0:02

Every university has

0:05

a scandal every now and then, we

0:07

just have the flavor of the week.

0:10

That's William Tierney, Professor Emeritus

0:13

at the University of Southern California. He's

0:15

been at USC for almost three decades and

0:18

he's seen the place get caught up in scandal, and

0:20

not just every now and then.

0:22

What is it about USC that has created

0:25

a non ending bit of scandalmania

0:27

for the institution?

0:29

I've asked myself that same question many

0:32

times, what is it with USC

0:35

and its scandals? My colleagues

0:37

and I have exposed a number of them over the years,

0:40

and it's not that we go looking for them,

0:43

they find us. My

0:46

name is Paul Pringle. I'm an investigative

0:49

reporter for the La Times. This

0:52

is Fallen Angels. This

0:54

story is about power and money and

0:56

how they can eat away at a place, corrupt

0:58

it and destroy people lives in the process.

1:02

It's the story of an investigation that starts

1:05

in a hotel room in Pasadena, California,

1:07

and reaches all the way to the top of two of

1:09

the most powerful institutions in the city

1:12

of Los Angeles. This

1:16

is episode two The Trojan Wall.

1:27

Devon Khan was working at the hotel Constance

1:29

in Pasadena. He'd been there when a

1:31

young woman overdosed on drugs. The

1:34

man she was with was questioned by the police,

1:36

but was allowed to just walk away. It

1:39

turned out that the man was the dean of USC's

1:41

medical school. His name

1:43

is Carmen Puliaffido. The

1:46

cops had done nothing, and USC itself

1:48

had just ignored Devon's call. He'd

1:51

been trying to get a tip to the La Times when

1:53

he met a Times photographer named Ricardo

1:55

de'r atonia.

1:56

Boy, do I have a tip for you? And he's like,

1:59

well, I'm just a photographer, but

2:01

what's the story. So I laid

2:03

it out for him and he's like, yeah, that's a story.

2:06

He goes like, I said, I'm a photographer,

2:08

but I can get the tip to the right person.

2:12

Ricardo and the editors bring the tip to me

2:14

since I have some history investigating USC,

2:17

so I called Devon Khan.

2:21

I get a call from Paul. He says, yeah,

2:23

I understand that you know you have a tip.

2:26

Would you mind explaining to me what happened.

2:29

Dev On's story is detailed and thorough.

2:31

He seems like a credible source, but

2:34

he does have one important condition.

2:36

Does the Tip understand that I

2:38

need to remain anonymous. Can't

2:41

have this jeopardizing my job at all. He

2:44

assured me that I

2:46

would remain anonymous. He says,

2:48

Okay, I'm going to start looking into this. He

2:50

goes, I'm definitely going to have to give you a

2:52

call back from time to time. Is that okay?

2:54

I say, sure, whatever you need.

2:57

The Times has strict guidelines for granting

3:00

anonymity to sources. They need

3:02

to have a compelling reason to go unnamed, like

3:04

the fact that they would get fired if they were identified.

3:08

Devon makes that case to me convincingly.

3:10

But before I could even think about building a story

3:13

around an anonymous Tip, I have to

3:15

check out, nail down every detail of

3:17

Devon's account. This

3:20

is the starting point of the investigation. First,

3:26

I checked to see if there has been any recent news

3:28

about Puliafido.

3:31

And yeah.

3:31

It turns out that eleven days earlier, he had quote

3:34

stepped down as dean of the medical school.

3:37

The press release gives no reason for his sudden

3:39

resignation, and it's in the middle of the school

3:41

term, which seems like strange timing.

3:45

I scrub public records for more on Puliaffido.

3:48

I find a recent divorce petition filed by

3:50

his wife. At the same time, I reach

3:52

out to the coroner's office to see if there's been

3:54

a death of a young woman in the past few weeks

3:57

who matches the description Devona

3:59

had given me. And I head

4:01

over to the Passing A Police department to get a copy

4:03

of the police report from the incident. The

4:07

Pasadena A Police say there is no police

4:09

report, just a heavily redacted

4:12

document, a log that shows the police

4:14

accompanied paramedics on a call. Considering

4:17

what Devon has told me about what he

4:19

witnessed in the hotel room, the fact

4:21

that there's no police report strikes me as very

4:23

odd.

