Betrayal - Leslie | Betrayal Weekly

Episode Date: August 13, 2026

Leslie always knew her father was complicated. After his death, a manuscript reveals secrets, contradictions, and questions no one in her family wants to answer.    You can find Leslie on Instagram @lesliebscott or check out her website: lesliebscott.com If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal team by emailing us at [e-mail]. You can also find us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. To access our newsletter and additional content and to connect with the Betrayal community, join our Substack at betrayal.substack.com.     If you are currently in crisis, please reach out to organizations that offer immediate support. We are including a few US-based resources here:    988 Lifeline. If you or someone you know is in crisis or need to talk to someone immediately, please call or text 988 – the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline available 24/7/365.   National Domestic Violence Hotline. They offer 24/7 phone and chat support to help you create a personalized safety plan and connect you with local support.   For resources on sexual violence, visit rainn.org/betrayal. You can also get free, confidential, 24/7 support through RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline. Text HOPE to 64673 or call 1-800-656-HOPE.   Every state has a domestic violence coalition. If you’re looking for help in the US, search the web for your state’s domestic violence coalition. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, everyone. We have some exciting news to share. ABC News Studios has turned Caroline Berega's story from Betrayal Season 4 into a docu series. You'll get to meet the people involved. You'll hear from people who have never spoken before, and you get to see where this story took place. We are so proud and excited to share it with you all. Stream Betrayal Dirty Secrets Now on Hulu or Hulu for Disney Plus. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

Hey, Portlandia fans. scene and Fred Armisen here. The Dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia, AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life, guest stars, collaborators and friends, including director Jonathan Chrysall, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin,

legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. A.A.O. Rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea.

Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier. And Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less so I don't have to do so much. I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

I'm Nick Totoro. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the longest yard, or Spike Lease Black Klansman. And on my new podcast, delivering happiness with Nick Tatourl, I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins. doing my belt. To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now, we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Tituro. It's called Happiness. Delivering Happiness. And many, many more. Open your free High Heart Radio app. Search Delivering Happiness with Nick Titturo. And listen now.

Our hometown is not a test tube. 90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America, plays out in one small town. Developers with right-wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land. We need cities on a shining hill. This is Our Town, a podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social

experiment and fights back. Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to Our Town on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I just felt like all the breath had been stolen out of my body. How do we have these completely different stories?

Do I have my own story wrong? I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about the people we trust the most and the deceptions that change everything. Marianne grew up in Ontario, Canada in a storybook town called Grimsby. Grimsby's about as close to Stars Hollow as you can get in real life. And especially in the 1970s, it was fruit orchards, cherry trees, peach trees, canneries, the kind of town where everybody knows you. They know your name at the supermarket. And it felt safe and orderly.

She lived in an old historic house with her brother, sister, parents, and grandmother. My bedroom was pink and it was the whole front of the house. And I had my own balcony. And the view for my balcony was of Lake U.S. Ontario and the newly constructed Cian Tower. Their yard was dotted with cherry trees. I used to go sit in the cherry trees, pick them, and then go up to my balcony and eat them. Her friend's houses were filled with framed family portraits and neat piles of books. Mary Ann's childhood home, on the other hand, looked a little different. Her dad, Jean,

collected unusual antiques. We had a real live, honest to God, sarcophic. in our family room. We had a real authentic medieval suit of armor. We had a tarantula encased in glass. They were the kinds of things that could give a kid nightmares. But she found ways to befriend them. I would go to bed and I would always conjure up these stories about how the mummy princess would come after us

because she didn't want to be in our living room. But the knight would save us from her. Her house transformed into a fantasy world, one ruled by Marianne's imagination. For most of her childhood, her older sister Margo was at boarding school, so Marianne spent her days with her older brother Brad. Brad and I were thick as thieves. We did absolutely everything together. We used to roam the town like free-range kids.

We'd go on these epic bike rides. We'd be living off of chocolate bars and chocolate bars and chival. chips and soda. And it just felt like a really ideal childhood, except our parents were never home. And I desperately wanted the attention of my parents. I was very focused on gaining the attention of my father. Her dad was often busy with work. He owned a shopping plaza, a furniture store. He was a jeweler. But he was also a concert promoter. He promoted big bands like Pink Floyd. He brought Johnny Mathis to town, Bob Hope, all these big-name celebrities. And her mom did the bookkeeping. My mom and dad would go to the office early in the morning,

and they wouldn't come home until 9 or 10 o'clock at night. Mary Ann loved being around her dad. My dad was like a lighthouse. He'd walk into a room scanning and searching and lighting people up. He would engage with everybody. He would pull you in. Jean stood out in a crowd. My dad had long, permed hair. He'd wear these t-shirts and bell-bottomed jeans. He wrote a motorcycle.

He was Italian, but he was born in France. So he had a very European way about him. He spoke with a thick French accent. Gene's three businesses and work as a concert promoter kept him busy. He was just like hustling all day and all. along and always on the move and always around important people. But on the weekend, he would slow down and spend time with his family. Every Sunday, he would take over the kitchen.

Marianne would hang out with him while he prepared Sunday dinner. I love to watch him cook. You'd always have a cigarette in his hand and the opera music would be playing in the background. He made the kitchen seem like theater. The way he would tear the basil and then put. put it under my nose and say, smell this. This is fresh food.

