In the late 1980s, a group of women connected through the mahjong parlors in Manhattan’s Chinatown were caught in a massive undercover drug bust. This bust was just the beginning of an even bigger case. Host Lidia Jean Kott and co-reporter Shuyu Wang interview sources who’ve never spoken on record before, including witnesses, defendants, and federal prosecutors, to reconstruct a case that still has repercussions today.
The Chinatown Sting drops weekly on Tuesdays.
Get early, ad-free access to the entire season of The Chinatown Sting by subscribing to Pushkin+ (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-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 (http://apple.co/pushkin)
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.fm/plus (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin)
Host Jodie Martinson interviews Vienna Luke about her gripping personal journey to uncover a buried truth and seek justice for her family.
14 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
The Good Cop | From Examined: The Backfire Effect
Host Josie Duffy Rice investigates prosecutorial misconduct and a wrongful conviction in the 40-year-old Scott Macklem murder case.
25 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Petra Mathers and Her Michael | From Death of an Artist
Journalists Leon Neyfakh and Alice Gregory interview friends and family of Petra Mathers and Michael Mathers to understand their final act and its impact on those left behind.
18 May 2026TRANSCRIPT
From Deep Cover: The Family Man
Host Elise and Marissa explore their father's hidden criminal life and the impact of his deception on their family.
14 Apr 2026TRANSCRIPT
Preview: The Pain of Others
Miguel Ángel Hernández reconstructs his best friend's tragic murder-suicide, confronting lingering questions of guilt and memory in this investigative memoir.
10 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT
From The Kink Machine: The Secret Power Behind Porn
Journalists Patricia Nilsson and Alex Barker investigate the hidden business of adult entertainment, exposing a shadowy power structure involving billionaires and tech companies in this interview.
12 Jan 2026
Introducing Valley of Shadows: Corruption in California’s Mojave Desert
Valley of Shadows (https://lnk.to/VOSPushkin) is a new Pushkin true crime podcast that digs into a nearly 30-year old secret buried in the California desert. On June 11, 1998, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy Jon Aujay went for a run in California’s Devil’s Punchbowl park...and never came back. Nearly 30 years later, the mystery surrounding his disappearance has only deepened. Some say Aujay is just another missing hiker, claimed by the inhospitable landscape of the Southern California desert. Some say he took his own life out there. But there’s another theory that many of Aujay’s friends and LASD colleagues are convinced is true—that he was the victim of foul play, and that his own department is covering it up. Through exclusive interviews, revealing wiretaps, and buried police files, investigative reporters Hayley Fox and Betsy Shepherd uncover vestiges of the Wild West in a small California town, where outlaw biker gangs crank out methamphetamine and local cops operate on both sides of the law.
(00:01:04) Find Valley of Shadows (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/valley-of-shadows/id1858046983) wherever you get podcasts. Binge the entire season of Valley of Shadows, ad-free, by subscribing to Pushkin+ (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin). Sign up on the Valley of Shadows show page on Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus.
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
10 Nov 2025TRANSCRIPT
Introducing Deep Cover Presents: Snowball
We’re sharing a preview of another podcast we think you’ll enjoy, Deep Cover Presents: Snowball (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-cover/id1520478402?itscg=30200&itsct=podcast_box&ls=1&mttnsubad=1520478402&at=1000l36zH). Snowball follows journalist Ollie Wards as he unravels the wild story of how his own family was taken in, and taken down, by a charming con woman from California…and tries to find out where she is now. He embarks on a question to find out how she did it, why she did it, and where she is now. Financial ruin, shattered trust, and a mystery that stretches across continents and decades—it’s got all the twists and turns you'd expect from a high-stakes crime thriller…only it's all true. Here’s a preview of Snowball by the Unravel Podcast team.
If you can’t wait to find out what happens, binge episodes of Deep Cover Presents: Snowball early and ad-free with a Pushkin+ subscription. Find Pushkin+ on the Deep Cover show page in Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-cover/id1520478402?itscg=30200&itsct=podcast_box&ls=1&mttnsubad=1520478402&at=1000l36zH) or at pushkin.fm/plus (http://pushkin.fm/plus).
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
30 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
From Revisionist History: The Alabama Murders
Here's a preview from the new season of Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History podcast, The Alabama Murders. Florence, Alabama. 1988. A preacher has an affair. A woman is murdered. One death cascades into more, stretching across decades and leaving no one untouched — victims, bystanders, perpetrators, and those just trying to help. Eventually, the consequences lead to the center of a hot national debate on who should be allowed to live, who should die, and how the state should kill them. On The Alabama Murders, Malcolm asks: why, in our efforts to alleviate suffering, do we so often make it worse?
Find Revisionist History: The Alabama Murders wherever you get podcasts. To get early access to ad-free episodes and extra content, subscribe to Pushkin+ on the Revisionist History show page on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/revisionist-history-the-alabama-murders/id1119389968) or at pushkin.fm/plus (http://pushkin.fm/plus).
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
28 Oct 2025
Grandson of a Paper Son
Judge Denny Chin serves on the US Court of Appeals in New York and he’s an expert on Asian Americans and the law. Every year, he helps to stage reenactments of landmark cases in which Asian Americans fought for their legal and civil rights. Judge Chin speaks with Lidia Jean Kott about his family history and why he became a judge.
