Going Clear Movie Part 10, Tony ‘Back Page’ Ortega – three time loser
Transcript
Mark Rathbun:
Gibney rips off film student’s techniques with Ortega
Tony Ortega got his foot in the door with me during a previous documentary that mainly involved me, Scientologists at War which came out in 2013. They way they used Ortega was, they interspersed him. They would show interviews with me on a subject and then occasionally they would have Ortega come in to interpret what I was saying; and thereby, come to conclusions that they could not get me to come to. And that is how he was used throughout that. He was taking what I was saying and turning it into something that it wasn’t. That is what they pretty skillfully did. And that was their technique. So, then Going Clear comes along. What blows me away is that Alex Gibney gets all these accolades. It is just this cult of celebrity culture we live in. It is like, once you are recognized by somebody you are somebody go be lionized. Gibney wasn’t original in the slightest. He used the exactly same thing in Going Clear that those fellows had done in Scientologists at War. And those guys, by the way, were novice filmmakers. The guys from the UK, they worked for a guy who was a producer who had won Oscars. But this was part of a program where he was taking promising young directors and saying ‘here, here’s all this stuff; go make a documentary.” So Gibney actually ripped off from these cinematography students this technique and basically used the same thing. I mean, if you get the book Going Clear, and go to the index and look for “Tony Ortega”. He’s not there. Zero pages. He is not even in it. Now, we go to the movie which is, according to Gibney, a recreation of the book, and now Tony Ortega is suddenly the critical link to everything. The reason I say, he’s the critical link to everything, is not because he has more air time, but it is more critical, crucial air time, because Gibney uses Ortega exactly the same way the folks did in Scientologists at War. And that is, he bridges. He’ll be putting together this salacious segment and it just doesn’t quite add up. And then, all the sudden there is Tony Ortega with a convenient soundbite that sort of leads you to this conclusion. And it is interspersed throughout the film. I told Gibney, it may even be in writing, I told him “in posterity, that is dumbest thing you ever did. This guy (Ortega) is a troll, he’s an avowed anti Scientologist, he has no personal experience, and you putting into this movie cheapens it and turns it into a propaganda piece. And it does. He has no personal experience.
Tony Ortega and the Village Voice
The CEO and one of the directors of the Village Voice (where Ortega ran a lot of his earlier anti Scientology campaigning) ultimately got indicted and arrested for running prostitution, human trafficking of minors. That was the main source of income for the Village Voice publication at the time. And so, they got to get rid of Ortega because – according to Ortega – Ortega told me, “it turns out the church’s accusations and investigations into the Voice were more true than anyone believed.” Essentially the Village Voice was bought and paid for through the human trafficking Back Page ads. As a solution they wanted to get out from under the scrutiny of the church; and of course Tony Ortega was doing nothing at the Village Voice other than by becoming what he became, a full time Anti Scientologist. And so, he wasn’t helping general circulation with his editing work. He was harming it. And all he was doing was bringing the scrutiny of the church upon them. So, what they decided to do was to give Ortega a sweet honey package to go off and do what he wanted to do, which was to write a book about Scientology. And it was a pretty sweet package because he was at it for two years. He got to go shopping it for the next two years, doing nothing else but shopping.
Ortega Channels Miserable Old Lady
So, Ortega gets his package and what does he do? He goes and get this woman who settled all her differences with the church 35 years ago and gets her to unsettle. Paulette Cooper. Because she’s got this story of going after the church, and the church going after her, that’s a very salacious story that had been told in the seventies. And then she had subsequent litigation and then she settled in 1981. 35 years later he is going resurrect her in the hopes that maybe he can become her. I think the guy is unbelievable disappointed that Scientology didn’t take the bait and come after him. I mean, he’s been trolling so hard. Here’s this guy and talks with all this air of authority and he’s done “this, this, this, this, this, and this” and all he can talk about in terms of harassment is what happened to the woman who he wrote a book about, that happened forty years ago, not to him, but the woman he wrote a book about.
Ortega and the ASC (Anti Scientology Cult) sum up
This is this whole ASC (Anti Scientology Cult) culture of “your narrative is my narrative”. “we’re all one great big narrative”, just this big cluster. “You suffered that and therefore I suffered that and therefore everybody ought to be in fear of suffering that.” And, that is Tony Ortega.
Moving On Up a Little Higher 
It makes sense that poor Tony is trying to be Paulette Cooper. She’s one of the martred saints of the ASC. BTW there is some speculation that Freak Out was a CoIntelPro op run by CIs or Confidential Informants or more accurately Agent Provocatuers.
There were a number of GO executives or staff involved or in the know/complicit on that. Some of which were part of the actual approval and RUNNING of said op. Terry Milner, Dick Weigand, Jane Kember, Mary Sue Hubbard.
Which one of these are speculated as being double-agents*?
*double-agent as defined as working for one intelligence outfit – the G.O. – while actually working for another at the same time.
Good run. glad I stayed out of the comments.
I studied all the court cases involving Paulette Cooper while organizing the church’s legal files in 1979. There were numerous lawsuits by and against both parties. Later I listened to taped recordings of Cooper and church private eye Dick Bast in which Cooper gave a completely different story to Bast than the allegations in one of her lawsuits against the church.
I recommended that Cooper’s deposition be taken in that particular lawsuit before the Bast tapes were made public. The idea being that she would either perjure herself in an effort to prove her case or admit the things she secretly told Bast and therefore disprove her claims. Either way, grounds would then exist to ask the court to dismiss the case.
The idea was approved, and I flew to NY to brief the church’s lawyer on the plan. Cooper lied her ass off. Proven by her own (recorded) words that her allegations were false, the lawsuit was thrown out.
I write about this in my book, Arrows in the Dark. (www.arrowsinthedark.com)
Flash forward to 2013. Ortega reached out to me while working on his Paulette Cooper book. I advised him to pick a different subject, that while Cooper had been mistreated by the church, she also had dirty hands. I told him about her filing of false accusations against the church and later perjuring herself in an attempt to cover it up.
I could have given him more dirt, but his reaction to this one example told me it wouldn’t matter. He was unfazed. He said Cooper had admitted to him that she had done some bad things to the church. “Like what?” I asked. A lot of things, he replied. He added that he was surprised by her candor. That’s all he would say. I didn’t read his book, but I’m willing to bet that Ortega omitted to tell the reader about her “bad things” and instead made the church out to be the total villain and her the total victim.
Again, you say that Tony Ortega is ‘not there’ in the book ‘Going Clear.’ He is not in the index because, unlike in some books, the notes and the acknowledgements are not included in the index. Tony Ortega is thanked in the acknowledgements, mentioned in a footnote in the main text, and appears eight more times in the end notes. HE IS THERE. Why do you keep saying he isn’t?
Freak Out was run by NY AGI not WW or USGO.
See actual documents:
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/krasel/cooper/frk.html
Where exactly do you find MSH, Kember, Milner, Weigland signing off?
However to answer your question the most likely suspect would be Don Alverso who was working for the GO in B1 and just happened to be PCs roommate and who just happen to be the one who carelessly left the tools of his trade for the FBI to find.
Not only that but despite the fact that he was connected to the break in at the D.C. IRS by Meisner’s Stipulation of Evidence was never indicted.
Don’t you think that’s strange?
Marty never said Ortega is “not there”. But here you are, insisting this is true. Marty did not foray into the index, end notes, or footnote. I laid out definitions and it is like talking to a wall. This is not something you are going to comprehend for reasons I don’t know and probably can not even understand.
I guess then, Donald King, that you could say he is not in the main text–which is rather odd since he’s featured in the movie. Regardless, it seems you’re missing the whole point.
I took Marty’s comment to mean that Ortega was not an interviewed subject or character in the text of the book. A viewer of this video doesn’t have to read the entire book to confirm that fact, they need only look in the index.
Being interviewed on screen for the movie is the equivalent of being quoted and interviewed in the text of the book. Acknowledgements and footnotes in a book, on the other hand, is the equivalent of being named in the credits of a movie as a consultant.
Marty’s point is accurate and valid. Ortega became a character in the movie though he hadn’t been one in the book. Moreover, Ortega was used in a clever manner by Gibney to add a false meaning and conclusions to bits and pieces of former member statements when Ortega himself had no personal experience with Scientology. Gibney pushed a false narrative in Going Clear — propaganda, in other words — is Marty’s larger point.
Marty, to this day Miscavige locks up his top execs so they can’t report on his lies and abuses, you know the truth behind his spiritual, physical and emotional entrapment and abuse of others, he should be incarcerated for his crimes and it’s only a matter of time before this happens. He can’t keep hiding the truth when hundreds are speaking out against him, he will soon be on the run and hiding from the law just like LRH was……. the time is near now.
Marty, go to the FBI and ask for immunity if you expose DM’s crimes.
This way you won’t end up in prison with Miscavige. Save yourself while you can, then he will have no more blackmail material on you and no more hold over you……. It’s not too late. You can do it. We will support you all the way. Terri
Very interesting.
Another interesting fact is that Saint Cooper was also funded by the AFF in her court battle against the Church of Scientology.
Also as I’ve mentioned before there were several books that were even more critical of Scientology than “Scandal” such as Inside Scientology, Road to Total Freedom and Ali Smiles yet none of authors of these books received the same scrutiny and harassment from the GO that Cooper did.
