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28 episodes listed below
True crime at the working waterfront.
The series turns a dockside criminal case into a wider story about work, food, law, and power. Carlos Rafael’s rise, the undercover investigation, and the fisheries system around him become a portrait of an industry under pressure.
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The Big Dig Presents: Catching The Codfather is a reported series about Carlos Rafael and the New England fishing world that made his case possible. It begins in the practical details of work: sharp knives, heavy boxes of fish, family succession, and a business built through speed, nerve, and endurance. The crime story arrives gradually. An IRS approach, undercover buyers, suspicious fish movement, and unanswered money trails become part of a much larger account of how an industry is governed. The series is especially strong when it slows down and explains the system around the scandal. Fishery councils, catch limits, shrinking stocks, small inshore boats, larger fleets, and consolidation all become narrative pressure points. Nothing is treated as background decoration. Regulation is not abstract here; it changes who can fish, how much they can catch, and whether a family business survives. Carlos Rafael remains the central figure, but the show resists making him only a folk hero or only a villain. His voice sits beside investigators, fishermen, lawyers, archival context, and industry detail. That gives the story a productive tension. The same rules meant to protect the fishery can create winners, losers, loopholes, and resentment. The same independent streak that built a business can also become a way to justify breaking rules. Bonus episodes widen the frame without leaving the docks behind. A conversation with Roger Berkowitz turns the reporting into a practical guide to buying fish, including fresh versus frozen, dogfish, and seafood sourcing. Another episode connects fishermen’s regulatory fights to a landmark Supreme Court case involving Loper Bright and Relentless. Featured episodes from The Sporkful and CBC’s Uncover point to the show’s broader editorial taste: crime, food, power, and community told through specific people in specific places. The pace is measured but not dry. It has legal stakes, shop-floor texture, and a clear interest in how public systems meet private ambition. For PlayNext users, it sits at the intersection of true crime, labor reporting, environmental policy, and New England identity.
Made for: For listeners who like reported narrative series where a criminal case opens into policy, labor, food, and regional history. It especially suits fans of grounded true crime with systems-level context.
What sets it apart: The series uses one fishing prosecution to explain how seafood, government oversight, environmental scarcity, and business ambition collide. Its strongest distinction is the mix of dockside character work and clear explanations of fisheries regulation.
A fishing tycoon is arrested in an elaborate sting operation, but claims he’s the real hero fighting back against an overbearing state. So who is Carlos “The Codfather” Rafael really – a folk hero, a crook, a righteous rebel, a selfish conman? In Season 3 of The Big Dig podcast, “Catching The Codfather,” we go down to the docks. It’s a place where food, work, nature, money and politics all meet – where dreams are born, fortunes ruined, and where the watchful eye of the government is always present. The series traces the rise of Carlos Rafael and his escalating conflict with the governme...
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
A dockside investigation that makes fishing regulation, commercial power, and environmental limits legible through the people living with their consequences.
The Big Dig Presents: Catching The Codfather traces how power accumulates on New England docks by moving between Carlos Rafael's account of his rise, the history of commercial fishing, and the rules governing who can catch what.
A fishing empire meets quota math, and suddenly your seafood counter has a political backstory.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical seafood guide built around cod, dogfish, and restaurant memories.
The episode turns a restaurant memory into a practical seafood buying guide, with Roger Berkowitz and the host moving from recollections to the questions that matter at the counter.
Catch shares, council politics, and the fraud that exposed the system.
This episode tracks New England fishing politics through a council member from New Hampshire, where catch shares arrive with both the promise of a new management system and the risk of consolidation.
A seafood story that turns a family-business confession into labor history and fisheries politics.
This episode begins with a family-business reckoning and then broadens into the labor and politics of the fish industry. It follows a man trying to hand off his company to Stephanie, then Carlos learning fish cutting with a blade sharpened until it can shave forearm hair, and…
Crunchy campaigns, sharp jokes, stranger systems.
Moral questions with consequences for minds, machines, and power.
WSJ reporters unpack the Epstein files, surrogacy industry abuses, and true-crime court battles.
Dan Carlin's solo essays connecting executive power, historical collapse, and American democracy.
This episode explores the quest for the perfect lobster roll, featuring a story from The Sporkful podcast about uncovering a secret recipe on Martha's Vineyard and scientific insights on frozen versus fresh lobster.
Ian Kos and Roger Berkowitz turn Catching The Codfather into a buyer's guide for monkfish, sardines, cod, salmon, and the words on a supermarket fish label.
Ian Koss interviews New Civil Liberties Alliance senior litigation counsel John Vecchione about the 2024 Supreme Court cases Loper Bright and Relentless, which overturned Chevron deference.
This episode continues the investigation into Carlos Rafael, focusing on undercover operations to uncover illegal fishing activities and money trails.
This episode announces The Big Dig's Highway Teardown Tour, featuring live tapings in multiple cities to discuss urban infrastructure, and transitions to a scene at Carlos Seafood.
Carlos Rafael called smaller fishermen “mosquitoes on the balls of an elephant,” while his quota share climbed toward 25%.
Carlos Rafael's path runs from the Azores to New Bedford, where he arrives at 15, works as a fish cutter, and later starts Carlos Seafood with $5,000 and 27 cents.
This episode explores the story of Ralph Nader, focusing on his role in challenging government authority and his impact as a third-party presidential candidate, particularly in the 2000 election.
This episode explores how two teenagers began working for the Massachusetts State Lottery in 1976 during a period when the lottery was launching a new daily drawing game to boost declining sales.
This episode explores the habits of a regular lottery player who spends $50 daily on scratch tickets, hoping to win big for retirement at age 75.
This episode explores the legendary story of Massachusetts State Treasurer Bob Crane and how he built the state lottery into a global gambling powerhouse, focusing on a key 1960 anecdote about his political mythology.