Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath (2016–…): Season 3, Episode 9 - Buying a Town - full transcript

Clearwater, Florida, is,
like, the Mecca of Scientology.

That is where Scientologists go

to receive the upper-most
coveted levels of Scientology.

It is also the place where Scientology

is almost achieving
its goal of buying a town,

make it a Scientology city,

then use that as an example
for the rest of the world.

I am the writer of the textbooks
of Scientology.

The aim and goal is to
put man in a mental condition

uh, where he can solve his own problems.

Without any Scientology organization,



things are not going
to change on this planet.

After years of slowly
questioning Scientology...

Leah Remini and her very
public break with Scientology.

Scientology, what they do.
Trying to destroy people,

trying to destroy their
families when they leave,

they create a lot of people

who are willing to fight against them.

Scientology takes tax-free dollars,

and ruins people's lives.

This is not the life I want to live.

I wanted to end my life.

Some people, it takes a year.

Some people, it takes ten years

of just peeling that onion
of how you were manipulated



and made to think.

This season, we
really needed to focus on

the reason why Scientology is able

to do the things that they do

is because they have tax-exempt status.

The people who have bravely come on

and told their stories

have not told those stories in vain.

They are having an impact.

We're presenting our case to the world.

To the FBI, to the IRS.

The most important thing
that has to be done

is the persistent telling of the truth,

and that's what you're doing.

You have to continue to fight.

You have to continue
to fight for what's right.

I mean, it's not hard
for you to live here?

- Not at all.
- Doesn't bring back any...

Well, I guess you have memories here

- that are now replaced...
- Well, that's true.

For yourself.

It makes me uncomfortable,
because here we are,

driving by, so now they know
we're filming here, you know?

- Right.
- And now, they're going to be

doing their bullshit with us here.

Like, oh, my God, I'm getting emotional.

I don't know why.

Leah.

I feel so bad when you get so upset.

I do. I don't like it.

I was, I would say,
raised kind of normally.

It was me and my mom
and my sister, Nicole,

and we were born and raised
in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

And then, my mom and dad got divorced.

And Dennis came into
our lives, and he was funny,

and we were happy to have him.

And then, my mother and Dennis
got into Scientology.

We were told that
we were going to go off

to a very special mission
to clear the planet

in Clearwater, Florida.

My stepfather was going to stay behind

and sell everything that we had

because we weren't allowed
to bring anything.

We were leaving everything
to go and fulfill this mission.

We go to Florida

thinking we're
going to an amazing place.

The Mecca of Scientology.

And we arrived to a run-down motel

infested with roaches,
infested with rats.

We were separated from our mom,

who was, at the time,
eight months pregnant,

and we were living in a dorm
with, like, eight other girls.

My stepfather never came.

He never came.

Oh...

But I just kind of pushed that aside.

But my mom was alone, we were alone,

and we didn't have anybody
but the Sea Org now.

The Sea Org was our family,
and our father, and our mother.

And my little sister was born there.

My little sister, Shannon.

Why I'm so emotional about Clearwater.

It, in a way, destroyed...

a lot of this family that we had.

I just look at all these families, Mike,

you know, on the beach.

Laughing and having a good time,

and people having dinner or
lunch with their families.

And, you know, there's
people at Flag right now

like, working very hard and very...

"We got to get this done!" You know?

And having the mentality
that the planet...

- Is depending on them.
- You know is dep... right.

And they're accomplishing
absolutely nothing.

Right. They're giving up their lives.

They're giving up their family members

because they've been
completely brainwashed

and lied to about what they're doing.

- Yes, exactly.
- You know?

And then, you know, here we are.

It's, like, this area makes me

want to throw up now,
you know what I mean?

I remember walking these streets.

I was wearing a lanyard,

and walking down the
streets of Clearwater,

and people are screaming
out of their car windows.

"Cult! Cult member!"

And I'm like, "what?"
I'm not a cult member.