You only cook with fresh ingredients. You always buy the best. And he'd be making his big pot a famous sauce. It was clear that her dad was special. But the first time that I knew he was extraordinary, I think I was about 11 years old. Through his work as a concert promoter, Jean would bring in acts like Polanka.

Many of his songs, like Put Your Head on My Shoulder, are part of the fabric of pop culture. Put your head on my shoulder. It was a big deal that Paul Anka was coming to town. Marianne's grandmother took her and one of her friends to the show. And it was at a place called Hamilton Place, a big theater. There were thousands of people there. The auditorium was filling with people that you could feel it was palpable. As the excitement, Bubble.

around them, Marianne and her friend got to go backstage. And I remember seeing my dad, everybody was listening to him. And then he took me into Paul Anka's dressing room. And he said, say hello to Mr. Anka. Marianne was too young to be a true Paul Anka fan. But she knew that he was a big deal. This guy's really important, this Paul Anka. I've heard him. I've heard his records. And here's my dad in charge of all this, it all came to me like, wow, he is a really important person and he's really special. One day, when Marianne was 12, she was on her way home from school. I got off the bus and it was a short walk home and I get to our driveway and I see a big white moving truck in our driveway, and I see police on our front lawn, and I see movers moving our furniture out of the

house and onto the truck. She stopped in her tracks. My brain can't process what's happening, and my mom and my grandmother and our doberman, Penny, are on the front lawn with suitcases. She rushed over to her mom. And she says, get in the car. We're going on a trip. Mary Ann had a million questions.

Like, where's all my stuff? What do you mean we're getting in the car? What do you mean we're going? Where are we going? Where's my brother? Where's my sister? Where's my dad? What is happening?

But her mother didn't have any answers. She's just like, Marianne? Get in the car. Her mom and grandmother crammed a few suitcases in the trunk of their Pontiac Lamonts and started driving. Marianne looked out the window as her familiar, cozy town of Grimsby, whizz by, and faded into the distance. I was scared.

Like, what are my friends going to think? I didn't even get to talk to my friends. My life is blowing up and I don't know why. And my mom wouldn't talk. All her mom told her was that they were going to America. In fact, they were going all the way down south to Florida. The drive took almost a week. And we ended up at this really crappy motel

on Fort Lauderdale Beach on A1A. And it was right out of a bad horror film. TV's blaring from next door. There's like nefarious characters in the parking lot. This was nothing like her pink bedroom back home. It was like being flown in a spaceship to another planet. I'm feeling totally displaced and terrified. After a week at the motel,

Mary Ann started pushing her mom for answers. She was in sixth grade. Their family had never been separated before. She didn't understand where her siblings were. What's happening? Where's Brad? Where's Margo? Where's dad?

When are they coming? Like, what are we doing? Are we just living in this motel for the rest of our lives? And finally, she said that Brad had dropped out of school. Your father thought it was best. He'd go work for the carnival. So there was a traveling show called Conklin shows, and it traveled across Canada. and he was a carney at 15 years old.

My sister Margo was living with my aunt and finishing high school. And then she would join us. And she said my dad was doing business. That's all the information that she would give me. It seemed odd to Marianne that her parents sent Brad to go work for a traveling circus. I guess that could be fun, but shouldn't he be in school? It left more questions than answers. As the weeks turned to months,

Marianne kept waiting for her dad to meet up with them. She found ways to entertain herself at the motel. I bought an orange pro-lined skateboard at a yard sale for $10. And I spent all day riding that skateboard by myself outside in the parking lot, observing people and swimming in the pool. Finally, after two months, My mom says, oh, well, we're moving into a house. And not just any house.

It's in probably, and I would dare say it's still to this day is the most exclusive neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale. It's called Harbor Beach. It's a series of islands connected by bridges. And just about every one of these luxury homes has a yacht in the backyard in the canal. And suddenly we're living there. One minute they were living in a roadside motel. The next, they were living in luxury. Okay, things are looking up, but I was still terrified and I was still incredibly lonely.

I'm a kid, I have nobody to talk to. I'm a fish out of water. It was strange, living in such a big house with only her mom and grandmother. Marianne was 12 years old at the time, without anyone else her age to talk to. When the summer ended, her mom told her. her, she'd be starting middle school here in America. Marianne was excited. Maybe she could make some new friends.

They sent me to a private school and we are registering for school. And the lady who's sitting across from me says, so Leslie, are you excited about starting a new school? And I'm like, who's Leslie? And my mom says, that's your name. You know that's your name. I'm like, I've never heard that name before in my life. Yes, you have.

My name's Mary Ann. She said, no, no, that's your middle name. I'm like, what? Her mom just stared straight ahead. And from that moment on, everyone called her Leslie, at home and at her new school. I showed up for my first day in school in a plaid tent dress with brown clogs and pig tails. And the girls in my class were wearing Jor Dash jeans, had highlighted hair with a full face. of makeup, and day one, the bullying started. I felt so alone. When Christmas rolled around and they'd

been living in Florida for six months, something amazing happened. Her dad finally showed up. He rolled in in the Rolls Royce, and then it wasn't too long after that that Brad and Margo came. I was so excited to see them. Finally, Leslie breathed a sigh of relief. Their family was back together. The world made a little more sense. As soon as Jean arrived in Florida, he got to work. He was a savvy businessman and saw the move as an opportunity for him to start new ventures.

