Waco - The New Messiah | 1
American Scandal
Audible
4.5 • 19.6K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2020
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1993, a massive conflict erupts in rural Texas. The federal government launches a siege against the Branch Davidians, a religious group based in the outskirts of Waco. What follows is the longest firefight in the history of American law enforcement. And it’s a battle that ends in tragedy. But the standoff has its genesis years before. It’s then that Vernon Howell comes looking for a new religious community to call home. He finds it with the Branch Davidians, and soon, he begins working to seize power.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to American Scandal add-free on Amazon Music, download the app today. |
| 0:07.0 | A listener note, this episode contains references to adult content and language, and contains material that some might find offensive. |
| 0:15.0 | It's the morning of February 28th, 1993. |
| 0:30.0 | Outside Waco Texas, the sleek pickup truck pulls into a dirt lot. |
| 0:35.0 | The truck door opens and a man steps out into the cold morning air. |
| 0:39.0 | A wind whistles lightly and rustles the grass along a prairie. |
| 0:43.0 | The man's name is Robert Rodriguez. He's 42 with thick, dark hair and a linebacker's physique. |
| 0:49.0 | He cuts the truck's engine, and gazes at an unassuming cluster of wooden buildings known as Mount Carmel Center. |
| 0:56.0 | Rodriguez knows far more about Mount Carmel than he cares to. |
| 1:00.0 | He's met many of the men, women, and children who live here. |
| 1:03.0 | All members of a religious cult call the Branch Dividians. |
| 1:07.0 | There are more than 100 strong, and the group is led by a man named David Kuresh. |
| 1:11.0 | Rodriguez knows that Kuresh is a high school dropout, whose given name is Vernon Howell. |
| 1:17.0 | But here at Mount Carmel, Kuresh is something much more, much bigger. |
| 1:22.0 | His followers believe that he is the Messiah. |
| 1:25.0 | As he tells him he is the new embodiment of Christ, here on earth to bring about the end of days. |
| 1:31.0 | Rodriguez gets out of his truck and walks toward the compound. |
| 1:34.0 | He hates visiting this place, but he's careful to keep a smile on his broad face. |
| 1:38.0 | He can't allow anything to reveal his true feelings, or his real job. |
| 1:43.0 | Rodriguez is an undercover agent with the ATF, the federal bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. |
| 1:50.0 | And he knows there are buildings full of guns at Mount Carmel. |
| 1:54.0 | About a month ago, Rodriguez and other ATF agents moved into a house just down the road. |
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