I'm sacrificing my life for this".

So it... it was just

a weird moment, you know what I mean?

Because I'm, like,
"I'm here to save you".

And now, I'm kind of on
the other side of that

going "I'm here to save you".

Like everybody else around here,

I don't like being in Downtown
Clearwater much.

- Right.
- Just because the whole place

is creepy. It's empty.

It's... it feels like
people are watching you.

That's kind of creepy.

You know, this reminds me of you

standing out here
trying to talk to your son.

Yeah.

I was alerted by Joe Childs
from the "Tampa Bay Times"

that he had been told by Scientology

that I was a terrible parent

because I had not tried to help my son

who had contracted cancer.

I had no idea.

The next day, I
went to the Fort Harrison

to try and see my son.

My son had cancer.

Of course I'm going
to go and try and see him

and see if he's okay,

and find out what's happening, and...

It was... it was a futile effort.

I feel like I'm in this movie

where the villain is always winning.

Well, the villain
isn't going to win forever.

Well, I'd like to see something happen.

- Promise you.
- In our lifetime, Mike.

I don't think this story
of Scientology in Clearwater

- has ever been actually told.
- Yeah, I don't think it has.

Like, there's been bits and pieces,

and certainly, the "Tampa
Bay Times" has covered it,

but that's for people
in Pinellas County.

- Right.
- Outside, the whole world

doesn't know.

It's a story worth telling, for sure.

Yeah.

In the early 70's, L. Ron Hubbard

was running the Scientology world

from a ship called "The Apollo".

I was on board "The Apollo"

with L. Ron Hubbard
from 1973 until 1975.

The ship had been thrown
out of various countries.

He tried to bring "The Apollo"
to the United States in 1974,

and he discovered that the FBI, IRS,

DEA, and various other
government agencies

were waiting on the dock.

For the next year
or so, we sailed around

in ports in the Caribbean.

Hubbard at one point had
a heart attack in Curacao.

The treatment wasn't the, like,

advanced medical treatment available.

And he decided, "Okay, the time has come

to move the operations
to the United States".

He sent a whole bunch of people out

up and down the Eastern
Seaboard of the US

to find a location to move to.

There were various requirements.

It had to have an international airport.

It had to be in a relatively
warm climate.

It had to be a facility
that was big enough

to accommodate all
the people, but was cheap.

Ultimately, he settled
on Clearwater, Florida,

and the Fort Harrison hotel,

and the adjacent
Clearwater Bank building,

both of which were going bankrupt.

I was one of the first people

that arrived in the Fort Harrison.

When Hubbard moved the
headquarters of Scientology

to Clearwater, it logically followed

that the plan would be
to take over Clearwater

and turn it into a Scientology city.

This... Clearwater
was supposed to become

and is supposed to become the
Salt Lake City of Scientology,

or the Mecca of Scien...

In fact, they even called it
the Mecca of Scientology.

Scientology moved in here in 1975,

and at the outset, came here
under false pretenses.

When we arrived in Clearwater,
we actually lied.

Tried to pretend to everybody
in the community

that this was some other
Christian organization

called the United Churches of Florida.

Everybody was briefed.
"This is what you're to say.

You're to explain what the
United Churches of Florida is".

Which nobody really understood,
because it didn't exist.

It was just a name.

And you know, in the mid-'70s,

we didn't know what Scientology was.

I lived... I lived here,
and we all wondered.

"Who are these people?

Who's the United Churches of Florida?"

And it slowly came out,
it's not the United Churches.

It's the Church of Scientology.

Once again, we're looking at each other,

going "well, who is that?"

When this came out, Gabe Cazares,

Mayor Cazares, started to question them

and criticize them, and
"who are these people?"

One reason that Gabe was suspicious

is after they bought the... The property

as United Churches of Florida, suddenly,

there were armed security guys

on the top of the Fort Harrison hotel.

He said "who does this?
What is this group?"

Had they just moved in
as a regular church...

