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Speaker 2: Warning, the following episode contains explicit language and sexual themes.
Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 3: My test test cool, Yeah good, Yeah, we're good.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: I never said this to anyone. Every woman can seduce
Speaker 3: a man, and it doesn't matter how does she look.
Speaker 3: It's all about your skills, what do you say, how
Speaker 3: do you touch, and how you're good and sex. That's it.
Speaker 3: The most important thing. Not to give him everything. That's
Speaker 3: the same moment. So you cannot go to bed and
Speaker 3: slippit him at the first day, unless it's a special
Speaker 3: mission where you have to kill your target.
Speaker 2: Some spies use poisons, others use guns. But for Lea Rosa,
Speaker 2: who's sitting in front of me right now, her body
Speaker 2: is made into a weapon by the Russian military her
Speaker 2: mission to seduce powerful men for their secrets or sometimes
Speaker 2: their lives. This type of intelligence work is known as
Speaker 2: sex bionage, and it's much more dangerous than you think.
Speaker 3: What is sexpionage? Actually? These sex becomes like a drug,
Speaker 3: and your target becomes like a drug addicted. When a
Speaker 3: drug dealer wants to put someone on the needle, he
Speaker 3: gives a little bit. He doesn't give straight away everything.
Speaker 3: So the same way you do. You give a little
Speaker 3: bit sex, you give a little bit taste, and you tease,
Speaker 3: you tease till you make sure that your target becomes
Speaker 3: addicted to you because you put so many anchors around
Speaker 3: him and his brain in his body. Basically, the body
Speaker 3: gets used to you, so he physically cannot be with
Speaker 3: someone else.
Speaker 4: To kill you. Really sorry.
Speaker 2: Episode one, chapter one, the meeting. Our story begins with
Speaker 2: the mafia.
Speaker 5: I come from the mafia family.
Speaker 3: It's a mafia family.
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 5: Not like some of the people that you you know
Speaker 5: that will be say I'm connected in all that.
Speaker 3: My father actually did go before Robert Kennedy and McClelland and.
Speaker 2: The interview you're listening to me many years ago, speaking
Speaker 2: with Johnny Fratto, also known as the Beverly Hills Gangster.
Speaker 2: His father worked under al Capone and his brother was
Speaker 2: killed in the tragic plane crash that also took the
Speaker 2: life of boxer Rocky Marciano. I have a question about
Speaker 2: the mom, has it shamed? Right?
Speaker 4: That does all movies. It doesn't exist, never did.
Speaker 2: I was publishing a book with Johnny about his colorful
Speaker 2: and controversial life. We'd get together and he'd tell stories
Speaker 2: for hours.
Speaker 6: I could judge.
Speaker 5: I don't belong in here.
Speaker 2: I'm twenty four years old. My wife is now pregnant
Speaker 2: with my son, Johnny.
Speaker 3: I don't belong with him.
Speaker 2: After Fratto moved to Los Angeles, he set his sites
Speaker 2: more on fame than racketeering, and unexpectedly became a recurring
Speaker 2: guest on The Howard Stern Show. The son he just
Speaker 2: mentioned grew up and wanted to leave the family business
Speaker 2: and get into the film business. This is Johnny introducing
Speaker 2: his son, Johnny Junior, to stan Lee, the legendary Marvel
Speaker 2: Comics writer. My sight, he thinks he can you write
Speaker 2: a movie.
Speaker 6: Everybody who's written his first movie has never written a
Speaker 6: movie before, And why couldn't he do it right?
Speaker 1: At least as I look like a writer?
Speaker 4: What I look like one of the audio boys.
Speaker 2: Not long after this, Johnny Fratto died of lung cancer
Speaker 2: at the age of sixty one. I didn't talk to
Speaker 2: his son, Johnny Junior much after that. But one afternoon,
Speaker 2: after years of silence, he called with an incredible story.
Speaker 1: So I have got a weird thing, like it's gonna
Speaker 1: sound fucking strange to you, and I don't even really
Speaker 1: know how to catch this to you. Where where do
Speaker 1: I begin? Because you wrote the book The Game. I
Speaker 1: met this girl that basically says she knows how to
Speaker 1: seduce men, pick up men, do whatever, you know, Like basically,
Speaker 1: she can own any man in two fucking seconds.
