After years of disinvestment, highways are rebuilt, old buildings demolished, and new skyscrapers erected. All that rubble has to go somewhere, and its destination isn’t a landfill—it’s a pair of vacant lots in a predominately black, working-class neighborhood called North Lawndale. The man behind this operation is a white guy sporting a Cosby sweater and underworld connections. What follows is a tour de force through Chicago’s underbelly: Aldermen get indicted. An FBI investigation goes awry. A community’s resilience is tested—all unfolding under the specter of racism in America.

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