4:25

Any situation where somebody is seriously

4:27

injured or likely to die or is dead, those

4:30

are the cases that would be an automatic complaint

4:32

report.

4:34

Joseph Jackalone had a long career as

4:36

an NYPD detective with a specialty

4:39

in forensic investigations. He's

4:41

one of the experts I contact for law enforcement

4:43

stories.

4:44

If you find lots of paraphernalia

4:47

at the scene, or guns and

4:50

drugs or whatever you might find, those

4:52

will have to have a report because there's nothing

4:54

on paper. There's nothing to investigate,

4:56

there's nothing to charge, and that's why documentation

4:59

becomes its real important and any attorney

5:01

in the world will tell you that if it wasn't document

5:04

that it wasn't done.

5:06

And the fact that there was a camera potentially

5:08

filming everything in the room that raises

5:11

all kinds of questions.

5:13

What were they filming? There's

5:15

lots of evidence that could be found on

5:18

that video, including the illegal

5:20

user narcotics, who was using them, and

5:23

how they were being administered.

5:26

But when I asked the police spokesperson about the

5:28

lack of a report, I'm told the incident

5:30

had been viewed as a quote, medical emergency,

5:33

not a crime. I

5:35

also contact US's executive offices

5:38

several times, trying to reach USC president

5:40

Max Tikias to ask him why the

5:42

dean is a medical school has suddenly stepped

5:45

down. No response

5:47

whatsoever, and

5:49

then I get an email from Pulliafido

5:52

himself.

5:59

Pull Fido right quote.

6:00

I understand from my colleagues here at USC

6:03

that you've been inquiring about my stepping down as

6:05

dean of the medical school. I wanted to

6:07

reach out to you directly and let you know that my decision

6:09

was entirely my own The timing

6:11

of my decision was related to a unique,

6:14

time limited opportunity in the biotech

6:16

industry, something which I am looking

6:18

forward to sharing with others soon. US

6:21

was nice enough to grant me a sabbatical to explore

6:23

this opportunity. I

6:27

got that email from him on April twenty of twenty

6:29

sixteen, a couple of weeks into my investigation.

6:33

Naturally, I write him back saying I have questions,

6:35

and I call I tell him I'm aware of the

6:37

events occurred on March fourth at

6:40

the Hotel Constance, and I intend to pursue

6:42

the story.

6:45

No reply.

6:48

I have the same luck with the Kias and the people

6:50

close to him silence.

6:56

I'm not surprised, but a lack of response

6:58

from USC's leaders. Silence

7:00

had become their typical way of dealing with me. I've

7:04

investigated USC more than once

7:06

a colleague, and I discovered that USC's athletic

7:09

director was paying himself and his family

7:11

members from a scholarship fund for low income

7:14

students. I investigated

7:16

a cheating scandal involving the coach of the

7:18

USC football team, the Trojans,

7:20

And then there was our reporting on the deal that

7:22

gave US control of the publicly

7:24

owned LA Coliseum.

7:28

The coliseum was built to honor

7:30

World War One veterans.

7:32

That's been our Parks. Most people call him

7:34

Bernie.

7:35

It's the only place in the world that's

7:38

had the kinds of major events,

7:40

the first Super Bowl, multiple Olympics,

7:43

a visit of the Pope. It's

7:46

basically one of the most recognized

7:49

facilities in the world.

7:53

Bernie Parks was chief of the LAPD from

7:56

nineteen ninety seven to two thousand and two.

7:59

For the next twelve he served as a member of the

8:01

La City Council, representing the

8:03

eighth district in South LA. He's

8:05

also a USC alum. The

8:08

coliseum part of his district is very

8:10

important to him and his constituents.

8:13

This house sc football for

8:15

decades because it's right across the street. It's

8:17

not a modern football facility

8:19

as we see on TV, whether it's NFL

8:22

or other college stadium. Sc it

8:25

always hinted at they not

8:27

only wanted to have more upgrades

8:30

of the facility, they also hinted

8:32

strongly that if these

8:34

things couldn't be done, they would like

8:36

take over the facility.