Speaker 2: What Johnny's referring to here is an infamous book I
Speaker 2: wrote over a decade ago. About two years I spent
Speaker 2: undercover in a secret society of pickup artists.
Speaker 1: And here's the crazy part. She says she was a
Speaker 1: Russian spy at one time. I mean, it's the craziest.
Speaker 4: She you ever heard.
Speaker 1: She told me that there's like a school that she
Speaker 1: had to attend in Russia where she had to like
Speaker 1: literally like have sex with her teachers in front of
Speaker 1: the class, and have sex with different relationship from the class,
Speaker 1: and learn how to give perfect blow jobs.
Speaker 2: And I'm sitting here, I've literally never heard of anything
Speaker 2: like this, and frankly found it hard to believe. I'm
Speaker 2: sure the crude way Johnny Junior was speaking about it
Speaker 2: wasn't helping any She was trained by the like Russian
Speaker 2: government to seduce men and like get their secrets or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she was trained by Russia. She says to uh,
Speaker 1: you know, fucking give the perfect blowjob, to fuck a
Speaker 1: guy perfectly. And I kind of believe her, man, I mean,
Speaker 1: I really do think she's telling the truth. And it's
Speaker 1: a little weird, but I thought, you know, if there's
Speaker 1: any one guy in the fucking world that it would
Speaker 1: be up as aally, it's you.
Speaker 2: And can I ask ask the obvious question, which is
Speaker 2: how did you meet her?
Speaker 1: I met her through an Armenian guy named Art, and
Speaker 1: Art's adapper, probably the most dapper little guy I've ever met.
Speaker 1: And he said, you know, Johnny, there's somebody that you
Speaker 1: got to meet. You got to come over here. It's
Speaker 1: very special. I said, Okay, well what is it? So
Speaker 1: I get there, he introduces me. Obviously, she's beautiful, I mean,
Speaker 1: like she says, she was trained to go in and
Speaker 1: fucking do with like fucking heads of state and shit
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 2: Wow. And then how would you described like her just
Speaker 2: as a person in general?
Speaker 1: You know, she's very kind, of like a cool seductress
Speaker 1: that looks you straight in the eye all the time
Speaker 1: and kind of always knows the right thing to say.
Speaker 1: Every single thing I was saying to her, she just
Speaker 1: had the perfect retort because I was, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to be an asshole, but you know, look,
Speaker 1: this town is hard.
Speaker 2: A couple more questions, how do we know she's not
Speaker 2: still working for the Russian government? Johnny said. I could
Speaker 2: ask her that question and any others I had when
Speaker 2: I met her. I figured if the Russian government wanted
Speaker 2: to get me, they were probably easier ways.
Speaker 4: May man, what's going on you?
Speaker 1: I really miss you, man, I mean, Jesus, last time
Speaker 1: I saw you was what my dad's funeral or something?
Speaker 1: Was funeral Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: Johnny introduced me to the woman standing next to him.
Speaker 2: She was tall, with dyed blonde haircut short and stylish,
Speaker 2: and wearing what looked like very expensive designer clothing. This
Speaker 2: was the reputed former Russian spy Aliah.
Speaker 1: Rosa Rosa neil Strauss. I want you guys to meet
Speaker 1: each other.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for an introduction.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, by the end of the night, you
Speaker 1: guys are going to be best.
Speaker 2: We sat down for dinner with a few other people
Speaker 2: that invited to get their take on the situation, including
Speaker 2: a former top breaking agent at the CIA. That's what
Speaker 2: you have both on the spot and do I tell
Speaker 2: a little bit about a Leah And then.
Speaker 1: I always have to get permission first because her story
Speaker 1: is kind of crazy. Do I have permission to basically
Speaker 1: get fucking crazy with it?
Speaker 4: Tell her what you're really fantastic.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell the truth. So I'm gonna say some
Speaker 1: last this woman right here and this is no ship
Speaker 1: went through a training.