We look back and find PC was not actually a journalist as she claims but happened to be studying “Comparative Religions” at Harvard which is one of the many places contracted by CIA for their Mk Ultra program and was not only the source of Acid Guru Timothy Leary but the Unabomber as well AKA Ted Kaczynski.
Funny that is as in strange that PC would later pose as a journalist with no actual degree in Journalism after posing as a person who was interested in Scientology and write the book the Scandal of Scientology which would make her a cause celebre of the Anti Cult Movement that was being directed by a board of directors consisting of former alumni of CIA’s mind control initiative and even stranger is that the GO would totally fixate on her and bring her more notoriety than she deserved for her badly written book.
There are so many layers of deception involved in the whole incident that Back Page Tony and what Marty correctly calls the ASC who totally ignore it while granting her the level of Sainthood.
I retract my earlier statement, everybody missed the point and it has been an imense clusterfuck and asskissing contest without me.
From Mike McClaughry –
“Where exactly do you find MSH, Kember, Milner, Weigland signing off?”
Just looking at the first document at the website you presented, you’ll notice it is routed to Dick and initialed as approved by DW – Dick Weigand.
That said, I was an AGI. After Operation Freakout was over, I personally knew and had discussions with people at USGO who had been involved in it. That includes Don Alverzo and the guy at USGO who had run the thing. The AGI’s in the United States were under the command of their seniors at U.S.G.O. We were not allowed to just do whatever we felt like. Everything we did had to have approval from our seniors at U.S.G.O. In addition to a local AGI originating programs for black intelligence operations, our seniors at USGO would write their OWN programs for black operations or suggest ideas for black operations. So, it’s an incorrect idea that the responsibility for Operation Freakout falls totally on the head of the AGI in New York. I always had the idea that Don Alverzo was recruited by the USGO, not the AGI New York. When he got “done” doing Operation Freakout, he immediately went on staff at USGO. For all I know, he was already staff before that.
From Virginia –
“Don’t you think that’s strange?”
I think pretty much everything about Alverzo is strange.
Add from Virginia –
Mike was referring to this document from the website you gave.
http://home.snafu.de/tilman/krasel/cooper/frkc1.html
Why is it that the nameless trolls always feel they have the “most important” opinions on any subject?
From you to the Oracle to “Robin Adair” — you’re all fools if you think others should take you seriously.
Virginia, Merrell, Marty and others are real people instead of other-determined phantoms with their fixed ideas located out in space somewhere.
Not long ago, I was watching a Netflix show called “Enlightened” staring Laura Dern. Nominated for Emmy’s etc. Only did two seasons but what struck me was THIS LINE: “Don’t try to save me” — from the ex-husband of the woman who had a serious meltdown/breakdown and went off to a yoga/guru/inspired place to “heal”
The ex-husband had his own meltdown — became a drunk and now Laura Dern was trying to “save him”
————————————
I have spent the better part of my life TRYING to “save the world, dolphins, friends, family, exes” the list is endless almost. And JUST recently have come to the terribly painful realization that the only person who can save someone is oneself.
Those who “escaped” from INT, from SO did so based on reasons way too numerous to list. Each one had his/her OWN breaking point. And FIGURED out how to get the hell out of there.
Even if it meant leaving without a nickel. Or leaving with a huge pay out or whatever.
I’m heartbroken on a regular basis that family members are left behind, or mothers are forced to choose, or nephews are never met, and all the other stories.
The abuses we humans foist on each other brings me to tears almost everyday …
Life — contrary to what LRH taught about TOTAL CERTAINTY just isn’t possible — it’s more complicated than that.
What IS possible are incremental stages of awareness — and some of those stages were illuminated by LRH … whether he borrowed it from other Eastern sources or not.
And the horrible name calling from most of the blogs – is shocking. Some blogs owners don’t have to do the name calling — the allowed commenters do it for them.
So they APPEAR to have taken the high road.
But underneath every single comment and blog owner is this simple wish —
To move towards happiness/pleasure and away from pain/suffering.
Rant over.
Windhorse
Oh — and try as I might to wish myself back to an age when I could have 1) gone back to college and finished 2) gotten a career and made $$ 3) saved $$ for my old age 4) spent time with my mother in a meaningful way before she died 5) grieved for my father AND mother when they died which is normal — not “case on post”
ALL the things I wish had BEEN my life – are never going to BE my life.
My life is only now moving forward and it’s a hell of a lot shorter (even if I live another 20plus years) than it would have been when I left the SO in 1980.
It’s time to stop pointing fingers at each other. WE all share an experience that no one who wasn’t part of the SO or INT can experience.
AND most certainly someone who never was part of scientology can understand.
I hesitate to mention to people I meet that I was part of scientology cause all they want to hear about ARE THE CELEBRITIES.