My dad started setting up businesses pretty much on day one. He went to a busy intersection and rented this warehouse. and painted in large black letters along the side of it, model home furniture. And that wasn't the only new business he started. He was finding people to teach him how to run a boat maintenance company. He wanted Leslie's brother Brad to run the business with him. So he bought him an old pickup, diving equipment, had him get his diving certificate, and then he set up this business called D&B diving.

D and B for Dad and Brad. And they would go to marinas and hand out cards, and my brother would clean barnacles off the bottoms of yachts and change propellers and zincs and shafts. Of course, starting a business is a lot of hard work, but Gene always made it look easy. He would always say, you can start a business anywhere you land in the world

with 50 bucks in a classified ad. Leslie was happy to be around her dad again. His optimism made the world feel big, like anything was possible. He also established himself as a jeweler. He would come home from Miami and he'd lay out these velvet rolls and they'd be, for example,

a whole role of Patake-Philippe watches or Rolex watches. Or he'd have all these pouches and they were full of diamonds. Sometimes, Jean took Leslie with him to deliver jewelry to a client. He explained to her that this was a very important task. And they had to be careful. The jewels were expensive.

He developed his own strategies for keeping them safe. He always transported jewels in a paper lunch bag because he said, people will rob a briefcase, but nobody's stealing your lunch. I remember going to the international building with him in Miami. and he'd fill that bag with diamonds and gold and all these jewels. And then leave when we'd be walking downtown Miami with this paper bag with hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry. Over the next few months, Leslie's dad started making new friends.

Some strange men were coming in and out of the house. And my dad would have me call them all uncle, Uncle Padico, Uncle Giorgio, Uncle Eduardo. And they'd be smoking Cuban cigars and drinking. at the bar, laughing and there'd be hushed tones. Around that same time, Leslie started noticing some changes around the house that scared her. There were hang guns in our planters inside the house. Like in every room, there was a gun in every single room.

I'd never seen a gun before. And that was a bit scary. One day at breakfast, Leslie shared her concerns with her dad. I said, Dad, I'm scared. Why do we have so many guns in the house? And he said, all you need to know is that daddy will always protect you. The days stretched on, humid and empty and repetitive. She missed her home in Canada.

It felt like she'd been plucked out of her familiar life and dropped into an upside-down world. She felt untethered and was searching for purpose. I felt like an outsider everywhere in my life. I felt like an outsider in my home, and I felt like an outsider at school. And I had no safe place to belong. I was deeply, deeply lonely, profoundly lonely.

As they got older, Leslie and her brother grew apart. Brad was pulled into the family business. He didn't have time to be a playmate. My brother and my dad were hanging out at the marinas, and it was just me. And nobody ever thought to check in on me. But then one day, Her dad told Leslie, he needed her help.

My dad said that he had an important job for me and my brother. And I was like, I'm in. An important job. What? Me? I can be helpful? Yes. I'm there.

Brad and Leslie went with her dad to the new river canal. There, they walked up to a yacht. I think it was probably about 70 feet. It was a big yacht. On the dock, Gene stopped and turned to face Leslie and Brad. And he said, you and Brad, I want you to keep the guy busy on the deck. I'm going to be going below and doing a little tour. And I'm going to pretend that I have somebody interested in buying this boat.

You just keep the guy busy. I'm like, yes, I have a job. I'm definitely up for this job. They walked on board and Jean introduced the kids to the yacht owner. Then he excused himself and went down. below deck. He says, I'm just going to have a look around. Leslie knew this was her cue.

She got straight to work asking the yacht owner questions. I'm like, have you ever seen a shark? Have you ever swam with sharks? Have you seen pirates? And how does it work when you're out at sea and your engine stops working? Finally, her dad emerged back onto the main deck and they left. I didn't know really why we were there. And it's just me and my brother talking to this guy.

But I felt special and I felt seen. I felt like I had purpose. For her 15th birthday, she got her driving permit and a gift from her dad. My dad bought me a 1962 cherry red, Skylark convertible. It had white seats and a white top and beautiful shiny hubcaps. It was just the most beautiful car. On top of that, he had another job for. her. He said, you're going to do a delivery for daddy. I want you to take this stone. It was a

11-carot diamond. He says, I just want you to go over to Los Angeles Boulevard, park your car in front of Pauline Pocock's antique shop. And just wait there. Somebody's going to come sit in your car and he's going to give you a package of money. Leslie was eager to help. I'm like, wow, did I ever feel important? I felt so grown up. I was on top of the world. I got to do something for for my dad. So she got in her cherry red convertible and drove across town to the antique shop. I parked there. I don't remember how long I was there.

I was daydreaming about boys, as 15-year-old girls do. Suddenly, a man walked up to her car. This guy gets in the car and slides in next to me and he pulls out a gun. And he presses it to my bare arm. And he says, I'll take that stone. now. With Cameron Wickham. Live at the Rhyman.

Flights and two nights in Nashville. To see Cameron Wickcom at the legendary Rhyman Auditorium. Plus a thousand dollar spending caps. Just listen to Pure Country for 10 minutes a day on the free IHart Radio app and you're in to win. Cameron Wickham. Stream the new single, Kingdom of Fear. Available now. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea.

Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier. Yomeneika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. If you come over here to play games, I'ma check you. Okay? If you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'm going to play you. Join Yomeneika Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on her new podcast. You're the problem with Yomeneke.

Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? New episodes weekly every Wednesday is part of my new network, the Dear Chelsea Network. If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us, or rather you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance. Spike, and yes, the chicken. We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast.

Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea?

We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the P.E. People who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators and friends, including director Jonathan Chryssel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. I thought he was going to write.

I thought you're all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. Ayo, rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Solita. We share the messy stories of traveling alone as a woman. Your duolingo is not going to come back to you when a man is inside of you. Oh, no.

I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, You smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip,

I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. One day when Leslie was 15, her dad told her he needed her help delivering a valuable jewel to a client. Leslie was eager to help. She drove her new car across town and parked outside of the antique store where her dad's client was supposed to meet her. But when he arrived, things took a turn. This guy gets in the car and slides in next to me and he pulls out a gun and he presses it to my bare arm and he says, I'll take this. now. Leslie was in shock.

I was terrified. I thought he's going to kill me. I gave him the stone. What else was I going to do? And then he quickly left. Leslie drove back home in a panic and frantically told her dad what happened. I thought when I went home that my dad would call the police. But that is not what happened.

My dad was so disappointed in me. He said, How could you let that happen? I gave you one simple job. How did you let that happen? Leslie stared at her dad stunned. Hadn't he promised to protect her? Why was he mad at her?

He was letting me come into the inner circle, but now there was a gun and somebody could have shot me. That was a new level of terror for me. A few weeks later, her parents went out of town. While they were gone, Leslie borrowed her dad's car. And I popped the trunk and the trunk was full of these bags. Let's just say they were all about a kilo big. Everything started to click into place.

The strange men in her house, the guns, the secrecy. I think my dad's a drug dealer. I think my dad's a drug dealer and I have to get him to stop because he's going to end up in jail or dead. Leslie felt a self-righteous anger. Even though she was only 15, she realized her dad wasn't the safe person she thought he was. Her first plan was to try to convince him to stop.

One night after her parents got back in town, Leslie found herself alone in the living room with her dad. And he was putting a record on the turntable, like opera areas or something. While he fiddled with the record player, Leslie took a deep breath and gathered her courage. Then she blurted out. I think you're a drug dealer.

I don't like what you're. you're doing. I want you to stop, Daddy. I want you to stop. Her dad snapped around to face her. And he said, if you don't like living in my house with my rules, you can get the fuck out. Defiant tears began to form in her eyes. She didn't like his rules. I thought, okay, game on, old man. So at just 15 years old, Leslie left home. She moved in with a friend of a friend. And they lived in a really ratty house, and it was crawling with cockroaches. This was now my new life. She already had a part-time job at a diner.

She got a second job at the mall to afford rent. But to keep up with both jobs, she had a drop out of high school. I didn't think about the future. I was just thinking about how am I putting food on my table? How am I paying my rent? A year passed like that with Leslie in survival mode. It was hard to live on her own as a teenager, but she knew she couldn't live at home with her dad.

Life was adjusting and I was feeling very independent. I was broke, but I felt in control of my life for once. Until one night. It's about four in the morning and there's a pounding at the front door of my apartment. And I get up and I look through the keyhole and it's my dad. I'm like, what is my dad doing here at four in the morning? and I opened the door and he said, get in the car right now, your brother's been in an accident.

We have to go to the hospital. On the drive there, Gene explained. Brad was in a bad car crash. We get to the hospital. And my brother doesn't look like my brother. His head is wrapped in white bandages, and it's huge, and he's hooked up to all these machines. The doctor said, Brad is brain damaged.

There's nothing functioning in his brain anymore, and he'll never recover. And your two choices are to keep him unavitalator for the rest of his life, however long he lives, or to disconnect him from the life support. And as a family, we decided that he would not have wanted

to be plugged into a machine. Brad died in the hospital. And after that, everything really changed. It was too painful to be in Fort Lauderdale and around their family without Brad. Everything felt even more broken without him.

I knew that nobody was coming to save me. I thought my dad was a drug dealer and I wanted to build something for myself. And my brother loved the sea and loved the ocean and I thought I want to join the U.S. Coast Guard. Not only was the Coast Guard a ticket out of Florida, it was also a way to rebel against her dad. She wanted to stop drug runners and enforce the law.

That was going to be my mission in life. I wanted to do good. I wanted to save lives. I wanted to go after the bad guys. It was the only course I could see for myself. It was almost just like a natural progression of things. At the age of 17, Leslie was accepted into the Coast Guard and started boot camp. Being in the military opened so many doors for Leslie.

And her assignments took her across oceans. I had a lot of adventures. in the Coast Guard. When I was stationed at Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, you'd get 25, 30-foot seas. But they were very dangerous because you'd had currents coming from all different directions. And I loved it. I thrived on it. While she was in the Coast Guard, she met the man who would eventually become her husband. He was a green beret in U.S. Special Forces on a temporary detail in Miami from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. They started dating and got married. married shortly after. Leslie lost touch with her parents as she focused on building her new life.