Speaker 2: Thing that Johnny Junior then repeats much of what he
Speaker 2: told me earlier in the same crass language.
Speaker 1: I know that sounds too bad, but but it just
Speaker 1: I'm just telling true.
Speaker 4: So anyway, that's.
Speaker 2: It is that is that is that introduction. Freaking thoughts
Speaker 2: of the introduction.
Speaker 4: Okay, I.
Speaker 3: Mean it was authentic, right.
Speaker 4: So it's often right. I'm just going about I'm just
Speaker 4: saying what I you.
Speaker 1: Know, I know, yes, I know, But there's much more
Speaker 1: to the story.
Speaker 2: It's clear that Aliyah is a little uncomfortable and that
Speaker 2: there's a lot more to her story.
Speaker 3: Never ever before I shared this story with anyone, including
Speaker 3: my parents. Nobody knows those people who knew they were killed.
Speaker 2: After the dinner, I spoke with my source from the CIA,
Speaker 2: who didn't want his name or voice to be used,
Speaker 2: and asked what he thought. She seems credible? He replied,
Speaker 2: but her story is incredible. Anything that is a great dinner,
Speaker 2: that's one. It was an odd dinner that basically the CIA,
Speaker 2: the KGB, and the mafia, and I was left with
Speaker 2: more questions about Alea Rosa than answers. And to me,
Speaker 2: that's always a good sign to move forward. Chapter two,
Speaker 2: A dirty Organization. After meeting Aliyah, I decided to look
Speaker 2: more into her story. There wasn't a lot online, but
Speaker 2: I did find a few items legitimizing her, a few
Speaker 2: items delegitimizing her, and a social media page that was
Speaker 2: very influencery. Then I looked into actual evidence of a
Speaker 2: seduction program operated by the Russian government, and there was
Speaker 2: no in depth information online. It seemed like something out
Speaker 2: of a spy movie. You made such a bold entrance
Speaker 2: into a little drama.
Speaker 3: Two doesn't appreciate the occasion with twists, mister Bond.
Speaker 2: James, I probably wouldn't have believed it at all, if
Speaker 2: not for a strange experience I had a decade earlier,
Speaker 2: I received a call out of the blue from a
Speaker 2: special agent at the FBI. We are dedicated to national
Speaker 2: security investigations of the highest order, he told me. He
Speaker 2: went on to reveal two things that shocked me. The
Speaker 2: first is that my book The Game was required for
Speaker 2: his agents. The second was that he'd like me to
Speaker 2: fly to Washington and train a group of field agents
Speaker 2: and analysts on the art of seduction. It was an
Speaker 2: offer I couldn't say no to talking.
Speaker 5: You know, I would say, what do you feel like
Speaker 5: dealing to that? What feels right for you? You know,
Speaker 5: because I'm talking in your ranche was I'm talking a
Speaker 5: visual person. I'm like, what do you see yourself doing tonight?
Speaker 5: How do you see yourself going out to this world?
Speaker 5: Because I know they're going to be visualizing and these
Speaker 5: things are really key for getting report. It's talking. It's
Speaker 5: called modalities. If you want to talk in the primary modality, and.
Speaker 2: This is this is that I'll be with. So I
Speaker 2: called Robin Drieke, one of the agents who was present
Speaker 2: at that session and the former head of the FBI's
Speaker 2: behavioral Analysis program, to ask why was the FBI learning
Speaker 2: the art of seduction?
Speaker 4: We brought you in.
Speaker 6: A benefit of what you brought to us was a
Speaker 6: deep understanding of human psychology. And in our work where
Speaker 6: you're developing confidential human sources and recruiting spies, the understanding
Speaker 6: of how to develop quick for poor and attraction is
Speaker 6: key and critical minus going for romantic interactions. A lot
Speaker 6: of those other techniques are extremely effective. And you brought
Speaker 6: a vast amount of personal, real life experience to that
Speaker 6: with the book, and you're coming in and training with us.
Speaker 2: It's so interesting. So I'll feel you at and get
Speaker 2: your getting your thoughts and at dinner, Eliah said she'd
Speaker 2: worked for a Russian intelligence agency called the FSB, which
Speaker 2: I never heard of before, So I asked Robin to
Speaker 2: give me a little background on how Russian spy programs operate.
