Fahmy; Sheri England; Tim Lister; Ian Lee; Simon Payne; Earl Nurse

    CNN (Atlanta)

    2011

  • Weird Science: Women's Funding Network Sex Trafficking Study is Junk Science

    The story examines a series of purportedly scientific studies conducted on behalf of an advocacy group that raises money to fight juvenile prostitution. A close look at the study reveals a dubious methodology that violates most of the key tenets of sociological research.

    Tags: research; sociology; juvenile prostitution; advocacy group

    By Nick Pinto

    Village Voice (New York)

    2011