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
21 Oct 2025
Life as a Flying Dragon
Cowboy, now known as CB, was once a member of the powerful Flying Dragons gang, led by Johnny Eng, aka Onionhead. CB speaks with Lidia Jean Kott about why he joined the gang, about street-violence PTSD, and how he wound up in prison for 16 years. He also has an update on what Johnny Eng is up to today.
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
14 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
Episode 6: A Sense of Order
After five days of deliberation, a jury finally returns a verdict in the case of Johnny Eng. Its ultimate meaning depends on whom you ask — and the lessons it taught the justice system may already be forgotten.
For more:
Mike Moy’s memoir book Bad to Blue (https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/book-h8ar) and his Chinatown Gang Stories (https://www.youtube.com/@chinatowngangstories) channel on YouTube.
Rong Xiaoqing’s article in Documented, "Ghosts of Chinatown." (https://documentedny.com/2025/09/12/ghosts-of-chinatown-gang-crime/)
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
7 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT
Episode 5: The Mastermind
Flying Dragons gang leader Johnny Eng faces so many separate counts of heroin smuggling that prosecutors from various jurisdictions have to join forces. But Eng’s defense lawyers ably attack the government’s cooperating witnesses in court. And Beryl faces a personal deadline that might make sticking around to the end of the trial impossible.
For more check out:
Gerald Posner’s book Warlords of Crime (https://www.posner.com/warlords-of-crime).
Fredric Dannen’s pieces in The New Yorker, "Revenge of the Green Dragons (https://www.ledegraf.com/classic-new-yorker/revenge-of-the-green-dragons/)” and “Defending the Mafia.” (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/02/21/defending-the-mafia)
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 (http://apple.co/pushkin)
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plus (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin)
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
30 Sept 2025
Episode 4: A Ghost Hand
Lidia Jean and Shuyu search for traces of Johnny Eng, aka “Onionhead,” the elusive leader of the Flying Dragons gang. He’s nowhere to be found in his former estate in rural Pennsylvania. Back in the late 1980s, he was nowhere to be found at all. Could prosecutor Beryl Howell ever bring him to justice? Meanwhile, Tina Wong is caught in the gamble of her life.
For more check out the documentary: Machine Gun Johnny: Johnny Eng (https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Gangsters-Americas-Most-Evil/0G59EP835WMK5E8KL9LXMP1Q6N)
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 (http://apple.co/pushkin)
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plus (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin)
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
23 Sept 2025
Episode 3: What’s a Friend?
Being only half Chinese, Tina Wong felt like an outsider growing up in Chinatown. But then she met another girl who was a natural leader and included her in the pack. After they grew up, that friend would eventually recruit her to accept and move packages of heroin. Now Tina faces a choice: betray her old friend, or condemn her baby daughter to growing up without a mom.
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 (http://apple.co/pushkin)
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plus (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin)
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
16 Sept 2025
Episode 2: Onionhead
Tina Wong finds herself in handcuffs in the Brooklyn office of a new federal prosecutor, Beryl Howell. Beryl’s goal is to get Tina to tell her everything she knows about the people who recruited her. But Chinatown is a dangerous place in the 1980s, and few low-level suspects want to talk. We hear from Chinatown author Henry Chang and former gang members Mike Moy and Peter Chin about the violence and impossible choices Chinatown residents faced in those days.
For more, check out:
Henry Chang’s series Detective Yu Investigations (https://sohopress.com/series/the-detective-yu-investigations/).
Mike Moy’s Chinatown Gang Stories (https://www.youtube.com/@chinatowngangstories) channel on YouTube.
Peter Chin’s book, In the Ghost Shadows. (https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/9780806543871/in-the-ghost-shadows/)
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 (http://apple.co/pushkin)
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plus (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin)
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
16 Sept 2025
Episode 1: Lucky Bird
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 (https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691168029/the-color-of-success?srsltid=AfmBOoraQ9VTTB91HQx6qbNAP7-mY9hyxE8Uwl7IqLI_F5LM_QpZTIii).
Michael Luo’s Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/704981/strangers-in-the-land-by-michael-luo/).
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 (http://apple.co/pushkin)
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plus (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin)
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
2 Sept 2025
Introducing: The Chinatown Sting
In the late 1980s, federal authorities laid a trap. They’d gotten a tip that huge amounts of heroin were being mailed to New York City inside boxes filled with tea. The investigation would uncover a network of drug smugglers who used women recruited at mahjong parlors in Chinatown. Host Lidia Jean Kott and co-reporter Shuyu Wang interview sources who’ve never spoken on record before, including federal prosecutors, to reconstruct a years-long effort to bring down one of the most powerful gangsters in Chinatown.
The Chinatown Sting drops weekly on Tuesdays starting September 16.
Get early, ad-free access to the entire season of The Chinatown Sting by subscribing to Pushkin+ (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-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 (http://apple.co/pushkin)
Subscribe on Pushkin: pushkin.com/plus (https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin)
See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.
Inside a recent episode
Introducing: Agent Layla from CBC’s Personally
Published 2 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] She puts on dark sunglasses and a puffer jacket with a big hood. She slides into the back of an SUV. Two plainclothes cops are inside. They've given her a codename. She's Agent Leila. She takes a deep breath. They head to the airport. Vienna gets herself a table at the lounge. How are you today? […]
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