Persuadable: Back Up the Rabbit Hole

To date, the FBI has released no explanation of why they shot and killed Ilya Beloozerov in 2024. But after more than a year investigating the case, Isabelle is able to give his family the closest thing they’ve had to an explanation. And the only thing more shocking than how he died is why.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Isabelle starts digging into the mysterious death of Ilya Beloozerov at the hands of the FBI, her investigation quickly hits a wall. But the big breakthrough comes when she talks to the person closest to Ilya in the final months of his life: His now 18-year-old son.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The last person to talk to Ilya Beloozerov was Kennon Green, who was living out of his truck in a McDonald’s parking lot when Ilya approached him with an offer: $30,000 to take him to southern California. Days later, Ilya was shot to death by the FBI in a hotel parking lot. To understand what happened, reporter Isabelle Chapman meets Ilya’s family, and learns that the answer may lie in Ilya’s job as a contractor for the Department of Defense.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When a Russian-born American citizen named Ilya Beloozerov is gunned down by the FBI in 2024, the authorities refuse to say why they’d killed him. CNN’s Isabelle Chapman embarks on a sprawling investigation that takes her from the Mississippi parking lot where he died to Washington, D.C. to unravel the mystery: Why did Ilya abruptly leave his family and his job and head for the border with laptops and cash? Why is there still no official explanation of his death? And maybe most importantly: Was Ilya a spy?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s 1989. James Gibson is back in Chicago for Christmas when he’s picked up by police on suspicion of murder. He will end up spending nearly 30 years in prison, convicted of a crime he’d one day be cleared of. That cold December night would spark a decades-long fight for justice — one that’s entwined in a dark legacy of torture perpetrated by Chicago police commander Jon Burge and his “Midnight Crew.”   This is part one of a three-part series. This episode contains descriptions of violence. Host: Omar Jimenez Producers: Graelyn Brashear, Madeleine Thompson, Emily Williams, Kyra Dahring, Sofia Sanchez, and Lauren Kim   Editor: Lacy Roberts  Technical director: Dan Dzula   Executive producer of CNN Podcasts: Steve Lickteig   Production help from: Jake Sorgen, Joe DeCeault, David Guggenheim, and Jessica Pupovac An earlier version of this episode stated James Gibson's initial trial was in 1990. It was in 1991. This episode has been updated to reflect that change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

James Gibson’s story might never have seen the light of day if not for one man — maybe the unlikeliest imaginable. Andrew Wilson’s relentless legal battle exposed a decades-long pattern of torture by Chicago police and the cover up that hid it. This is part two of a three-part series. This episode contains descriptions of violence, including sexual violence. Host: Omar Jimenez Producers: Graelyn Brashear, Madeleine Thompson, Emily Williams, Kyra Dahring, Sofia Sanchez, and Lauren Kim   Editor: Lacy Roberts  Technical director: Dan Dzula   Executive producer of CNN Podcasts: Steve Lickteig   Production help from: Jake Sorgen, Joe DeCeault, David Guggenheim, Jessica Pupovac Special thanks to: Ferlon Webster, Jr. and Ed Kelly An earlier version of this episode stated James Gibson's initial trial was in 1990. It was in 1991. This episode has been updated to reflect that change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the presence of torture, can real justice still exist? With the truth of torture under Chicago police commander Jon Burge and his detectives finally out in the open, the city and victims grapple with a terrible legacy, while James Gibson continues his struggle to clear his name and reclaim his life.   This is the conclusion of a three-part series. This episode includes descriptions of violence. Host: Omar Jimenez Producers: Graelyn Brashear, Madeleine Thompson, Emily Williams, Kyra Dahring, Sofia Sanchez, and Lauren Kim   Editor: Lacy Roberts  Technical director: Dan Dzula   Executive producer of CNN Podcasts: Steve Lickteig   Production help from: Jake Sorgen, Joe DeCeault, David Guggenheim, Jessica Pupovac, Miriam Annenberg, and Jordan Guzzardo  Special thanks to: Haley Thomas, Robert Mathers, Alex Manasseri, Jo Parker, Kate Carroll, Emma Lacey-Bordeaux, Frank LaMonte, Ferlon Webster Jr., Ed Kelly, and the Chicago Police Torture Archive  Journalist John Conroy and civil rights attorney Flint Taylor devoted years to ensuring the story of police torture in Chicago was heard. Their original reporting and fact-finding was essential to this series.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Imagine you were tortured by police and sent to prison for 30 years for a crime you didn’t commit. Is there anything that could make up for what was done to you? What would justice look like? Would it even be possible? In a new series, CNN's Omar Jimenez tells the story of one of the darkest chapters in American policing history. For decades, a police commander on Chicago's South Side and the officers under him routinely tortured suspects, often extracting false confessions that saw dozens wrongfully convicted. Chicago is still in the midst of a reckoning. And the costs are high. Listen to Tortured Justice September 17, 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If loneliness and social isolation are part of what pushes people down the rabbit hole, what’s the cure? CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan sits down with a cult survivor who explains why conspiracy theories can have such a powerful hold on believers, and he learns from a pair of documentary filmmakers who have a prescription for a fractured, lonely society.  Diane Benscoter is the founder of the nonprofit Antidote, and she's the author of Shoes of a Servant: My Unconditional Devotion To A Lie. You can listen to more of Donie's conversation with Diane on YouTube. Pete Davis and Rebecca Davis are the directors and producers of the documentary Join or Die. You can learn more about their film here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What would you do if the person closest to you woke up believing something that sounded completely crazy? That’s what happened to Stephen Ghiglieri when his then- fiancée, Katrina Vaillancourt, became a Q-Anon believer overnight. But their story is a hopeful one. In part two of Persuadable, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan explores one route out of conspiracy theory belief.  Listen to more of Donie's conversation with Dr. Joe Pierre, author of False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren’t True, on YouTube. Read about Katrina Vaillancourt's book, ReQovery: How I Tumbled Down the QAnon Rabbit Hole and Climbed Out, here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices