Episodes
We're deep in production of season 2 of Suave, dropping on the feed this fall! We can't wait for you to listen. In the meantime, Suave is taking his story on the road. He is producing his own live show, "The Never Give Up Tour" and traveling the country. Join him for a night of storytelling, music, and special guests in a city near you this Summer. Click the link for tickets: https://linktr.ee/ldgonzalez1120
Published 04/24/24
Published 04/24/24
Known as the island donde hasta la piedras cantan – “where even the rocks sing” – Puerto Rico is home to a dizzying breadth of musical expression. From the lyrical boleristas of the 1930s, to the electric salseros of the ’70s, to the reggaetoneros of today who have taken music from the margins and made it a global sensation, this season takes listeners on an exciting, richly-reported, cross-genre adventure that captures the ceaseless creativity, emotional resonance, and yes, la brega. We...
Published 02/02/23
As the island donde hasta la piedras cantan –“where even the rocks sing”– Puerto Rico is home to a dizzying breadth of musical expression. From the lyrical boleristas of the 1930s, to the electric salseros of the ’70s, to the reggaetoneros of today who have taken music from the margins and made it a global sensation, this season takes listeners on an exciting, richly-reported, cross-genre adventure that captures the ceaseless creativity, emotional resonance, and yes, la brega that are...
Published 01/24/23
Futuro Investigates and Latino USA—in partnership with Lemonada Media—present “USA v. García Luna,” a story where true crime meets telenovela. In this new investigative series, we’ll focus on Genaro García Luna: the most powerful Mexican official to ever face trial in the U.S. for allegedly accepting million-dollar bribes from the Sinaloan drug cartel. Maybe you've never heard of him, but in five episodes, Pulitzer Prize winner Maria Hinojosa and Emmy Award winner Peniley Ramírez will tell...
Published 12/16/22
Futuro Investigates and Latino USA —in partnership with Lemonada Media— present “USA v. García Luna,” a new investigative series about the most powerful Mexican official to ever face trial in the U.S. for allegedly accepting million-dollar bribes from the Sinaloan drug cartel. Before his arrest, Genaro García Luna worked closely with U.S. diplomats and intelligence agencies, and was considered the architect of the Mexican "war on drugs," funded with more than $3 billion of U.S. taxpayer...
Published 12/06/22
It's been a year since we released Suave into the world, and so much has happened. Including some really, really big news: this week our podcast won the Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting. We bring you a special recording of Maria Hinojosa and Luis "Suave" Gonzalez reflecting on what this means for them, and for criminal justice reform.
Published 05/11/22
From Futuro Studios and Sonoro Narcocorrido superstar Chalino Sánchez sings to a sold-out crowd for the first time in Sinaloa. It's the best night of his career until someone hands him a note. His face turns pale and his smile slowly disappears. That night, after the show, Chalino will be executed. But who killed him and why? We begin a journey to understand Chalino's life and impact, and the theories behind his unsolved murder. For more episodes, subscribe here.
Published 02/07/22
From Futuro Studios and Sonoro, a show that examines the extraordinary life of the “King of Corridos” and attempts to unravel the mystery of his death.  Coming next week to all podcast platforms. Subscribe here.
Published 01/25/22
The Suave team presents an episode from We Imagine...Us, a new project by Futuro Unidad Hinojosa, the newest editorial division of Futuro Media. Starring Emmy award-winning actress Karrueche Tran, We Imagine…Us: The Long Way Around is Futuro's first-ever fiction podcast series. It tells the story of a Black American father and his Black Vietnamese American daughter who set out across the United States in hope of rebuilding their lives. Offering a clear-eyed look at real-world struggles many...
Published 12/30/21
This is the true story of the young people from Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico and beyond who beat the odds, refused to be quiet and created an irresistible musical culture that has kept the world dancing. Join Ivy Queen, one of the founders of the genre, for an incredible musical story about sex, race, drugs, censorship, and of course, perreo. First: stop Panama. LOUD: The History of Reggaeton is a new podcast from Spotify Studios and Futuro Studios.