8:40

In twenty eleven, USC launched

8:42

an aggressive campaign to take control

8:44

of the coliseum to a master lease that

8:47

would extend for nearly a century. The decision

8:49

on whether to accept US's proposal was

8:51

up to the commission that managed the coliseum

8:54

parks.

8:55

Was on that commission.

8:56

They actually sent a proposal to

8:58

the Colisseum Commission and unanimously

9:01

the commission rejected it. Members

9:03

of the Colisim Commission actually laughed

9:07

at the deal because it was so preposterous.

9:09

It was like, give us the colissem and let

9:11

us run it, and community

9:13

was not even part of the equation. And

9:16

so a letter was sent with unanimous

9:18

signatures from every member of the college in commission

9:21

saying no, thank you, we don't want to participate.

9:24

This is not a deal for the city. But

9:27

s He did what it does.

9:29

And what s He does is deploy

9:32

its powerful trustees and other

9:34

allies to lean on the commission.

9:36

The amount of money that they have is

9:38

significant, the amount of

9:40

influence they have as far as their graduates

9:43

and their alumni, the amount of

9:46

exposure they get from their athletic

9:48

program. They don't have any problem

9:50

pushing their weight around as it relates

9:52

things that they want. They went

9:54

to Schwarzenegger as the state

9:57

and they insisted that with his

9:59

three of appointments, could he make one

10:01

of them a member of SC's

10:04

management or their board,

10:07

and so he agreed to that.

10:11

Parks believe that after Governor Schwarzenegger

10:13

made those appointments to the Coliseum Commission,

10:16

resistance to a USC takeover started

10:19

to crumble for some reasons.

10:21

When Schwarzenegger got convinced

10:23

that this was a good deal, all

10:25

of a sudden, the state begin to send

10:28

messages quietly that they were

10:30

in support of this. And so this

10:32

process continues, and the

10:35

Coliseum Commission approves this

10:37

deal and it moves forward. You're

10:40

basically giving away a

10:42

facility that was built for military

10:45

veterans, and you're giving it to a private

10:48

entity with the ability for them

10:50

to do with it as they please and keep

10:52

all the money. There is absolutely no benefit

10:55

to the city, County.

10:56

And state.

10:58

Bernie says the proach in playbook.

11:01

Whenever it faces resistance, USC

11:03

calls on its network of power brokers to

11:06

neutralize the opposition.

11:07

I think what it shows when people fall in

11:09

line, they fall in line.

11:13

It's now June, three months since the

11:16

overdose at the hotel Constance. Two

11:18

months into my reporting, I learned

11:20

from a person within USC that President,

11:22

Nikias is hosting a celebration for

11:24

Puliafido in honor of all he

11:26

has done for the medical school. The

11:28

reception will be held at the Kech School of Medicine

11:31

on the Law and outside of building name for Eli

11:33

and Edith Broade, the La billionaire couple

11:35

who's thirty million dollar gift paid for it. They

11:38

made the gift three years into Puliafido's tenure

11:40

esteem perhaps a testament

11:43

to his fundraising skills. My

11:45

source shows me the invitation they foresee for

11:47

the event. It's Emboston gold

11:49

on heavy stock. Very nice.

11:53

I'm definitely not invited, but I

11:55

show up anyway. I'm out

11:57

the city US. He's a private

12:00

cool but the campus clearly invites entry

12:02

by the public just in case. Though

12:04

I'm careful not to break any trespassing rules.

12:06

I make sure to stay on the sidewalk and off the university's

12:09

lawn. It's a little hard to hear

12:11

from where I'm standing, but here's the gist. Nikias

12:14

is extolling Puliafito's many accomplishments

12:16

as Dean Pulliafido.

12:19

Thanks his wife.

12:22

I'll have to check the status of that divorce file.

12:25

This is the first time I've seen Pulliafido in person.

12:28

I'm struck by his confidence. He

12:30

appears as if he has nothing to worry about. My

12:32

investigation included why

12:43

would the president of USC put on such

12:45

a public show of appreciation for Puliaffido,

12:48

especially if he knew that the La Times is investigating

12:50

him. It might have something

12:52

to do with the priorities that drove Max Nichias.

12:56

Professor William Tierney had been at Penn State

12:58

before coming to US in nineteen ninety

13:00

four.

