The Idiot - Chapter 2
3/26/202650 min
M. seeks out Allen’s ex-wife, Priscilla, who tells her side of the story. It begins with a whirlwind romance but quickly turns to chart Allen’s betrayal: taking her son from Russia and stranding Priscilla and her daughter in Moscow. What follows is Priscilla’s two-year odyssey, a journey that includes surviving a brutal attack and shocking arrests in Zimbabwe, only to reach the U.S. and have Allen take the boy again.
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Masha Gessen· Host0:32
In the early morning hours of July 28th, 2022, when the FBI showed up at my father's house on Cape Cod, they knocked on another door, too. Priscilla's.
Priscilla· Guest0:44
So they knock, and when they told me they were FBI, I thought they were there for me.
Masha Gessen· Host0:52
This is Priscilla.
Priscilla· Guest0:52
So I started like literally physically shaking. I started thinking in my head, it was just like, "You're being deported. You're gonna be deported," you know? And I think they saw that I was so scared, and they told me, "Calm down. We are here about Alan Gessen."
Masha Gessen· Host1:08
Alan, my cousin, Priscilla's ex.
Priscilla· Guest1:11
And they said to me, um, "Alan has been arrested." I was like, "Okay, for what? What happened?" And they said, "He's been arrested for murder for hire." And I'm like, "What's that?" Like, made