Bring a little optimism into your life with the bright side, a new kind of daily podcast from hello, Sunshine, hosted by me, Danielle Robet, and me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more. I am so excited about this podcast. The bright side. You guys are giving people a chance to shine a light on their lives. Shine a light on a little advice that they want to share.

Listen to the bright side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search the bright side.

I'm Johnny B. Goode, the host of the podcast creating a con, the story of Bitcon. This podcast dives deep into the story of Ray Trappani and his company, Centratech. I'll explore how 320 somethings built a company out of lies, deceit, and greed.

I've been saying since a very young age that I was going to be a millionaire. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme.

Listen to creating a con, the story of bitcon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Imagine you're a fly on the wall at a dinner between the mafia, the CIA, and the KGB. That's where my new podcast begins. This is Neal Strauss, host of to live and die in LA, and I wanted to quickly tell you about an intense new series about a dangerous spy taught to seduce men for their secrets and sometimes their lives. From Tenderfoot tv. This is to die for. To die for is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

My whole life, I've been told this one story about my family, about how my great great grandmother was killed by the mafia back in Sicily. I was never sure if it was true, so I decided to find out. And even though my uncle Jimmy told me I'd only be making the vendetta worse, I'm going to Sicily anyway. Come to Italy with me to solve this 100 year old murder mystery. Listen to the Sicilian inheritance on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

As an investigative reporter, every story could be your last. If something goes wrong, that's not just on you, it's not just on the reporter. It can embarrass the paper.

That's Jack Leonard, senior investigations editor for the LA Times. Jack started at the Times as a reporter, and his stories have exposed fraud in the California conservatorship system abuse in LA's jails, and corruption at the highest levels of the LA county sheriff's department. Jack knows that whenever a newspaper decides to take on powerful people and institutions, there's some risk involved.

You need a strong stomach for that kind of reporting, and you need a strong stomach for that kind of editing.

I've been working on the Pulia Fido story for a few weeks, but I stopped by Jack's desk. I told him how the dean of USC's medical school had been at the scene of the overdose of a young woman, tried to stop someone from calling paramedics, lie to the 911 dispatcher, and then abruptly stepped down his dean, and how the cops had done nothing, and no one at USC would talk. My reporting was rock solid. It was going to be a good piece, the kind of story that would hold Pula, Fido, USC and the Pasadena police accountable. Jack hears me out, and then he.

Says, what makes you think they're going to publish that?

He's talking about our editors, the two people at the top of the masthead at the LA Times. Is it possible that my own newspaper might not have the stomach for this story? And if not, why? My name is Paul Pringle. I'm an investigative reporter at the LA Times. And this, his fallen angels. Episode three company men. I'd first heard about the incident at the hotel Constance in Pasadena from a whistleblower named Devon Khan, who worked at the hotel. Since then, I've gotten ahold of police records and 911 recordings. They confirm what Devon told me. You can hear the 911 dispatcher ask Poliofito about the woman's condition, even though she's unconscious. Odd on drugs, polio Fito lies.

Did she take anything else with it or just the alcohol?

Just the alcohol. The woman was rushed to the hospital. The police found drugs in the room, but Poliofito wasn't arrested. And the passing of police didn't even file a report. So Devon called the office of the USC president. He told the staff everything he knew. But when USC put out a press release, all it said was that Puleofhida was stepping down to, quote, pursue other opportunities. So, yes, it's an important story. But Jack seems to think the top two editors at the LA Times won't be in a hurry to publish it.

The printed paper is going to be something that will have more context and more analysis and more perspective. To survive. The web would be a place where you can find immediacy and breaking news.

That's Devon Maharaj the editor in chief of the LA Times where I work. He's giving an interview about the challenges of our business to a leading italian press organization. Avon came to the LA Times in 1989 as a summer intern, worked his way up, and became editor in chief in 2011. He and I got along when he was managing editor, he'd fight for my stories. I thought he was smart and a little edgy. But since he became editor in chief, I felt like Dave on had less of an appetite for investigative reporting, Jack Leonard says. I'm not alone in that.