By the time she turned 21, her life felt the most stable it had ever been. But then, her phone rang. And it's my dad. Over the last four years, she and her dad had grown increasingly distant. She hadn't heard from him in six months. Leslie picked up the phone. Her dad sounded scared. He said, I need you to come to Montreal right away and pick me up. Do not tell your mother, do not tell your sister, do not tell a single soul. There's bad guys after me and I'm in danger. Now, this is my dad. I'm his daughter.

Bad guys are after him. I'm going to get my dad and I'm going to take my badass new Special Forces husband and we're going to break him out. Despite all the years that had gone by, this was still her dad, asking for help. She didn't hesitate. I went into rescue mode. I think a lot had to do with my training in the Coast Guard. It was like it became a mission.

Leslie and her husband rented a car and drove through the night to Montreal. And it's very late when we get there. Leslie's dad had instructed her to meet him in a bar downtown. I walk in, I don't recognize my own father. My father, who was, handsome and full of life and sparkling. He was really thin. And it was like somebody took a vacuum and sucked out all the life from him. His face was hollow. His eyes were sunken. And he was just

crumpled in this booth of a bar. That was a shock. That floored me. Like, who is this man? They sat down next to him at the bar and Jean began to talk. He was jittery. He was very jittery. He said, you're going to take me to the border of Vermont and Quebec. You're going to drop me off in the woods. You're going to check into the first hotel you come to on the other side of the border and I will find you in the morning. But he wouldn't tell us anything else. So that's what they did. It was blackout. There was not much light and we dropped him off in the woods. Did as he said. There was only, one motel, it was like an inn on the other side of the border, checked into this little two-story inn. Going to sleep that night, Leslie was anxious. When she was involved in risky operations for the Coast Guard, she always knew the goal of the mission.

But with her dad, she didn't know what the mission was, or her part in it. In the morning, we get up and I stretch and yawn and walk to the window because I don't know what this town looks like because it's dark. She pulled back the curtains and immediately froze. We're surrounded by a SWAT team, and the next thing I know, the door opens, and my husband and I were tackled to the ground, and there's a knee in my back, and handcuffs are going on me.

It just all happened so fast, and then they instantly separated me from my husband, put us in different rooms. Wouldn't tell us anything about my dad. They interrogated her and her husband, But Leslie didn't know anything. I am literally clueless. My dad says bad guys are coming to murder him. And then all of a sudden, they left the room, they left me alone.

And then when the door opened again, the guy came back with my husband. And he says, we're free to go. Leslie's mind was spitting, trying to figure out what just happened. Okay, well, the last time I checked, I thought he was. was a drug dealer. So does this have to do something with drugs? She started calling each member of her family. I called my sister Margo and I said, this is what happened. Do you know anything about this? And she said, don't ask any more questions. Her sister said she didn't know anything, but their mom did. She said your dad had been arrested and was on trial for conspiracy to import cocaine into Canada.

Her mom said that in the middle of his trial, Jean disappeared. That explained why her dad asked to meet in obscure locations and had her drop him off in the middle of the woods. He had been on the run. After Jean was captured, he faced trial for importing narcotics and was sentenced to 15 years in an Ontario prison.

I thought, I guess I was right. My dad's the bad guy. My dad is a drug dealer. With her dad in prison, Leslie tried to put him out of her mind. Throughout her 20s and 30s, a lot changed for Leslie. She had two daughters of her own, got divorced, and moved back to Canada. Her dad got out of prison, but she kept her distance from him. She did rekindle a relationship with her mother, who had separated from Jean. Then one day, Leslie got news that her dad's health had declined quickly. She drove to see her mother. She drove to see her mother. She was a child.

and attended a doctor's appointment with him. We went to the appointment and the doctor said to my dad, you have cancer in every bone in your body. Go home and do whatever you want to do. There's nothing we can do. Leslie could hardly process the words. Her dad was dying. It was three weeks that he lived from that diagnosis.

And I sat and held my dad's hand every day. Soon, Jean Kornbush, couldn't leave his bed. It was clear he didn't have much time left. Leslie's daughters traveled in to see Jean and say their goodbyes. And my father, who no longer was that charismatic, larger-than-life figure, he's just this defeated shell of a man that I no longer recognize. And we're all sitting up in his bedroom, and he's on the morphine drip. And he's pointing at the ceiling. And he says, tell those fuckers to go. Tell them to go.

Get them out of here. But there was nobody in the room except Leslie and her daughters. We're like, Dad, who? Who? The FBI, the CIA, they're here to get me. Don't let them take me. Don't you see them. They're right there.

And me and my girls are like turning our heads and like giggling. Like, that's pretty good morphine. Jean kept talking nonsensically. The guns are in the canal. I dumped all the guns in the canal. They're still there. Leslie and her daughters gave each other a look. I like, okay, Dad.

The guns are in the canal. Just days later, Jean died. Leslie did her best to process her complicated feelings, the grief, anger, and regrets. She stayed in touch with her mom. And one day, a few years later, her mom came to visit. She usually came with a trunk full of crap from her basement to unload on me.