- Right.
- It would have been nothing.

But, you know, the
mayor is... He's kind of...

He's a leader of
the community, and he's...

No wonder he was curious
about it, and he should be.

- Right.
- He should be the one

looking into it. What is this?

Why are they hiding their real cards?

They came into our community,
and they lied.

They lied to the public officials.

They said "oh, we're
United Churches of Florida".

This is unforgivable.

I... I don't know what
kind of ethics is involved here.

He was very brave to speak out,

because no... Most politicians don't.

Slowly, it's coming out.
This town is being taken over.

They have chosen us to be
their spiritual headquarters,

and they are going to buy up our town.

When Gabe Cazares came out

and basically called them a cult,

we... then we
started saying "tell us more".

L. Ron Hubbard has stated
that Scientology

has the money to buy cities
and even countries.

That destructive cult has to know

that sparking Clearwater
is not for sale.

I'm glad he did that,
but he paid a price for it.

- He did.
- The Catholic Church,

the synagogues, the mosques.

If somebody wants
to be critical of them,

that's their First Amendment
right, they can say it.

But in... in the case of Scientology,

if you are a critic of the
church, you are their enemy.

And so, when people did speak out...

And of course, it was our mayor.

He was the front man. He was the one...

"tell us, Mayor, you know,
what's going on".

And then, we started reading
what they were doing to him.

Scientology did some of the most heinous

Fair Game tactics against Gabe Cazares.

There's a whole bunch of these documents

that ultimately came out when
the FBI raided Scientology

that explain and detail the activities

that were taken against him.

Scientology embarked
on a campaign of Fair Game

to cost Gabe Cazares his job,

and to completely discredit
and destroy him.

There were a number of operations

that were conducted
against Gabe Cazares,

and those documents
came out after the FBI raid.

And they had bizarre names.

Uh, they detail the exact steps
that were to be taken.

These things are incredible.

Project Taco-less.

"It was a plan to dig up dirt
to "ruin his political career

and remove/restrain him as
an opponent of Scientology".

Then, there was Project Speedy Gonzalez.

That was designed to ruin his career

with a political sex scandal.

A fake college student

wearing a St. Pete
Junior College T-shirt

was to spread a rumor about Cazares

having an affair with someone's mother.

Operation Italian Fog was intended

to create documents that would

"prove that Gabe Cazares was a bigamist"

by planting fake documents

that he was married
to some woman in Mexico.

Perhaps the... the
most outrageous of all

was called Project Keeler,
where Gabe Cazares

was set up with a fake hit and
run accident in Washington DC

when he was attending
a mayor's conference.

They documented the fake hit and run

with someone jumping out

in front of his car on a dark road,

and that was now going to
ruin his political career.

These documents are perhaps
only the tip of the iceberg.

That's not necessarily all that was done

or all that was planned.

It's just the documents that
were gotten from the raid.

And what was the time frame
that Gabe was being targeted

- and Fair Gamed?
- That was years.

It was years.

They wanted to make sure
that a lawsuit was filed.

A lawsuit was filed
very quickly to shut him up.

And it ended up dragging on for...

- In federal court?
- Yeah, in federal court

- for a number of years.
- Yeah.

Gabe did sue them,

and here's one of the
fascinating things about it.

He hired an attorney that
he met at his country club.

And this guy befriended him and said

"Hey, hey, you know what?

You should hire me to handle this case".

Merrell Vannier, I think
was her... his name.

That's his name, that's for sure.

And this guy was hired by Gabe...

This is a plant, a plant.

Yeah, screwed up the case,

and... and settled it
for, like, a paltry fee, I think.

And it was only later
that it was discovered

that this guy was brought
in by Scientology

from, like, Alabama or some place.

- That was his job, to get...
- That was his job.

- Oh, my God.
- To befriend Gabe,

and take the case.

So here you have
the mayor of Clearwater.

He had every right to question
what this organization was.

But then, they attack this man

for exercising his First
Amendment rights.

They then activate their policies of

"Let's destroy anyone
who's questioning us,

"caught us in lies,

and let's go after those people
and utterly destroy them,"

which is Scientology policy.

But, really, they are...
They are leaving

a destruction in their wake.

Everything that you
see that has happened

in the history of Clearwater,
you can find the documents

written by L. Ron Hubbard
that describe what that is.

You can go back and look at the policies

where he says to bring governments

into a state of complete compliance

with the goals of Scientology,
and to control such agencies.

Like, turn them into
Scientology activities.

And that... wasn't that the objective

- of Project Normandy?
- Absolutely.

The orders, in effect,
were occupation orders.

There was a secret Project Goldmine,

and a Project Normandy,
and these orders,

in effect, very clearly,
stated "move into this area",

"find out who your friends
are, develop them".

"Find out who your
enemies are, destroy them".

And then, move into every possible area

of community life, business,
social, religious, education.

Project Normandy is just one example.

It's everywhere.

Scientology wants the police department

and the city council
operating for their benefit.

For the good of Scientology.

So back in the days of Gabe Cazares,

all these Scientologists pulled a stunt

that made it onto the front
page of the newspapers

of dressing people up in Nazi outfits

and marching them down the
street in front of City Hall

to protest the Nazi-like treatment

that Scientology was getting
from the city of Clearwater.

What group behaves like that?

Scientology.

- Yeah.
- True.

But it... it was... Sort of encapsulated

the relationship between
Scientology and Clearwater.

It was contentious, and Scientology

did what they
always do, which is attack.

- Just attack.
- Right.

For at least 20 years,

Clearwater investigated Scientology.

And... and a great guy, Ray Emmons,

led this investigation of Scientology.

He had so much damning information

about all the things that...
That they were up to.

And he considered it
a criminal enterprise.

The Lieutenant, Ray
Emmons, believed that

the police department had
dropped all education

for the new recruits about
how to deal with Scientology.

Every time there was
a new group of officers

that would come in,
Ray would sit them down

and say "this is what you need
to know about Scientology".

Did he reach out to other agencies to...

Yeah, he went to the state officials,

to the federal government,
and said "We need help".

"We can't deal with this
Mafia-like organization

in our small town".

No one would help.

Well, we shopped it around
to the federal people,

to the state people,
and the first question

always asked by a prosecutor was

"Will they harass me?
Will they follow me?"

"Boy, this is going
to cost a lot of money".

It was a continuing
fraudulent enterprise.

It still is to this day,
as far as I'm concerned.

I talked to him, too, ultimately, and...

- Right.
- He was, like,

"it's dangerous, it's dangerous"

These people are dangerous, and
they're dangerous to families.

They're dangerous to individuals.

They're dangerous to the community.

It's a dangerous organization
in our midst,

and everybody is ignoring it now.

That city commission hearing
was a major watershed

in the history of Clearwater,

and actually, the history
of Scientology,

because it was the first time

there had been, in the
United States, at least,

an actual attempt to

uncover the truth about Scientology.

You know, I was here
as the church person

dealing with that, and
that was a huge problem.

The Fair Game policy,
he's had that as...

As long as I've known him.

That's the "attack the attacker?"

That potentially could have
put an end to this mess

had the city then not over-reached,

and tried to enact an ordinance

which was designed to get
Scientology out of Clearwater.

The ultimate outcome of that case

put the nail in the coffin
of the city's efforts

by ruling that Scientology was right.

That this ordinance was unconstitutional

and the city had to pay
Scientology costs and fees

of 600-plus thousand dollars.

At that point, the city of
Clearwater basically decided

"this is not a fight
we can ever win," and...

- Crawled into a hole.
- Yeah.

"If you don't allow us
to do what we want,

here's what we're going to do to you".

- What happened to Ray Emmons?
- Ray retired.

