Note: This episode contains strong language.
Today, we’re sharing Episode 7 of “Rabbit Hole,” a New York Times audio series with the tech columnist Kevin Roose.
In this episode, our reporter investigates the QAnon conspiracy theories. The story of QAnon believers, united in a battle against what they see as dark forces of the world, reveals where the internet is headed.
For more information on “Rabbit Hole” and today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/rabbithole.
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
From the New York Times, I'm likeable borrow today rabbit whole episode. Seven, given yes alleys here I come
thanks for participating in our go Rodya here. I love this subject so happy to do it? Can you first? Can you just to introduce yourself in your beat these days?
So am I workings. I work at the metro desk at the times and my beat is more.
The New York City Police Department, but that
What is a whole lot of things, whether it's crying counter terror or we had a big spike and gang violence this year in Brooklyn, so we kind of pop around all of that and this story, the story you're here to talk about. Where does it start for you?
It starts laid on the night of March Thirteenth, this past year,
when I started getting frantic phone calls from my editor around one thousand one hundred and thirty at night, and I think when you're on the metro, beating you're covering the police department, you get called
time of night, and you think you know either a bridge is blown up or like a mob boss is dead
and it turns out it was a second one in a brazen shooting straight out of a crime drama. Fifty three rural Francesco, Frankie Boy Kelly, was found with multiple
on children, Tresco, Colleen, Francesco, Frankie Boy, Kelly Gun down less
Frankie boy Kali, who is the under boss of the Gambia no crime family again be no crime. Family was once led by the legendary John God is dead and Staten Island mean of the biggest lobbyists in three decades.
This is the first time a mob boss has been killed in New York City since nineteen eighty five Shakespeare set of kings uneasy lie
They have that, whereas a crown the same
I'd be set of those who rise to the top of organised crime. They get thereby violence and often does not.
Leave by vial.
Are you in the immediate aftermath of a mob murder like that,
goes a million things are trying.
Figure out and the biggest one is who killed him
and oh my god, oh they're, going to be more bodies. Dropping. Is this going to be some kind of mob war saloon? Everyone on joint here today with Lieutenant Jolly for answers to seal
the one twenty Sech a few days after that call from my editor after we ve spent days trying to understand what happened earlier today, members of the detective Bureau, together with our partners
reach. The police finally announced that they have a suspect into custody. Twenty four year old Male Anthony Carmelo.
And had you ever heard the name Anthony Camilla before now, and
after we get that name it sets off this, for
ramble to figure out who this kid is and what, if any connection,
He may have had to colleagues for the mafia.
We started trying to figure out if his family was connected to the mob at all like we knew they lived in Staten Island. We knew his doubts have been involved in construction, which is
historically been mob controlled. We also,
new that Anthony had a history with drugs and that his brother had an alleged history with drugs. So did they some
across Kali because of that and there,
this theory left field that Anthony?
some kind of romantic interest in Frank, Callie's, niece and the french colleague had told him to stay away, but none of these
pan out, there are new developments in the murder of a reputed Mombasa Staten Island, so Anthony Camellias arrested on Saturday, the suspected killer making is first court appearance in New Jersey,
he shows up in court on Monday, you walked into this court hearing the first time.
Leave. Us are really seeing him in person and where they look, like
He looks really grizzled, you know his hearers really unkempt easiness sick strike,
green and white jumpsuit. Your way, your extradition
He sits down at the witness
and he's got his cough on and at a certain point, COD
He raises his left hand
you see,
drawing in the middle of his hand, with like a ballpoint pen. Is this huge cue, the letter to the letter
as in Cuba,
exactly? How do I tell it to be manipulated there? So many
use like then, what's real and now testing
shutting down the discussion. So, if we're looking
answer. The question of what the internet is doing to us, our reality that we ve been taught in school and we ve been told on the mainstream media it all this. For so many years it's been false, there might be no,
better placed to look then q? And if so, what is kill.
You should instead be asking who is killed because, even though, like on the surface, this community, it seems totally fringe. I believe there is someone out there pulling information on re that somebody who is trying to waken Republic of what's going on in some
These q on is the logical conclusion of every
that's happened on the internet. Cyberspace opens up a whole new world free each year will make its tapped a yearning to
That's who I was we'd, be frank, certainly among better protected when people are interested.
We have such a large voice and I don't think they understand its.
Wrapped up in a story of Q, general population is going to be awoken. I mean they're, just it's gonna be hard for people to process and that story really starts in two dozen. Sixteen Wikileaks has released a batch of more than two thousand hacked emails from the account of
Mary Clarence campaign, Chairman John Podesta. It was a few months before the election and wish you weeks had just published this trove of emails from top Democrats, including Hillary Clinton. The leak reveal transcripts from some important paid Wall Street.