But this time, she only had a blue binder and a small cooler. Once she was inside, Leslie's mom dropped the binder onto the table in the hallway. And it's massive. It weighs a ton and it just clunk. I said, Mom, what's that? She said, oh, it's. It's your dad's prison manuscript. He wrote that in prison.

Leslie wasn't sure she heard correctly. Like, what? His what? Leslie's mom sounded almost bored. Yeah, yeah. He wrote it in prison. I didn't read it. It's probably full of lies.

It's just garbage. Just burn it. Leslie looked at the binder, laying on the table in front of her. It had to be several hundred pages. I picked up the book. and it was so heavy. And I opened the first page,

and there were ten words on yellowed paper, and it said, to Brad, may you find peace, there is none here. Love Dad. Leslie slammed the binder shut. Tears rushed to her eyes. I could feel my past rushing back to me.

All the things I tried to forget felt like they were coming back. back like a force. She wasn't ready to confront whatever was inside. So I stuff it away in my hat and mitts drawer, and I ignored it for about six months until the day I needed a hat and some mitts in November. And I thought, oh, I think it's time. It's time. She pulled the binder out of the drawer, sat down, and began to read.

Once she started, she couldn't stop. Finally, she had access to her dad's side of the story. Maybe somewhere in here, she could find the truth. Then, she read something that made her freeze. My dad claimed that he was an informant for the CIA and the FBI and the INS, and that he was forced into criminal behavior because of corrupt police in Canada, who forced him into the situation of having to work for the U.S. government. and that he was innocent all along.

And I thought, oh my God, was my dad a hero and not a villain? You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Do we want to jump right in? Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish right inside the free IHard Radio app. Make some noise. Oohie! Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like Bestie Listen. Hey Jonas and Las Culturistas.

Now with full video. I'll just leave that there. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry. with all the hilarious moments you've been missing right on your screen. Open the free IHR radio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse.

The world gets crazier. And Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. If you come over here to play games, I'ma check you. Okay? If you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'ma play you.

Join Yomaniqa Saunders as she brings, breaks down the week's most problematic stories on our new podcast. You're the problem with Yamanika. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? New episodes weekly every Wednesday is part of my new network, the Dear Chelsea Network. If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much.

So join Yomeneke each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. You know us, or rather you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken.

We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AEO, rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning. breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Chrysall, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more.

Kyle is going for it here. You fully. improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. I thought he was going to write. I thought you're all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. Ayo rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Solita, we share the messy stories of traveling alone as a woman.

Your duolingo is not going to come back to you when a man is inside of you. Oh, no. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by. myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle.

It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is. and not the lies you're sold about it. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. For years, Leslie believed her dad was a drug dealer.

But one day, years after his death, her mom came to her house with a manuscript Leslie's dad wrote while he was in prison. And in it, he claimed that he was an informant to the CIA, FBI, and other government agencies. Reading his words, Leslie was floored.

Have I got this story wrong? Was my dad keeping this a secret because he was protecting us from the bad guys? He was protecting his family? Leslie kept reading. Her father had typed up his life story, starting from the very beginning. He said it all started when he got involved

with local politics in Canada. According to Jean, he was targeted by politicians and police who didn't want their own corruption exposed. That's why the family had to flee and abruptly moved to Florida. And once we were in Florida, because of his connections in Canada and his understanding of the jewelry business, he was recruited into being an informant. Gene claimed he got involved with criminal activity in order to report information back to the CIA. He became an insider in the world of organized crime, rubbing elbows with the mafia and drug runners, all to fulfill his role as an informant.

My dad said that he first started with the CIA leveraging his marina contacts. Him and my brother would go to the marinas and suss out drug runners. And they were very successful. I guess it was really easy to find drug runners back then in the Fort Lauderdale Marinas. so they were informing on all of them.

Leslie's eyes were glued to the page. She kept reading. According to Jean, he had been involved in global arms deals. It's like, are you kidding me? What? So much of what her dad wrote in the manuscript felt completely outlandish.

But then, she stumbled upon a scene that was familiar. Jean described going to a yacht with Leslie and her brother Brad. My dad wrote about the day that he asked my brother and I to go and keep the guy busy on deck while he went down in the cabin. Leslie leaned in. She still remembered every detail of that day. The questions she asked the man on the boat, how important she'd felt helping her dad. Now she was reading about that day from her dad's perspective for the first time.

He writes that that man who was on the boat was the head of the Montreal Mafia. and he was sent by the FBI to go down in that boat and find any evidence, any clues they could get their hands on. I was so shocked. In his manuscript, Gene detailed what he did below deck on the yacht. He stole the guy's rolodex with all his contacts. He went through his garbage. He stole stuff from his garbage. And he specifically brought my brother and I as decoys.

Leslie stared at the word decoys. Her heart sank. He said it so casually. He wrote about it so casually. Like it was nothing. It was like, I just sent my kids to the store to get bread. We can't confirm if the man on the boat was the head of the Montreal Mafia. But either way, it's clear.

Jean had no concern for his kid's safety. In that moment, any hope she'd had that her dad was a hero, faded away. As Leslie kept reading, she recognized another story. The time her father asked her to make a jewel delivery, and someone pulled a gun on her.

