The Binge Cases: Fatal Beauty

Meet the A-Team, that’s what Chad called his ragtag group, also known as a DEA Task Force. Karl Newman is a real likable country dude with no moral quandaries. Johnny Domingue is the protege, fresh out of college, with a knack for making drug busts. Chad handpicked this team, and commanded them during operations. But little did he know that they were far out of his control. Subscribe to The Binge to get all episodes of Smoke Screen ad-free right now. Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Smoke Screen: Betrayal On The Bayou show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. A Neon Hum & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chad Scott made an incredible number of cases by getting drug dealers to work for him as informants. His phone number was written on jailhouse walls because Chad was the guy who could get you out of a tough situation – if you give him what he wants. That if is what this whole story is about. We hear from Virgil Ard, a former drug dealer who navigated streets riddled with Chad’s snitches. Virgil would face a choice: a long prison sentence, or work for Chad. Subscribe to The Binge to get all episodes of Smoke Screen ad-free right now. Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Smoke Screen: Betrayal On The Bayou show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. A Neon Hum & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For almost two decades, DEA Special Agent Chad Scott ruled the streets just North of New Orleans. He controlled a network of snitches by convincing people he arrested to work for him as informants. Chad would stop at nothing to put drug dealers behind bars. His successes won awards at the DEA, but his willingness to bend the rules earned him a terrifying reputation on the streets. Some called him the Golden Boy. Others called him the White Devil. But when one of guys on Chad's team is caught dealing drugs, Chad’s life is overturned. His right-hand men betray him and confess everything to the FBI. Investigators go over his career with a fine-toothed comb, asking the question: is Chad Scott the greatest DEA Agent in the South, or is he a criminal? Smoke Screen: Betrayal on the Bayou is part of The Binge – a channel on Apple Podcasts. Browse all the shows included in your subscription here: apple.co/thebinge  The Binge – All Episodes. All at Once. New binge-drops every month. Don’t miss a thing, follow us @sonypodcasts A Neon Hum Media & Sony Music Entertainment production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may have heard of the abortion pill, especially in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade last year. But the story of how the pill became legal in America is closer to an action film than to a courtroom drama—with covert operations, heists, and even murder. On the new season of Cover Up: The Pill Plot, travel   back to the ‘90s and join the ragtag group that plotted an international drug   smuggling scheme and set up a secret lab to get the abortion pill to America. Get a front row seat to the epic struggle facing activists who battled presidents, the Supreme Court, militant anti-abortionists and so much more. Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes of Cover Up: The Pill   Plot right now, completely ad-free. Catch new episodes of Cover Up: The Pill Plot every week wherever you get your podcasts or subscribe to The Binge and unlock all episodes ad-free today. Just click ‘Subscribe’ on the top of the Cover Up show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen. A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Driskill’s lawyers discover that he is theoretically eligible for parole after serving seven years of his sentence. But this is a long shot — it's notoriously difficult to get released whilst still maintaining your innocence. Chammah talks to a leading cold case prosecutor to ask how interrogations like Holland’s can be justified. And he seeks to understand the pain that Bobbie Sue Hill’s family will be confronted with if Driskill is cleared. Everyone is waiting for the parole board’s decision. Subscribe to The Binge to get all episodes of Smoke Screen: Just Say You’re Sorry ad-free right now. Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. A Somethin’ Else, The Marshall Project & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A young law student called Ashely is the first to read Driskill’s letter and becomes obsessed with his story. The Innocence Project of Texas take his case and begin working to find evidence that could clear his name. Chammah hunts down crucial leads throwing serious doubt on the informant’s story and on the forensic sketch that led Holland to Driskill in the first place. Holland's star, though, is still rising. He takes on a case that will make him famous, drawing dozens of confessions from America’s most prolific serial killer, Samuel Little. Subscribe to The Binge to get all episodes of Smoke Screen: Just Say You’re Sorry ad-free right now. Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. A Somethin’ Else, The Marshall Project & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Driskill is in jail ahead of a potential court case when an informant comes forward with information that seems to blow a hole in his claims of innocence. Meanwhile James Holland moves on to his next case. It’s a story with eerie similarities to Driskill’s. Another veteran, Christopher Ax, is being investigated for the murder of a woman. But this time, things turn out very differently for Holland, and the first cracks start to appear in his legend. Driskill is desperate for help and writes a hail-Mary letter to the Innocence Project of Texas. Subscribe to The Binge to get all episodes of Smoke Screen: Just Say You’re Sorry ad-free right now. Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. A Somethin’ Else, The Marshall Project & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Day 2 of Holland’s interrogation of Driskill. Over the course of several hours Holland uses a variety of extreme but legal tactics as he chases a confession. He lies to Driskill about the evidence they have against him and feeds the veteran a story to explain how he might have come to murder Bobbie Sue Hill. Holland is relentless and the interrogation stretches on, with no lawyer present. How long can Driskill resist? Subscribe to The Binge to get all episodes of Smoke Screen: Just Say You’re Sorry ad-free right now. Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. A Somethin’ Else, The Marshall Project & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chammah investigates the cop at the centre of the story – James Holland is so celebrated as an interrogator that he’s known in the media as ‘the serial killer whisperer.’ He’s a leading member of that legendary and storied police force, the Texas Rangers. Chammah traces Holland’s steps as he starts trying to close a cold case which has gone unsolved for more than a decade: the murder of a woman named Bobbie Sue Hill. The trail is faint but Holland follows it doggedly: a dead-end suspect, a single witness, and finally a forensic sketch which leads him to Driskill’s door. Subscribe to The Binge to get all episodes of Smoke Screen: Just Say You’re Sorry ad-free right now. Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. A Somethin’ Else, The Marshall Project & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Texas Ranger James Holland approaches Air Force veteran Larry Driskill and asks him for help with a murder case. These are the first moments in a psychological battle that will end in Driskill confessing to a brutal killing. All while swearing he doesn’t remember the crime. Incredibly, the whole thing is caught on tape. Through Holland's recordings, journalist Maurice Chammah follows the men into the interrogation room... Subscribe to The Binge to get all episodes of Smoke Screen: Just Say You're Sorry ad-free right now. Click ‘Subscribe’ at the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. A Somethin’ Else, The Marshall Project & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices