O n the morning of July 27, 1973, two Brooklyn teenagers set out for central New York to attend one of the biggest concerts in rock history. They were never seen again. Or were they? Fifty years ago last week marked the disappearance of 16-year-old Mitchel Weiser and 15-year-old Bonnie …
Read More »This Church Promised to Save Their Souls. Defectors Say It Was a 'Cult'
In 1991, when Chele Roland was a college student, regular customers at the diner where she worked persuaded her to come to the Los Angeles International Church of Christ, a protestant evangelical church with a handful of locations in the greater L.A. area. “I was always a seeker and a …
Read More »Rebel, Kingmaker, and Accused War Criminal: The Last Confessions of an Afghan Warlord
I T’S PUSHING MIDNIGHT when my armored escort pulls up to a high-walled compound on the outskirts of Ankara, the Turkish capital. After more than a year and a half of waiting, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Afghanistan’s most notorious and elusive warlord, has summoned me for an interview, his first since …
Read More »The Decathlete-Turned-Grifter Who Conned L.A.
N ov. 27, 2007, was a hot and humid Tuesday in Manila, Philippines, and David Bunevacz was getting the shit kicked out of him. He had been invited to the home of one of his partners in a recent cosmetic surgery venture, the Beverly Hills 6750 clinic in Makati City, …
Read More »Generals, Peaceniks, and Palestinian Fighters Agree: Bibi Must Be Stopped
O n a narrow hillside road crowded with stucco apartment buildings in the Jenin refugee camp, 22-year-old “Abu Nidal” sits in an open storefront decorated with posters of fallen fighters, clutching his M16. Voices and static blare from the radio stuck to his green tactical vest. Flanked by young men …
Read More »The Trillion-Dollar Grift: Inside the Greatest Scam of All Time
I n late March 2020, Haywood Talcove, a CEO at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, was packing up his office, having sent his employees home. He was worrying about laying off his staff, his family’s health, and how he was going to manage two young kids at home during the pandemic. But …
Read More »Extreme Heat Will Change the World As We Know It
W hen the babysitter arrived to take care of Miju at around 11 a.m. on Monday, August 16, 2021, she was surprised to find the house empty. Miju was the one‑year‑old daughter of Jonathan Gerrish and Ellen Chung, who had recently fled the Bay Area to start a new life …
Read More »Who's Giving HBO's 'The Idol' All of These Five-Star Ratings?
After The Idol’s much-buzzed-about premiere at Cannes in May, Sam Levinson predicted that he and co-creator Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye were about to have the “show of the summer” on their hands. The series about the self-described “sleaziest love story” in Hollywood starring a global superstar alongside Lily-Rose Depp was …
Read More »He's Saving Addicts By the Hundreds. Why Is His Hometown Fighting Him?
H ow many ways can a man kill himself before the devil finally says, “Well done?” For Rooster, the answer is unknowable: His seven serious bids didn’t take. There was the time he hanged himself from a tree by the river and swung there, counting heartbeats, till he died. (An …
Read More »Grady Kurpasi Went to Ukraine to Fight. Then He Disappeared
G rady Kurpasi and Andy Hill dove to the ground as the forest around them exploded. There was a rapid pop, pop, pop as rifle fire pounded the dirt and trees and Russian infantry edged closer and closer. Kurpasi, a 49-year-old American former Marine sniper who volunteered to fight with …
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