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Crimetown: Detroit Premieres Monday, October 1

Listen to Season 2 Exclusively on Spotify

“We hope for better things; it shall arise from the ashes.”

—official motto of the City of Detroit

Welcome to Detroit—once one of the most prosperous cities in the country, now synonymous with America’s decline. But there’s much more to the city than that. 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. Welcome to Detroit, and welcome back to Crimetown, returning Monday, October 1 exclusively on Spotify.

To view the trailer, click here.

To understand crime and corruption in America’s heartland, we go back in time. Season two of Crimetown begins in 1971, with the creation of a police unit known as STRESS ("Stop the Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets"). In less than three years, STRESS cops shot and killed 21 people—all but one of them black. Over the course of 20 episodes, Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier, creators and executive producers of HBO’s The Jinx, weave together a series of interlocking personal stories that weave into a tale of crime and corruption, ending more than thirty years later, with the fall of the city’s latest savior: Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Although it spans decades, the issues explored in this season of Crimetown feel very contemporary.

Crimetown, from Gimlet Media premieres on Monday, October 1 with new episodes premiering weekly every Monday for all users on Spotify. Crimetown Season 2's exclusivity on Spotify represents the streaming service’s ongoing commitment to develop its podcast roster and provide premium audio content for its users. Season One of Crimetown is also available on Spotify. Can’t get enough of the series? Fans can follow the show page to get updates on new episodes.