A con man named Nick Ward who's so good he's thanked.

Ira reads an excerpt from James Ellroy's memoir My Dark Places.

Two people who've nearly died in gun battles describe what it's like, getting shot at. They draw opposite conclusions from their near death experiences.

Host Ira Glass talks to three teenage boys who buy computer equipment using stolen credit card numbers.

Jerry Capeci, dean of the New York reporters who cover organized crime, on the decline of the mob in recent years. And Alec Wilkinson of the New Yorker magazine, who discusses a photo his wife took of his old neighbors, the Gambino crime family.

The first part of Josh Seftel and Rich Robinson's documentary about South Africa. Josh meets people who may be distant South African relatives.

There can be consequences for reading other people's mail.

Ira talks with a gang kid who turned to Jesus with the same ferocity and dedication with which he served his old street gang.

Why one teenager set fires and then stopped setting them. Paul Tough interview.

Ira with a girl gang member about the day she nearly died.

They can't pronounce the names, can't read the maps, don't know the history, and are on an idealistic quest for justice that so far has not flowered. Kitty Felde, on Americans at the War Crimes Trial for the former Yugoslavia.Interview with Michael Ignatieff about war crimes trials and truth commissions.