Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He's written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology's harassment of Paulette Cooper titled 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.' He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world from an undisclosed location in an underground bunker he shares with four cats and one of them wrinkly Shar Pei dogs. Despite his super-secret security protections, you can still reach him pretty easily by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you'd like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.) [Header image courtesy John Rickard]
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Days before crucial hearing, Scientology pulls out a ghost to sway a federal judge

Judge James D. Whittemore

Federal Tampa district Judge James D. Whittemore has been preparing in a very methodical way ahead of a February 18 evidentiary hearing that could have a huge impact on the Church of Scientology.

He’s already held one live hearing on this important preliminary matter, and in anticipation of next week’s event, []

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Fact-checking Danny Masterson’s remarkable Paper interview about Scientology

By now you’ve probably seen Danny Masterson’s interview with Paper magazine, which was posted online Wednesday evening. The piece is getting a lot of attention because Scientology’s celebrities are usually very reluctant to talk publicly about the secretive organization.

The last time an actor said so much about his involvement in Scientology, and as aggressively, it []

These are the superpowers Scientologists are paying big bucks to attain

During our time at the Village Voice one of our readers’ favorite features were the “OT Phenomena” we dug out of old copies of Advance! magazine.

Jefferson Hawkins, who at one time edited the magazine, told us that “OT Phenomena” was the most popular feature in the publication. It featured the tantalizing tales of superhuman abilities []

‘You encourage people to leave the Church of Scientology’: The Mike Rinder deposition

On Wednesday, we told you about the startling admission by Mike Rinder in his January 6 sworn deposition that Leah Remini, who defected from Scientology in 2013, has been in talks to join a federal fraud lawsuit against the church.

Now, we’re going to post the entire deposition for you to examine, and we think you’ll []

Mark Ebner finds Scientology’s rubbish again as Narconon International vanishes!

Clark Carr, where’d you go?

One of our better sources said it to us several months ago, and it was so startling, we really weren’t sure what to make of it.

“Narconon International is being dismantled,” he told us.

Hang on. Narconon International, the Scientology umbrella group that oversees and licenses all Narconon rehab centers around []

Ryan Hamilton’s plan to consolidate his lawsuits against Scientology rehabs is denied

Ryan Hamilton

We’re so used to Las Vegas attorney Ryan Hamilton running roughshod over his opponents, this comes as a bit of a surprise. But Hamilton’s attempt to have his many lawsuits in several states against Scientology’s drug rehab network Narconon consolidated into a single federal court in Nevada was rejected on Friday.

Consolidating the []

An L. Ron Hubbard island fantasy: The Scientology daydream you haven’t heard

On Tuesday, we told you about new FDA documents which helped us fill in some gaps in Scientology history. The documents took us back to late 1957, when L. Ron Hubbard hatched a scheme to force the country’s psychiatrists and psychologists to take a “loyalty oath” he’d dreamed up, with hopes of rooting out disloyal []

Scientology vs. the mayor: The full Gabe Cazares interview from 1997’s Secret Lives

We have another leak of raw footage from Channel 4’s excellent 1997 documentary, Secret Lives — L. Ron Hubbard, this time with former Clearwater mayor Gabe Cazares.

The film, one of the better ones made about Scientology, contained numerous short clips from interviews of people who knew Hubbard. A source is releasing to us the full []

SCIENTOLOGY DENIED: Australia’s only Narconon rehab center loses zoning fight

The Australian community of Warburton, in the state of Victoria east of Melbourne, has won its struggle to keep a Scientology drug rehab facility from moving into town, and now Scientology’s Narconon network finds its only Australian facility on the brink of oblivion.

Here in the U.S., Narconon centers around the country have been the subject []

LEAH REMINI IN TALKS TO SUE SCIENTOLOGY: MIKE RINDER TESTIMONY

In July 2013 the Underground Bunker first broke the news that Leah Remini had defected from the Church of Scientology. Now, we’ve learned that within the last year, Remini has been in talks to join a federal fraud lawsuit seeking refunds for former Scientology members, according to a sworn deposition.

Luis and Rocio Garcia of Irvine, []