There was a feeling that the stories weren't just being vetted. Some of them were being slow walked. As an editor, I think a lot of reporters want their stories vetted, but they want them to also get into the paper.

Matt laid, the editor I'm working with on the polio fetal story, had found this out the hard way when he and his reporters investigated Purdue Pharma, makers of OxyContin, the painkiller fueling America's opioid epidemic. It was an explosive story, one that could save lives, but it hit a wall once it got to Daevon and his managing editor, Mark Duvison.

There were delays. After delays, it was difficult to get engagement from the top leadership about what they would want out of a draft or a story. I felt there was problems communicating that or articulating why a story wasn't ready for publication. It felt like there was a reluctance to take on these topics.

Matt was working with two fine reporters, Scott Glover and Lisa Gerion. Then he brought in another standout on the staff, Harriet Ryan, to help.

My editor at the time was Matt Lee. He came to me and said like, look, I need you to do me a favor. These two reporters have been working on this series about OxyContin and that they need a little help in just structuring the narrative. Should take like a couple months. All the evidence was there, but they just tortured these reporters, waiting and then waiting for feedback on drafts that they clearly hadn't read. There was nothing wrong with these stories. They were ready to go in the paper. I still struggle to understand why two of our best reporters were treated with so much disrespect. It ended up taking like years, and both of them quit in frustration at the way things unfolded. By the end, it was just me alone and Matt Lee trying to get these stories done. My anxiety was so severe that I had, like I would at times lose feeling in my arms from stress.

The series was finally published in May of 2016, and it led to a major federal investigation into Purdue Pharma. It's the kind of impact newspaper editors dream about. So why had Daevon been so slow to publish? And why did Jack Leonard think my poliofido story might not even see the light of day?

Bring a little optimism into your life with the bright side, a new kind of daily podcast from hello, Sunshine, hosted by me. And me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more. Thank you for taking the light, and you're gonna shine it all over the world, and it makes me really happy. I never imagined that I would get the chance to carry this honor and help be a part of this legacy.

Listen to the bright side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search the bright side.

My name is Johnny B. Goode, and I'm the host of the new podcast creating a con, the story of Bitcon. Over this nine, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Trapani.

I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme.

You see, Ray has this unique ability to find loopholes and exploit them.

They collected $30 million. There were headlines about it.

His company, Centratech, was one of the hottest crypto startups in 2017. It was going to change the world. Until it didn't.

It came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was FBI request.

It was only a matter of time before the truth came out.

You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard degree is not so crimson.

How could you sit there and do.

Something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world?

Listen to creating a con, the story of bitcon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is Neal Strauss, host of the Tenderfoot TV true crime podcast to live and die in LA. I'm here to tell you about the new podcast I've been undercover investigating for the last year and a half. It's called to die for. Here's a clip.

All these girls were sent out into the world, and they were told, try to meet important men. Try to attach yourself to important men.

The voice you're hearing is a russian model agent telling me about spies sent out to seduce men with political power.

The war in Ukraine is also being fought by all these girls that are all over important cities.

For the first time, a military train seduction spy reveals how the russian government turn sex and love into a deadly weapon.

If you want to kill your target, it's easy. You just seduce him, take him somewhere, start having sex, and then he's very vulnerable, so you can kill him easily to die.

Four is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I never thought I'd take my three young kids to Sicily to solve a century old mystery, but that's what I'm doing in my new podcast, the Sicilian Inheritance. Join us as we travel thousands of miles on the beautiful and crazy island of Sicily as I trace my roots back through a mystery for the ages and untangle clues within my family's origin story, which has morphed like a game of telephone through the generations. Was our family matriarch killed in a land deal gone wrong? Or was it, by the sicilian mafia, a lover's quarrel? Or was she, as my father believed, a witch? Listen to the Sicilian inheritance on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

There's an important detail about Devon Maharaj and his job at the LA Times that I haven't mentioned yet. He's not just the editor in chief, he's also the publisher. This is not typical, and there's a reason for that. The editor in chief just needs to care about journalism. Good stories, accurate reporting, impact. Like holding Purdue Pharma to account, publishers have other things to worry about. Joe Pompeo is a media correspondent for Vanity Fair.

