I Am Rebel

African-American activist Louis Moore was targeted by Detroit police in 1972. After being beaten and threatened by the cops, Moore wants justice, so he hijacks Southern Airways Flight 49 with two demands — to speak to President Nixon and to receive $4 million from the city of Detroit. The hijacking triggers sweeping reforms in airport security and raises awareness of police brutality.

Weegee, New York’s first crime scene photographer, chronicles the city’s violence and public reaction at the height of the Prohibition-era gang wars. Largely considered the world’s first paparazzo, his sensational photography defines the era’s organized crime racket and puts pressure on law enforcement to end the bloody public spectacles and gives rise to today’s tabloid news culture.

Pioneering chemist Alexander Shulgin invents over 250 psychedelic drugs in his backyard laboratory, including a breakthrough tool for psychotherapy called MDMA. When the formula escapes his laboratory and hits the streets as the club drug Ecstasy, Shulgin goes to war with the DEA to protect his greatest invention. Today, MDMA remains the best medical hope for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the early 1980s, computer hackers are seen as dark and nefarious. But what officials don’t understand is that by identifying the holes in online security, hackers help make systems safer. Prank caller and telephone system manipulator Kevin Mitnick is one of the first notorious hackers who eluded the FBI for years. When finally caught, he teaches the government how to tighten digital security.