Hosted by GBH News · 🇺🇸 US · EN-US · 41 episodes
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A fishing tycoon is arrested in an elaborate sting operation, but claims he’s the real hero fighting back against an overbearing state. So who is Carlos “The Codfather” Rafael really – a folk hero, a crook, a righteous rebel, a selfish conman? In Season 3 of The Big Dig podcast, “Catching The Codfather,” we go down to the docks. It’s a place where food, work, nature, money and politics all meet – where dreams are born, fortunes ruined, and where the watchful eye of the government is always present. The series traces the rise of Carlos Rafael and his escalating conflict with the government, because to judge the crimes of The Codfather, you also have to judge the whole system that he chose to break. --------------------------------------“This is a town where there are three pastimes: politics, sports and revenge.” The town is Boston.Seemingly dry topics become gripping political dramas in this Peabody Award winning show from creator Ian Coss and GBH News. Each season of “The Big Dig”
GBH News hosts The Big Dig, a history show with 41 episodes published.
In the stories we tell about public works, there is a constant bias towards the projects that actually happened, but it’s the apparently ‘failed’ projects that can often teach us the most. Guests: Marcus Green, Tyler All
The anti-highway movement, like any movement, has always been a coalition. Different people with different backgrounds and different interests finding a common cause. But sometimes the coalition cracks. Guests: Lillian K
There is exactly one other American city crazy enough to attempt anything like what Boston did with The Big Dig. That city is Seattle, and they are not done tearing down highways. Guests: Joshua McNichols, Greg Nickels,
How did the Austin City Council find themselves locked in a ‘death match’ over what to do about Interstate 35? Two councilors and two journalists talk through the fraught politics of so-called highway caps. Guests: Megan
Once the highway is gone, can the divisions these structures created actually be healed? Can the people on either side become neighbors again? Rochester, NY is trying to answer that question. Guests: Erik Frisch, Brian S
Is it possible to re-write the Interstate map and send highways around cities instead of through them? Syracuse, NY is doing just that. Guests: Marie Therese Dominguez, Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, Joe Driscoll Recorded live i
What to do with the BQE? It’s a one of a kind highway in desperate need of repair, but no one can agree how to fix it. Guests: Polly Trottenberg, Lara Birnback, Stephen Nessen Recorded live at WNYC’s Greenspace Archival
Every American city is divided by crumbling old highways. Every city is trying to figure out what to do with them. But even if the problems with these structures are obvious, the solutions are not – often they are conten
In The Cult Queen of Canada from CBC’s Uncover, a tiny Saskatchewan town faces a surreal crisis when a cult leader calling herself “The Queen of Canada” occupies an abandoned school. As neighbours turn on each other, a r
In the 1980s, six women on an island off the coast of Massachusetts began selling lobster rolls as a church fundraiser. Today, people travel by car, boat, and plane just to taste these hallowed summer treats. Today we br
Buying fish can be a puzzling process. It comes frozen and fresh, wild and farmed, from many different countries, and with all kinds of ratings and labels. So what does it all mean? For this bonus episode to “Catching Th
John Vecchione represented a group of fishermen who challenged government regulations all the way to the Supreme Court. Together, they helped overturn the decades-old “Chevron Doctrine,” which has been cited thousands of
A new revelation forces federal investigators to close down the case, fast. But what will taking down The Codfather mean for the port of New Bedford? Major sponsorship for "Catching The Codfather" is provided by Roger’s
When federal agents first meet with Carlos Rafael, the fishing mogul offers up a tantalizing clue: a special system for ‘painting fish.’ It’s the key to understanding the entire fraud, and why Carlos is the only one who
A new regulatory system is meant to end overfishing, but Carlos Rafael exploits it to accumulate even more boats and power – drawing resentment from other fishermen, and attention from the feds. Major sponsorship for "Ca
The west has cowboys, the east has fishermen – it's a job defined by freedom and self-reliance. But in 1991 a contentious lawsuit forces the government to step in, setting Carlos Rafael and the regulators on a collision
How did Carlos Rafael become “The Codfather”? It starts in the 1980s, when a bitter strike divides the city of New Bedford and its famed fishing fleet. But Carlos manages to turn the strike to his advantage. Major sponso
Every American city is divided by crumbling old highways. Every city is trying to figure out what to do with them. Join us live in 10 American cities for The Big Dig “Highway Teardown Tour.” Details at wgbh.org/bigdigliv
Carlos “The Codfather” Rafael dominates the most valuable fishing port in the United States, and no one is quite sure how he did it. But in 2015, when undercover federal agents offer to buy his business, Carlos opens his
A fishing tycoon is arrested in an elaborate sting operation, but claims he’s the real hero fighting back against an overbearing state. So who is Carlos “The Codfather” Rafael really – a folk hero, a crook, a righteous r
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The Big Dig is hosted by GBH News. The show is categorised under history and has published 41 episodes.
The Big Dig has published 41 episodes.
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