In her father's manuscript, The story was all wrong. Completely different story. In her dad's version, Leslie had been conned out of a jewel he didn't trusted her with. His takeaway was that it was Leslie's fault. He wrote,

I wouldn't have been conned. but I felt bad for the kid, so I tried to make her not feel bad. That was where his account ended. Leslie blinked. Where was the mention of the gun that was pulled on her? Where was the mention of her life being at risk? How do we have these completely different stories? Do I have my own story wrong?

Am I remembering things wrong? But Leslie still remembered the feeling of the gun. It was undeniable. Her dad had involved her in criminal activity. He sent her and Brad into dangerous situations and hardly batted an eye. You're using your kids as pawns? What is wrong with you?

Leslie wanted to believe her father's story that he was an innocent informant. But the manuscript revealed small details that made her realize it wasn't that simple. She learned that the odd antiques that filled her childhood home weren't just decor. They were part of her father's money laundering scheme.

That wasn't just my dad collecting. That was a way of hiding illegal money. She had her own memories of her childhood. And now she had her father's memories. As the two versions came together, a new picture emerged. My dad was telling a story about my childhood where everything made sense and nothing made sense. She needed to know what was real.

She called her family to see if they could corroborate anything her dad wrote, but nobody wanted to talk to her. My mom wanted nothing to do with it. She didn't want to know about it. She didn't want to hear about it. My sister just kept saying the same thing. Why do you want to hurt Daddy? Leave it alone.

Don't bring this up. If you bring this up, you're just hurting Daddy. and she wouldn't talk to me. I called everybody in my family. I reached out to my cousin, my aunt. Nobody would talk to me. Not a single person. But this time, she refused to stop asking questions.

I thought, no, I have to know the truth. I have to figure this out. I got to get to the bottom of the story. If her family wasn't going to tell her the truth, she'd have to contact Jean's friends. and his enemies. She started with the name she'd heard her whole life, Detective Ken Robertson.

He was the one that my dad said was the corrupt police because of him we had to leave Canada. In his manuscript, Jean mentioned Detective Robertson over 70 times. He said everything was his fault. It turned out, Detective Robertson was still alive. Leslie got in touch with him. Over the course of a long phone call, he told her everything he knew about her dad.

And he opened a whole new door. It completely blindsided me. According to Detective Robertson, there were a series of Italian bakery bombings in Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s. It was all part of a mafia turf war. And some of this criminal activity was being run out of her father's furniture store. So the police initially went in, they started surveilling his furniture store. They saw the Musatana and Lupino crime families going in and out of my dad's furniture store on the regular. And because of that surveillance, they were able to get the Joint Task Force funded by the City Council. Canada's first joint task force.

And that is what led them to being able to bust up that crime families hold on the city. The police investigation into Jean's furniture store ultimately led to his arrest for fraud. This is why the family had to abruptly move out of Canada. Gene wasn't on a work trip after all. As a kid and young adult, Leslie was in the dark about all of this, who her father was, the fact that he was arrested. Now, you have to remember, everything that happened happened before the internet. I was in Florida when a lot of this stuff went down.

I would have never heard about that. It would have been in the local paper. You wouldn't just go online and look it up. Leslie asked the detective if her dad was in the mafia. This is all he knew. He wasn't in the mafia, but we don't know if he was working with the mafia or he was being extorted.

We still don't know. And I asked Ken Robertson, I said, do you know anything about my dad being an informant? He said, well, I don't know anything about it. However, he was ripe for picking. He was the perfect person to be an informant because he had connections. He knew jewelry.

Leslie really wanted to talk to someone who was close to her dad. So she reached out to one of his old friends who were going to call Leonard. As they sat across from each other at a cafe, Leonard told her. what he had learned about her dad's jewelry business over the years. What he said left her astonished. According to Leonard, the jewelry business was always a front for an armed robbery ring.

After Jean made an expensive jewelry sale, he would target the wealthy client for robbery. He then had his employees dress as police officers and knock on their front door. And they'd say, there's been a robbery in the neighborhood. Can we come in and talk to you? But once they were inside, They dropped the act. And then they would tie these people up in their chairs and force them to open the safes. Then, almost offhandedly, Leonard said something that knocked the wind out of Leslie.

He says to me, you know, I don't know if you know this, but your dad told me that Brad, that wasn't an accident. I'm like, huh? He said, yeah, that was a hit. That was a revenge killing because of your dad. I just felt like all the breath had been stolen out of my body. When Leonard left, the weight of his words hit her. And I just lost it. I couldn't even get myself together.

My dad wasn't the hero. My dad was a worse villain than I ever imagined. Jean involved his son in his crimes. And that may have been what killed him. This is the most shocking and devastating thing of all. But we can't confirm if Brad's death was a hit or an accident. I'd like to think it's not true. But there's no real way of knowing.

My brother's gone. He's been gone for a long time. It doesn't change anything. Leslie learned so many shocking things through her investigation. After talking with everyone, she returned to her family one more time. My mom always said that she knew nothing. about my father's dealings. She never saw anything suspicious.

But if everything Leslie heard was true, then her mom had to know about it. She kept the books for her dad's businesses and spent every day with him for years. Bit by bit, I could pull on threads. For example, I said, are you sure dad never mentioned the CIA or the FBI? Uh, you know what?