Typically the publisher, that means the business side. This is the person that is responsible for the revenue, for the money that the place is making and how it's going to make money. And historically, in newspapers or news organizations in general, there's a very firm firewall between the business side and the journalism of the place. If you have a publisher who is particularly engaged in editorial decisions that could theoretically influence coverage, or how certain stories are told based on not wanting to offend advertisers or ruffle feathers.

So Devon, in his two sided job, has to decide which stories are up to the Times journalistic standards, and he also has to keep the place afloat financially. And in 2016, that's not easy. The Times is a mess.

The Los Angeles Times was one of the great national newspapers of America. For a large part of its history, it was found even the late 18 hundreds, and for most of its history, was controlled by the same family. This is the Chandlers of Los Angeles, who was one of the great newspaper dynasties of the 20th century. This is a paper that has robust bureaus all over the place. A pretty significant force in the journalism landscape. That began to change in the mid two thousands as the Los Angeles Times and print media everywhere began to really experience some of the pressures that were coming to bear with the rise of digital media. The revenue models that print newspapers had long relied on, which would have been print based advertising, that became a much trickier proposition. Newsrooms have to start getting rid of reporters and editors and many newsrooms, they have 1000 journalists. Suddenly they have half that. And the LA Times certainly experienced a very, very sharp decrease in its manpower. A lot of people would point to 2007 as the beginning of the end for the LA Times. This is the year that Sam Zell, the billionaire real estate investor, took over.

Sam Zell is a Chicago based billionaire. After he bought Tribune, the company that owned the LA Times, he came in hard. You can get a sense of Zell's leadership style from this meeting in 2008 when he dressed down a group of Tribune journalists who were nervous about his takeover.

You're giving me the classic, what I would call journalistic arrogance of deciding that puppies don't count. What I'm interested in is how can we generate additional interest in our product and additional revenue so we can make our product better and better.

Some might say that Zilla's a realist. In this new age of digital journalism, newspapers need clicks because clicks are the new currency and this is a business. Puppies get clicks. But as it turned out, puppies weren't the answer either.

He bought out the Tribune company, took it private, and in doing so accrued a lot of debt. Within a year, under the reign of Samzell's Tribune company, the company declared bankruptcy. From there, you know, they've kind of just had a succession of bad managers and owners running the place. Eventually it becomes this company called Tronc. Tribune company becomes Tronc.

Tronc. We're a long way from the Chandler family. Another rich chicagoan tech entrepreneur, Michael Farrell, was the biggest shareholder in this new conglomerate. Like Zell, he's also considered a disaster for the LA Times.

This one reporter I talked to when I was reporting on this turmoil said to me, we just had an unbelievable string of assholes running the place.

Harriet Ryan started at the Times in 2008.

My first week at the paper, there were a bunch of layoffs and the guy sitting across from me got laid off and I had just been hired and like, I ended up going to his, like, it was like a mass layoff. So there's sort of this, like, cake and, like, juice thing, and it was like my first week on the job.

Years of digital disruption, bad management, and budget cuts have taken a toll. By the time I'm reporting the pulley of fetal story in 2016, two thirds of the newsroom is gone. I'm juggling three other investigations. Trunc management has eliminated the publisher's job and rolled it in with the editor in chief position. They either don't appreciate the potential conflicts that might create, or they don't care. Editor Matt laid could see that Devon and the other top editors had their work cut out for them.

They were in a difficult position. They had tough jobs. They were dealing routinely with new bosses, new ownership, folks that didn't really understand the industry. They were dealing with the other problems that the industry was facing, which was a lack of revenue. I think they wanted to value investigative reporting. They actually created an environment that made it very difficult to produce investigative reporting.

Reporter Harriet Ryan is more direct.