Speaker 6: So in general AT mirrors ours pretty closely, and like
Speaker 6: their SVR is the equivalent of our CIA, and their
Speaker 6: GRU that's the Russian Military Intelligence is the equivalent of
Speaker 6: our DEIA Defense Intelligence Agency. Their FSB is the equivalent
Speaker 6: of our FBI. They see intelligence more as a as
Speaker 6: a factory event in the sense of this an assembly line.
Speaker 6: I don't remember the exact number, but at the height
Speaker 6: of the Cold War, before the KGB broke into the
Speaker 6: SVR and the FSB, I think that the number of
Speaker 6: employees that were part of the KGB were in the
Speaker 6: millions compared to a handful of our operatives overseas. For
Speaker 6: the like the CIA and DA and A are an
Speaker 6: intelligence machine. They suck it all in and they collect it.
Speaker 2: All Why, I asked Robin, does Russia have this evidently
Speaker 2: deserved reputation as the world capital of spying?
Speaker 6: The gross domestic product GDP of Russia it's like Italy's
Speaker 6: or Texas. I mean, it's not huge. And when you're
Speaker 6: a country that relies on hydrocarbons for your economy and
Speaker 6: that can fluctuate as much as it has been fluctuating
Speaker 6: definitely in the last bunch of years, you don't have
Speaker 6: They don't have a huge economy. It's not very strong.
Speaker 6: And so when you're cash strapped and you're trying to
Speaker 6: be the big boy on the world stage, if you
Speaker 6: don't have the military because you can't support it, you're
Speaker 6: going to do it in another way. And they do
Speaker 6: it in intelligence, because intelligence collection the way they do.
Speaker 6: It is a lot cheaper than anything else. And they
Speaker 6: send their messages whether they're going to publicly, even though
Speaker 6: they say it's not public, but you know, killing people
Speaker 6: with depleted uranium, there's a lot of other ways that
Speaker 6: take someone out silently. Those things are made for public
Speaker 6: statements saying we can find you anywhere in the world
Speaker 6: and we'll take you out. And that's intelligence operations. And
Speaker 6: it's a lot cheaper doing that than anything else, and
Speaker 6: so that's why they utilize their intelligence organizations to do
Speaker 6: just that.
Speaker 2: I fill in Robin who spent twenty two years recruiting
Speaker 2: Russian spies on a lia's seduction training with the FSB,
Speaker 2: and ask him what he thinks.
Speaker 6: Anecdotally and totally believable, the FSB that is a dirty organization.
Speaker 6: You know, it's an organization that is founded on doing
Speaker 6: things just like that. I mean, they use honey traps.
Speaker 6: They use it with Clayton Loan Tree, and I know
Speaker 6: there's been others that just don't hit the news.
Speaker 2: We'll get into the story of Clayton Loan Tree and
Speaker 2: some of those others later in this podcast, and we'll
Speaker 2: also talk more about honey traps. The honey in this
Speaker 2: term is the agent who's seducing a target, and the
Speaker 2: trap is now that I have evidence you've slept with me,
Speaker 2: or now that you've fallen completely in love with me,
Speaker 2: here's what I want from you.
Speaker 6: No one volunteers the FSB. That's why they have to
Speaker 6: use honey traps and train people to do that, because
Speaker 6: they're dicks. If you're a foreign diplomat over in their country,
Speaker 6: they're going to harass to live in hell out of you,
Speaker 6: and then they're going to try to trap you and
Speaker 6: coerce you into cooperation. That is not the way to
Speaker 6: recruit a human being. That does not make anyone feel safe.
Speaker 2: I ask if the United States has seduction spies, and
Speaker 2: Robin claims that they do not. Even taking a source
Speaker 2: to a strip club and using government money for that,
Speaker 2: he says, would be a political liability. When she was
Speaker 2: talking about her experience, you're just there and you stay
Speaker 2: there out of fear. It's like if you leave, your
Speaker 2: life's going to be destroyed.
Speaker 6: I mean, you know this for the world you've been in.
