The New York Case That Brought Down FIFA

Right now, tens of millions of people are glued to their screens as countries from around the world duke it out on the soccer pitch for their shot at winning the World Cup at this year's tournament in Russia. But just how that country was chosen to host the biggest sporting event in the world was at one point the subject of a massive federal investigation based out of New York City.

In his new book, "Red Card: How the U.S. Blew the Whistle on the World's Biggest Sports Scandal," reporter Ken Bensinger dives into the U.S. Justice Department's investigation into some of the most powerful men in the sporting world. As he tells WNYC's Jami Floyd, the key to the whole case turned out to be a single official from Queens named Chuck Blazer.

"He rose steadily through the ranks until he was one of the 24 most powerful people in world soccer, and he turned out to be enormously corrupt," said Bensinger. "He was constantly skimming money for himself, taking bribes, and avoiding taxes at all cost. And tax evasion was what ultimately brought him down."

As Bensinger writes, once Blazer's wrongdoing was discovered by a soccer-loving IRS agent, it was a matter of time before the FBI closed in on him and the rest of FIFA's leadership. Listen to the full conversation by pressing the "listen" button.