You know, we're not in the golden age of journalism. I'm sure they are under tons of pressure, but honestly, I see it as a character issue, a lack of character, almost like just pathological narcissism.

Devon Maharaj and Mark Duvison deny that they did anything wrong in their handling of the USC investigation, and they maintain that any negative betrayal of their actions is false. Matt and I go over my draft of the pulley of story, and then he sends it to California editor Shelby Grad. Shelby does an edit and sends the story along to his boss, Mark Duvison.

Mark is a very complicated character. He's a very, very precise editor. He really gets in the weeds.

Editor Jack Leonard.

In fact, I worked on a project that was more than three years in the making. But for Mark, it would not have run. But this was years ago. This was back in 2005.

Mark and I had joined the LA Times around the same time in 2001. He seemed like someone with a lot of ambition. That got him the promotion to manage an editor, second in command to Dabon. After that, the problem with investigative stories got much worse.

You seem to have got a little bit gun shy since then. As you move up, the responsibilities become more. If something goes wrong with a story, it's on you.

One of Mark's first edits is to delete the line that calls the story a Times investigation. He tells me that implies, quote, wrongdoing by USC. I'm stunned. The story doesn't imply anything. It's a factual report of our investigation. Matt and I argue with him about it, but he doesn't budge. Then he spends weeks making cosmetic changes. He tinkers and dawdles, but he doesn't challenge any of the reporting because it's solid. Still, he's in no hurry to publish. Mark says I should visit Pugliofito and one of the Pasadena police officers at their homes to, to get an interview. I told him I've already tried that a few times. One place I haven't tried door knocking is the home of USC president Max Nikias.

In the case of someone like the president of USC, it's quite possible that Paul's messages so far have not got to him. It's quite possible that the pr people who are handling Paul's questions have not told Max Nikias about them. So as a reporter, you fear that the person you're writing about doesn't know what you're writing about. Taking that one last step, going out to the home, asking to talk to him, that is very important.

If someone has a press office, of course you go through the press office to try to talk to them. But then like when they don't respond, or if they respond with a Blasey statement, that's not the end of it for an investigative reporter. And then you text them and you call them, then you go to their house.

Mark absolutely does not want me to doorknock Max Nikias. I cant believe it. If anything, Mark ought to be demanding I pay Nikias a visit. Matt Leighton I decide Im going to Nikias House that weekend anyway. He lets Mark know what were planning to do. Someone tells me later that when Mark got the news, he slammed his hand down on his desk and barked no. He then fires off an email saying I am not to visit the president's home without first clearing it with him. But I'm going no matter what.

Bring a little optimism into your life with the bright side, a new kind of daily podcast from hello Sunshine, hosted by me, Danielle Robet and me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more. Thank you for taking the light and you're gonna shine it all over the world and it makes me really happy. I never imagined that I would get the chance to carry this honor and help be a part of this legacy.

Listen to the bright side on America's number one podcast network. I heart open your free iHeart app and search the bright side.

My name is Johnny B. Goode and I'm the host of the new podcast, creating a con, the story of Bitcon. Over this nine part series, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Trapani.

I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme.

You see, Ray has this unique ability to find loopholes and exploit them.

They collected $30 million. There were headlines about it.

His company, Centratech, was one of the hottest crypto startups in 2017. It was going to change the world. Until it didn't.

I came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was fucking bi request.

It was only a matter of time before the truth came out.

You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard degree is not so Crimson.

How could you sit there and do.

Something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world?

Listen to creating a con, the story of bitcon on the iHeartRadio Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is Neal Strauss, host of the Tenderfoot TV true crime podcast to live and die in LA. I'm here to tell you about the new podcast I've been undercover investigating for the last year and a half. It's called to die for. Here's a clip.

All these girls were sent out into the world, and they were told, try to meet important men. Try to attach yourself to important men.

The voice you're hearing is a russian model agent telling me about spies sent out to seduce men with political power.

The war in Ukraine is also being fought by oldest girls that are all over important cities.