Yeah, actually, he doesn't. did mention that back. Yeah, but I never paid any attention to that. My mom, I came to understand, was in survival mode. My mom buried everything she didn't want to see. And so she turned a blind eye to everything. Finally, Leslie went back to the one person who had never cracked, who had never shared anything about what happened, or what she felt, or what it all meant. her sister Margo. I asked Margo again, even though she shut me out. I took another run at her.

I said, this is what I found out. This is what I found out from everybody I interviewed. Do you know anything about this? And she said, it's true. Yeah, it's all true. I'm like, you knew all along. It was a lonely realization. Her family knew Jean was involved in,

criminal activity and didn't tell Leslie. Even when she was a kid asking them for answers, her dad may have been the one to put her directly in harm's way, but the rest of her family had failed to protect her too. When every family member keeps the secret, they may not have committed the crime, but they're all in on the betrayal, all of them. They all own it. Even after their admissions, Leslie's family didn't have the concrete answers she wanted. Was her dad an informant? How involved was he in the mafia? Those truths died when her father did. But one thing is clear. He put her in harm's way. He involved her in his crimes. When she trusted him the most, he sent her off into situations that risked her life. And that is the biggest betrayal.

parents are supposed to protect their children. The world is not a safe place. The world is a very dangerous place. But when it's inside your own home and it's the person that you're supposed to trust the most, that they're the most dangerous person in your life. That's damaging. After she exhausted all the leads in her investigation,

she realized there was more to this search than finding concrete answers. There was an emotional truth. One, she'd have to answer for herself. In investigating my dad, I was realizing that I was investigating myself, my identity, in relationship to my dad. This is my story. This is my life. This is my childhood. This is my family. A few years ago, Leslie decided to write a memoir about her childhood, her father, and his crimes. It was published in May of this year. It's called The Liar's Playbook. Writing my book is the first.

time in my life that I stopped and I looked back and I did not see a monster. I saw a man, simple, brilliant, dangerous, flawed. Leslie returned to her dad's manuscript now with clear eyes. And what she saw this time was someone she recognized. Just so many things that we shared. and that made me feel less lonely. He's a risk taker, I'm a risk taker. He's a visionary, I'm a visionary. He has big ideas, I have big ideas. My dad's best qualities are my best qualities.

His worst qualities are my worst qualities. But I have that awareness and now I can break those patterns. And that's the biggest gift of all. Leslie spent her adult life building stability and safety. Today, she lives on the shores of a lake in Ontario. She has close relationships with her daughters. In a way, her life is a reaction to the chaos her father created in her childhood. She doesn't take it for granted.

I live in a beautiful little brown writer's cabin, and I spend my day's writing. I'm writing a work of fiction. I'm writing a holiday suspense novel based on the exact same themes about family dysfunction, about trust, about fraud, and this next part of my life is going to be about being an author, about being a full-time writer. We end every weekly episode with the same question.

Why do you want to share your story? The truth is highly destabilizing, but once you blow everything up, you can take those fragments and build something durable. You can build something honest, something true, and that is freeing. where we're born, who we're born to, that's all a lottery. We have no control over that.

We have no control over the DNA we get, but we get to choose what genes to express. Our family might shape us, but we get to define ourselves. On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly. I just remember feeling gutted, completely gutted. This was my darkest year. A member of my family had been taken. I'm living in the twilight zone.

I just want the truth to come out. Everything else can stop. If you'd like to share your story on betrayal, please email Betrayalpod at gmail.com. That is Betrayal P-O-D at Gmail.com. Please note that we are not a mental health organization. If you are in crisis or currently experiencing domestic violence, we encourage you to seek local help or dial 911.

Please contact organizations that offer immediate support. In our show notes, we've included a list of U.S.-based resources. You can follow us on Instagram at BetrayalPod or find me at It's Andrea Gunning. To access our newsletter and additional content and to connect with the betrayal community, join our substack at Betrayal.substack.com. We're grateful for your support. One way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts. And don't forget to rate and review Betrayal.

Five-star reviews go a long way. Big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with IHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fasin. Hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning. Written and produced by Olivia Hewitt. Our story editor is Monique Laborde.

Also produced by Ben Fetterman. Our associate producer is Leah Jablo. Production Management by Kristen Mulcuri. Booking support by Curry Richmond. Our I-Heart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crinecheck. Audio editing by Tanner Robbins with additional editing and mixing by Matt Dalbekio. Betrayals theme composed by Oliver Baines. Music Library provided by My Music.

And for more podcasts from IHeart, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, Portlandia fans. Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. The Dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. We're launching Podlandia AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life, guest stars, collaborators and friends, including director Jonathan Chryssel, the mayor himself,

Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song about it. I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. A.O. Rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nick Tutero.

You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the longest yard, or Spike Lanker. least black plansman. And on my new podcast, Delivering Happiness with Nick Tatoro, I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins. What are you doing my belt? To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now, we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Totoro. It's called Happiness, delivering happiness. And many, many more. Open your free High Heart Radio app. Search Delivering Happiness with Nick Tutro. And listen now. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea.

Every week, the news gets worse. The world gets crazier, and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. Our hometown is not a test to. 90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America, plays out in one small town. Developers with right-wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land. We need cities on a shining hill. This is Our Town, a podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment and fights back. Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to Our Town on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.