But he never stopped
being concerned about

Scientology's activities
here in the city.

- Just like Gabe Cazares.
- Yeah.

Even though he had left office...

Was driven out of office,
he never forgot

what Scientology did not just to him...

- Right.
- But to the city.

In the case of Scientology,
we would start hearing about

additional properties
that they were buying.

Um, and they started
cherry-picking the areas

so that they could be
contiguous as best they can,

so they could control,
you know, the entire area.

And then, that spread to
the commercial district,

as far as downtown is concerned.

They were buying up
everything they could.

Scientology started out with the

two most prominent buildings
in Downtown Clearwater.

The Fort Harrison Hotel,

and the old Bank of Clearwater.

It then added the Sand Castle Motel,

which was a big property on the water.

A very prominent, downtown
landmark for "Expansion".

They purchased properties
for staff to live in.

They purchased vacant land.

Everywhere you go,
next door is another piece

of the Scientology puzzle of downtown.

The jewel that Scientology wanted,

Miscavige, in particular,
was the aquarium.

When the property that
is owned by the aquarium

was announced to be sold to the city,

David Miscavige wanted
that property badly.

Not because there was any plan

to do anything with the property,

but because it sits across the street

from the back of the Fort Harrison,

and alongside the Oak Cove.

He claimed that he wanted to put

a swimming pool on that property,

but there was a swimming pool
in the Fort Harrison hotel

that nobody uses.

There's another one in The Sand Castle.

There's plenty of swimming pools around.

That began a big dispute.

The city negotiated
and agreed on a price,

and I think it was in the neighborhood

of about $4 million.

The person that was in charge
of selling the property

said to Miscavige
"there's a contract on it".

And Miscavige said "I
will beat that price".

And went up to about 14 million.

- 14 million.
- Which is 10 million more

than what it is.

Miscavige promised us the world.

"If you let me buy this property,

I will renovate Downtown Clearwater".

Showed all of our commissioners.

"This is what it's going to look like,

"but let me buy that piece of property.

If you don't let me buy it, I'm not".

The head of the Clearwater
Aquarium, David Yates,

was the one who said

"We've got a deal with the city.

"I work with the city every day.

"No matter how much money you offer me,

I'm a man of my word.
I'm sticking to it".

David Miscavige doesn't take kindly

to people not complying with his wishes.

Scientology then started
writing letters to the county.

To try and rescind his funding,

saying he's overpaid.

And this is a scam, and they
should be prosecuting him.

And that he's violating the tax laws.

- Like, it was astonishing.
- Yeah.

The seller said "No deal,
it goes to the city".

Things pretty much shut
down, as a curtain,

when they dissed,
so to speak, Miscavige.

Miscavige, now, he said

"No renovation, no paint, nothing".

Right.

This is what a leader of a church

is spending his time doing?

He's punishing David
Yates and the aquarium

for not selling David Miscavige

and Scientology the property.

The punishment is "I'm going to keep

Downtown Clearwater a ghost town".

It's insane to me.

It's fucking sick.

If it wasn't for the empty storefronts,

if there was more activity downtown,

I think we would... It wouldn't
be such an impact.

What most people do
is they avoid downtown.

- That's what they're doing.
- Yeah.

The fact that we can't go to restaurants

like we used to be able to have,

and wonderful, you know,
places to visit.

They're buying up property,
and... and...

- And taking that away from us.
- Right.

They buy property that they
have absolutely no use for

and turn it into parks.

The do that because they want to

keep the people that come in,

the Scientologists that come in,

from seeing the rest
of the world, right?

No, they want the rest of the world

to not be able to see,
and see what they're doing.

But also, being around, you
know, "civilians," you know,

is... is very dangerous.

Today, Scientology has almost achieved

it's objective of

complete subjugation
of Downtown Clearwater.

Of the city officials.

Of taking over vast tracts of the city,

and turning it into the first
Scientology city on Earth.

