Welcome to Crimetown, a series produced by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier in partnership with Gimlet Media. Each season, we investigate the culture of crime in a different city. In Season 2, Crimetown heads to the heart of the Rust Belt: Detroit, Michigan. From its heyday as Motor City to its rebirth as the Brooklyn of the Midwest, Detroit’s history reflects a series of issues that strike at the heart of American identity: race, poverty, policing, loss of industry, the war on drugs, and our universal desire for a savior. Detroit’s a tough town, and its residents are even tougher. They’ve weathered riots, a drug epidemic, political scandal, and innumerable other hardships, but they’re still here—and they have stories to tell.
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Contact path
Verified email
Booking probability
22%
Guest openness
Selective
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Signup to Generate a PitchWelcome to Crimetown, a series produced by Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier in partnership with Gimlet Media. Each season, we investigate the culture of crime in a different city. In Season 2, Crimetown heads to the heart of the Rust Belt: Detroit, Michigan.
Crimetown is hosted by Gimlet. The show has published 54 episodes to date.
Recent episodes include "Crook County: The Secret Double Life of a Mafia Hitman" (25 February 2025, 4 minutes), "You Might Also Like: The Confessions of Anthony Raimondi" (30 July 2024, 34 minutes), and "Introducing | Beyond All Repair" (24 April 2024, 25 minutes).
Crimetown publishes roughly weekly, with episodes averaging 30 minutes across 54 episodes.
Booking probability for Crimetown is 22%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Crimetown requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Crimetown's contact route on record: verified email.
The strongest fits for Crimetown are Courts, Police & Public Safety. Crimetown has a news audience.
Gimlet hosts Crimetown, a news podcast with 54 episodes published.
Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.
Crimetown
For over 20 years, Ken Tekiela was a celebrated firefighter, husband, and father of two —but he led a secret, double life as a hitman for the Chicago mob. When the truth came out, it destroyed his family. Now, his son...
Crimetown
Marc heads to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to meet a 70-year old gangster and hear him confess to the murder of Pope John Paul I. What he learns is that there’s a lot more to Anthony Raimondi than meets the eye. Learn more...
Crimetown
A new 10-part true-crime podcast, Executive Produced and Edited by Zac Stuart-Pontier, co-creator of Crimetown. Imagine if, one day, you are accused of something. Something horrible, violent, heinous. Something you...
Crimetown
Everybody remembers the morning of September 11, 2001, when two passenger jets flew into the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan. But the idea of toppling the towers was not new. Thirty years ago, a group of men...
Episode #20
Growing up, Rob Boyd is ignored by his absent, womanizing father, a well-known local preacher. His mother marries a kindhearted factory worker, who helps raise Rob and his siblings. But after his stepfather is murdered...
Episode #19
In the Crimetown Season 2 finale, Kwame Kilpatrick begins his 28-year prison sentence. Although he still maintains his innocence, his chances of a retrial are slim. Meanwhile, Detroit is undergoing a remarkable economic...
Episode #18
After a decade of scandals and a sprawling corruption investigation, Kwame Kilpatrick faces his most daunting challenge yet: a federal trial that could put him in prison for decades. The former mayor is no longer...
Episode #17
For years, the FBI has been running a wide-ranging corruption investigation into the Kilpatrick administration. As they dig deeper, the feds uncover a massive pay-to-play enterprise that reaches every level of City...
Episode #16
After serving 99 days in jail, former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick walks free. He heads to Texas and tries to settle into a new life. But Detroit isn’t quite ready to let him go. For bonus content from this episode, visit...
Episode #15
With the mayor behind bars, a crusading lawyer takes up the case of slain exotic dancer Tamara Greene. Could Kwame Kilpatrick have ordered her murder — or is it all an urban legend? For bonus content from this episode...
Crimetown
From the same team that brought you Crimetown comes Crimetown Presents: The Ballad of Billy Balls. It’s 1982 in New York City, and a man bursts into an East Village storefront apartment and shoots punk musician Billy...
Episode #14
The revelation that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had an affair with his chief of staff — a romance detailed in thousands of explicit text messages — rocks Detroit. But it’s only the beginning of their troubles. For bonus...
Episode #13
Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown files a whistleblower suit against City Hall, alleging he was fired for investigating the long-rumored Manoogian Mansion party. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick denies the accusations. But while...
Crimetown
From the partnership that brought you Dirty John, comes Man in the Window. Pulitzer prize winning reporter Paige St. John investigates The Golden State Killer, and traces his path of devastation through the eyes of his...
Episode #12
As rumors about a wild party at the mayor’s mansion continue to spread, Kwame Kilpatrick must fend off an increasingly unsympathetic media. Meanwhile, his opponent in the next election has a double-digit lead. Can the...
Episode #11
To his supporters, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is a new breed of politician: young, cool, and in touch with black culture. To his critics, his flashy appearance and taste for nightlife are evidence of his immaturity. Rumors...
Episode #10
When Mayor Coleman Young dies after twenty years in office, he leaves a yawning vacuum in Detroit’s power structure. But a successor quickly arises: a young, ambitious state legislator named Kwame Kilpatrick. He’s...
Episode #9
Dimitri Mugianis is a rarity in Detroit: a white kid whose family stayed after everyone like them left. Growing up, he throws himself into the city’s avant-garde underworld, playing in art-punk bands and partying in gay...
Episode #8
Still hung up on the unsolved murder of Damion Lucas, FBI agent Herm Groman devises an elaborate sting to ensnare the corrupt cops of the Detroit Police Department. Will it bring down Mayor Coleman Young, too? For bonus...
Episode #7
A thirteen-year-old boy is murdered in a drive-by shooting. The Detroit police quickly apprehend a suspect. But the FBI is convinced that the wrong man is in jail — and that the real killers are escaping justice thanks...
Recent guests on Crimetown. Study who booked and why before you pitch.
PitchCentric classifies Crimetown under these industries. Guests from them are the closest fit, and each links to the best podcasts in that industry.
Shows with the most semantically similar episode content. Pitch one, pitch all; producers cluster.
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Breaking Asphalt Exploring the Underbelly of the City
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