Speaker 6: That's a broken toy, and broken toys have an unhealthy
Speaker 6: outlook on the world. Unless they've realized that they've been
Speaker 6: through counseling.
Speaker 2: Now find what you mean by a broken toy.
Speaker 6: First of all, people that are susceptible to being recruited
Speaker 6: or trafficked, because basically she's human. Trafficked is what she is.
Speaker 6: There was a need in her life that wasn't being
Speaker 6: fulfilled somewhere else, and the FSB came in and fulfilled
Speaker 6: that need to be seen, heard, and valued by others,
Speaker 6: and then they manipulated that against her.
Speaker 2: Keep in mind that I don't know a lot yet
Speaker 2: about a Leah's story or how she was recruited, and
Speaker 2: neither is Robin. He's basing this analysis on his intelligence experience.
Speaker 6: To me, there's no difference between a child predator and
Speaker 6: what they did to her. What welcomed to the world
Speaker 6: of Russian intelligence.
Speaker 2: Chapter three, The target.
Speaker 3: Nice to seem really excited to share it with you.
Speaker 2: It's a sunny Wednesday afternoon in Malibu and Alia Rosa
Speaker 2: has come over to discuss the podcast. When someone says
Speaker 2: they've been trained their whole life in the art of seduction,
Speaker 2: you tend to question everything they say and do and
Speaker 2: wonder if it's all a manipulation.
Speaker 3: I love your shoes, they're so cool. Yes, Maria, I
Speaker 3: have never seen anything like this, really stylish, like my
Speaker 3: son would really love it.
Speaker 2: There's a controversial and often hurtful technique that the pickup
Speaker 2: artists in the game taught, and it called the nag.
Speaker 2: You give someone what appears to be a compliment and
Speaker 2: then say something slightly backhanded so that they're not quite
Speaker 2: sure if they're being complimented or insulted. And that's exactly
Speaker 2: what Leah just did to me. Lee is brought over
Speaker 2: a bottle of wine, which doesn't often happen in the
Speaker 2: meetings I attend. I handle the corkscrew will I go
Speaker 2: to check on my son. When I get back, the
Speaker 2: wine is unopened, and she hands the corkscrew back to me.
Speaker 2: I get the funny feeling that she's trying to prove
Speaker 2: to me that she hasn't tampered with the wine.
Speaker 3: Okay, right, cheers first, cheers, have your Thanksgiving?
Speaker 2: Yes, but did you purposely not open the wine so
Speaker 2: you knew I could trust the wine.
Speaker 3: You left to see to check on your son. I
Speaker 3: could drop something, you know, you know, like yeah, I
Speaker 3: know that you have this kind of like assaults. It's
Speaker 3: normal you and putting you are the same type. Believe
Speaker 3: it or not, you protect yourself, your environment, your family.
Speaker 3: Of course it's a good thing. That's what putting us.
Speaker 3: He also protects his country.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure how to feel about that put In comment,
Speaker 2: and that's probably just what Aleah wants. Another nag. She
Speaker 2: then shares something else that really messes with my mind,
Speaker 2: something that just may be true given what Robin Drake
Speaker 2: from the FBI just shared with me.
Speaker 3: Actually, like you'd be surprised. There's so many agents working
Speaker 3: in America, like so many, Yeah, even in Malibu, Like
Speaker 3: you know, seriously, just be aware. Don't say anything about putting.
Speaker 3: I mean yeah, I sound like like kind of like,
Speaker 3: don't say it is kind of like putting some fears,
Speaker 3: but like it's better not really too. I mean, when
Speaker 3: Americans discussed like Biden, no Trump, it's kind of like yeah, okay,
Speaker 3: But once they discuss about like putting, there are always
Speaker 3: many years around.
Speaker 2: I turned the discussion to the podcast. Even though the
Speaker 2: period of li is talking about as many years ago,
Speaker 2: I assume Putins still wouldn't be happy about her sharing
Speaker 2: state secrets. Speaking that are there concerns for safety in
Speaker 2: speaking out and telling your story and sharing all this information.