For the first time, a military trained seduction spy reveals how the russian government turned sex and love into a deadly weapon.

If you want to kill your target, it's easy. You just seduce him, take him somewhere, start having sex, and then he's very vulnerable, so you can kill him easily.

To die for is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I never thought I'd take my three young kids to Sicily to solve a century old mystery, but that's what I'm doing in my new podcast, the Sicily inheritance. Join us as we travel thousands of miles on the beautiful and crazy island of Sicily as I trace my roots back through a mystery for the ages and untangle clues within my family's origin story, which has morphed like a game of telephone through the generations. Was our family matriarch killed in a land deal gone wrong? Or was it by the sicilian mafia, a lover's quarrel? Or was she, as my father believed, a witch? Listen to the Sicilian inheritance on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

San Marino is a town of about 12,000 people on the border of Pasadena. It's one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country. The USC president's mansion, where Nikias lives, is worth about $25 million. I'm hoping he's home and I can persuade him to speak to me about Polito. But in case he won't, I've written him a note asking for an interview or even a confidential conversation about the incident at the hotel constance. I drive out there just after sunset in the rain and park across from the gated driveway. I press the intercom on the gate. No answer. I try again. This time someone answers but hangs up on me when I identify myself. I'm just about to leave when a car pulls up in the driveway. It looks like a mercedes. Nikias wife is driving, and she's alone. I introduce myself and hand her the note, which she accepts silently, holding it like it's a dirty napkin. She drives on, and the gate closes. I'm not surprised. I don't hear from the key is, but I do hear from Matt late that the USC administration has complained to Daevon about my visit.

Jack Leonard sources often complain about what we do, but that's just standard journalism practices. It's just basic journalism to go out. You can complain away. I recall hearing from a couple of editors at the time that Mark didn't want him to go out and door knock. He was unhappy when he heard that he had.

But at that moment, I couldn't care less. Because after months of nitpicking and delays, the editors say the story will run. The Times is planning to publish the story as a multimedia package with the police report and other records, photos, and the 911 recordings. It's ironclad. But then I get an email from Mark, who says Daevon wants to sleep on it. I can't believe it. Sleep on what? The story is ready to go. The next day, Mark asked me to meet with him and Devon. Matt's not invited, but I insist that he come, too. The editor's offices at the LA Times have glass walls that look out on the newsroom. We like to call them the glass holes. Matt and I sit across from Dave on a mark, and after months of investigation and vetting and editing, Devon tells us his decision. We're not going to publish his story, he says, and rather than offer any coherent reason, he makes it personal.

I recall the paper's top editor bringing up stuff that was totally irrelevant, stuff about how Paul was given time to recover from a knee surgery, how he'd had other time off to deal with other family issues. It made no sense to me, like, why are we getting into these issues? This meeting should be about what a great story we have here and how can we get this into the paper? I understand that well meaning journalists can differ over what is needed in order to publish a story, but generally that disagreement comes with a good discussion of how to get it done that wasn't done here. We were given a dismissive response. The paper's top editor actually even suggested other stories for Paul to pursue. We were told that while he wasn't closing the door to more reporting, the definite message was he was not encouraging it. I found that difficult to comprehend. If you didn't think it was ready to be published, work with us and tell us what's needed. The response from the paper's top leadership to that story was stunning and journalistically disheartening. The tone and tenor of that meeting was that we were being discouraged from pursuing a story of significant public interest, a story that the managing editor and the paper's lawyer, not 24 hours earlier, had approved for publication.

I'm furious and I'm not quiet about it.

I remember Paul calling me and telling me that the story had been killed, and I can still remember how angry he was was about it. I talked to Matt at the time, too, and he was also very upset about what had happened.

I think back to the letter Nikias office sent Davon after I went to the house in San Marino, and I wonder, what did it say?