These are the emails we now know we're hacked by Russia, MRS Clinton suggesting that Wall Street insiders our best equipped to help reform the financial sector. You went to Wall Street and told them they should regulate the
cells, and they were all these stories in them about how these emails reveal. Glinting told a private trade union gathering that extreme environmentalists need to quote get a life. Hillary Clinton, privately contradiction
Some of her public statements working weeks showed us that Hilary was given an unfair advantage from their gecko. Bernie was given a disadvantage in how democratic party officials have been working behind the scenes to support for nomination hook, improves all those conspiracy theories. They usually made fun of us for a long time thing that we were delusional indigenous confirms what we knew, which was
and while this was a big story in the media. The chair of the Dnc has announced her resignation that end
It was big online to these. People were deciding to steer and entire party, which is fifty percent of a political process, because this is old, old old shit. What's new
Is technology in a certain corner of the internet. It took off in a completely different direction. We began to see were ugly wording. Emails that
focused around food and seemed to the code for something else, people on matters.
Boards like fortune and read. It is something else going on here. It's just it's a little bit weird started finding
they saw as secret codes searching Desgas emails is never
job for researchers like myself, especially in these, he from Clinton's campaign Chairman John, possessed first eyeing. The most specious thing is that use typing pizza. You have a hundred forty,
and results. So I mean how many people pizza talk about it and emails, and I don't like
I thought it was suspicious how often John Podesta or someone he was emailing referred to pizza. Now, pizza, she's pizza is
Lange very old internet slang for child pornography and eventually
and his message boards and then spilling out under twitter. They actually repeatedly used this food terminology, so hot dog equals boy pizza, Stilicho girl.
Cheese equals little girl. That's bleeding evidence that these guys are involved in a pitiful
people started claiming that these pizza references were evidence of a vast criminal conspiracy and then, if we find an attachment in an email with the I'm with her logo from one James Ali Fun,
James only found his turns out to be the owner of a restaurant called com, a ping pong reliable. What's commenting on loan behold, it was an actual pizza place. Does what became known as
pizza, get AIDS again or related? Hashtags were shared more than a million times on twitter in just five weeks, people
fully believe a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton hammer
campaign manager. John Fidessa ran a child sex ring at a pizzeria DC and really reached its peak
when someone took it seriously enough to try to stop it. North Carolina man arrested and they d C beat the shop after brandishing a gun like this guy. This father and volunteer fire fighter from North Carolina drove up to Washington D C,
and went into this pizza place with a gun trying to free what he thought were child slaves being held in the basement police refused to investigate the basement crime scene on the floor,
excuse that the pits area does not have a basement and even though this whole thing kind of became the butt of a joke and social media platforms crack down to keep it for
spreading. There were still some people online who kept looking for clues
and then
We have had to challenges that we really should have taken care of a long time ago, like North Korea, IRAN, Afghanistan, about a year later, it falls on the people in this room to defend the american people.
From video, starts making the rounds on the internet where President Trump is like posing for photos.
With his military advisers. In the White House,
and he says too
for us in the room
how
look. I know this represents. Maybe it's the com
the storm.
What
Thank you.
Pressure from said yesterday, it was calm before the store. This whole thing, like is made news for a few days, be calm before the store com. How is all this? Not the stone and again, like pizza, gave a lot of people just treated it as a big joke illegal. I think you can take that president. Protecting the american people always extremely serious and if he feels but then a few weeks,
after this series of posts started showing up on Fourchan from an anonymous source, clean.
To be a high level government insider with access to classified information about the coming storm
These posts, overtime, told this story about a powerful shadow government of elites, including the cliff
the bushes, the Obama's the Pope Hollywood's.
Liberties
how they were not only running a child sex trafficking ring, but how they had secretly Ben behind everything in Dallas, Texas, three shots.
Fired to President Kennedy, motor from the assassination of J K Kennedy died.
Underline that point has crashed into world trade.
Nine eleven another one and not everyone has said about the speed with which we are watching this market detail to the financial crisis are saying: gravy avarice, dna and President Trump had been
recruited by the military. It falls on the people in this room to defend the american people to take them down from these threats. This
Was the coming storm
and the code name of this.
Under cover inform it was Q.