Speaker 3: To say I'm not scared, I would lie. Yes, of course,
Speaker 3: I am a mother of thirteen years old son. Yes
Speaker 3: of course I'm scared. I don't know what might happen,
Speaker 3: right if I will beat that tomorrow, Let's say I
Speaker 3: know that my son, even it would be so hard
Speaker 3: for him, he will grow up and he'll respect me
Speaker 3: for that. At least I had enough courage and bravery
Speaker 3: to stand up and speak out against this evil.
Speaker 2: That evil, she explains, is more than just puttin.
Speaker 3: Sharing that life events is a proof of how corrupted
Speaker 3: the whole system is and how the male dominance is
Speaker 3: just so strong there that being a female in Russia,
Speaker 3: it means that you're almost like you have the same
Speaker 3: rights like a dog. And it's it's just not even
Speaker 3: like it's not right, but this is this isn't a human.
Speaker 2: The other question is, if we're going to go tell story,
Speaker 2: are you comfortable just just sharing all your experiences, good
Speaker 2: or bad, and no matter what people may think.
Speaker 3: I don't feel comfortable at all. Honestly, I don't want
Speaker 3: people to think that I like I can kill people.
Speaker 3: I'm a murder. You know, it's a bad kind of
Speaker 3: like you know she could kill people, then maybe she
Speaker 3: can do it now, who knows? You know, she doesn't
Speaker 3: have this stop because on the good side, I protected
Speaker 3: my country great and I tried to survive. On the
Speaker 3: bad side, I'm still a murderer. I still killed some people,
Speaker 3: and I still feel guilty for that.
Speaker 2: And asked Johnny when I first spoke to him, Oh,
Speaker 2: how do I know she's not still working for Russian Intelligence?
Speaker 3: You know what, I don't know how to answered this question. Really,
Speaker 3: how do you know if i'm if I'm like, I
Speaker 3: may still work for puts in right, because I will
Speaker 3: reveal the real truth was going on there and what
Speaker 3: was happening before. When I heard about the Ukrainian War,
Speaker 3: I felt that moment that I really want to speak out.
Speaker 3: I felt like I can't just sit down there and
Speaker 3: just be silenced like I was all this time.
Speaker 2: Looking back in the time you were in Russian intelligence,
Speaker 2: do you think you were a hero or a victim?
Speaker 3: Definitely victim, But brain was that I was a hero.
Speaker 2: I plainly. In my interview with Robin Drake, she pauses
Speaker 2: and reflects when he calls her a broken toy. I
Speaker 2: ask her what she's thinking about it.
Speaker 3: I mean, for so many years I didn't feel that
Speaker 3: I was broken. But it's hard, you know, Neil's so
Speaker 3: hard to accept that because it's such a big guilt.
Speaker 3: It's such a big pain when you realize and when
Speaker 3: you accept that I was a part of this evil system.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I guess I am broken, and yes I
Speaker 3: am a toy.
Speaker 2: As Leah talks further, I'm reminded of the grim reality
Speaker 2: that the victims and sexpionage are not just the targets,
Speaker 2: but the seducers themselves. Over this, it's been an intense discussion,
Speaker 2: and I totally afterward that I would like to move
Speaker 2: forward and share the story of her training, her espionage work,
Speaker 2: and her escape from the Russian military. I just have
Speaker 2: one last question. Is she ever able to turn off
Speaker 2: the role she was forced to play? Her answer confirms
Speaker 2: one of my deepest fears.
Speaker 3: No, I mean, like seduction is I think, Yeah, it's
Speaker 3: a lifestyle. It's definitely a lifestyle once you learn it.
Speaker 3: It's just like habit. You go everywhere with this, you
Speaker 3: live like that. I wanted to work with you, and
Speaker 3: you in this case, like war, my target. So I
Speaker 3: did it for this goal which we are having right now,
Speaker 3: and it's yeah, I can tell this a seduction, and
Speaker 3: then I realize that you are my perfect target. I
Speaker 3: seduced to.
Speaker 2: We will continue in episode two, available now along with
Speaker 2: all eight episodes of Today for Volume one. Continue listening
Speaker 2: for free on Apple Podcasts.