The Burden

Orbit Media

Detective Louis N. Scarcella was a legendary figure in New York City during the '90s. In a city overrun with violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. But the story changed when a group of convicted murderers-turned-jailhouse lawyers made a startling discovery that linked all their cases: Scarcella was the cop who helped put many of them away. They made a vow: Take down Scarcella. And with the help of a relentless New York Times reporter, they did just that. Thirty years later, 20 people who Scarcella helped put behind bars have since walked free. In the media, he’s known as the disgraced, rogue cop who hoodwinked an entire system. But was this really the workings of one person?  We spent hundreds of hours talking with witnesses who were coerced, jailhouse lawyers, outraged attorneys, and righteous cops. Scarcella insists he didn’t do anything wrong. And after finally tracking him down, he agreed to take us into the belly of the beast... where justice is done (and undone). Welcome to The Burden.  The Burden is a production of Orbit Media in association with Signal Co. No1.

  • 29 minutes 30 seconds
    Bonus Episode | Behind the Scenes of Avenger with Alexis Bledel and Fisher Stevens! 

    For Avenger, which takes place in Argentina, we recorded all interviews in Spanish, translated them into English and had them voiced by actors. Miriam, the "disappeared" who becomes a journalist and tracks down the pilots of the death flights, is voiced by Alexis Bledel, the Emmy-winning actor known for her role in Gilmore Girls and Handmaid's Tale. Her father is Argentine. Alexis is directed by Oscar-winner Fisher Stevens. Fisher has directed Al Pacino and Justin Timberlake, among others. In this bonus episode, we learn how a skilled director gets a great performance out of a talented actor. If you've ever wanted to see how a great performance comes together, this is a master class. An intimate peek into the process of acting and directing. 


    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    11 December 2024, 8:00 am
  • 30 minutes 49 seconds
    Avenger | 8. The Bodies

    After thirty years of government impunity, the amnesty laws that helped bury Argentina’s horrific past are overturned. The trials against the junta commanders are reopened, and slowly, one after another, they are brought to justice. The trial against the pilots begins with Miriam and Enrique Piñeyro as key witnesses. It is the moment Miriam had been waiting for. The culmination of the investigation to avenge the deaths of her friends. And to answer the question that has plagued her: Why did I survive? Maybe to bring justice to the fallen.

    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    4 December 2024, 8:00 am
  • 36 minutes 4 seconds
    Avenger | 7. The Pilots

    It’s 1979, Miriam is free, but living in exile in New York City where she is surveilled by the junta. She’s among the few to survive imprisonment. In the years that follow, unidentified bodies start to wash up on the shores of Argentina. The bodies are swollen and bloated, but the perpetrators are unknown. Years later, democracy returns to Argentina, but still no one is held to account for the crimes against the disappeared. In 1985, the new president promises a historic trial against the junta commanders. Miriam bravely returns to Argentina to testify, but the judicial process drags on. Eventually, the forensic team examining the flight logs Miriam and Giancarlo found, link them to the bloated bodies that washed ashore during the dictatorship. The pilots of the death flights could finally face justice. 

    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    27 November 2024, 8:00 am
  • 33 minutes 12 seconds
    Avenger | 6. Miriam in Court

    The lack of media attention on the TV story is disheartening, but Miriam has a bigger plan up her sleeve and redirects all her energy to the courts. With the help of Nobel Laureate Adolfo Pérez Equivel, who himself survived a death flight, they file a formal accusation against the pilots at the federal prosecutor’s office. The evidence is mounting, the Argentine Navy hands over thousands of pages from the original flight logs to the prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor assigns a special unit to investigate crimes against humanity, and it includes an elite forensic team that links Miriam and Giancarlo’s investigation to a long unsolved crime.

    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    20 November 2024, 8:00 am
  • 21 minutes 57 seconds
    Avenger | 5. The Flight Logs

    One day, Miriam sits in her office when she gets a call from the stringer she hired to go look at one of the Skyvan planes which had been sold to a Florida businessman. The owner reveals that he has the flight logs dating back to the dictatorship. Those logs are a break. They could lead to the pilots of the death flights. With Enrique Pineyro’s help, who now joins the investigation, they decode the log’s cryptic notes. Flights that should have only taken 45 minutes were logged in at four hours. With the green light from the TV station, Miriam and her crew put the final touches on her report. She’s ready to expose everyone and maybe, finally see some justice. What follows comes as a complete surprise.

    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    13 November 2024, 8:00 am
  • 19 minutes 2 seconds
    Avenger | 4. The Planes

    Miriam and Giancarlo team up to search for the planes. She shows up at his tiny apartment every day after work at a TV station. They share pasta, cigarettes and scour the Internet for clues. One day, they stumble upon an obscure group of hobbyists who lead them to more details about the planes. Confident that they’re onto something, they try to enlist the help of a well-known Argentine pilot, actor, producer and controversial figure in Argentina. Their meeting doesn’t go well. Meanwhile, they locate one of the planes used for the death flights. When Miriam makes a discovery about the plane, she faces a decision that could make or break this investigation.

    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    6 November 2024, 8:00 am
  • 29 minutes 34 seconds
    Avenger | 3. The World Cup

     It’s 1978. The World Cup, the most popular sporting event in the world, is hosted for the first time in Argentina. The Argentines are losing their minds with excitement. From a small cell in the middle of the city, Miriam can hear the cheers from the stadium a mile away. Her captors recruit her to work on the junta’s media propaganda machine; she must celebrate the very regime that imprisons her. Survival is a tricky business. She may have to compromise to avoid the death flights that will kill most of her fellow prisoners.

    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    30 October 2024, 7:00 am
  • 26 minutes 31 seconds
    Avenger | 2. The Investigation

    An Italian photographer with a specialty in the horror humans do named Giancarlo Ceraudo shows up in Argentina to learn about the death flights during Argentina’s military dictatorship. He’s obsessed. Who are the pilots who flew these homicidal missions? He knows the planes will hold clues. To find them, he needs Miriam’s help. If she accepts, she will have to confront  painful memories of her own torture and kidnapping. But she may also have the chance to bring the pilots of the death flights to justice.

    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    23 October 2024, 7:01 am
  • 32 minutes 6 seconds
    Avenger | 1. The Process

    It’s 1977, Argentina. The military has seized power. Miriam Lewin is 19 years old, an activist, and a target of a brutal dictatorship. She’ll spend two years in prison. But Miriam is one of the lucky ones..... Her fellow prisoners will be tossed from airplanes to their deaths on the infamous “death flights.” Three decades later, Miriam is a respected investigative journalist. She steadfastly avoided doing stories about the death flights – the subject is too painful –  until a phone call from an Italian photojournalist changes everything.

    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    23 October 2024, 7:00 am
  • 3 minutes 28 seconds
    Introducing - The Burden: Avenger

    Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. 

    Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country.

    Avenger is a production of Orbit Media in association with Sonoro Media and Signal Co. No1.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    16 October 2024, 7:00 am
  • 32 minutes 42 seconds
    Bonus Episode | Father Frank Meets His Maker

    He was the detective who could get the confessions other cops couldn’t. Thus the nickname, Father Frank. It was Father Frank who rescued the prosecution’s case against Cal—until that conviction was overturned. And it was Father Frank who helped put away a 16-year-old for murder—until that conviction was also overturned. So how good was Father Frank really? The DA reopened his cases, and some even called him the Scarcella of The Bronx.

    Empire on Blood is a production of Orbit Media in association with Signal Co. No1

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    9 October 2024, 7:00 am
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