Our work is giving one million dollars and talent grants to business is working to count
The ongoing impacts of cuban nineteen as the world's largest network of remote professionals, their connecting existing teams with remote experts in tech, creative and operations in an effort to help save lives and rebuild the economy, to learn more good upward dot com, slash work together, we're sorted this morning with the arrest of failure and good written sex offender. Jeffrey Appstore President Bill Clinton had a friendly relationship with Jeffrey game. What that was born of under age around the latest on Harvey Wine thing allegations by numerous women who say the Hollywood mobile sexually harass them his alleged victims,
over nearly three decades in the last few years since cues, first post. Unfortunately, the Clinton's Harvey one thing they were very closely as all these high profile scandals and cover ups. These crimes by powerful people have been exposed. Army Weinstein's conduct was an open secret in the movie business. The queue has kept posting that report
the three hundred and one predator priests, but was salted more than one thousand children about how
this is just more proof. The catholic church use what amounts to a playbook for concealing the truth to high decades of abuse, but the storm is coming
have you ever wonder why we go to war or why you never,
to be able to get out of the way
poverty, vision and crime. What, if I
There was a reason for it all in cues message which got amplified by you to burn
and people on social media. What if I told you that those who corrupting world
our food igniting conflict were themselves about to be permanently eradicated from the earth. You might think that
realistic, fantasy. Well, let me tell you a story really starts to resonate.
Where are we
the Me
free media, tells you so many lies that we needed an alternative voice. Tat was going to speak
The patriots, I think many Hillary Clinton- has actually been arrested at one time. There's things
been going on since the assassination of J K, terrible thing. Q known followers start showing up at present
from rally- and we got a great awakening rally, goddaughter out of their day.
Marshall, Washington, we have had our lying on ourselves to figure out what the hell is actually happening. A suspect is in custody tonight, after barricading himself in an armored truck on their Hoover Danbridge. One pure non followers stops traffic at the Hoover Dim wherein he had a sign that said released
the OECD report demanding that the deep state release government documents, follower vandalized as a catholic church in Arizona picture, claiming that the Vatican is part of this deep state network seems like it. It's kind of spreading in ways that you you wouldn't expect it spreading. It is growing
while some cool on followers are performing these acts like vigilante justice, others are actually pursuing real political power. Do you think that a candidate who wants to win and twenty twenty can afford to dismiss human unbelievers? I would say no, this election cycle alone, I agree and I'm running
grant and I've been following he since the beginning in Minnesota, Indiana North Carolina, Delaware, Rhode, Island Massachusetts, Arizona, Kentucky Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, Colorado, Florida, Texas, people with ties to cure. None have been running for Congress. High minded, Mr Reproaches candidate for the: U S than in Oregon, and some of them like a republican Senate candidate in Oregon have actually won their primary stay here and I think a patriot together, we could save our rights.
And while it's hard to say exactly how many followers Q has apps and websites dedicated to aggregating olive cues posts in one place, have popped up all over the years.
There are queuing on Youtube videos with millions of views. Some cuban on Facebook groups have hundreds,
thousands of members, I'm in all the way come hell or high water with the rest of the queue patriots where we got one we all are just looking through
Their posts is clear that a lot of cuban unbelievers are genuinely sincere. Somebody sent me Youtube video, some over my face
like they truly believe, not only that what q is saying is real and that there is this horrible conspiracy going on, but also that they can be a part of stopping it, which in some extreme cases, has actually involved violence or calls for assassination. The FBI has actually labelled queuing on potential domestic terror threat because of that, but most of the time
to make it clear where the protectors of Digital it means going on the internet. Tom Hanks books is pedophile, Oprah use a slave trader like going on twitter and see if I can start shaken with I'm pissed off to call out celebrities and politicians mark Zuckerberg, whereby the Morocco bomb who Q has said are part of this deep state. Criminal networks shut out to our friend
Confident, music love it, but they also just go online to be with each other on really happy you're here its glory.
Monday.
Who are you
future sell. All that you are always cuban unbelievers magazine, you be flower. Stoppers do hang around the lie jet, so if you want to get in touch with no, this is probably a good time to do from all over
I'm from Germany and where we go world, we
all night in a very real one. Regal on come on.
Western Australia down under the UK, Panama, where we go. One wonders why don't we go on wait I'll all whenever a cue post, something they like rushed to the chat rooms or the facebook groups? Are the message boards very acute base.