As you may know, President Nikias is traveling out of town. He has posted from his trip on his Instagram account. Last night, Pringle, who follows doctor Nikias on Instagram, showed up at the Nakias residence after dark and asked misses Nakias to deliver an envelope enclosed, unopened to her husband. When doctor Nakias called me last night to let me know what had happened, I assured him I would deliver the envelope to you and express our profound disappointment in the situation. Needless to say, Pringle has again the line we understand he is doing his job, but we also expect a degree of respect and professionalism between our organizations. Thank you.

That's our producer reading a letter from Max Nikias team to Devon Maharaj, editor in chief and publisher of the LA Times I wrote to mark demanding to see it, and he handed it over. From the sound of it, this isn't the first time USC brass have complained to Daevon about me. It also seems clear that Nicias people expect to be treated in a certain way by the editor and publisher of the LA Times. Welcome to the 16th annual LA Times Festival of Books, and the very first one to be held at the University of Southern California. Yes, I'm so proud that the nation's largest public literary festival has found a home at one of America's leading private resource universities. The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is officially open at USC. The LA Times Festival of Books is the largest book festival in the United States. 150,000 people attend every year. There's lots of fanfare around it as you hear from that USC promo video. In 2010, the year Nikias got the top job, the Times moved the festival to USC from UCLA. It was a coup for the new.

President, the fact that we had this festival of books with them. It did raise some questions in the newsroom as to what our ties are. How close are our ties with USC? As a newspaper, you have to be independent. You've got to be careful of these sort of links.

But the festival of books is just the most recent of these sorts of links. For years, USC's journalism school has been a comfortable landing spot for editors and other staffers who have left the times. Matt lay teaches there like a lot of reporters and editors have over the years.

I know a number of folks in the newsroom taught at USC, like myself. I was assigned to class to teach investigative reporting, and I taught that with another reporter.

And some of our best hires came from USC, too.

I went to USC. I went to their grad school. I have a lot of love for USC because I feel like it gave me the skills to get a job at the LA Times.

But I do wonder, with all the trouble in the news business, if Dave on a mark might have one eye on their next actual. I remember talking to Mark about potential layoffs, and he'd said that USC could be a good option for both of us. Davon once praised USC and iquias to me so passionately that it made me think he'd fit right in there.

Paul was livid. I mean, he was furious at what was going on, and he believed that the paper was in the bag for USC, and he would talk a lot about the importance of actually holding USC accountable, given its stature in the local community. I was also hearing at the time from Matt Lake, a similar story.

I was in this, I guess, defiant mode and kind of clung to the idea that Davon said he wasn't closing the door to more reporting. There were several ways, I think, that we could go about it. One was getting some information from USC as to why the dean left the university. We could get some additional information from Pasadena. We could get information from the young woman who overdosed.

Even if Devon wasn't serious about reviving his story with more reporting, Matt decides that's exactly what we're going to do.

I recall going into my boss's office, who was the metro editor, Shelby Grad, and explaining to him what had happened. I talked to Shelby about this, and he was encouraging of the idea. And we decided to add several more reporters to this effort.

We quietly handpick a team I had.

Worked most closely with, Harriet Ryan. I think she's perhaps one of the best journalists in the country. She did tremendous work on that Purdue pharma story. Not only is she an incredible reporter, but she's just an incredibly gifted writer as well.

I knew that Paul was a really quality reporter, and I trusted Matt implicitly. So, like, of course.

Next is Adam Elmara, 32 years old. He's been at the paper for about eight months.

I was working for a nonprofit called Voice of OC. At the time, we were focused really mainly on covering local government. I was really focused on accountability, reporting, uncovering secrets at city halls. I started to catch the LA Times attention because I was just getting a lot of good investigative accountability sort of scoops. I got hired in July of 2016, and we started working on this story in February of 2017.

Adam's desk is next to mine. We got to know each other, and I'd come to respect his reporting. Our next two picks are young reporters, both graduates of USC's master's program in journalism. One is Matt Hamilton.

My first professor was an LA Times courts editor at the time, Jack Leonard. We really connected. I got a job as an intern for the LA Times in 2013. When a job opened up at the LA Times, I applied.

