This story about Jeffrey Epstein by Michael Wolfe began just like any other story at New York Magazine.

The beginning of the issue cycle, the editors send out the lineup for what they've decided is going in the magazine.

Stories that are done basically that are pretty much drafted and perhaps even gone through a round of edits or two by the time the editors decide, okay, we're going to put this in the next issue.

You know, we got the line up and there was going to be a story in it by Michael Wolfe about Jeffrey Epstein.

You know, it didn't strike me as anything odd at first. You know, Michael Wolfe is a very successful journalist.

When I finally talked to Michael about the story, he told me that he had made an arrangement with Epstein to secure Epstein's cooperation with the story.

That included an agreement that Epstein himself was going to be the sole point of contact for fact-checking.

Now, this is very unusual. Usually writers are only too happy for fact-checkers to kind of go above and beyond and to look for any way they can to confirm the details and to get creative if they have to.

Michael didn't want that.

From Justine Harmon and audio Chuck, this is killed. The podcast that brings dead stories back to life.

Episode 7. The Patophile.

Most Kills. The kind that find their way into movies and TV shows are the result of outside pressure.

Someone powerful gets wind of an impending story and does everything in their power to shut it down.

But sometimes, a kill comes from inside the house. Just ask Alex Yablon.

So my name is Alex Yablon. I'm a freelance journalist. I write about politics and policy, but a lifetime ago I was a fact-checker at New York Magazine.

I started at New York Magazine in 2012.

Okay, so maybe not a lifetime ago. Like a decade ago.

Alex was a fact-checker at New York, the decorated and precocious local magazine that routinely minds the zeitgeist for journalistic gold.

You may recall that great little bit in Sex in the City when Carrie Bradshaw appears on the cover of New York with the headline, single and fabulous question mark.

The eco-yogi slum lords of Brooklyn. Anna Delvey.

What's you wearing? You look poor. The mass popularity of BDE.

I was just thinking, like, heard about this BDE.

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