Episode 1: Lucky Bird

Episode 1: Lucky Bird

From The Chinatown Sting by Pushkin Industries

September 16, 2025 · 39 min · Season 1 · Episode 1

About this episode

The episode explores a DEA investigation into a heroin import scheme involving unsuspecting young mothers in American Chinatowns.

After a major bust in 1988, DEA agents are in a race against time to find out who’s behind a scheme to import millions of dollars worth of heroin to the US. They stumble upon some unlikely suspects: young mothers like Tina Wong, who were paid to accept packages in the mail. These women will have to make a choice between protecting or betraying their friends. Lurking behind it all: the history of American Chinatowns, which developed to protect immigrants from a hostile society. For more, check out: Ellen Wu’s The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority . Michael Luo’s Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America . Get early, ad-free access to the entire season of The Chinatown Sting by subscribing to Pushkin+. Subscribers also get bonus episodes, exclusive binges, full audiobooks, and early ad-free listening for all Pushkin shows.  Subscribe on Apple:  apple.co/pushkin Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plus See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Pushkin Industries

Topics covered

  • drug trafficking
  • DEA operations
  • immigrant experiences
  • Chinatown history
  • moral dilemmas
  • true crime

Keywords

  • heroin
  • DEA
  • Chinatown
  • drug bust
  • immigrants
  • 1988
  • Asian Americans
  • moral choice
  • true crime

Sponsors

Pushkin+, Apple

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority, Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America

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