Las Vegas, City of Sin, a place bursting of the seams with garish flashing lights,

backroom deals, sexual indiscretion, rowdy bachelor partiers, and general drunken debauchery,

a city where people go to make bad decisions and pray the consequences don't follow them home.

With such a seedy reputation, it might be the last place you'd expect to find

two kind-faced older ladies like Lana Chang and Mary Margaret Cooper.

But these ladies were regulars, just as comfortable in a darkened room choked with cigarette smoke

as they were at a church fundraiser.

They spent money like someone else was footing the bill.

And somebody else was, rather several somebodies.

They just didn't know it yet.

Unlike other visitors to the gambling capital of the world, Chang and Kruper weren't just betting on cards and sports.

They were risking a lot more than cash.

Chang and Kruper rolled the dice every time they stepped out on the gaming floor.

They were betting they wouldn't get caught.

You see, Chang and Kruper were meant to be two humble employees of an elementary school,

but they were living large, driving late model volvos and taking frequent luxurious trips to Vegas

and Tahoe. Not bad for two women who had taken a vow of poverty.

Yeah. who had taken a vow of poverty. This is Opportunist, an original podcast from Podcast One.

You're listening to a story told in one episode called Sister Mary Margaret Cooper, Unholy

Roller. I'm Sarah James McLaughlin.

In this episode, we'll do a deep dive on sisters Lana Chang and Mary Margaret

Kruper, who ran a Catholic school, but used their power to fund a dark addiction. Established in 1918, St. James Catholic School consists of several low-lying buildings in sunny Redondo Beach in Torrance, California, less than an hour from the City of Angels, depending on the traffic, of course.

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