Part 2: When states got into the gambling business, they wanted the same thing organized crime wanted: money and power. The question now is who in government will get to wield that awesome power? 

Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 1: It’s 1974, illegal bookies are everywhere and the brand new state lottery is struggling to compete. But a simple piece of paper is about to change the game forever: the nation’s first scratch ticket. 

Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Legal gambling is everywhere. But how did it get like this? And why can't we fully embrace it? 

"Scratch & Win" looks for answers in the unlikely story of America's most successful lottery, and the charismatic state treasurer who was determined to beat the mob at their own game. 

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 4: The state lottery can’t run the mob out of the numbers business on their own. Luckily they’ve got help from the FBI, who are just launching a daring operation of their own – to bug the headquarters of the Boston mafia.

Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 3: Before the Massachusetts Lottery can claim to be number one, they have to take out the competition. So in 1976 the state lottery challenges organized crime head on by copying their most popular game: 'the numbers.'

Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 6: The Mass Lottery stumbles when it attempts to launch the nation’s first ‘lotto’ game. But that failure soon becomes an opportunity – and a national craze – when Treasurer Bob Crane brings in a new agency to take over the state’s marketing efforts.

Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 5: The lottery was never just about stopping crime; it was about bringing in money. In 1980, an anti-tax ballot measure throws Massachusetts state finances into chaos, putting new pressure on the lottery to close the gap.

Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 7: By 1986 Treasurer Bob Crane has turned the lottery into the most successful operation of its kind, but now he’s in the fight of his political life with a challenger who says he’s the real crook. To cement his legacy he will have to win one last election, and it’s a dirty one.

Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Part 8: Most lottery games follow a predictable life cycle: a burst of interest followed by a long decline. But something else happened with the scratch ticket, and it changed how every lottery in the country operates. 

Credits:

Host an Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Lotteries are part of a long trend toward more and more legal gambling: bingo helped open the door for lotteries, just as lotteries helped open the door for casinos. And by that logic, sports betting is just the latest addition to the trend. So why does it feel so different?

In the first of three interview episodes expanding on themes from the series, host Ian Coss speaks with gambling historian Jonathan Cohen about why this expansion of legal gambling is unlike anything that came before it.

Cohen’s new book "Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling” is out April 1st, 2025.

There’s a lot of talk lately about patronage politics returning to Washington – a system based on loyalty, relationships, favors and transactions – but this kind of system is not new. Patronage was once the beating heart of the Democratic Party, and of course, the Massachusetts state lottery. So what changed? How did the party of patronage become the party of technocrats?

In this second interview episode, host Ian Coss speaks with historian Lily Geismer, co-editor of a new book about the evolution of the Democratic Party: “Mastery and Drift: Professional Class Liberals Since 1960.”

This podcast has featured two stories about government endeavors: the much-criticized infrastructure project known as ‘The Big Dig,’ and of course the wildly successful state lottery. So why do these two stories play out so differently?

In the final interview episode for this season, host Ian Coss speaks with Marc Dunkelman, a research fellow at Brown University, about why some parts of government draw intense scrutiny while others run quietly in the background. 

Dunkelman’s new book is "Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress -- and How to Bring It Back."

Last week, we heard about a movement to challenge the authority of government agencies and push power down to the people. This week, the story of a central figure in that movement: Ralph Nader. 

This episode comes from NPR’s Throughline, co-hosted by Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei. 

Just dropping in to share some news about the show, and what's coming next. 

Part 9: It’s been fifty years since the Big Dig was first conceived, thirty years since construction began, more than a dozen years since it was completed – and the final twist is: the project has largely delivered on its promises. How do we reconcile that reality with the scandal and outrage we’ve heard so much about?

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Part 8: Just as the project turns the corner towards completion, its entire legacy becomes clouded. The tunnels are leaking, concrete suppliers are being arrested, and everyday drivers are forced to wonder: are these tunnels safe?

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Part 7: By the year 2000, the Big Dig has passed through many hands, but in its final years a power struggle spills into public view – over who will determine the project’s fate, and who will take responsibility for its mistakes.

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Part 6: As work progresses through the 1990s and the tunnels take shape, the true cost of the Big Dig remains unknown to the public, until a series of revelations pulls down the curtain and shakes confidence in the whole project.

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Part 5: In 1991, the Big Dig is handed off to a new leader – the brash, aggressive, hatchet-toting Jim Kerasiotes – who makes it clear he plans to shake things up. The one thing he can’t shake is the equally aggressive private company managing the project. Now they have to work together.

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Part 4: The project faces an unexpected challenge on the home front: resistance from local environmentalists and residents – the very people the Big Dig was intended to please. Now, they say that Fred Salvucci has lost his way.

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Part 2: In the early 1970s a radical idea took shape: tearing down Boston’s elevated downtown highway, and rebuilding it underground. But making it happen will require a grand bargain between two competing tunnel projects, and between bitter enemies.

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Part 1: There is a strange irony behind the Big Dig: the most expensive highway project ever built in America began with a man who hated highways. This is the story of Fred Salvucci’s journey into activism, during what is perhaps the most transformative anti-highway movement in the nation’s history.

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Can America still do big things? Can we build the ambitious projects we will need to survive climate change and improve our cities? This 9-part series looks for clues in the story of the Big Dig – one of the most notoriously troubled infrastructure projects in American history.

