Scientology's Sadist Leader

“Outright evil” is how a high-profile defector of the Church of Scientology describes the actions of its leader, David Miscavige, in the final part of an investigative series by the St. Petersburg Times. What were Miscavige’s abuses? Miscavige forced his executives to “confess sins they had committed against Miscavige, reveal their bad thoughts about Scientology and make personal disclosures, including sexual fantasies.” According to one person who sat in on the meetings, “Everybody in that damned room—people are wild and out of control. I punched somebody. Everybody was punched. And screaming and yelling. It just got like, What the hell is going on here? '' And how’s this for office life? “[30 or so of the highest ranking officers] could leave only once a day, for a shower, otherwise they stayed put. Food was brought in. They slept on the floor, men around the conference table, women in the cubicles and small offices ringing the room. Miscavige called meetings at odd hours, 2 a.m., 4 a.m. Day after day, the exhausted executives puzzled through management structure and the pricing system for church services, trying to guess what their leader wanted.”