13:02

When I went to SC, a

13:04

lot of my friends said, Geez,

13:08

SC is not of the

13:10

same caliber as Penn State.

13:12

Why would you be moving to USC.

13:15

There's an association called the AAU, the

13:17

Association of American Universities,

13:19

and that's the elite institutions.

13:21

At the time, SC was at the bottom of

13:23

the AAU and trying to move up. Steve

13:26

Sample came in with a

13:28

great deal of energy and really

13:30

wanted to transform the institution.

13:32

Steve Sample was president of USC from

13:35

nineteen ninety one to twenty ten. Tierney

13:37

saw what he was trying to do, and he believed Sample

13:40

could pull it off.

13:41

For a university to be the best,

13:44

it's not that we've got a winning football team.

13:46

It's that you've got a faculty that

13:48

are the best and you are listening

13:50

to what they say they need. And

13:53

that also meant that we needed

13:55

to bring in enormous amounts of money

13:57

in a capital campaign.

14:00

Ample devoted himself to fundraising NonStop,

14:02

and when he retired, Max to Kia

14:05

seemed like the perfect choice to continue

14:07

that pursuit.

14:08

Max was someone who if you called

14:10

from New York and said, I've

14:12

got Joe and he's willing

14:15

to have breakfast with you tomorrow and he might

14:17

give us big money, but you need to be here

14:19

for breakfast. Max would take the Red

14:21

Eye and if he knew that

14:23

he needed to be back in Los Angeles

14:25

that night for some type of dinner, he'd

14:27

do it.

14:29

Yikias's drive is understandable when

14:31

you consider his background as an immigrant

14:33

who came to this country intent on making

14:35

something of himself.

14:37

Max came from a very poor family

14:39

in Cyprus. His father was a

14:41

carpenter. His father said to him at one

14:44

point, you're a smart, smart boy. I

14:46

might send you to high school and if you work

14:48

hard, you can graduate, then become a carpenter.

14:51

For Max to graduate, go to the

14:53

United States, to go to a Sunni Buffalo

14:56

to get his doctorate, comes to USC, rises

14:59

through the ranks and become a president.

15:00

I'm agazing, and his rise brought

15:03

him into the same room with a lot of rich, powerful,

15:06

famous people.

15:07

When you're having dinner with Steven Spielberg,

15:11

that's a different sort of undertaking.

15:14

I do think that created a disconnect

15:17

between the world of the faculty

15:19

and the world of la At

15:25

Max's inauguration, he said,

15:28

USC, we have to work

15:30

so hard that we have to run a marathon

15:33

at a ten k speed. I

15:35

went up to him afterwards and I said, Max,

15:38

you can't do that, and you shouldn't

15:40

tell people to do that, and he said,

15:42

oh, but we have to.

15:44

When he was recruited to USC to run the

15:46

medical school, Holdieffido understood

15:48

perfectly that the mandate was

15:50

to bring in money, and he delivered.

15:53

Fundraising in the United States

15:55

is sort of an odd thing. If you're at Columbia

15:58

or Harvard, there's a lot of old money

16:00

and foundations that will give you money.

16:03

The West, especially Los Angeles,

16:05

is the opposite of that. It's a lot

16:08

of new money and you need to be charismatic

16:11

in a way that maxim

16:14

Carmen had they knew

16:16

how to court donors

16:18

successfully, and they did it.

16:21

By the time he quote steps down as

16:23

dean, Pulldiofido has become

16:25

the public face of the medical school. If

16:27

the dean were to get caught up in a scandal, it

16:29

would be bad for USC. This

16:32

backslapping ceremony at the Kech School of Medicine

16:35

might be a face saving gesture for Pulliffido,

16:38

but maybe it's one for USC as well.

16:45

This was a story that had the potential

16:47

to hold a powerful institution and

16:49

a powerful person accountable

16:52

for misconduct.

16:54

Matt Lay was my editor at this time. Throughout

16:57

his career, he's seen his share of corruption

16:59

and cover up.

