As a man with unprecedented access to the facts and a reporter who is one of the most feared journalists in Hollywood, investigative reporter Dylan Howard has cracked open scandals that have brought down the careers of Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Hulk Hogan, and Paula Dean and others. Howard’s sense for news saw him rise to become the undisputed most powerful gossip editor in the world—publishing dozens of salacious tabloid magazines each week, including Us Weekly, The National Enquirer, Star, In Touch, Life & Style, RadarOnline.com, and more.
Described by The New Yorker magazine’s Jeffrey Toobin as “a tabloid prodigy” and AdWeek as “the king of Hollywood scoops,” Dylan also brought to light the hate-fueled audiotapes of Oscar-winning actor/director Gibson blasting former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva; the scandal-plagued death of screen darling Farrah Fawcett; the naming of the mother of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love child; the demise of star-on-the-rise politician Anthony Weiner; and the Tiger Woods sex scandal. He also broke the story of the A-list high-stakes poker scam that was later made into the Oscar-nominated film Molly’s Game.
Most recently, Howard made a name for himself with a stunning exposé of Sheen that revealed Hollywood’s most unapologetic hedonist was HIV positive. It also was a story of extraordinary corruption, violence, lies, intimidation, death threats, and millions of dollars paid out in hush money—a story that he chronicled in a first-person essay for The Hollywood Reporter that AdWeek called “jaw dropping.”
He also develops and executive produces premium unscripted television shows and podcasts, including last year's blockbuster podcast series “Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood” that garnered over 10 million downloads and 50 million media impressions worldwide. The series was named to Apple Podcasts' Most Downloaded New Shows of 2018 and was named a 2019 Webby Best Series honoree by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
In 2011, Howard was named Entertainment Journalist of the Year at the National Entertainment Journalism Awards, where the judges labelled him the “go-to guy for authoritative showbiz news and analysis on cable and over-the-air television.” Howard is the author of Diana: Case Solved and lives in New York City.
Melissa Cronin is an investigative journalist whose ingenious reporting and dynamic writing have been behind some of the world’s biggest and most scandalous stories. After graduating with honors from Harvard, Cronin became a leader of the tabloid world, making her mark at Star magazine, In Touch, The Daily, Page Six, RadarOnline, and OK! magazine. She uncovered memorable scandals involving Tom Cruise, Charlie Sheen, the Kardashians, and more.
She also is renowned for her ability to successfully lead reporting teams on breaking news and enterprise stories. Named one of FOLIO's Top Women in Media for 2018, Cronin is “A Director-Level Doer” who “almost forensically tracks PR metrics,” New York magazine raved. Cronin has served as producer on several record-breaking television, podcast, and digital media projects. She lives in Palm Springs.
James Robertson broke the story of Jeffrey Epstein’s first prison suicide attempt—and has continued to set the news agenda with his jaw-dropping world exclusives. A winner of MHP30 To Watch: Young Journalist Awards in 2014 while senior showbiz reporter at The Daily Mirror in London, he relocated to Los Angeles the same year. In his first 24 months in America, the Welsh-born Robertson traveled to more than 30 states—covering terrorism, high school shootings, celebrity scandals and political bombshells for print and digital publications globally.
His fearless and forensic investigative-style journalism made him renowned for being the trailblazer who gets the story others can’t. From exposing Scientology’s ruthless practices to uncovering pay-offs in Hollywood and scooping an affair that sparked the most expensive divorce in history, Robertson was also praised by pundits for his “extraordinary” interview with Gloria Chapman, the loyal wife of John Lennon’s killer Mark Chapman, breaking her silence for the only time since 1980. In 2017, he became the youngest Editor-In-Chief in tabloid media at the helm of OK! magazine at only age 27, a position he still holds while overseeing reporting as Head of News for Us Weekly, The National Enquirer, RadarOnline, InTouch, Star, and Life & Style.
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From the authors' introduction:
For investigative reporters, all too often the search for truth stops short before any satisfying conclusion. Leads turn cold and paths of inquiry hit dead ends. In the case of Jeffrey Epstein, even in death, the rabbit hole spirals ever downward, proving to be infinitesimally profound and complex.
Disturbing questions about the convicted pedophile first surfaced on a national scale back in 2008, when Epstein received a sentence of just eighteen months in prison—and that, with work release—following the Palm Beach Police Department’s discovery of more than thirty of his teen sex abuse victims.
Former US Labor Secretary Alex Acosta had helped prosecute Epstein at the time, and in the face of critiques, Acosta steadfastly insisted he had simply secured the best deal possible. But when pressed as to whether Epstein had scored a lighter sentence because he was a member of international intelligence, Acosta offered a non-denial denial—in classic politician form.
“This was a case that was brought by our office, it was brought based on the facts and I look at the reporting and others, I can’t address it directly because of our guidelines, but I can tell you that a lot of reporting is going down rabbit holes,” said Acosta.
Now, through the looking glass of a dogged and extraordinary investigation, we have discovered that the rabbit hole goes deeper than anyone ever could have expected. The world has known only half of the sordid saga that is the life and death of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Until now.
Dead men like Epstein tell no tales, but we can. In this book, we’ll tell a tale of sex victims, dead bodies, spies, death threats, and an international conspiracy the likes of which we have never seen before.