Published 08/09/21
It’s been a few months since we dropped the last episode of Suave, Season 1 on your feed. Recently our team heard a podcast episode from our friends at Ear Hustle, from PRX's Radiotopia, that made us think about some of the conversations we had with Suave about the importance of visits in prison. And we wanted to share that with you. Today we’re featuring that episode, called “Hot Trash.” Visiting a loved one in prison is both emotionally intense and constrained by countless rules — from...
Published 05/10/21
It’s been a few months since we dropped the last episode of Suave, Season 1 on your feed. Recently our team heard a podcast episode from our friends at Ear Hustle, from PRX's Radiotopia, that made us think about some of the conversations we had with Suave about the importance of visits in prison. And we wanted to share that with you. Today we’re featuring that episode, called “Hot Trash.” Visiting a loved one in prison is both emotionally intense and constrained by countless rules — from...
Published 05/10/21
“There's no winners in this. You’re a victim so you victimize other people because you’re hurt. It's a circle and it goes on and on.” Suave reckons with the last three decades of his life and begins to deal with the traumas of his childhood and incarceration that he’s long buried. Maria and Maggie discuss how the Supreme Court decision has played out differently across the country, leaving some other juvenile lifers still behind bars. Maria worries about the lasting effects of lifetime...
Published 03/16/21
“That little place right here changed my whole life. December 6, 1986. 15 seconds. 15 seconds changed my whole life.” Suave has been cleared from all accusations and is free once again. He returns with Maria to the corner of 8th and Somerset in the Badlands—the place where his victim’s young life ended and the place that changed the course of Suave’s life. And Suave reveals to Maria a shocking story she’s never heard before about the night of the murder in 1986.
Published 03/09/21
“Doesn’t matter if you doing good, if you got a job, it doesn't matter—it could be snatched up in a heartbeat and there's nothing you could do about it.” Suave returns to prison and goes silent for weeks. Maria tries to figure out why and finds herself torn between her faith in Suave’s innocence and her responsibility to believe his accuser. Suave finds it impossible to adjust to being back in prison. Maria questions the entire parole system of and whether Suave will ever be truly free....
Published 03/02/21
“I never dreamed that it would be this good. Even the worst day that I have is good. I'm going up… and I know everything that goes up must come down.” Suave kicks off his first day of freedom by checking things off his bucket list, including a long overdue conversation with his brother and an apology to students at a school in his old neighborhood in the Badlands. We follow Suave in his first year of freedom as he experiences the excitement of many firsts and as he tries to adjust to his new...
Published 02/23/21
“We had a secret, unspoken bond. We’re all dying in here. And I felt like I was breaking that bond. I feel like I'm leaving my brothers behind.” Suave moves to a transitional housing unit at Graterford and begins to prepare for his release. But as he readies for life on the outside, his excitement gives way to a “never-ending list of fears” about life outside of prison. Suave also reckons with some complicated emotions—both the unparalleled joys of his upcoming release and the guilt of...
Published 02/16/21
“I was fascinated with the lifestyle. I was fascinated with prison flicks. That's how you get the street credibility. You know, I'm gonna be the baddest dude on the block.” Maria learns more about Suave’s early life in the South Bronx and the crime Suave was convicted of as a teenager in the Badlands of Philadelphia. We explore the tactics of ruthless prosecutors that led to Pennsylvania becoming the state that sentenced the most minors in the country to life in prison without parole....
Published 02/09/21
“The very last word she said was ‘You can become a voice for the voiceless.’ And I was just like, ‘Damn, why am I letting this lady mess up my high?’” We meet Suave, a man who has been serving a life sentence at a Pennsylvania maximum-security prison since he was a teenager. And we learn about his decades-long relationship as a source with journalist Maria Hinojosa. Suave has come to terms with the fact that he will never leave the confines of Graterford prison. That is until a Supreme Court...
Published 02/09/21
Introducing "Suave," a podcast about juveniles sentenced to die in prison told through one man's journey. In 1988, David Luis “Suave” Gonzalez was found guilty of first-degree homicide. A Philadelphia judge sentenced him to life without parole for a crime committed when he was 17 years old. At a Pennsylvania prison, Suave joined the largest population of juvenile lifers in the country—young men considered by the justice system to be “irredeemable,” destined to die in prison for acts...
Published 02/02/21