They don’t *really* care a bit about the abuses other than to say — whew — glad I’m not so easily duped. And yet — they too are bound up tightly in the cult of unawareness …
Second rant over.
Windhorse
Marty is not a criminal, as you announce. He does not need immunity from prosecution as you announce. Marty is not being blackmailed as you announce. Marty does not need to “save himself” from prison as you announce. There is not the slightest possibility Marty will end up in prison as you announce because he is not a criminal. Nobody “has a hold” over Marty as you announce. Seriously doubt if Marty would need to lean on you for “support” after your declares which bear false witness and flood the theater with more wrong items and imply he is a criminal evading the F.B.I. All false reports. Wrong items. Wrong whys. Wrong whos.
Wrong ways.
If you have knowledge of executives that locked up so they can not report crimes, please contact law enforcement and file a report. Please give the names and address where they are being held.
Since your commenting here in the comment section here. My question is why didn’t you answer any of Randy MacDonald’s questions?
According to Randy MacDonald writing under the nom de plume of Ashton Gray in his research series for his book Watergate the Hoax entitled Part III: The Mysteries of the History-Makers, Morocco 1972:
http://www.chaletbooks.com/chaletreports/?p=47
TERRI GILLHAM GAMBOA, Commodore’s Messenger: She was cc:ed on many of the questions about the alleged Morocco missions. She never answered any of them. She was asked directly whether she ever saw any communication coming from or going to L. Ron Hubbard about the so-called Postal-Telegraph-Telephone (PTT) mission, supposedly to train Moroccan Muslim postal employees on Hubbard’s study technology, taught in a course called the “Student Hat.” Even though she ostensibly was with Hubbard every day throughout the entire alleged mission, when asked the question all she said was: “No, it didn’t happen on my watch. Sorry can’t help with that one.”
You also say that Ron was “on the run and hiding from the law”. Yet he had been living near Creston just outside of San Luis Obispo for several years after leaving La Quinta.
Hardly “on the run”.
Also if he was “hiding from the law” why would he request the services of Treasury Department’s BATF in devising a special ink for his Riverside Declaration:
http://sc-i-r-s-ology.freiescientologen.de/documents/1983-05-15lrhdeclaration.html
Finally what documents do you have to support any of your assertions or conjectures about Hubbard?
As far as I can see you have offered nothing but hearsay.
Regarding Miscavige. I’m not really interested in defending him but the fact remains that Rinder in the role of a Government Informant AKA Stool Pigeon couldn’t get the FBI to take him seriously because they couldn’t find any evidence of wrong doing.
In other words claiming that crimes exist is different from actually proving their existence which neither you or Rinder have done.
My suggestion is come back when you have actual documented evidence. Instead of spreading calumny.
Terri, Marty is a decent man. He’s gone through a lot of shit, some self appointed, some not. I’m sure he will eventually see who is suppressing who and will choose to help those who are being expressed. So I am with you in asking Marty to do the right thing.
Terri, since you seem to think you know what Marty knows, why don’t you yourself go to the FBI and ask for immunity if you expose DM’s crimes?
I have never considered my views “important” in this theater. They are all relative. Apparently, you are the only one taking me seriously. You wouldn’t know me from a hole in the wall yet you describe me here in some mini bio, my wants, and needs, my attitudes. Demeaning me and someone else who just tune in for conversation, at best. Not yours and not your company. I am the phantom you describe. Other than that, anything you think you “know” about me, or a man sharing his ideas named Cat Daddy, is hallucinatory. Suggest you stop batting at phantoms and find someone real to suppress, humiliate and demean.
Good rant.
Marty is already doing the right thing, to the best of his ability and knowledge. There’s nothing more we could ask of a person.
See his blog post of yesterday (August 11) titled “Reactions.”
“It’s time to stop pointing fingers at each other.”
Some schools of thought say that what we resent in someone else is what we resent in ourselves. Something like that. I don’t know that I want to get into my own head that much, but the current conversation has caused me to take a look at my own bias and prejudice. When its all gone I’ll return and declare my own sainthood.
Dear Mike,
Your historical info is priceless, for sorting this out. Can’t thank you enough!
Chuck Beatty
August 2017
PS: I look through all your answers on this blog, and honestly, your input deserves an archivist to share your historical writings/comments. Everything you write, I enjoy dissecting and learning from. Thanks!
So I stand corrected. “DW” is obviously Dick Weigland but I am correct that WW never approved this program.
It seems obvious that Alverso had some background in intel or law enforcement by the ease he carried out Black Bag jobs for the USGO.
There is a special department “D” consisting of NSA, CIA and FBI used to break into Consulates and Embassies in a similar manner.
DROPPING TODAY – THE STORY OF LIZ FERRIS – MUST SEE – Second Generation Scientologist Warrior Woman