17:00

I was at the La Times for about

17:03

twenty eight years. I always tried to focus

17:05

on investigative reporting, both as a reporter

17:08

and an editor. I

17:10

worked with reporters who uncovered

17:12

corruption at city hall, abuses, in

17:15

the La County jails. I

17:17

worked on investigations about dirty doctors,

17:19

and prior to the USC investigation,

17:22

I was working on one about Purdue pharmat

17:24

These are tough.

17:25

Stories to do.

17:26

They can be controversial, they can have

17:28

an impact.

17:29

On the paper's reputation.

17:31

The paper's finances, the paper's legal

17:33

standing. They are all issues

17:35

that need to be considered when taking

17:38

on powerful institutions. But

17:40

my feeling is that these are good stories.

17:42

They should be.

17:43

Published with

17:46

Matt's support. I keep digging. I

17:48

find Pullio Fido's home address. It's

17:50

a mansion in Pasadena. Of course,

17:53

it sits behind a high security gate. No

17:55

way to knock on his door. I

17:57

leave my business card with a note on his mail,

18:00

urging him to get in touch. He

18:03

doesn't.

18:09

Finally I get a break. I've

18:11

made multiple public records requests to opacitying

18:13

of police, including for the information

18:16

redacted on the call log from the incident.

18:19

I need a way to verify what Devon has told

18:21

me, and the best way to do that is through police

18:23

records. So I've been chasing them

18:26

constantly with no response. But

18:29

then the police chief writes that the records are requested

18:31

are exempt from disclosure because they're

18:34

part of a criminal investigation.

18:36

Wait a minute, what investigation?

18:38

How could you have an investigation without a police

18:40

report? The chief set

18:42

a trap for himself and walk right into

18:44

it. Now the city will have to

18:46

cough up a report.

18:48

This story, like a lot of investigative

18:51

reporting to me is like

18:53

detective work. You're out knocking

18:56

on doors and chasing leads

18:58

and gathering them from me and

19:01

filing public records requests. There's

19:04

a couple of different thoughts in journalism, and the one

19:06

I think Paul was favoring and I was supportive

19:08

of it was, let's go with what we know, shake

19:10

the tree and unearth other details

19:13

that we didn't know.

19:16

And finally, shaking that tree actually gets me

19:18

something. The passing a police department

19:20

admits they made a mistake. After

19:23

months of saying there's no police report because

19:25

there is no need for one because this was a medical

19:27

emergency, not a crime, the department

19:30

creates one retroactively three

19:33

months after the incident. The police spokesperson

19:35

tells me they dropped the ball because of a quote

19:38

training issue. I've never seen

19:40

anything like it in my career. Neither

19:42

has former detective Joseph jackalone.

19:44

Police departments have policies and procedures

19:47

and protocols. For a reason, we had a

19:49

saying and said, went in doubt, fill it out. So

19:51

if you didn't know you had to fill out a report, just fill

19:53

it out. The worst thing that could happen is that the

19:55

supervisor, who has to sign off on it, says, you

19:57

know what, this isn't necessary, so we're just going.

19:59

To get rid of it.

20:01

Finally I get access to not just the

20:03

very tardy police report, but also

20:05

recordings of the nine one one calls made.

20:07

From the hotel.

20:09

At first, I'm only given the recording of the call

20:11

that Devon made.

20:13

Are you able to transfer me to that room?

20:14

Or?

20:17

But it cuts out when the dispatcher asks

20:19

to be transferred to room three oh four. Then

20:22

the Pasadena City manager sends

20:24

me a second recording that he says the city

20:26

was quote able to obtain, and

20:29

it's quote a better version of

20:31

the nine to one one call, and it continues longer

20:33

than the original file. Good

20:36

does make me wonder why wouldn't the city release

20:38

the second recording immediately?

20:40

Why hold it back?

20:41

I finally get to hear from myself while the second

20:43

recording is quote better, did.

20:46

She wake now?

20:47

No, she's sort of very

20:49

bride.

20:50

You know.

20:50

Do you know how much she drinks a.

20:52

B I mean I came in the room

20:55

and.

20:55

There were lots of didn't you take any deals with it?

20:57

Or just the alcohol?

20:59

I think just the alpha the call places

21:01

pull your feto at the scene. We know from

21:03

the report there's meth in the room, and

21:05

here he is present at the overdose of a young woman,

21:08

and you can hear that he lies.