I didn't know Matt that well, but I've been impressed with his work on stories about the San Bernardino terrorist attack, which had won the Times a Pulitzer Prize. The final member of the team is Sarah Parvini. Sara had worked with Matt on those San Bernardino stories.

There was definitely, at least for me, starting so young, coming to the LA Times, that aspect of it being a dream come true for a Southern California native.

Matt and Sarah might be greener, but they're resourceful, tenacious, good reporters.

I'm good at pulling court records. I'm good at doing interviews. I can write a solid story. But I didn't have the level of experience of Paul or Harriet or Adam. But Sarah and I were a year apart at USC, so I think we were in the same boat, and we had done similar internships before arriving at the paper. It was like being like going from AAA to the major leagues.

We've just formed a secret reporting team out of sight of the top editors of the LA Times, me, my editor, Matt Lait, and four reporters, all very different.

I remember being in the conference room and Matt had sort of said like, look, we're going to do this thing. We're just going to keep it on the down low.

It was a motley crew of people on this team. You know, different ages, different genders, different perspectives, different skill sets.

Together we're going to find out the truth about Pulia, Fito, and whatever USC is trying to cover up, and we're going to make sure the story gets out there, no matter what our bosses have told us. Next time on fallen angels.

Why are we wanting to participate in some sort of secret rebellion that's gonna rock the boat? Is this really what you want to be doing?

The secret reporting team uncovers unexpected connections from an unlikely source.

I remember just being shocked that Kyle would even speak with us.

He would make sort of ominous kind of remarks. He would say, carmen's evil, that the guy is a really bad guy.

And we start to peel back the layers on who Carmen Puliafeedo really is.

The medical school dean at USC was leading a secret double life.

That's next time on Fallen Angels. Fallen. The story of California corruption is a production of I Heart podcasts in partnership with best Case Studios. I'm Paul Pringle. This show is based on my book, Bad peril and power in the City of Angels. Fallen Angels was written by Isabel Evans, Adam Pincus, and Brent Katz. Isabel Evans is our producer. Brent Katz is co producer. Associate producers are Hanna Leibowitz, Lochard, and Anpaho Locke. Executive producers are me, Paul Pringle, Joe Picarello, and Adam Pincus. For best Case Studios. Original music is by James Newberry. This episode was edited by Daniel Turek with assistance from Max Michael Miller. Additional editing, sound design, and additional music by Dean White. Harriet Ryan, Matt Hamilton, Sarah Parvini, and Adam Omaric are consulting producers. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Carl Keadle. Follow and rate fallen angels wherever you get. Your podcasts.

Bring a little optimism into your life with the bright side, a new kind of daily podcast from hello, Sunshine, hosted by me, Danielle Robet, and me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more. I am so excited about this podcast, the bright side. You guys are giving people a chance to shine a light on their lives. Shine a light on a little advice that they want to share.

Listen to the bright side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search the bright side.

I'm Johnny B. Goode, the host of the podcast creating a con, the story of Bitcon. This podcast dives deep into the story of Ray Tripani and his company, Centratech. I'll explore how 320 somethings built a company out of lies, deceit, and greed.

I've been saying since a very young age that I was gonna be a millionaire if someone was like, oh, what? Your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme.

Listen to creating a con, the story of bitcon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Imagine you're a fly on the wall at a dinner between the mafia, the CIA, and the KGB. That's where my new podcast begins. This is Neal Strauss, host of to live and die in LA, and I wanted to quickly tell you about an intense new series about a dangerous spy taught to seduce men for their secrets and sometimes their lives. From Tenderfoot TV. This is to die for. To die for is available now. Listen for free on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

My whole life, I've been told this one story about my family, about how my great great grandmother was killed by the mafia back in Sicily. I was never sure if it was true, so I decided to find out. And even though my uncle Jimmy told me I'd only be making the vendetta worse, I'm going to Sicily anyway. Come to Italy with me to solve this 100 year old murder mystery. Listen to the Sicilian inheritance on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.