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Dark Arenas

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Have you ever thought about whose job it is to track international fugitives, hunt child abductors, conduct espionage, or pull human remains from concealed mass graves? Everyday thousands of good and decent people work in these Dark Arenas. They’ve chosen professions that grapple with the grotesque, deal with the deviant, and dodge the dangerous.

In this audiochuck original series you will hear first-hand accounts of what it's like to investigate the
darkest crimes and most violent criminals in society. Host Delia D’Ambra has traveled across the United States to collect one-on-one interviews with crime scene experts, FBI agents, forensic interviewers, medical examiners, DEA agents, a former CIA Director, ATF special agents, and more. Each week she works to understand how these professionals’ jobs affect them, and most importantly, why they keep at it day after day.

Episode 11: Things that Go Boom Part 2

Dark Arenas

  • 820 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 17:27

Delia learns about a valuable tool the ATF uses to track down and combat the illegal firearms market. A special agent and his partner reveal how human intelligence can't compare to canine savvy.

Episode 10: Things that Go Boom Part 1

Dark Arenas

  • 790 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 24:36

In an era where you can order pretty much anything off of the internet, federal ATF agents working to foil bombings and mass shootings have to keep up with the times. In this episode we sit down with special agents to discuss the Dark Arena of bomb making, arson, and explosives.

Episode 9: Defining Death

Dark Arenas

  • 880 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 35:43

Most people watch a TV show and think they know what a forensic pathologist does...but they couldn't be more wrong. In this episode, Delia sits down one on one with a forensic pathologist whose job takes him beyond his lab and white coat and to the crime scenes of mass shootings and murder.

Episode 8: War on Drugs

Dark Arenas

  • 810 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 35:01

The war on drugs is real and intense every day for agents who work for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. In this episode, Delia speaks with a DEA Special Agent who investigates and attempts to unmask the dark characters pushing poison into, out of and across America.

Episode 7: Game of Spies

Dark Arenas

  • 820 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 27:13

Who is the real Jason Bourne? Is Jack Ryan real? In this episode we sit down with former director of the CIA, Porter Goss, to take a closer look at the darker side of international espionage.

Episode 6: Man of the Law

Dark Arenas

  • 810 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 29:55

Former United States Attorney David DeVillers sits down with Delia to talk about what it takes to go toe-to-toe with organized crime syndicates and terrorist organizations at home and overseas. The dark world of breaking up criminal enterprises takes guts and a knowledge of federal law that many people cannot imagine.

Episode 5: Overseeing Outcries

Dark Arenas

  • 760 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 28:54

Every day children are abused both physically and sexually. Every day they have to tell someone about what happened to or is still happening to them. So, whose job is it to  interview that child and learn the dark details of their outcry? We're finding out in this episode of Dark Arenas.

Episode 4: The Most Wanted

Dark Arenas

  • 870 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 23:30

Carry a gun. Kick down a door. Repeat. Sounds like a script ripped right from a television show, but U.S. Marshal Chief Deputy Manny Puri explains that the reality facing fugitive task force teams is darker than anyone can imagine. Marshals aim to shield the public from mayhem by knocking on a criminal's door before he or she can do any more damage to society.

Episode 3: Art of Identity

Dark Arenas

  • 760 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 34:48

Recreating a person's identity from nothing but bones is no easy task. In this episode, Delia learns the science and vision behind the work of a forensic sketch artist and sculptor tasked with giving faces and names to the dead, missing and unidentified.

Episode 2: Hunting the Hunters

Dark Arenas

  • 810 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 39:57

When a child disappears, every second counts. Communication between law enforcement agencies, the public and the child's family has to happen. A special agent from the FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team explains the Dark Arena of trying to find a missing child...and bring them home, either dead or alive.

Episode 1: Protective Detail

Dark Arenas

  • 790 views
  • about 1 year ago
  • 31:22

Working for the United States Secret Service means you're called to take a bullet if need be...but most people probably don't how much planning goes into ensuring that doesn't happen. On this episode of Dark Arenas, Delia speaks with a retired presidential bodyguard and limo driver who knows first-hand what security from all angles requires.