The nine episode series is produced by GBH News.

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

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 books.

Major sponsorship for "Catching The Codfather" is provided by Roger’s Fish Co.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Intern: Fiona Boyd 

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

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.

For instant access to the whole season, join The Big Dig membership program. Learn more at wgbh.org/hovlane. 

Major sponsorship for Catching The Codfather is provided by Roger’s Fish Co.

Your official invitation to join The Big Dig membership program. Listen on for details, sign up at wgbh.org/hovlane

Part 3: The Big Dig needs federal funding. House Speaker Tip O’Neill is determined to get it; President Ronald Reagan is determined to stop it – setting up a final showdown in one of the great political rivalries of the 20th century.

Credits:

Host and scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Stephanie Leydon

Fact Checker: Lisa Wardle

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

NEW name. NEW art. NEW season. NEW events. NEW mailing list. Listen for all the updates and a preview of what's to come. 

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A few links to share:

Sign up for our mailing list at: wgbh.org/thebigdig

Email us at: thebigdig@wgbh.org

*LIVE EVENT* in Seattle, WA: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-big-dig-and-booming-podcasts-where-our-roads-go-next-tickets-1665207834459

*LIVE EVENT* in Portland, OR: https://literary-arts.org/event/opb-the-big-dig/

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/bigdiglive. 

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 sponsorship for "Catching The Codfather" is provided by Roger’s Fish Co.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Intern: Fiona Boyd 

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

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 course.

You can watch the full film of “A Fish Story” on YouTube. 

Major sponsorship for “Catching The Codfather” is provided by Roger’s Fish Co.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Intern: Fiona Boyd

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

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 "Catching The Codfather" is provided by Roger’s Fish Co.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Intern: Fiona Boyd 

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

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 could pull it off.

Major sponsorship for "Catching The Codfather" is provided by Roger’s Fish Co.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Intern: Fiona Boyd 

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

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 Fish Co.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Intern: Fiona Boyd 

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

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 times in federal court rulings. But Vecchione is not done, and you might be surprised to learn what regulations he is challenging next. 

For a very different take on the future of regulation after the fall of the Chevron Doctrine, check out this article from climate reporter Molly Taft: The Koch Brothers Are Getting What They Wanted: The Supreme Court Is Gutting Environmental Protections

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 The Codfather,” Ian sits down with a legend of New England seafood, Roger Berkowitz, to talk about his life in fish buying and what he’s learned along the way. 

Major sponsorship for “Catching The Codfather” is provided by Roger’s Fish Co.

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 retired teacher leads resistance in a story about what happens when online extremism spills into the real world. Hosted by Rachel Browne.

Crime. Investigation. Revelation. Uncover brings you explosive, high-caliber true crime year-round. From CIA mind control to serial abuse, mysterious disappearances to wrongful imprisonment.

More episodes of The Cult Queen of Canada are available wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/CQOCxCF

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When I decided to take on the story of the Codfather, I realized it was a little more true-crime than anything I had done before, and so it was important to me that we do true crime in a way that served a larger purpose. That there was a point to it all besides just people breaking the law and getting caught. And for me, one of the models of that kind of storytelling is the CBC’s Uncover. It’s an ongoing feed that has released just a stunning run of highly original and intensely engaging crime stories that also help us understand our world. They have a new series out this spring so we wanted to feature an episode of that here.

It’s called ‘The Cult Queen of Canada.’ It’s set in a small prairie town of 120 people in Saskatchewan, which becomes the unlikely home base for a cult leader known as the “Queen of Canada.” In the series, journalist Rachel Browne uncovers how online extremism bleeds into everyday life and divides this small town. It’s a story about polarization, power vacuums, and what happens when a small community becomes the testing ground for extremism.

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 bring you an episode from one of our favorite food podcasts, “The Sporkful”, in which host Dan Pashman travels to Martha’s Vineyard to uncover Grace Church’s secret recipe. Plus, Daniel Gritzer from Serious Eats breaks down the science of why frozen lobster might be better than fresh.

https://www.sporkful.com/the-secret-to-grace-churchs-lobster-rolls/

Find more from The Sporkful, wherever you listen to podcasts or at www.sporkful.com

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We talked a lot this season about fish: the cod, the haddock, the flounder. We heard about monk fish and grey sole, hake and halibut. But if you’ve ever spent a summer in New England, you know that if there is one food we take more seriously than our fish, it’s our shellfish. 

So today I’m excited to bring you an episode from one of my favorite podcasts – The Sporkful – in which host Dan Pashman travels to Martha’s Vineyard to uncover the secret recipe of his favorite lobster roll. Plus, Daniel Gritzer from Serious Eats breaks down the science of why frozen lobster might be better than fresh.

As always, Dan and the team have a special knack for telling stories about food that also help you understand the world. You can find all their work wherever you are listening right now, just search for “The Sporkful.” And please enjoy: The Secret To Grace Church’s Lobster Rolls…

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 audio courtesy of Municipal Archives, City of New York.

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 contentious. Welcome to The Big Dig Highway Teardown Tour.

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 Sharp, Shawn Dunwoody, Suzanne Mayer

Recorded live at the WXXI studios in Rochester, NY.

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 in partnership with WRVO and the Syracuse Museum of Science and Technology.