Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto

This is the first episode in Radio Diaries’ new series The Unmarked Graveyard, untangling mysteries from America’s largest public cemetery. Each week, they’re bringing you stories of how people ended up on Hart Island, the lives they lived and the people they left behind.This debut episode goes back to a few years ago, when a young man who called himself Stephen became a fixture in Manhattan’s Riverside Park. Locals started noticing him sitting on the same park bench day after day. He said little and asked for nothing.When Stephen’s body was found in 2017, the police were unable to identify him, and he was buried on Hart Island. Then, one day, a woman who knew him from the park stumbled upon his true identity, and his backstory came to light.Listen to new episodes of The Unmarked Graveyard from Radio Diaries every week, wherever you get your podcasts.

Stevevonna Evans’ former friends in the city council have turned against her. But a trip to Sacramento and conversations with an unlikely ally convince her to take a big career swing. For early, ad-free access to episodes, join ‘Friends of the Pod’—Crooked’s new subscription community—at crooked.com/friends

Stevevonna Evans, now on the city council, discovers multiple millions of dollars are missing from the city budget. She begins to investigate, and with every rock she turns over she learns another bonkers secret about what went down while Mayor Kerr, Jermaine Wright and Bug Woodard were in power. For early, ad-free access to episodes, join ‘Friends of the Pod’—Crooked’s new subscription community—at crooked.com/friends

Bug’s ambitious plan to save Adelanto from bankruptcy by legalizing weed seems to be working. A green rush is on. But soon, strange deals start to go down. When the FBI starts poking around, a new business and multiple politicians are caught in the crosshairs.For early, ad-free access to episodes, join ‘Friends of the Pod’—Crooked’s new subscription community—at crooked.com/friends

It’s 2014. Adelanto is a bankrupt city in the California desert known for its massive detention centers and not much else. Then, a stranger comes to town with a wild idea to make Adelanto great again: Become the first city in Southern California to legalize commercial weed cultivation.For early, ad-free access to episodes, join ‘Friends of the Pod’—Crooked’s new subscription community—at crooked.com/friends

What happens when a city on the verge of collapse tries to reinvent itself? How much will it cost? Who will pay the price? Reporter David Weinberg spent years following one California Mojave desert town’s transformation from a city of prisons to a city of pot. And it worked... Until it didn’t. From Crooked Media, this is Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto.Coming June 7th wherever you get your podcasts. For early, ad-free access to episodes, join ‘Friends of the Pod’—Crooked’s new subscription community—at crooked.com/friends.