Betsy, let's fast forward
to how you came

to meet me for the first time,

and what happened as a result of that.

Yeah, it... well, you know,

I got a flavor for
what they can do to people.

Betsy Steg was never a Scientologist

We became friends when she
reached out on the blog,

and I met her and her husband,

and she suffered the
consequences of befriending me.

You know, Mike and I met.

I had commented on Marty Rathbun's blog

a long time ago, probably 2009,
2010, something like that.

But through that, I got to know you,

and then, you had your wedding

at my rental property,
at The Cedar House.

And I thought it was a great
wedding, it was beautiful.

Everything was... seamed perfect.

But a couple days after that,
I get a knock on my door.

I live in a gated community,
and somehow,

these people got to...

These people being Peter Mansell

from the Offices from Special Affairs.

Peter Mansell, yeah, and a woman.

They said "we are sent here
by the Church of Scientology"

to tell me that they knew
that I was friends with you.

They knew who I am.

They wanted me to know
that they know where I live.

They know everything about us,
and that they're going to do

everything they can to destroy me.

"Harm and destroy" me was the words.

- What?
- Yeah.

They continued on, saying
that, "We're going to call"

"every Scientologist in Clearwater,

"and they're going to do
everything that they can

to destroy you".

I didn't even know what to do.
I... I just, I was stunned.

- I was...
- In shock.

I... yeah, I was just, like, my God.

And I shut... Just
shut the door on them.

- Yeah.
- And I called the cops,

you know, because they're
threatening to destroy me.

They know my kids and
everything, you know?

- Right.
- You know, the family,

and everything.

So I make the call to the
Clearwater Police Department.

I tell them, you know,
"This is what they said.

It was Peter Mansell,
and this other woman".

And the officer goes "I know who he is.

I'll go talk to him".

And he, months later,
emails me back and says

"Oh, yeah, I... I called their attorney,

"and I told the attorney

"that they shouldn't
do things like that,

because it's bad for their
public relations".

That's his email.

He's giving them
public relations advice.

And at my expense.

If any of us had done
that, we'd be arrested.

Recently, I had a guy that
was chopping down my hedges

at my rental property
at The Cedar House.

He said that the city had him do this.

I think it was a Scientology neighbor

who's now doing the Fair
Gaming against me.

She wants to see
what's going on in there.

Fortunately, I caught him

removing my hedges,
and chopping up the fence.

Un-frickin'-believable.

So I scoot him off the property.

I go home, call the cops.

I couldn't get them
to respond to my calls

once they found out that
Scientology had been involved,

or that I was Scientology's enemy.

So I took it down to them, wrote it up,

gave them the statues that was violated,

and they resisted taking that

to the state
attorney's office for prosecution.

They didn't want to do it. They told me

"Don't do this," you know.

And I said I was going
to take it myself.

I'll drive it down to criminal courts,

and have them do it there.

So they finally got
the prosecutor involved,

and at that point,
it was a felony charge,

and the judge issues a warrant

to pick up the person who's
been charged with a felony,

and have him booked,
fingerprinted, whatever.

They never did that. It's a court order

that the Clearwater
police were ignoring.

They should do that in,
what, a couple days?

Execute the arrest warrant?

So where's... What's happening now?

Well... well, actually, I
had to... I called the state,

and one of the prosecutors
knows another guy

whose brother works for the

City of Clearwater Police Department,

and they got him to eventually
execute it six weeks later.

We had the criminal trial.

I got restitution.
They found him guilty.

Then, the city disclaimed any... I mean,

being involved at all in
having him do it, but...

- Unreal, man.
- It's... yeah, the fact that

the Clearwater Police
was so willing to ignore

or just not execute a court order.

From threatening you to
chopping down your trees

on your property to
be able to spy on you

because you simply offered your home

to Mike and Christie for their wedding.

Yeah, exactly.
That... that is the basis of it.

And now, there's a neighbor
that's constantly complaining

to the city about me.

