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 "underground" ...
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A story of hope, and a lopsided deal
A six-month Boston Globe investigation revealed that a contractor from California was repeatedly employing impoverished, drug-addicted men from an evangelical church to renovate hotels across the country. The story started in Boston, where reporter Casey Ross discovered that the contractor, Installations Plus, was paying illegally low wages to workers trucked up from Victory Outreach Church in Philadelphia. He also traced the illegal behavior to other Massachusetts communities and then to California, where he spent several days tracking down Victory Outreach members who recalled working for the contractor in that state. The result of his reporting was a richly detailed narrative that took readers into a little-known corner of America’s underground economy. After the story’s publication, the state of Massachusetts announced an effort to strengthen labor enforcement against companies that fund and manage projects where significant violations are found. In addition, California labor officials initiated an investigation into the employment practices of Installations Plus.
Tags: Economy; low wages; contractor; workers
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Unfair Game
Texas high school athletics rules prohibit students from transferring from district to district for athletic purposes, but that hasn’t stopped coaches and administrators from openly flouting the rules to assemble state championship-caliber teams as part of an underground recruiting system that puts athletics over academics. WFAA investigative reporter Brett Shipp's reports showed how improper recruiting helped Dallas' Kimball Knights build back-to-back state champ basketball teams, and how former Dallas Cowboy Deion Sanders' new school, Prime Prep Academy, also drew in blue-chip players against the rules.
Tags: High school athletics; sports; coach; recruiting system; state champion team
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No. 9: The 1968 Farmington Mine Disaster
The 1968 Farmington Coal Mine Disaster prompted Congress to pass the 1969 Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, the first law to set meaningful underground safety standards and fines for violations. Despite the importance of the tragedy, which took the lives of 78 men, neither federal nor the state government determined the cause of the disaster. The state did not produce a final report as was required by West Virginia law, and the federal government did not make public its final, inconclusive report until 1990. This book pieces the story together, documenting the dangerous conditions that plagued the No. 9 from 1935 through the first deadly disaster in 1954 that killed 16 men and up to the 1968 tragedy.
Tags: farmington coal mine; virginia; united states; safety; coal
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Crime Inc: Counterfeit Goods
The story gives viewers a rare look at the production and sale of counterfeit goods. Viewers hear the story of a company whose brand was copied as well as that of a defense contractor who made counterfeit defense parts used in Iraq.
Tags: counterfeit; raid; fake handbag; fake shoes; fake jewelry; designer; underground industry
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Made in the U.S.A.
Despite a U.S. embargo against Iran, hundreds of people and companies in the U.S. have been caught smuggling the goods to Iran. CBS shows how vast the underground smuggling network is and how smugglers are moving the weapons from the U.S. to Iran through third countries like Malaysia or Dubai.
Tags: Iran; embargo; weapon trade; underground; Malaysia; Dubai
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"The Lost Chalice"
Author Vernon Silver dives deep into the Italian world of art smuggling. Through court documents and "interviews with modern tomb robbers, smugglers and art dealers," Silver is able to locate a valuable missing vase. The book provides an in-depth look at the world's third largest "underground economy," and how a "network of powerful people and institutions" has been at the center of the "illicit art and cultural property trade."
Tags: Euphronios; Oxford University; Metropolitan Museum of Art; chalice; Zeus; art smugglers; tomb raiders
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Marijuana Inc.
Flying over northern California, you will see row upon row of marijuana fields. These rows are worth multi-millions and are left in plain sight. This is “evidence of a lucrative, but also increasingly violent, underground pot industry”. This industry has become a large part of that county’s economy. Many people in this industry are turning to guns as protection, robberies in search of drug stashes, and arrival of Mexican drug cartels.
Tags: Mendocino County; Emerald Triangle; narcotics; growers; pot brokers; business; trade; Federal Drug Enforcement Administration
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Underground, Out of Reach
Virginia's statute that allows private companies to govern individual natural resources has caused several escrow accounts to go without government officiators to oversee corporate accountability. As a result, companies have failed to deposit hundreds of thousands of dollars to the escrow accounts.
Tags: company; natural resources; natural gas; escrow; funds; Virginia; accounts;
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"Who Is Testing Your DNA?"; "Could Your DNA Betray You?"; "How My Genome Was Hacked"
In this series, reporters take a look at how the DNA left behind by humans can be gathered and studied by regular, everyday people. The reporters also explain how the industry of underground DNA testing can pose a serious threat to one's privacy and health.
Tags: DNA; genetic testing; DNA chips; genome; paternity testing; infidelity
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Early on the Case: Identity Theft
A person's identity is stolen in the United States every three seconds. The investigation examined the underground world of identity theft and the online chat rooms where scammers buy and sell social security numbers, credit card information, bank account numbers and more. The series also investigated medical identity theft.
Tags: identity theft; scam; credit card; social security number; medical identity theft; chat room