The Idiot - Chapter 3
3/26/202650 min
M. attends Allen’s trial in San Francisco. The FBI’s star witness, an agent who went by “David," plays his undercover recordings of Allen. They reveal how Allen’s scheme to deport Priscilla turned into a murder-for-hire plot.
Allen is his own star witness, but his attempts to defend himself fall flat in court. M. begins to wonder why they loved seeing Allen humiliated on the stand.
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Masha Gessen· Host0:27
On May 1st, 2023, I went to the federal courthouse in downtown San Francisco. My cousin Alan was on trial for hiring someone to kill his ex-wife, Priscilla. The man he hired was actually an undercover FBI agent who worked out of the San Francisco office, so the trial was in California. No way was I going to miss this. Nine months had passed since Alan was arrested in my father's backyard. Now in the courtroom, he looked like he'd aged 20 years in that time. Alan used to be fat and shiny. His bald head shone, as did his gadgets and his cars. He used to wear cowboy boots and big leather hats. Now he was dressed in a white shirt and a gray blazer. Defense attorneys often counsel their clients on what to wear to trial. The plain white shirt could communicate respect for the court. The blazer was non-threatening. But it was Alan's physical transformation that struck me. He was thin, something he'd never been. He was stooped. He'd let his beard grow long and gray. "Well played, Alan,"