The woman who lives
across from you, who lives...

She lives right next door
to the Cedar House.

- To... to your rental property.
- Yeah.

This is what a tax-exempt organization

is spending their
time on, is spying on you.

So disappointing that, as a citizen,

I have nothing to do with Scientology.

I'm just minding my own business,

and we have put up with the city

playing along with whatever
she wants them to do,

so that's been... that's the
biggest disappointment for me.

Is there anything that
she can do here, Dennis?

I mean, it just seems this is a...

She did not sign up for
a life of being harassed

by this crazy Scientologist,

and again, wasting resources
of the city to work for them.

She could bring an action,
but... but the wave

that would come back on her,
and the financial obligations

that she would go through,
and the more harassment

she would have in courtrooms
based upon it,

it would bring her to her knees.

Part of the problem, though,

and a lot of people won't admit to this.

Uh, there's a certain amount of fear

because of the last 25, 30 years,

to see these things happening.

And I think, partly... I now understand

that you had asked
other people to join us today,

and they politely said no.

And I think, partly, it's
because of... they do understand

how ruthless they can be,
and they don't want to be next.

They don't want to be next.

You walk into Downtown Clearwater,

and it is like walking into
"The Night of the Living Dead".

- It's "The Dead Zone".
- Right.

Nothing is happening there.
Nobody's on the streets

except people in uniforms,
and that's it.

The sort of heart of
North Pinellas County is dead.

If Scientology really cared
about our community,

they would be welcoming people.

The Flag Building in Downtown Clearwater

is assessed at over $20 million.

It is tax exempt
because it is their church.

What I'd like to ask
if that went on fire,

- who would put it out?
- Right.

The Clear... The Clearwater
Fire Department.

Who pays for the Clearwater
Fire Department?

The taxpayers.

They're still going
to put that fire out.

So they get that benefit,
and yet, they're making money,

and making money, and making money.

Yeah.

You guys, you know,
really mean a lot to us

for the work that you've done,

and your instincts probably said

"I've had enough of
this crap with Scientology".

- Yeah.
- "I don't want

- the Fair Gaming".
- Right.

But you're willing to do it.

I mean, it won't work
unless people come forward,

but if we live here, are they
going to be protesting

out in front of my law office tomorrow?

- Maybe.
- There's safety in numbers.

If there were a hundred of you,

they can't protest in front
of 100 law offices.

And people, I think,
need to start to understand

that they do have the
power to do something.

It's been a decades-long fight

for the heart and soul of this city.

The real tragedy is that today,

it's worse than ever.

Because it's still happening.

It's still happening.

It's not history.

This is the most insane place on Earth.

When it comes to Scientology,
this is insanity HQ.

Yeah, there you go. This is a big crime.

Lisa McPherson was a devout
Scientologist for 15 years.

She got into a minor fender
bender in Downtown Clearwater,

and by the time the police
came and the ambulance,

she had stripped off all of her clothes,

and was walking down the street naked.

And a paramedic came up to her and said

"Why are you doing this?"

And she said "Because I need somebody

to pay attention to me".

Just as a person in this
town of Clearwater,

I don't think anybody really understood

what was about to go down.

The last three days of her life,

those records were destroyed.

Decades ago, the city of
Clearwater was fighting back.

You had people willing
to stand up and fight.

Bob Minton gathered a few of us to town

to stand up to Scientology
because the city wasn't.

We know that what Scientology
does to people is not good.

Hey, Jeff, are you a woman?

It's not right, it's not just.

It shouldn't be happening,
and it especially

shouldn't be happening
here in, you know,

what is supposed to be the
freest country in the world.

You were in court, Stacy,
when that was issued.

He was out on the street
trying to get us arrested.

Go join your Nazi friends!

There was violence and arrests,

and it got ugly. It got
ugly for the whole town.

Got ugly for Scientology.

Bob was my hero.

He just came down to
make our city better.

It was not a pretty ending.