21:11

He doesn't mention the drugs that, according

21:13

to Devon and the police report were found in a

21:15

room. So far, everything

21:17

Devon con has told me has checked out.

21:20

I have plenty to run my story. My

21:22

editor, Matt Laatee, agrees.

21:24

The first draft was well documented,

21:26

based on police reports, nine

21:28

to one one recordings, interviews with

21:31

key people. It was a solid story.

21:34

There might be more to report in follow up stories,

21:36

but the details we have are bulletproof.

21:39

The hot shot, Din.

21:39

Of USC's medical school has caught up in an

21:42

incident where a young woman has overdosed on drugs

21:44

and he lies to the police.

21:46

Then he mysteriously steps down. It

21:48

looks bad and it's essence.

21:51

This is the story about a powerful man

21:54

abusing his position and authority,

21:56

and then on top of that you have an

21:58

institution that is essentially covering

22:01

up before this man.

22:05

It's Friday, the end of the day. I'm

22:08

on my way out the door. I stop and

22:10

talk to my friend Jack Leonard.

22:12

I've been at the Los Angeles Times

22:14

for more than twenty five years. I started as

22:16

an intern there in nineteen eighty seven, and

22:18

I've covered many different beats,

22:21

police, crime, county government.

22:23

I've done a lot of investigative work. Paul

22:26

is excited about every really good

22:29

story.

22:29

That he works on.

22:30

When he finds some wrongdoing,

22:32

when he finds something that authorities

22:35

or powerful people are trying to keep him,

22:37

he gets very excited about it. And that's

22:39

contagious, and he likes sharing

22:42

that.

22:42

Like many of us do.

22:43

So he comes over to my desk and

22:45

he starts telling me about the story.

22:48

I tell him about Puliafido and USC,

22:50

the stone walling from the cops, the retroactive

22:53

police report.

22:54

I remember him talking about

22:56

Pasadena police and how

22:59

they were not providing him with the requids

23:01

that they were supposed to be providing.

23:03

But Jack's reaction is not what I

23:05

expect.

23:06

I said something to the defects of what

23:09

makes you think they could have publish that?

23:13

And that's when I start to think, how

23:16

far does USC's influence actually

23:18

go? Is

23:21

it possible that it could extend all the way

23:23

into my own newsroom? Next

23:26

time on Fallen Angels as.

23:28

An investigative reporter. Every

23:30

story could be your lost.

23:32

Matt and I face an uphill battle trying

23:34

to get our Pullia Fido story in the paper.

23:36

I was in this defiant mode

23:38

and kind of clung to the idea that Dagon

23:41

City wasn't closing the door to more reporting.

23:44

So we decide to force the issue.

23:46

I remember being in the conference

23:48

room and Matt had said, like, look,

23:51

we're going to do this thing.

23:52

We're just going to keep it on the downlow. We're

23:54

going to make it so they have to publish Paul story.

23:58

That's next time. On Angels.

24:03

Fallen Angels, The Story of California

24:05

Corruption is a production of iHeart Podcasts

24:08

in partnership with Best Case Studios. I'm

24:11

Paul Pringle. This show is based

24:13

on my book Bad City, Peril and Power

24:15

in the City of Angels. Fallen

24:18

Angels was written by Isabel Evans,

24:20

Adam Pinks, and Brent Katz. Isabel

24:23

Evans is our producer, Brent Katz

24:25

is co producer. Associate producers

24:28

are Hanna Leebowitz, Lockhart and On

24:30

Pajo Locke. Executive

24:32

producers are Me, Paul Pringle, Joe

24:34

Picarello, and Adam Pinkus. For Best Case

24:36

Studios. Original music is

24:39

by James Newberry. This episode

24:41

was edited by Max Michael Miller with

24:43

assistants from Nisha Venkat. Additional

24:46

editings, sound design, and additional music

24:49

by Dean White. Harriet Ryan,

24:51

Matt Hamilton, Sarah Parvini and Adam

24:53

Almarik are consulting producers. Our

24:56

iHeart team is Ali Perry and Carl Ketel.

24:59

Following eight Fallen Angels Wherever you get

25:01

your Podcasts, m