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Scientology leader’s father signs a book deal, for ‘IF HE DIES, HE DIES’

Ron Miscavige Sr., 79, the father to reclusive Scientology leader David Miscavige, 55, has signed a deal with major publisher St. Martin’s Press to issue his book about his son and Scientology titled “If He Dies, He Dies.”

The title is a reference to a now infamous story that came out in the Los Angeles Times []

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Paulette Cooper back in Clearwater for the first time since the 1982 Scientology hearings

 Mark Bunker got very good video of Sunday’s event in Clearwater. But about ten minutes into it your proprietor knocked his lapel microphone off, and in general the setup wasn’t ideal for sound. But blame us, not Bunker. []

Augustine: Taking a hard look at Scientology’s slush fund, the unlicensed and unregulated IAS

 We’ve been on the road with our appearance yesterday in Clearwater, but thankfully, our friend Jeffrey Augustine sent in another of his deep dives into the weird world of Scientology infrastructure. Take us down the rabbit hole again, Jeff…

 In our last article, we showed that the word “Scientologist” is a collective membership mark used by []

Project Normandy, 2015: Paulette Cooper has landed in Clearwater — Scientology’s ‘Mecca’

Now this is going to be fun. We arrived in Clearwater yesterday and reunited with some great people and met plenty of new folks. And it’s all been in advance of perhaps the most anticipated stop on our book tour so []

Did Scientology hire the man sent to prison for hacking us? Not his job to find out, judge said

 As Eric Saldarriaga was leaving a ninth-floor courtroom at the old federal court house in New York City following his sentencing yesterday, he was in tears.

I couldn’t help wincing. []

Jefferson Hawkins on how Scientology closes minds — a new podcast

After we posted yesterday’s story about how Mike Rinder and I had learned that we had each been victimized by the same private investigator, Eric Saldarriaga, I received an invitation form the US Attorney’s Office to speak at Saldarriaga’s sentencing today.

I decided to take it. The sentencing happens at 2 pm, and we are looking []

MIKE RINDER AND REPORTER: MAN CONVICTED OF HACKING WAS WORKING FOR SCIENTOLOGY

 Eric Saldarriaga faces sentencing Friday for the attempted hacking of the former church spokesman, who asks feds to look into Scientology’s alleged culpability

By Tony Ortega

Tomorrow in New York, Eric Saldarriaga, a 41-year-old Astoria, Queens private investigator, will be sentenced in federal court after pleading guilty to hiring a hacker to access private email accounts on []

Nora Crest in Toronto: Growing up in Scientology means indoctrination from birth

We had to leave the Toronto Scientology conference to deal with some changes back here in New York, but Jonny Jacobsen remained, and submitted this account of Nora Crest’s presentation on Wednesday.

Nora Crest gave a sharp, funny and at times moving account of what it is like to grow up inside Scientology. She was born []

A rundown on the truth being delivered at the Toronto Scientology conference

It was a real highlight for us to meet for the first time a frequent contributor to the Underground Bunker, former Sea Org worker Chris Shelton. We asked him to give us a report about his first day speaking at the Toronto conference yesterday. Here’s what he sent []

Reed Slatkin dies of heart attack — Scientologist served time as major Ponzi schemer

Mary-Jo Alburger, former wife to convicted Ponzi schemer Reed Slatkin, confirmed to us this afternoon that her former husband died Saturday at about 3 pm of a massive heart attack. He was 66.

“He was alone and he made it to the hospital. He seemed to know he was having a heart attack and he collapsed []