Everyone knows that Epstein used his mathematical genius and ruthless ambition to slither into high society, where he posed as a billionaire investor and charming philanthropist.
His mysterious riches, gaudy private jet, and impenetrable mansion fortresses allowed him to unleash his insatiable appetite for underage girls with impunity for decades. That is beyond dispute.
Now for the first time, however, this unprecedented examination sheds light on an even shadier side of Epstein’s dark and twisted life, a story that traverses the globe from the White House, to Manhattan, through New Mexico, Palm Beach, Paris, the US Virgin Islands, and the Israeli Mossad, ending at the Kremlin in Russia.
* * *
Epstein, at least on the surface, was once the epitome of a jet-setting bachelor. The secretive self-made man who rose from blue-collar Brooklyn to the heights of luxury was a close confidant of presidents, prime ministers, A-list movie stars, and even British royalty.
But for years, there were disturbing whispers that the enigmatic billionaire was secretly running an underground sex-trafficking ring—pimping out the young girls under his control to the richest and most influential men in the world.
Epstein and his powerful pals didn’t do much to hide their perversions.
Whether on his private jet, dubbed the “Lolita Express,” at his mansions around the world, or on his own private island, Epstein traveled with a roster of young women by his side. For those men invited to join him, it was a global pedophile playground.
Yet these weren’t periodic seedy sexcapades. The horrors orchestrated by Epstein were carried out on a daily basis.
A massive police investigation in Florida ended with a whimper in 2007. After just a few months in jail, Epstein was back at it again, flaunting his freedom and his debauchery around the world for more than a decade.
In the summer of 2019, though, the possibility of justice at last seemed real as federal agents officially charged Epstein with organizing the most extensive child sex ring in history.
Some of his brave victims—now adult women—came forward to break their silence and confront their abuser. It seemed his sickest misdeeds would finally be revealed, and those who took part in the corrupt conspiracy would be thrust into the spotlight.
The public was poised to finally learn the awful truth, and to hold all those involved accountable.
But hopes for long-overdue justice were shattered on August 10 when Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.
The verdict: suicide.
The timing: convenient, to say the least.
The man at the center of the monstrous scheme, the devil who might have finally confessed to save what was left of his soul, was forever silenced.
With no one else charged in the indictment, the criminal case against Epstein himself was dropped. There would be no public trial and no further firsthand evidence unleashed. It seemed that Epstein had ultimately escaped criminal punishment and had silenced his victims yet again.
But that story is not over.
* * *
For the past eight years, this team of investigators has followed the trail of Epstein’s darkest secrets, wherever they led. We conducted dozens of hours of interviews with those who knew Epstein best, secured previously unreleased documents under Freedom of Information Act laws, uncovered and questioned new victims and witnesses—including his onetime chauffeur and his New Mexico “massage therapist” recruiter—obtained recordings of a defiant Epstein himself protesting his innocence, and uncovered photos inside his sex dens of sin and onboard his private jet, the Lolita Express.
At times, we faced pushback.
At times, the facts stopped adding up.
That was when we knew we had to dig deeper into Epstein’s dark world.
Luckily, in this case the law would aid our efforts to expose him. Many of our previous investigations into the life of Jeffrey Epstein were hamstrung by the simple fact that he was still alive.
When an individual is still living, it can be virtually impossible to obtain police files, deposition audio, sealed court documents, or any evidence related to their case. But when a person dies, this information can finally be made public with little restriction.
This reality is what allowed us to deliver Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales, an unprecedented probe into his life and death aimed at uncovering the real truth.
The death of inmate 76318–054 allowed us more access into his personal life than ever before. Here, for the first time ever, we have compiled the shocking information that ultimately led to credible leads and disturbing new evidence. We have pieced together the scattered puzzle he left behind.
Through it all, we fought tirelessly with law enforcement officials to unseal documents and obtain clues that might otherwise have been overlooked. We traveled to New York, Florida, Paris, Russia, and New Mexico in search of the truth, leaving no stone unturned as we uncovered an epic drama of crime, wealth, betrayal, and international intrigue.
We did it all for years with one goal in mind.
We sought an answer to the question the whole world has been asking: How—and why—did the man that President Donald Trump once called a “terrific guy” become one of the world’s most evil criminals? And why was he able to evade true justice for so long?
* * *
The story of Jeffrey Epstein—as the world knows it—is shocking, and tragic. The full and real story—as revealed here for the first time—is so scandalous that it raises pressing questions that implicate the world’s elite.
How much did Epstein pals President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and President Donald Trump know about Epstein’s perversions—and did they take part?
How might they have helped him to continue his abuse, and to escape justice for it?
What responsibility might they have for his sudden, shocking death?
And will we ever know the truth of the sprawling tale of espionage and blackmail at the heart of this scandal?
The answers to these questions—and more—will be revealed through this compelling investigation sitting in your hands.
Be warned, however: Our reporting is, at times, graphic, disturbing, and distressing, as his victims expose the brutal details of living their worst nightmare.
Be prepared: Our findings also will send shock waves through the establishment and the highest levels of the world’s watching, waiting glitterati.
Be assured that you will finally learn the definitive facts about how it all came to a brutal end in a grim Manhattan jail cell.
Was Epstein’s death suicide—or murder?
If murder, who was behind it?
And most importantly: who could be next?
—DYLAN HOWARD, MELISSA CRONIN & JAMES ROBERTSON