Common, I knew it to do things
I got an album whom you read this out, Aragon. Ok, we go decode different posts together. I think that
was telling us they
run war or in the process of running two different tests
Why don't we just talking about that? It looks like what you are saying is it's about to be brought back up
comparing theories about what it all means? So we have this. Video is an american flag or just like trying to figure out why Q shared something
I gotta tell ya. I love the background back there look at blue
clear. Balloons
guy Jim. All I'm saying
here I just got a text message. Is this: my wife,
I gotta stop outrun always respond to my wife and these groups. They just don't feel like you're, stereotypical intern
chat rooms, Yemen number do well.
Heads huge. They tend askew a little order. This is just really started, fuzz my but bless you.
It s, not because you sneezed
a word
for word individual when it comes to the scriptures, many of them are christian or spirit.
In some way, I'm a mystic, I'm a philosopher- I am I right
Christian Democrat never participated in any election before and whatever their politics were before
You want. A lot of them seemed to have in common. Was that at some point they had seen or experience something that taught them that the world was under
asked into them. He was saying that things are gonna get better areas. It is helpful
first time and forty years. The other thing that
community seems to have in common. I don't know if you guys were watching the last night. There was somebody on you, too, that was dropping off and the good stuff people on you to drop in good stuff every night. Is that they're all spending
so much of their lives, so my nose for just checking online every day,
What are you gonna? Get that don't don't stay away with you with these guys, don't let em making those too much sleep. Ok,
the ministerial my hand all night any time of day any time, and I my supper is rooted number. There is always someone to talk to
and in this way there not only using the internet the way it was originally vision. Now we're all here, because we are optimistic about
future there, also using it in the exact way that the powerful algorithms that currently run our biggest social media platforms are designed to encourage. We have real challenges to address all you have to keep that sense of optimism to like take Facebook and what I learned
this year is that we need to take a broader view of our responsibility after the twenty sixteen elections. Facebook is facing
of this criticism and backlash for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories and contributing to political polarisation, not enough to just build powerful tools. We need to make sure that barriers, foregoing and so into doesn't eighteen right is
you and on, is picking up a lot of steam and migrating from four chance to read it and twitter and Youtube. In all these other platforms, Facebook decided to overhaul its core algorithm the news feet algorithm, which, up to that point, has been designed to just show people stuff that would keep them
Facebook, like click, bade or viral videos, or sensational news stories, but this
I'll go them. Was designed to show people more posts from their actual friends and family and posts from like intimate social groups, they belong to. People often tell us. The groups are unless meaningful part of a facebook things that would inspire what Facebook called meaningful social interactions and I can feel it can belong in a community can meet new people who share your values for some people. This might be a supporter
new parents, brothers who might be about a disease? You have four others might be about funding people to come together and volunteer, and what was going on inside these keen on Facebook groups, like all this constant,
commenting in liking and sharing these actual friendships that were forming. It was meaningful social interaction. It was exactly the thing that facebooks new algorithm was designed to start spreading across Facebook,
our communities give us that sense that we are a part of something greater than ourselves
We are not alone and then
if something better ahead to work here, it yeah
I can hear the fight. Was it here? You, sir, certainly beginning what happened on yet. Another have always been more conservative. My mom is large
we left, leaning, furlongs keys, Evangel accomplished for a long time. She was really and social media that it wasn't good for people the first. She was doing all this research on vaccination. I dont know how she discovered hand and he went on thing to do.
This stuff track with her spending more time on the internet. Where did you hear a like?
eight hours a day on the internet, I fix her husband died. How hot more I'll have care, really old parent, but
a really, firstly, isolated I've ever really only one can meet friends really, and I think that's really put it into a lot, maybe more than anything else. The people who told you
you, my boy. You were growing up, not believe everything you ve done the internet. Now it a real role reversal right. Everything goes back to the global cabal move a rich to control. Everything like why not really has to be said are not. Alas, it's like nothing works like an impenetrable force field of misinformation
Do you think either Europe that Malta, your dad, would be willing to talk to me like you think that that would be felt
would ever agree to. If it were, you know
me and then I got a very seriously. I'm I'm fairly.
Speaking terms with them. I think she wouldn't do it, but I can about. I held my breath of my family daybreak night. I climbed tradition,
I don't believe in the world the way it was fifty. Did you talk to them about two now made a profit,
to hear more
go to whatever happier using to hear me right now, search for rapid whole two and hid subscribe between two or cancellations lost, creative gags and shrinking outer avenue. The covert nineteen crisis is making it clear that the system supporting creative people is broken patriarch offers a better way. We hope creators make up lost revenue and build a more sustainable income source by offering a monthly membership to their fans. In turn, fans get access to exclusive community premium contents and the chance to become active participants in the work. They love check out, patriarch dot com now and help change the way art is valued.
Transcript generated on 2020-06-16.