One Against The Mob

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N.Y. Daily News columnists Rush & Molloy went with a story today about a $250 million lawsuit against Scientology bigwigs (including Tom Cruise), filed by ex-church member Peter Letterese over harassment tactics used against him when he resigned. The catchy aspect is that Letterese is using the RICO statute as a weapon. As R & M explain, he's "calling the church a 'crime syndicate' and wants it broken up under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization law, just as the feds have broken up Mafia families."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 31, 2008 at 8:06 AM

comment #1

Walter Sobchak says ...

Awesome! Go for it, dude. It's about time someone took that cultish freak factory to the cleaners. Scientology is a dopey quasi-religion based on bullshit sci-fi.... hang on.... someone's at the door....

(Who are you? What do you want? I'm busy, go away...... what the.... put that down!........)

-end transmission-

Posted by Walter Sobchak at July 31, 2008 10:00 AM

comment #2

Edward says ...

You the man, Walter...funny stuff. Hope you make it back in one piece.

Posted by Edward at July 31, 2008 10:22 AM

comment #3

Mgmax says ...

Hey, it's not like they're rightwingers.

Posted by Mgmax at July 31, 2008 10:26 AM

comment #4

C-PhreekII says ...

Hate to say it, but unlike when I find out a certain actor is a Republican (or any religious affiliation) I do find that once I learn someone is a Scientologist it becomes really hard not to think of them as mentally suspect for not realizing what they are involved with.

Yeah, I know, that once you are in a cult it's really hard to recognize it and I should have sympathy, etc, etc. But on some fundamental level it really says a person is lacking some basic wits.

Posted by C-PhreekII at July 31, 2008 11:24 AM

comment #5

Walter Sobchak says ...

Word up, C-Phreekll...

I've the same tendency.... I find out some otherwise sensible actor/celebrity is part of the Hubbard crowd and it just brings me down... ("I thought you were cool, man!")

It's not unlike finding out someone you otherwise trusted and respected turns out to be a 9-11 "truther".... (it happened to me a few days ago)
("think about it.... no jews showed up for work that day.... Cheney personally hired the hijackers...")
Noooooooooo! I've entered Crazyville.

Posted by Walter Sobchak at July 31, 2008 11:35 AM

comment #6

Mgmax says ...

"Yeah, I know, that once you are in a cult it's really hard to recognize it and I should have sympathy, etc, etc. But on some fundamental level it really says a person is lacking some basic wits."

A friend of mine told me a story that when Roy Scheider was working on Sealab 2020 or whatever that underwater show he was on, one day he came to the producers in great distress, saying that he could no longer work on the show because of the mistreatment of the main dolphin on the show, that he felt it was trapped in a tiny tank and should be allowed more room to swim and so on. The producers very carefully explained that it was an animatronic dolphin operated by a couple of guys with levers behind the tank.

Posted by Mgmax at July 31, 2008 11:56 AM

comment #7

Meegosh says ...

The difference between Scientology and other religions is that Scientology was made up 50 years ago, others were made up 3000 years ago. Thats pretty much it. Most other religions would sound rediculous too if no one had ever believed them until now and then all of a sudden some guy was telling you about the invisible man that watches over everything we do ( thank you Mr. Carlin). Not that i'm really defending Scientology, wether everything else was made up or not Scientology is easily the most unbelievable of them all, I just think its funny how similar it is if you think about it.

Posted by Meegosh at July 31, 2008 12:03 PM

comment #8

C-PhreekII says ...

Careful, Mgmax, you might have read one too many D.Z. posts.

Posted by C-PhreekII at July 31, 2008 12:08 PM

comment #9

mjn says ...

The difference Meegosh is the 3000 year old religion currently don't force you into paying thousands of dollars to get help and then kick you out when the money runs out.

Posted by mjn at July 31, 2008 12:19 PM

comment #10

Vitesse says ...

The difference is also that Scientology, as well as Mormonism, to an extent, has left behind a paper trail of crime and general craziness that's part of the public record. Ye Olde Religions may be crazy, too, but there's a reason they them "faiths:" in the end, there's not much there to go by. Joseph Smith, on the other hand, and L. Ron Hubbard ... plenty of stuff on record.

P.S. Anyone else recall that the first Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlett," is actually about crazy Mormons?

Posted by Vitesse at July 31, 2008 1:55 PM

comment #11

Meegosh says ...

Good point mjn, I knew there was a reason I still agreed with Cphreek

Posted by Meegosh at July 31, 2008 2:04 PM

comment #12

Joshua Mooney says ...

Gee, some people are REALLY pissed at Scientology. I wonder why. I doubt Letterese will have much luck, but I admire his pluck. I'm not sure how RICO applies, but maybe it does.

Actually, Meegosh, Scientology sounds "rediculous" even by Judeo/Christian walking-on-water-parting-Red-Sea standards, and also by Muslim/Pagan/Druid/Hindu standards. Even by elephants-standing-on-turtles-standing on-elephants-supporting-the-universe standards. It only starts to make sense when you consider string theory. Oh, wait...

Posted by Joshua Mooney at July 31, 2008 2:04 PM

comment #13

Joshua Mooney says ...

Vitesse says: "P.S. Anyone else recall that the first Sherlock Holmes story, "A Study in Scarlett," is actually about crazy Mormons?"

Yes, indeed it is, and A.C. Doyle took some heat for that. He supposedly later apologized to them for "historical inaccuracies." Doyle didn't really depict the Mormons as "crazy." I think he based his portrait on the media accounts of his time, so it was probably inaccurate, but the actual history of the Mormons is far crazier than anything Doyle wrote in "Scarlett." In my opinion, of course. For whatever reason, I've met a lot of former Mormons since I moved to NYC. To a man, they aren't just glad to be out-- they are violently pissed off about this faith, and the way they were raised, and how it "ruined their lives," etc. I once had to physically restrain a friend, a former Mormon, from attacking a group of his ex-bretheren outside Lincoln Center. Thank God I'm just a Presbyterian from Pennsylvania, man, that's all I can say!

Posted by Joshua Mooney at July 31, 2008 2:38 PM

comment #14

Mgmax says ...

There's also a great silent movie called A Mormon Maid (1917; directed by the future director of Monkey Business, Robert Z. Leonard) in which a family is allowed to live in a Mormon village, but over time the pressure on them grows to conform to Mormon ways; finally the day comes that they tell the dad it's time for him to take an extra wife! After so many silents revolving around someone trying to violate the chastity of the young heroine, it's pretty startling to see the same plot with a 50-year-old man as the subject.

http://mormonlit.byu.edu/lit_work.php?w_id=19710

Posted by Mgmax at July 31, 2008 3:04 PM

comment #15

Joshua Mooney says ...

That's damn interesting info, Mgmax. Really. Can't say I'll seek it out, but...

Posted by Joshua Mooney at July 31, 2008 3:49 PM

comment #16

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Posted by Cassy2008 at August 1, 2008 2:51 AM

comment #17