All language subtitles for leah.remini.scientology.and.the.aftermath.s03e09.720p.web.h264-tbs

- 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.
- Huh?

- 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, uh...

- In federal court?
- Yeah, in federal court

for a number of years.
- Mm, 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.

- Uh, 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 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.

- Wow.
- 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."

- Mm, yeah.
- "I don't want

the Fair Gaming."
- Right.

- Um, 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.